Joseph Brosnahan, aka Joe the Clown who has been made famous after attending a redundancy meeting as a support person. 20 September 2019 New Zealand Herald photograph by Dean Purcell.
Joseph Brosnahan, aka Joe the Clown who has been made famous after attending a redundancy meeting as a support person. 20 September 2019 New Zealand Herald photograph by Dean Purcell.
Britain's most revered news source, the BBC, has listed the Kiwi support clown who sat in on an Auckland ad-man's redundancy meeting among their most memorable stories of 2019.
The BBC "alternative end-of-the-year awards" is described as a "round up of the moments that put a smile on our facesin 2019".
"Copywriter Josh Thompson could see the writing on the wall at work when he was called in for a meeting: he was facing redundancy. His managers encouraged him to bring a 'support person' to help cushion the blow, an option that is legally required in New Zealand," the BBC explained.
"But rather than bring a family member, a friend or even a pet, he splashed out NZ$200 [£100] on a clown called Joe, who sat making animal balloons during the meeting. The screeching sound proved to be somewhat of a distraction."
Joe the Clown and Thompson inside the redundancy meeting. SUPPLIED
Runner up in Joe's category was a Japanese student of ninja history who handed in a blank paper. Her professor realised the essay was written in invisible ink, following the ninja technique of "aburidashi", which involves spending hours soaking and crushing soybeans to make ink.
Brosnahan said the redundancy meeting only took 20 minutes, and for the $200 charged, was good value compared to 90 minute kids' parties "that can be a lot of energy playing games".
I CANT DECIDE IF I WANT AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT CLOWN, OR IF I WANT TO BE ONE. https://t.co/76SAKza9wX
Joseph Brosnahan, aka Joe the Clown who has been made famous after attending a redundancy meeting as a support person. 20 September 2019 New Zealand Herald photograph by Dean Purcell.
