Circus Episode

Everybody loves a circus, right? So what better way to add some colour and sparkle to a series than to have the characters join, or otherwise get involved with, a circus for an episode?

This trope is when a series or franchise that is not usually about a circus suddenly focuses on a circus for an episode. In Video Games, a single circus-based level would not qualify, but a game that features a circus prominently in a series that is not usually about a circus would. This also applies to films, books, and any other form of media that doesn't follow an "episode" format.

The circus episode provides an excuse for the producers to show off lots of circus acts. If any of the regular cast have talents in these areas, expect the plot to require their character to step up and perform in the show for some reason.

This trope mainly occurs in kid-oriented works because kids are more likely to find a circus setting appealing. When used in adult works, this is more likely to become a case of Subverted Innocence; beware if it turns out to be a Circus of Fear.

A common variation on police shows is for a crime (usually a murder) to occur in the circus, and the characters have to investigate.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Astro Boy: In "Robot Circus", one of the members of a robot circus, Reno is actually a human boy disguised as a robot. When this is discovered, the authorities try to take the boy away from his robot family.
  • Astro’s origin story also tends to have him working at a circus as a sideshow at some point.
• Chargeman Ken!: In Episode 58, "The Devil's Circus!", Ken, Caron, and Barican visit a circus. Ken doesn't have enough money for them to get in, but one of the clowns recognizes Ken and lets them in for free. Naturally, it's a trap set up by the Jurals to kill Ken.
• The first season of Hell Girl has an episode centered on a traveling circus and the twin girls who work there. While one twin is doted on and pampered by the ringmaster, the other is horribly abused.
• Michiko & Hatchin has a two-parter episode where a circus girl mistakes Hatchin for a boy and falls for her. Even after Hatchin reveals her gender they become friends and she stays with Rita. In the second episode it turns out the circus was really smuggling children and selling them as slaves. Luckily Michiko comes along and saves Hatchin. Afterwards Rita and Hatchin part ways.
• An episode of Miss Machiko features the main character Machiko takes part in a circus. Tamako, the vice principal is worried. The reason for this is because Machiko is performing in front of a large audience which means that she will end up with her clothes torn off. Her warnings fall on deaf ears. Sure enough, a tiger happens to get loose and tear Machiko's costume off.
• Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water: in "The Girl at the Eiffel Tower", we see glimpses of Nadia's life in her circus, along with one of her plays. Jean also follow her to her circus, along with the Grandis Gang, and the former had to save Nadia from the latter.
• The episode "It's Mr. Mime Time!" from Pokémon: The Series deals with the ringmaster of a traveling circus and her lazy Mr. Mime. When Ash is recruited to take the place of the Mr. Mime in the circus (in order to convince the Pokémon to come back to work), he gets mistakenly kidnapped by Team Rocket.
• Sailor Moon: Their Super S season can be considered as a circus arc, as the antagonist in that season is the Dead Moon Circus, with their leaders and monsters having circus themed powers.

Asian Animation

• Happy Heroes: Season 3 episode 33 is about Big M. controlling a magician from a circus. Careless S. mysteriously disappears while watching the mind-controlled magician's act, and Smart S. tries to find him.

Comic Books

• The Avengers: The origin story of the formation of the team (Avengers #1 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) features The Incredible Hulk disguised as a clown and juggling animals for a circus audience. No, really.
• Batman: Dick Grayson, being a former Circus Brat, occasionally comes back to the circus where he grew up to perform and/or help with a problem they have. In fact, Dick becomes co-owner.
• Hunter's Hellcats: In Our Fighting Forces #109, the Hellcats join a travelling circus in order to get close to a Nazi base in France. Their final battle against the Nazis takes place in the centre ring of the circus.
• Jonah joins a travelling circus as a trick shooter in #15 of the original series of Jonah Hex.
• In an issue of Legion of Super-Heroes, members of the Legion go undercover as members of an intergalactic travelling circus to discover a murderer: using their superpowers to perform acts.
• Many Marvel Universe comics have featured utility villains the Circus of Crime. The Ringmaster has a hypnotic device in his top hat that knocks audiences out so that they can be robbed, and all the acts are criminals who use their talents to steal and to fight heroes. They are one of Marvel's oldest villain teams, being first introduced as a group of Nazi assassins in the Golden Age Captain America series before a new generation Silver Age version of the team, with purely criminal motivations, was introduced in the short-lived original The Incredible Hulk series. Unfortunately, like a number of Silver Age villains with child-friendly gimmicks that look silly today, they're mostly jobbers now.
• Rulah, Jungle Goddess: In "Stone Jungle" (Zoot Comics #13a), a duplicitous press agent tricks Rulah into returning to New York City where he attempts to press her into being an act in his client's circus.
• Teen Titans: In The Fifth Titan (December 1966), the Teen Titans go undercover at a circus that they believe is brainwashing its audience.

