What happens when you can’t make it as a bull rider? Some might take a step back and realize they’ve been lucky to escape a career of putting their life and limbs in the path of 2,000 pounds of angry steer. Not Waylon Marshall.

“I tried riding bulls at first, and I knew I wasn’t very good at that, so then I tried fighting bulls, and that didn’t go too well either. Then a friend of mine was at a rodeo and needed a barrel man, so I put some makeup on my face and went out there,” the Lloydminster man said. A clown was born.

Before we go any further, Marshall wants to put one major misconception to bed right away. A rodeo clown is not a bull fighter. Those brave souls you see prodding a rampaging Charolais and thereby allowing a flattened rider to make a hasty escape are bull fighters. The clown’s job is to stay out in the infield, popping out of barrels and entertaining the crowd during breaks in the action.

“When I tell people that I’m a rodeo clown they say ‘my God, how dangerous’ and in a sense it is, but it’s not the same at all,” Marshall said. And he’d know, having been around the massive bovines in one way or another for many years.

“The bull fighters are trying to get away from that image of being clowns themselves,” he said. “They aren’t wearing funny clothes and make-up anymore, they’re the cowboy protection, and I’m the entertainment.”

As much as Marshall might like to downplay the danger, the fact remains that he gets paid to put himself in the infield with bulls. That doesn’t make him a crazy person, he insists.

“I’m not that much of a different person,” he said. “It’s more of a hobby for me, I do have a regular job as well right now. I’d like to make a career out of it, and fortunately there’s a large demand for clowns in Canada.”

In order to become a full-time rodeo clown, Marshall simply needs more experience. He’ll be the clown at the Jasper Heritage Rodeo later this month for the first time, and it’s only been four years since he started getting serious about the job.

“I owe a lot to Ash Cooper,” Marshall said. “I took one whole summer off and travelled with Ash around to all these events, and he really showed me what to do and not to do as a rodeo clown.”

Those summer sessions with a rodeo veteran might have provided Marshall with invaluable lessons, but nothing could really prepare him for the first time he stepped out in front of a crowd as the main man.

“The first couple of times I have to tell you I was scared stiff,” he said. “Not about the bulls, that don’t bother me, but about the crowd. You’re out there wearing a wireless mic and I just froze up — I thought I had to be funny all the time. Once you do it a few times, you just roll with it.”

With a few events under his belt, Marshall has discovered that the audience is there for the rodeo, not his comedic gems.

“It’s not the clown show, although some people say they come to see the clown. You have to work closely with the announcer and whenever the action stops, you should be ready with something. You want to fill the dead air.”

This summer won’t be Marshall’s first trip to the Jasper rodeo — he was Cooper’s barrell man on his training tour four years ago. This time, it’s all about Waylon Marshall, and he’s looking forward to putting on the make-up and heading for the forgiving dirt of the arena infield.

“I’ve been pumped all year, when they called to hire me for this event I was very excited,” he said. “I’ve been marking Xs on my calendar ever since.”

Keep marking your Xs, as the Jasper 

Heritage Rodeo starts on Thursday, August 16.