We like our legacies to run in straight lines, comedy or tragedy, never both. Then there's Red Skelton, a man who defined physical comedy for three generations of television, yet made more money privately painting sad clowns than he ever did on network TV.

This deep dive uncovers the man behind the makeup, a performer who rejected the word "comedian" in favor of "clown" because a clown uses pathos to show what life is truly like. We trace his journey from grinding poverty to broadcast dominance, and the unimaginable losses he channeled into public comfort.

• How a fatherless boy selling newspapers learned that physical misfortune could mean survival and laughter
• His teenage wife Edna Stillwell becoming his writer, manager, and the architect of his early career
• The wartime breakdown, the stutter, and the dying soldie ...