Films — Animation

• In Big Top Scooby-Doo!, Scooby-Doo and the gang investigate the mystery of a chain of jewel robberies reported as being committed by werewolves. The team decides to go undercover as circus performers in order to catch the people responsible.
• In Boonie Bears III, Briar joins a circus and makes friends with the animals there.
• In El Mago de los sueños, one of the dreams of the movie involves a story set in a circus.
• In Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, the third movie of the series, the zoo gang join a circus to hide from an insane animal control officer.

Films — Live-Action

• In At the Circus, The Marx Brothers turn their usual brand of lunacy loose at at circus.
• The second Peewee Herman film, Big Top Pee-wee. The Cabrini Circus is literally blown onto Pee-wee's farm by a storm. He has to help them deal with disgruntled local townspeople who do not like circus folk.

• Charlie Chan at the Circus had the great detective and his Number One Son, Lee investigate a murder at a circus and agree to travel with it so it can keep operating while under investigation.
• The Circus is this for Charlie Chaplin's films. This story has the Tramp run away to a circus.
• Octopussy has one of its climactic scenes take place at a circus, complete with James Bond disguised as a clown as he tries to locate and shut down a nuclear bomb. The film also opens with a clown-disguised 009 being murdered by the circus’s knife-throwers.
• Parade: Jacques Tati's last film, is a filmed performance of a circus in an indoor theater. There are clowns and juggling and acrobatics and whatnot, as well as some of Tati's old mime routines.

Literature

• One of the chapters of Around the World in Eighty Days follow Passepartout's story after he separated from Fogg thanks to Fix's machination, from the time where he join a circus to the time he was found by Fogg.
• Chet and Bernie: To Fetch a Thief centers around a travelling circus that comes to Chet and Bernie's town. Chet and Bernie are hired by Popo the Clown to investigate the disappearance of Peanut the elephant.
• In Doctor Dolittle's Circus, Doctor Dolittle and his animal friends join a circus to make some money, taking advantage of his ability to talk to the animals to put together impressive performing-animal acts.
• The Famous Five:
  • In Five Go Off in a Caravan, the Five decide to go caravanning when they see a travelling circus passing; and they travel to the same ground as the circus.
  • Downplayed in Five have a Wonderful Time, when the Five stay in caravans alongside the "Fair-Folk", a smaller travelling circus.
  • The last book, Five are Together Again, features Tapper's Travelling Circus.
• The Madeline book and TV special Madeline and the Gypsies involve Madeline and Pepito joining a traveling circus.
• Nick Velvet: In "The Theft of the Circus Poster", Nick gets involved in the world of circus performers when he is hired to steal an old poster from a collection of circus memorabilia.
• In the Phryne Fisher novel Blood and Circuses, Phryne goes undercover as a trick rider in a small travelling circus to investigate strange goings-on.
• Pinocchio's Promise is a book based on Disney's Pinocchio. In this book, Geppetto tasks Pinocchio with delivering a cuckoo clock he made to Mrs. Romano as fast as he can. On his way to Mrs. Romano's house, Honest John tricks Pinocchio into trading Mrs. Romano's cuckoo clock for a pair of circus tickets so Pinocchio can go to the circus while Honest John delivers the clock. Pinocchio agrees to it, but by the time he gets to the circus, the ticket man reveals to him that the tickets Honest John gave him are not valid. Afterwards, Pinocchio gets separated from Jiminy, squirted by the elephants, tossed about by the clowns, lands on a trick horse, gets tossed into a pile of hay by a strong man, and caught by a lion who at first appears ferocious, but then starts to play with him like a toy. When Pinocchio reunites with Jiminy, he reports Honest John to a policeman, resulting in Honest John being arrested and him getting Mrs. Romano's cuckoo clock back. At the end of the book, Geppetto is disappointed in Pinocchio for delivering the clock late, as he would have taken Pinocchio to the circus if the clock was delivered on time.
• In the The Railway Series story, "Henry and the Elephant", the circus comes to the Island of Sodor. The engines have a wonderful time pulling the train, until it is time for the circus to leave. It is later revealed that an elephant escaped from the circus and is hiding in Henry's Tunnel, and it's up to Henry, his crew, and the elephant's keeper to get the elephant back. This story was also adapted into an episode of the fourth season of the Animated Adaptation, Thomas & Friends.
• The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D. Hoch: In "The Adventure of Vittoria the Circus Belle", Vittoria Costello, who won a beauty competition organised by the Rover Brothers, and is now part of their circus, tells Holmes and Watson of two recent attempts on her life, the last leading to the death of Diaz the knife-thrower. Holmes and Watson visit the circus in Reading, and while they are there, Vittoria's body is found in the tiger cage, mauled beyond recognition. Holmes soon deduces that she was murdered before being thrown into the cage.

