Elvis Presley and a clown walk into a bar … and after some music, comedy and magic, out walks Clownvis Presley.
With full clown makeup and the trademark Elvis jumpsuit, shades and slicked-back hair, Clownvis Presley has crafted a unique persona, mixing comedy with crooning vocals on original music—and, of course, classics by The King and others (with a fair share of parody).
Ever since his infamous, boo-filled America’s Got Talent audition, Clownvis has been a force in the entertainment world, both live performances as well as skits and live streams on his social media accounts, including weekly live streams on the Clownvis Presley YouTube channel.
You can catch Clownvis when he brings the circus to town at 8:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 21, at Cypress.
“Oh man, I love Reno,” said Clownvis (whose real name is Michael Leahy) during a recent phone interview. “I’ve got a real fondness for Reno. I feel like it pairs well with my aesthetic and my vibe. I haven’t been out since before 2020, so it’s been a few years, but I’ve played there a few times, and I just really love Reno. It’s just the right vibe for me.”
He said Reno has been a reliable place for Clownvis to find an appreciative audience.
“Usually what I do goes over pretty well, but sometimes people gotta be won over, and I’ve got to convince some people,” Clownvis said. “Other towns are rough and ready, and willing to get silly real quick, and Reno’s one of those towns. Reno matches my energy right away, which I love.”
Four hours southeast of Reno, in Tonopah, you’ll find the Clown Motel, and among the clown- and horror-movie-themed rooms, you’ll find Room 222 (112), aka the Clownvis Suite. The walls are adorned with Clownvis fanart, items from Clownvis’ personal collection, and even, according the hotel website, “a malevolent entity who has a tendency of waking our guests in the early hours of the morning.”
“I’m pretty proud of that,” Clownvis said. “I haven’t stayed there since they put that room there in about 2020. I’ve been out to the hotel before that, but I haven’t been there since it’s been my room, oddly enough. I get a free pass (to stay the night), and I could move in there if I wanted to. Part of the deal was that I get to stay there for free if I’m close—but when the hell am I close to there? It’s in the middle of nowhere.”
Even during intense tour periods with only a day or two off per week, Clownvis still makes time for his weekly livestream Clownvis to the Rescue, along with other social media content.
“Part of the deal was that I get to stay there for free if I’m close—but when the hell am I close to there? It’s in the middle of nowhere.”
Clownvis Presley, on his themed suite at Tonopah’s clown motel
“Balance is the word there,” he said. “I love them both equally. I love performing live; that’s my first love, and then during COVID-19, the times when everything stopped touring, that’s when I started live streaming and found ways to build an audience online. Since then, it’s just got exponentially better over time online. The live show is so dialed in, and I have so many fun songs and fun bits that I know work, and they’re finely tuned. But then stuff with the internet is really a way to work out new material—to try things that I might not do onstage, things that might float, and they might fail. The internet is still the Wild West for throwing out ideas and seeing what resonates with people. It’s a balance, but it’s a fun balance.
Consistent performing, both in person and online, comes with plenty of pressure, but Clownvis said he takes it all in stride.
“It’s not a bad pressure, but it does feel like you’ve got to feed the machine to get the rewards of being on people’s page, getting that feedback, and getting the results you want, just like any job,” he said. “It’s a fun one, for sure, to try to plan out for the week. I just be strategic about it and figure out what stuff I want to put up, because sometimes I’m funny; sometimes I try to be inspirational; sometimes it’s just singing songs for the hell of it. I just kind of fly by the seat of my pants and throw it all out there and see what sticks.”
Clownvis’ genre-bending and aesthetic-clashing style leaves plenty of room for creative freedom.
“There are zero parameters for what I do,” he said. “It’s really from the heaviest stuff to the silliest stuff—and then Halloween comes around, and I like doing kind of goth, scary stuff. Then Christmas comes around, and I love the holidays. I’m pretty well-rounded with what I enjoy, and I think that’s what shines through. When someone’s actually enjoying what they’re doing, that’s when it resonates with people.”
Clownvis calls himself the “King of Clowns,” and while the Elvis connection by itself warrants the title, his clown-ections with red-nosed icons like Insane Clown Posse, Mac Sabbath and Puddles Pity Party means he’s earned his stripes … literally.
“I’m lucky to get along with all the biggest clowns in America,” he said. “I’ve got relationships with all of them. It’s just really sweet, and Puddles and I have a great mutual admiration for each other; he’s probably my best friend in the business. He’s helped me out a lot since we met. We met when I started doing my livestream. I knew him from being on America’s Got Talent—not personally, but I was on America’s Got Talent about five years before him. It was a fun catastrophe when I was on, but then he was on as a singing clown and went pretty far. We get along great, and we talk every week. He’s an idea man like me, and we bounce ideas off each other.”
Clownvis said 2026 is a golden era for clowns.
“I think clowns are such underdogs after a lot of years,” he said. “… I think all clowns want to see other clowns win and succeed, and clowns are hotter right now than they’ve ever been. We had a lot of rough years where everybody was scared and really hated clowns, but now they’re hot.”
Even when traveling starts to wear him down, Clownvis promised that his smile never fades.
“It’s physically a little tough and mentally a little tough, but every night is fun,” he said. “I’ve been doing this a lot of years, and I’ve learned to pace myself. It’s not just a constant party; I treat it like a job, and I take care of myself. Every night is so fun, whether it’s a huge show or whether I’m playing in some town I’ve never been in, at a bar trying to win over the locals. It’s always an experience for the people, and always an experience for me.”
Reno should be prepared to “expect the unexpected” at the upcoming Clownvis show.
“You won’t be able to tell what’s going to happen next,” he said. “There are original songs. I do a few choice covers that everybody will know. I do magic, but essentially, it’s a comedy show. I try to get everybody in tears; I try to get everybody splitting at the seams; and then by the end of it all, I just want people to leave with a magical feeling—like, ‘What the hell did we just watch?’ but in the best way.”
Clownvis Presley will perform with IV and the Strange Band at 8:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 21, at Cypress, at 761 S. Virginia St., in Reno. Tickets are $25.60. For tickets and more information, visit the Eventbrite link.