Monroe’s Jane “Dotty” Swiggum entered the brightly-lit television studio and answered confidently, for a nationwide audience: “I am clown of the year.”
Of course, any resident of these parts wouldn’t doubt that. They know about Swiggum’s lifetime of clowning around here — to the delight of countless area kids — while the television audience had no way to tell. The Tuesday night studio audience just saw three clowns on stage and didn’t know, either. And that was the setup for ABC’s “To Tell The Truth” game show during its seventh season premiere.
The long road to Hollywood began months ago when Monroe’s 80-year-old clown was contacted by a casting agent, advising her own personal talent agent that the show producers felt she would be a great fit for the program. Hosted by star Anthony Anderson, the show has selected contestants claim to be someone with a rather unusual distinction or occupation. But only one is telling the truth, the other two are faking it; and a panel of celebrities question them to figure it out.
The other fake clowns trying to fool the judges were none other than stars Paul Ruebens, also known as “Pee Wee Herman”, and David Arquette, who politely extended his hand to help Swiggum to her seat at the very beginning of the show segment.
Then the questions began from the celebrity panel began. “My first gig was an adoption,” she answered one of the judges confidently. “I was so nervous I ran out of material.”
Her clown career — featuring many characters over the years — began over three decades ago after Swiggum attended a “Clown Camp” in Wisconsin and she has been a beloved fixture in the area ever since.
Swiggum has developed different characters for certain seasons, holidays and causes but her main character remains Dotty the Clown, and it was that gentle character that shown through her television performance.
From her work as Dotty, Swiggum has received recognition from the World Clown Association. That group named her its Clown of the Year in 2019; and Swiggum found herself inducted into the Midwest Hall of Fame for performance, costume, and makeup. She also received the Midwest Clown Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
That life’s work all led to the big trip to Los Angeles in December to film the show, of which Swiggum said she has long been a fan. Swiggum said the visit and filming was initially postponed for COVID-19; and that a recent cancer diagnosis made her question whether she would be able “to find my funny.”
But she still managed to wow the judges who, after recognizing David Arquette almost immediately — despite his heavy clown makeup — selected Swiggum as the “real” clown.
PeeWee Herman had trouble keeping his clown nose on. And after the taping, Swiggum stayed to twist balloons on the stage and later, meet some more stars, including Cynthia Erivo and MaMa Doris, Anthony’s mother, whom she was able to meet and get pictures.
“(They) came up to me to compliment Dotty and spend time with me, which made me feel so good,” she said.
Joining her on the trip were her daughter, Wendy Horbinski, and Talent Manager.
“We were shuttled to the studio with other heroes and imposters contracted for the show,” she said. “Each of us had our own dressing rooms, basic, just like you see on TV and served a steak dinner.”
Swiggum said the experience was the culmination of her life entertaining, a show that had taken her all over the country and even overseas.
“I can’t imagine my life not being a clown,” she said. “I don’t know how anyone could top the clown experiences I’ve been able to take part in.”