Live-Action TV

• Bones: In "Double Trouble in the Panhandle", the remains of a set of conjoined twins are found on an oil field. When they find out the twins worked at a circus, Bones and Booth go undercover to find the culprit.
• The Brittas Empire: The episode “At The Double” is about the Ruthenian State Circus coming to Whitbury as part of a EU initiative. Hilarity Ensues when one of the acrobats performing as part of the act, Vlad, is revealed to be an Identical Stranger to Brittas.
• The Bugaloos: In "Circus Time at Benita's", Benita interferes with the Bugaloos' plan to hold a circus by kidnapping Magico the Magnificent.
• Charlie's Angels: In "Circus of Terror", a circus owned and operated by an old fashioned thinking gypsy, has been plagued by some unexplained accidents. His son turns to Charlie for help and so the girls go undercover, Kris working for the knife thrower, Kelly as a stunt motorcycle rider, and Sabrina working for a mime.
• Cold Case: In "Metamorphosis" the team investigates the death of a teenage circus aerialist.
• CSI: In "Freaks & Geeks", the murder of a popular sideshow performer sends the team behind the scenes at a carnival freak show.
• CSI: NY: In "Blood, Sweat and Tears", a very small box is found on the beach with the body of a man curled nicely in it. What is amazing is that this box is only 2x2x2 feet. This leads the detectives to a circus where the man was working as a contortionist. Other performers and acts are shown as well, including clowns, elephants and the Ringmaster.
• Doctor Who: In "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy", the Doctor and Ace are captured by a Circus of Fear and forced to perform. This gives Sylvester McCoy the opportunity to show off his sleight of hand skills.
• Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: Mother/daughter issues are explored in "The Circus" when Heart and Atlantis, a rag-tag mother/daughter circus team from Ireland, comes to Colorado Springs. She involves the townspeople in
• Father Brown: In "The Invisible Man", the circus returns to Kembleford and local waitress Laura is held to her promise given in jest the year before to marry the clown or the hypnotist. The clown is murdered; in his dying breath he names the hypnotist. Laura's boyfriend, the clown's girlfriend, and another clown are all suspected.
• Get Smart: In "The Greatest Spy on Earth", CONTROL sends 86 and 99 into a circus to look for a smuggling operation.
• Gotham: In "The Blind Fortune Teller", Jim and Leslie are attending Haly's Circus when a snake dancer is murdered. The subsequent investigation reveals all kinds of tensions bubbling beneath the surface, including a pair of Feuding Families.
• Halloween Baking Championship, a Food Network show, had an episode called "Circus of Dread" that featured a set and two challenges themed after a Circus of Fear. The first required the contestants to make desserts based on one of four Tarot Cards. The second had contestants making desserts based on one of four original Monster Clowns. (Three were mannequins, but one was a person in costume pretending to be a mannequin to Jump Scare the contestants.)
• LazyTown: "The LazyTown Circus" features the residents of LazyTown setting up a circus, dressing up as clowns and other performers, and putting on a show. Robbie's evil plan to get rid of Sportacus in this episode involves shooting him out of a circus cannon, and Stephanie has her own subplot about learning to overcome her fear of the tightrope.
• Little House on the Prairie: At least two:
  • Season 6's "Annabelle" has Nels Oleson's estranged sister working as the Fat Lady in a touring circus, while Laura appears in it disguised as a clown.
  • Season 8's "Gambini the Great," where the youth of Walnut Grove are drawn in by an aging stuntman whose main event is the Burning Box. Much of the drama involves the stuntman's strained relationship with his sons, who have declared they do not want to carry on the generations-old show.
• Midsomer Murders: In "Send in the Clowns", things take a gruesome turn when Ferabbees Circus comes to town, bringing with it a chain of sinister clown sightings, threatening notes and deathly dangerous circus acts.
• Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Phryne goes undercover as the target girl in a Knife-Throwing Act in a small travelling circus in "Blood and Circuses".
• Mission: Impossible:
  • In the two-part "Old Man Out", the rest of IMF team poses as a traveling circus performing in a city park next to an impregnable prison, while Rollin allows himself to be imprisoned to rescue the physically infirm Cardinal Vossek, the leader of a country’s freedom movement who has been arrested and is being held in the prison for interrogation (and then scheduled for execution).
