Illustration of Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
It’s Saturday night at a Los Angeles strip club, and a pigtailed clown with a face full of greasepaint is twerking upon a bed of Legos. The crowd is going berserk, some clapping and cheering and throwing dollar bills on-stage as the clown stripper continues to play coquette, taking off their top and striking a series of sensual poses with cartoonish glee. But the majority of onlookers just stare in open-mouthed horror, covering their eyes when it’s clear the clown stripper is about to do the splits. And as soon as it happens, at least one person lets out a bloodcurdling scream. Another looks as if they’re about to pass out.
“People have those kinds of reactions all the time,” said Seraphina, who usually performs their signature bed of Legos act under the stage name Demonic Cupcake. And as they also noted, incorporating eye-popping sideshow stunts into already-sensual performances will usually make a gig even more lucrative, with some people even handing them $20 bill while begging, “‘Please don’t.’”
They stifled a laugh, “And I just take it from their hand, look them in the eye, and stomp really hard.”