STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Staten Island’s favorite clown is back — at least in conversation.
During an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast last week, “Impractical Jokers” star Sal Vulcano reminded the host — and the internet — about one of the borough’s strangest viral moments: the Staten Island Clown.
“Do you remember when clowns for a minute were like in the news everywhere because it was a trend that clowns were terrorizing towns?” Vulcano asked. “Where I’m from in Staten Island, we had the Staten Island Clown.”
Rogan initially seemed baffled as Vulcano described the figure that quietly haunted the borough in 2014: a lone clown spotted near train stations and streets before slipping back into the dark.
“It almost felt like our version of “Summer of Sam” or something like that,” Vulcano joked. “People were like, ‘If you’re going out tonight, look out for the clowns.’”
Locals who lived through it remember the frenzy. Photos of the yellow-suited, red-nosed, yellow-teethed figure standing on Staten Island corners blew up across social media, and the story spread to national outlets. Less than a week after the first reports, it was discovered that the “Staten Island Clown” was actually a promotional stunt by local film company Fuzz on the Lens Productions.
“It’s a small island and we’ve been trying to get as many people associated with Fuzz on the Lens as possible,” co-founder Michael Leavy previously told the Advance/SILive.com.
Fuzz on the Lens has since gone on to produce “Terrifier 2″ and “Terrifier 3,” which feature the demonic serial killer Art the Clown, among many other films. The Staten Island-born franchise even spawned its own haunted house at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort this fall, marking what is possibly the goriest addition in the event’s history.
After the episode aired, Fuzz on the Lens co-founder Jason Leavy revisited the moment on Instagram, sharing the clip along with the caption: “Way back when, when we fooled the world! This is wild thanks @joeroganexperience. The #StatenIslandClown lives on.”
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