  • In "Command Performance", the IMF team poses as circus performers to rescue a priest who can bring down a corrupt Baltic defense minister and recover a hidden relic which contains state secrets.
• The Mod Squad: In "Color of Laughter, Color of Tears," a circus owned by an old friend of Greer's is repeatedly sabotaged, so the team works undercover at the circus to try to find out what's going on. Julie starts learning the trapeze act, Linc works with the big cats, and Pete assists the elephant trainer (a young Anne Archer).
• The Monkees: In "The Monkees at the Circus" the band goes to a bankrupt circus and pretend to be a French trapeze act in order to help them drum up business. The situation is made tense considering much of the staff, especially an irritable knifethrower, blame the rise of rock and roll music for their troubles. Eventually, the band manages to help with them putting on a concert with the usual circus program.
• Murder, She Wrote: The two-parter "Death Stalks the Big Top", where Jessica's search for her missing brother-in-law leads her to a circus that is going under, accidents are happening left and right, and the resident circus bully, Hank Sutter, turns up dead.
• Murdoch Mysteries: In "Blood and Circuses", a murder at a circus forces the men of Station House 4 to keep most of the circus acts jailed inside the station for the duration of the investigation.
• New Tricks: In "Big Topped", the UCOS team face the challenge of explaining the death of a circus ringmaster who burned to death in his caravan, leaving only his feet behind.
• Oobi: In "Pretend Circus!", Oobi, Uma, and Kako are disappointed when they cannot visit the circus because it is too far away. They decide to use their imaginations to create their own pretend circus.
• Pushing Daisies has an episode where the characters investigate the murder of the week in a circus.
• Quantum Leap goes to the circus in "Leaping in Without a Net", which has Sam Leap into a trapeze artist. Unfortunately, Sam is afraid of heights...
• In the Remington Steele episode "High Flying Steele", Laura and Remington go undercover as aerialist trainees at a circus to investigate an old "accident" that left another performer paralysed.
• Sanford and Son: In "The Greatest Show in Watts," a tenant at the Sanford Arms is unable to pay his monthly rent and offers Fred his elephant as collateral to raise money until he can pay. A zoning inspector gives Fred a citation for possessing a non-domesticated animal, but when Fred finds a loophole in the paperwork, he decides to turn his junkyard into a circus to avoid paying fines and/or having the elephant taken away - complete with him posing as the ringmaster, Bubba as a clown, Esther as a fire-eater, and Lamont as a muscleman.
• The Sherlock "The Blind Banker" involves a Chinese circus as a big part of the plot. They're really involved with a smuggling ring and end up trying to kill Sherlock.
• She-Wolf of London: In "Big Top She-Wolf", Randi feels strangely attracted to the Caleb Wakefield, the ringmaster of a rundown circus. The attraction deepens when she discovers that she does not metamorphose into a werewolf when she spends the night of a full moon with him. Randi learns that Caleb has a steep price for this 'gift' - all she has to do to be permanently rid herself of the curse is to sell her soul to the Devil.
• Tales from the Darkside: In "The Circus", an investigative journalist who enjoys debunking tales of the strange and bizarre investigates a circus that offers monsters on display.
• Today's Special: In the second-season episode "Circus", the characters put on their own circus in the store.
• Whodunnit? (UK): "Final Trumpet". When a circus owner suddenly dies, his half-brother inherits it. But, rather than follow his dead brother's instructions to divide the circus equally among its cast of performers, he instead wants to cash in and rob them of their inheritance. Which of them is it then who performs the fatal act of doing away with their unscrupulous new ring master?
• The Wild Wild West: In "The Night of the Circus of Death", an investigation into the source of Counterfeit Cash that threatens to undermine the US economy leads West and Gordon to a circus.
• One of the nearest things The X-Files has to a comic-relief episode ("Humbug") has Mulder and Scully investigating a series of disappearances in a small town that relies economically on the circus industry. Just about everyone they meet is a circus performer of some kind — even the local sheriff is a former "dog-boy".

