Clowns pack London church for 80th annual Grimaldi Service

On Feb. 2, 2026, All Saints Church in northeast London held the 80th annual Grimaldi Service, where dozens of clowns in full makeup joined a 700-strong congregation to honor Joseph Grimaldi, a 19th-century performer considered a father of modern clowning. The pews were full as parishioners bowed their heads, sang hymns and listened to a Bible reading while about 30 clowns processed down the nave, including one on a miniature bicycle and another blowing bubbles from a toy saxophone.

The congregation read a prayer asking the Lord to forgive them “for all the times when we have failed to see the joke.” The service began in 1946, a few months after World War II, when clowns gathered at Grimaldi’s graveside to remember friends who had died, Mattie Faint of Clowns International said.

In early years clowns wore Sunday best; in the 1960s they began attending in costume. Laura Luz, the church’s vicar, said, “We can be faithful to God and also have a laugh,” and recalled clowns throwing a custard pie at her and encasing her in a giant soap bubble. Andrew McConnell Stott, who wrote a biography of Grimaldi, said there is no evidence Grimaldi was religious.

He described Grimaldi as a star of 19th-century pantomimes who in 1802 began using distinctive face paint so he could be seen from the back of large theaters; newspapers covered both his onstage feats and a troubled private life.

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