In 2019, Josh Thompson was a copywriter at FCB New Zealand, an advertising agency in Auckland. He had been in the role for about five months when an email landed in his inbox from his superiors. It read, “We’re having a meeting to discuss your role.”
Josh knew what was coming. The agency had recently lost a major client and had already started letting people go. The writing was on the wall.
What he didn’t know was that New Zealand law requires employers to give employees the option of bringing a support person to serious disciplinary meetings. A friend, a family member, a union rep. Someone to take notes and offer moral support while the difficult conversation happens.
Josh saw an opportunity.
He spent $200 and hired a professional clown named Joe.
Joe turned up to the FCB boardroom in full costume, novelty hat, colorful outfit, the works. As Josh’s managers began working through the redundancy process, Joe got to work too. He pulled out balloons and started twisting them into animals throughout the meeting. The squeaking was significant enough that at several points the managers had to ask Joe to keep it down.
When the redundancy paperwork was finally slid across the table toward Josh, Joe looked at it, looked at the room, and began mime crying.
A photo taken through the boardroom window went viral almost immediately after it was published by the New Zealand Herald. Josh became briefly famous worldwide.
He was still fired. But he left on his own terms, in his own way, with a clown at his side.
He Got Fired—So He Brought a Clown to His Redundancy Meeting