Music

• Auryn: The video for "Puppeteer"; appropriately enough, the first single of the album Circus Avenue. However, given the sad tone of the song, it's much more somber than your usual Circus Episodes.
• The Beatles: A musical version with "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, when John Lennon found an old 19th century poster for Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal, with Mr. Kite at Bishopsgate jumping over men, horses, hoops and garters, through a flaming hoop, accompanied by the Hendersons and Henry the waltzing horse. The song incorporates four different kinds of musical organs, with calliope music spliced in after John told George Martin that he wanted the song to have a carnival atmosphere, yearning to "smell the sawdust on the floor".
• James Darren's "Goodbye Cruel World" tells of a man who joins the circus as a clown as a means of mending his broken heart.
• The Rolling Stones' 1968 TV special, The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus, was a live show set on a circus stage, which featured performances by the likes of Jethro Tull, The Who, and John Lennon, who performed The Beatles song "Yer Blues" with the "Dirty Mac", a Supergroup comprised of himself, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Mitch Mitchell, with the Stones as the closing act playing songs from their then-latest album Beggars Banquet. It wasn't publicly released till 1996, with some speculating that it was due to The Who stealing the show with their performance of "A Quick One While He's Away". It was also their last live performance with Brian Jones before his death in 1969.

Podcasts

• Quest in Show: “Ivan and Pontus” follows a circus strongman and ringmaster, respectively.

Toys

• The Freak du Chic arc/doll line for Monster High is themed around monsters who are circus performers.

Video Games

• Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled has the Neon Circus Grand Prix DLC pack as this, complete with circus-like skins, stickers, karts, and a racetrack: Koala Carnival, which takes place mostly inside a huge carnival tent complete with cannons that fire chickens and glowing hoops. Pasadena O’Possum and Ebenezer Von Clutch, two characters who appeared in the theme-park set Crash Tag Team Racing, make their triumphant return while Koala Kong, a boss from the original game, also returns.
• The Dragalia Lost event "Dream Big Under the Big Top" has the heroes visited by a traveling circus that plans on taking part in a circus competition. However, they are short staffed due to a rival circus having stolen all their members. To help them out, Euden offers his team to temporarily join them.
• In Ensemble Stars!, this is the point of the fittingly-named event Circus, which involves fine and 2wink working together with a local circus to put on a concert. This allows the Aoi twins to show off their street-performing skills, and Eichi to monologue to an escaped lion about how difficult it is to be the king.
• In Guild Wars 2, human characters can opt for their biggest regret to be that they turned down a chance to perform in the circus. They get a second chance in an early story arc that involves joining and infiltrating a circus that's actually a front for criminal activities.
• Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask takes place in the town of Monte d'Or, which is loved for its circus and amusement park. The game begins with a circus parade including jugglers, stilt-walkers, and a giant clown balloon. There are many Non-Ironic Clowns to talk to, and one minigame involves training a rabbit to perform circus tricks.
• Putt-Putt: In Putt Putt Joins the Circus, Putt-Putt is going to attend a circus show, when he meets the ringmaster outside, who desperately tells him that he can't get any of his performers to perform because they each have some sort of problem. Putt-Putt goes around the circus grounds and helps each performer. At the end, the ringmaster lets Putt-Putt take part in the show as thanks for his help.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Mario Party 8 is this for the Mario Party series. It takes place at the Star Carnival, a massive Amusement Park, and is hosted by MC Ballyhoo, an eccentric circus ringmaster, and his talking hat, Big Top.
  • Super Mario 3D World uses circus imagery rather prominently. For example, major bosses are fought in circus tents, most of the soundtrack is comprised of big brass band music, and instead of the usual Lethal Lava Land, Bowser makes his home in an Amusement Park of Doom.

