CLOWNWORLD: Video shows seething Global News reporter ruin Pierre Poilievre's press conference

"As the mountebank delivered his harangue, the clown would
repeatedly poke his head out from behind the curtain, making
fun of everything his master said, parodying his patter and
twisting the meaning of his words. The mountebank played the
perfect straight man, meanwhile. Here he was, trying so hard
to hawk his wares, and his own assistant was doing everything
possible to undermine sales.
"The merriment was of course intentional. While the clown
seemingly encouraged the public not to buy the proffered
merchandise, the mountebank knew full well that the
bystanders would easily be converted into customers as soon as
they forgot that they were, in fact, supposed to be buying. Once
the audience had been effectively hypnotized, once its judgment
and willpower had been weakened, the real sales pitch could
begin..." —J.H. Towsen, Clowns.
"Hoodwink: A symbol of the secrecy, silence and darkness in
which the mysteries of our art should be preserved from the
unhallowed gaze of the profane." -Dr. Albert Mackey, 33rd
Degree Freemason, The Encyclopedia of Freemasonry