If by chance some day you’re not feeling well and you should remember some silly thing I’ve said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled.

Skelton frames comedy as a form of service rather than self-display. The “clown” is not merely an entertainer but a caretaker of public spirits, measuring success by a private, delayed effect: a remembered gag that briefly relieves someone’s pain. The quote emphasizes the afterlife of performance—how a fleeting routine can become a personal resource for an audience member on a hard day. It also suggests humility: the comedian’s “purpose” is fulfilled not by acclaim, money, or prestige, but by having planted a small, durable seed of joy. In that sense, laughter becomes a kind of emotional first aid and the comic’s vocation an ethical calling.