Visual Novels

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All: The third episode, "Turnabout Big Top", is about a murder at the Berry Big Circus.

Web Animation

• Bugbo: In "Under the Oak," Bugbo and friends discover an abandoned carnival underneath an oak tree. The sole resident, Hollow Clown, tells them that he was forced to hide underground because the mayor outlawed all circuses after tripping over a circus ball. Bugbo and Gerbo try to get Gradient Joe elected as the new mayor so that he can make circuses legal again.

Web Comics

• Cobweb and Stripes: Chapter 18 sort of works out to be this, since Ginger is telling Lydia about how she and Jacques met and fell in love in life - they were both circus performers.
• Schlock Mercenary: In the "Barsoom Circus Command" arc (Book 11, part 2) Schlock's squad infiltrates a circus on Mars.

Web Original

• Hobo Bros: The Hobo Theatre episode "The Bowser Jr. Tragedy" has Bowser and Bowser Jr. go to an amusement park. Bowser goes off on his own to ride the Tunnel of Love ride, while Bowser Jr. starts to ride other rides when he suddenly stops to consider his relationship with Bowser, and things only get stranger from there.
• Jerma985 has The Carnival Stream, a 4-hour-long stream where Jerma plays the role of a carnival barker and sets up carnival games for the chat to play by using their input to control a robot that shoots balls, rings, or whatever object is normally thrown in each carnival game. The stream also includes performances from Cuddles and Polite Polly, a clown duo, a K'nex ferris wheel (which Jerma put a camera on to simulate someone riding the ferris wheel), and more.
• Stampy's Lovely World: In Episode 144, "The Big Show", the characters put up a circus act as part of the week-long 500K Subscribers Special.
• Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers: In "Mario joins the Circus'', Mario gets kicked out of Peach's castle because everyone is fed up with him, so he joins a circus owned by Waluigi and takes on different, menial jobs, such as cleaning up gorilla poop and taking care of the clowns, who are so hungry for affection that they need to be hugged every two minutes.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: In "Sad Face", it turns out while Jake sleeps his tail lives a double-life as a clown in a bug circus. Under the alias "Blue Nose", Jake's tail tries to convince the greedy manager to release Goralina, a chipmunk that's the abused star of the show's "wild animal" act.
• Alfred J. Kwak joins the circus in one of the early episodes as a young man, filling in for the circus clown while he's ill. However, when a dangerous human beast escapes during Alfred's performance and kidnaps the female star, he's forced to save the day with his improvisational skills.
• Animaniacs (1993): "I'm Mad" combines this with Road Trip Plot. Dr. Scratchensniff takes the Warners on a long car trip, only to struggle greatly because the Warners are fighting and arguing like bratty little kids the whole way. When they reach their destination, which turns out to be a circus, the Warners finally stop fighting and brighten up. We then skip to the end of the day, with the Warners and Dr. Scratchensniff returning to the car, and the Warners talk about how much they enjoyed their time at the circus. But then, the moment they start to drive away, the Warners start fighting again.
• Arthur: "Francine's Big Top Trouble" focuses on Arthur and his friends taking part in a circus camp, where Francine has trouble learning acrobatics and almost drops out, until she discovers she has a talent for clowning.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force: In the episode "Circus", Shake sells Meatwad to the circus to make a quick buck, then goes along with Frylock and Carl to get him back. Seeing Meatwad's popularity with the crowd has Shake attempt to win them over with an obviously fake Third Eye or disguising himself as Meatwad that only gets get stuff thrown at him.
• The Atomic Betty episode "Big Top Betty" is about the Galactic Guardians putting on a charity circus to raise money for the Junior Galactic Guardians. Unfortunately The Chameleon steals the money.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: In "Appa's Lost Days", we follow Appa from his capture by bandits to him being caught by Long Feng. This story include time spent in a Menagerie of Misery.
