Ron Andrews has been clownin’ around for 25 years

ALBANY — With the recent rash of creepy clown sightings and scares around the county it’s important to note that all clowns are not creepy. Ron Andrews is proof of that.

Since working a child’s birthday party in 1990, Andrews, who is also known as Who’ee the Clown, has been hooked on clowning and has performed all over southwest Georgia — in front of scores of children and adults alike.

Andrews’ father in law Ray Katz got him started in the clowning business.

“Ray did a little clowning, but also worked in the movie industry as a make-up artist,” Andrews said. “When he retired and moved to Albany he had a little hobo clown he did on the side for kids birthday parties. He passed away in 1995 and somebody asked me to do somethings for them (and) I said ‘I can’t do that because that was Ray’s job.’ They said ‘oh, no, you can do it.’

“So I did the little party and said, ‘well, that wasn’t so bad.’”

And a career was born.

The recent creepy clown stuff, however, is different. It’s put schools into lock down modes and sent parents into tizzies, yet has never developed in to a real, organized threat. Andrews, 58, said he didn’t give it much thought.

“My real concern is that somebody is going to get hurt, and I’ve also heard that in 2017 there is a remake of the movie ‘It’ coming out and this maybe some of the hype for it, I don’t know. I’m just afraid somebody is going to get hurt,” Andrews said. “It could be just teenagers pulling pranks that has had a domino effect.”

“It” is the movie adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name that revolves around a supernatural predator, who can assume the persona of a person’s greatest fear, and terrorized a group of friends from childhood through adulthood.

Andrews, who also works a day job at Sellers Tile in Albany, says the recent phenomenon has not affected his and Who’ee’s business.

“It hasn’t hurt my business at all. I don’t think people look at me differently now,” he said. ” I’m not out at night, I’m not jumping out of the woods. I drive a polka-dotted car with a big key on the back … people know me.”

And as a non-creepy clown combo, Andrews and Who’ee have enjoyed the attention. In make-up or out, he’s had people speed up to wave or to snap a quick picture of the little polka-dotted white Scion with the big key. He said he once had three or four bikers with long gray beard roll past and give him a thumb ups.

Still, he gets the fact that not every child likes clowns. In fact some children are terrified in one’s presence. He learned that lesson early in his career.

“One of my first birthday parties, I did it for a friend of ours. When I got there everything was fine until this one little boy showed up.” Andrews said. “He didn’t like clowns so he went to the laundry room and would not come out. I told the people that I would be glad to leave, and the mother said ‘let him stay in the laundry room.’

“They served him his cake and ice cream in the laundry room, and he never came out during the whole party. Everybody else had a ball except for that one child. When I left they said he came out and was fine … he just didn’t want to socialize with me.”

And what did Andrews learn that day?

“When you get started you want every body to like you, but with some of those people it’s just not going to happen for them,” he said. “And that boy was one of them and he stayed in that laundry room for a good hour and a half. I learned then that there will always be people you can’t reach.”

But that doesn’t stop Andrews from trying anyway.

“There is no age limit on clowning, you can start at a young age, you can start at an older age,” Andrews said. “I’ve been doing this for roughly 25 years, and it was never something I thought I would do.”