Clowns are funny again – that’s the finding of a wide-ranging inquiry carried out by the Pop Culture Standardisation Commission, the results of which were leaked through a small plastic flower yesterday.

The report was welcomed as a breakthrough by the international clowning community. “For too long now our gaily-painted jackanapes have been shorthand for creepiness, scariness, sadness and perversion”, stated Scoopy, chairman of the Clowning or Capering Organisation. “Finally, audiences can once again titter, guffaw and laugh til they wee at the sight of our members throwing water at one another, tripping over their amusingly-sized shoes or standing silently in a dimly-lit corner of your bedroom at three in the morning.”

In related news, the Commission’s report recommended that stand-up comedians take the place of clowns as the universally-recognised avatar for all that is horrific in the world. “Imagine meeting Stewart Lee in a dark alley, and he just, like, smiles at you – brr!,” said Scoopy, “Or following Jimmy Carr into a storm drain where he cavorts with the bloated corpses of the damned.

“Or Jim Davidson. Just Jim Davidson. Imagine that.”