Binky the Clown (voiced by Thom Huge) is a television personality, noted for his extremely loud and piercing greetings, most notably, "HEEEEEEEY, KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDS!". He appears to be a parody of Bozo the Clown. He was first mentioned on March 13, 1985 in the comic strips. He mainly just makes a few cameo appearances every now and then in the strip. In Garfield's Halloween Adventure, the character made his first appearance and was given a voice. Binky's first comic appearances were on September 15, 1986 (shown in an ad) and September 17, 1986 (in person). At the time he was
Binky sings Happy Birthday to Garfield.
the head clown at a circus.
On Garfield and Friends, Binky became more of a regular, and would modify his greeting to suit who it was he was greeting, such as, "HEEEEEEEY, CAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!". He also had his own segment on the show, during the 2nd and 3rd seasons, called Screaming with Binky, in which he showed up in the midst of a certain activity that required accurate precision and/or complete quiet and screeched his trademark greeting, ruining said activity. Most of these segments were cut in syndication, but have been restored for the DVD releases. His first television appearance was on Peace & Quiet. His last appearance on the series was the episode The Feline Philosopher.
Binky and Stinky
Binky's first appearance in person
Trivia
- In the comics, Binky is a mascot for a fast food chain called "Binky Burger", much like Ronald McDonald is for McDonald's.
- Jon's favorite mug is a Binky the Clown Mug, which often contains chocolate milk.
- In A Garfield Christmas, Dad reads a storybook called Binky, the Clown that Saved Christmas to Jon and Doc Boy.
- Jim Davis stated Binky was one of the most successful characters on Garfield and Friends, bringing in more popularity than any other minor character.
- In a 1994 comic, Garfield found a book by Binky called "The Art of Sophisticated Humor". After opening it, a pie attached within the book flew out and into Garfield's face.
- In The Garfield Show, Garfield stated in the episode Blasteroid that his contract didn't allow Binky in that particular series. In another episode of that series, Garfield said "Hey, does anyone remember Binky? Thought not."
- Binky may have a mother who was depicted in the Garfield and Friends episode Binky Goes Bad!. However it's more likely she was a policeman disguised as his mother given the events of the episode.
- In Garfield and Friends, Binky has a 900 number that will send Binky the Clown to the caller's house to sing a birthday song to the tune of "Freres Jaques".