JOSEPH — A rodeo clown is not there just to entertain the crowd. He’s also a vital part of the crew there to protect the contestants from the roughstock once they’re thrown.

Battling bulls

“When it comes to bull riding, I go from rodeo clown to barrel man,” said John Harrison, who has worked as clown and barrel man for the past three Chief Joseph Days Rodeos. “The barrel is an island of safety for the cowboy. It’s an aluminum can that’s got padding on the outside for the bull and padding on the inside for me. My job is to distract the bull if a bull rider gets bucked off toward the middle of the arena and he can’t make a run for the fence, he runs to me.

“I will swat the side of the barrel to get the bull’s attention to get the bull to come to the barrel. When he goes and hits the barrel, the bull rider will take off running and that lets him get away from the situation.”

Harrison recognizes the difficulties bull riders face and does his best to assist. Unlike with saddle broncs or bareback broncs, there’s no pickup man.

“With a bull, you’ve got one option and that’s getting bucked off,” he said. “You might let go, but you’re still getting bucked off. … You don’t step off gently. You just hope that you tuck and roll good enough that you don’t get hurt.”

Of course, Harrison’s not alone helping the bull riders. He works closely with bullfighters Chuck Swisher and Nathan Harp, who have worked the CJD for several years.

“For the most part, especially with the bullfighters we have here, they are awesome,” he said.

Still an entertainer

The clown/barrel man also is an entertainer, though he’s not quite a stand-up comic.

“The difference is with a stand-up comic, he gets on the stage and gets to go for an hour and not get interrupted,” Harrison said. “But as a barrel man, you might have a cowboy nod his head and now you’ve got to run for the contestant. Getting in that rhythm is tough. … But the main part of my job is to entertain and to have fun with the crowd and fun with the announcer. Me and him will banter back and forth. The entertainment side is what the clown is for.”

One of his major shticks is his trick riding. He has Gus, a 26-year-old paint he’s had for 24 years.

“I got him when he was 2,” Harrison said. “His first show was when he was 3 and he bucked me off in the grand entry. They say God gives you one good dog, one good horse and one good woman and I’m waiting on my dog.”

One of the acts he does with Gus involves banter with the announcer, who will announce a world-famous trick rider who doesn’t show up.

“The announcer’s like, ‘John, did you go get him? I was supposed to go to the airport and I screwed up’ … so they have me fill in for him. … Then I do everything you’re not supposed to do on a horse — I hang upside down, run beside him and at the end, I do what they call split the neck.”

He also does vaults like they did in the days of the Pony Express, shoulder stands and Roman riding — standing up on two horses at a gallop.

He’s not sure how much longer he’ll continue the trick riding.

“I joke that at 19, trick riding was easy,” he said. “Now at 43, it’s getting a bit more difficult.”

Family friendly

Harrison makes sure his clown costume is not the spooky stuff of Hollywood and social media. He doesn’t cover his entire face with makeup or use a fright wig.

“On social media, people think it’s fun to dress up as clowns and scare people,” he said. “That’s something I try to avoid because I want to be friendly for kids.”

Indeed, he has a family-friendly act largely because he takes his own family on the road with him during the summer months. His wife, Carla, is one of his biggest supporters.

“My wife was my best coach, she’d say, ‘You’ve got to slow down,’ (to be more audible),” he said. “I’m from Southeast Oklahoma and I’ve got a fat tongue and my redneck ways, the words all get running together. But she’s my best coach and she’ll get me to slow down on my acts a little bit — my one-liners, I’ll try to hit the punch line there and try to slow them down. Also, a good high-end microphone is important.”

They have three kids: daughter Addy, 14; son Caz, 12; and daughter Charlee, 6.

He said none of the three seems inclined to follow Dad’s footsteps as a clown/barrel man.

“I’ve always joked that we’ve traveled enough that they’re going to want a job where they can walk to work,” he said.

But Addy is embarking on a line of entertainment of her own. She interviews rodeo contestants from a kid’s perspective rather than about the actual competition.

“I ask them things like, ‘What’s your favorite place to go?’ or ‘What’s your favorite candy?’ or something — the fun questions,” she said.

Caz said he hopes to one day ride saddle broncs.

“It’s safer than bull riding and bareback riding and easier on your body and I want to do something with the roughstock,” he said.

Coming to Joseph is always a big treat for the Harrisons.

“We love this community. There are great people,” John said. “It’s the salt-of-the-Earth-type folks here. Farmers and ranchers and people like that, the common-sense-type folks. We love it here, not to mention the beauty of the land.”