Justin Rumford is such a clown. Proud of it, too. Rumford is the "2014 Rodeo Clown of the Year," an honor he told me he has won three of the five years he's been clowning. "Pretty fortunate," he said.

Natalie Palamides and Julia Masli are among the stars of a new clowning movement that revels in the comedy of failure. How did these fools become prestige? By Jason Zinoman When A24 bought and ...