Charles the Clown: Free video chats and magic trick lessons with Lake Forest Park children’s entertainer

Lake Forest Park resident
Charles the Clown

Charles The Clown (Charles Kraus) initiated his video chats with kids and parents in late March. 

Children talked with him about clowning, enjoyed a sample of Charles’ silly humor, and helped Biscuit The Dog Puppet learn to count. 

Biscuit also showed off a lot of his dog-art. 

In return, children raced into their rooms and came back with their own drawings. 

Charles performed with balloons and magic, and then it was time to go. 

Some families visited multiple times.

Now Charles is gearing up for a new series of chats beginning in mid December.

“There are situations where helping to meet the needs of children means performing in shelters, visiting at hospital bedsides, or providing shows for disadvantaged or displaced families,” Kraus said. 

He received the 2007 King County, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Humanitarian Award for Community Service for his efforts to entertain children in such circumstances.

“But covid is entirely different,” the entertainer said. I can't go to a school or make a hospital stop. My solution is to offer virtual visits."

His Zoom chats caught on shortly after they were launched, and then The Washington Post profiled Charles in its Extraordinary People series

“That sort of expanded things.”

While this was happening, Charles’ reconfigured his stage show, played to schools, libraries and private party bookings in Washington DC, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and other locations.

During birthday shows, the clown twists a large balloon animal present and rather mysteriously, makes it vanish, then reappear right in the birthday child’s home. How does he do it? Charles is a magician as well as a clown so he’s sworn to secrecy. But he’ll be revealing some of his tricks during his new round of chats. In addition to clown fun, he is adding a magic trick lesson for children 8 and older.

"During the chats a child can select colors for the balloons I'm inflating, suggest the animal I should create, then decide what to name it. Often, a youngster notices that I have a balloon stuck on my thumb ... or even my nose. That happens to clowns."

Video chats can be arranged by emailing linda@charlestheclown.com