• In the Back at the Barnyard episode, "Big Top Barnyard", after accidentally injuring an entire troupe of circus performers, Otis volunteers to take over with the help of his friends. His circus features him as the ringmaster, Duke as a sheep tamer, Freddy and Peck as clowns, Pig as a sword swallower, Pip as the world's tiniest man, and Abby as an acrobat. Abby, however, is too afraid to do her part due to an accident that happened when she performed in a circus many years ago.
• Bad Dog has "The Flying Potanskis", which is about the Potanskis going to a circus, with Penelope intent on performing a trapeze move known as the "Quadruple Belinda".
• In the Betty Boop short "Boop-Oop-a-Doop", Betty and her friends are working at a circus, with Betty as one of the star performers.
• Boo Boom! The Long Way Home: In episode 6 the heroes encounter a traveling circus in a largely abandoned town, that has been caught in a bombardment. As such, most of the staff has fled. Only the ringmaster and the animals stayed behind. They help the ringmaster locate his trained lion, that has wandered off into town to look for her lost cub. They also get a private performance from the circus animals. Episode 9, the protagonists themselves briefly form a travelling circus.
• Most of the Bozo the Clown cartoons take place at a circus.
• Subverted with the infamous Caillou episode "Caillou Joins the Circus", where Caillou throws a massive temper tantrum after being upset by the fact that he can't go to the circus because it's wasn't supposed to happen until the very next day.
  Caillou: Silly old car! SILLY! SILLY! SILLY!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
• Camp Lakebottom: In "Big Top Terror", McGee finds a painting of a clown while snooping through Armand's old circus gear. They decide to frame it and put it in his cabin. Armand screams at the sight of it; the campers have accidentally summoned Doofus the clown. Despite Armand's protests, the campers insist on employing Doofus as their circus coach, oblivious to the fact that he is trying to kill them.
• The Chipmunks: In "The Greatest Show-Offs on Earth," Uncle Ben's Circus is facing foreclosure due to lack of business, and Alvin decides to help Uncle Ben revitalize his circus by signing him, his brothers, and the Chipettes on as new acts; all the while, the evil banker makes attempts to sabotage the circus anyway.
• In one episode of Chowder, the team of Mung's Catering is tasked with baking a circus tent out of bread (a pun on the phrase "Bread and Circuses") for a group of performers called the Flying Flinger Lingons. Chowder loves the FFLs' act so much that he runs away to join them. Because Chowder is Too Dumb to Live, Mung is worried that Chowder will destroy the circus, so he, Truffles, and Schnitzel sneak in to try and get him back. Mung and Schnitzel get in by putting on FFL costumes, and as a result end up taking part in the show along with Chowder.
• Count Duckula: In "Sawdust Ring", Duckula, Igor and Nanny join the Circus Straciatella after Alberto Stracciatella's employees have left due to not being paid. (Alberto has been trying unsuccessfully to buy a flying baby elephant.) Unfortunately for them, the former employees return to sabotage the performance.
• Cow and Chicken: "The Great Pantzini" has Cow and Chicken sent to the Red Guy's circus to be performers.
• An episode of Creature Comforts is themed around circuses and features interviews with real-life circus performers.
• Danny Phantom: In "Control Freaks," the Circus of Fear Circus Gothica comes to Amity Park. The circus is led by a Repulsive Ringmaster named Freakshow, who's using Mind Control on his ghost performers to make them commit crimes for him.
• In the Dennis the Menace episode, "Circus Berserkus", the circus comes to Dennis' neighborhood. Mr. Wilson has to take Dennis and Joey to it at Mrs. Wilson's request. At the circus, a wicked Ringmaster who was fired from the circus tries to sabotage it as revenge. His first plan is to release a live bear from its cage, but that plan is foiled when said bear ends up in Joey's possession. His second plan is to cut the ropes to the tent to make it collapse, but that plan is foiled when Mr. Wilson gets roped into a trapeze act. His third and final plan is to release a live tiger from its cage, but that plan is foiled when Mr. Wilson gets roped into a Human Cannonball act.
• The Dr. Zitbag's Transylvania Pet Shop episode "The Show Mustn't Go On" has Zitbag start a circus to entertain the Exorsisters and their nieces Listeria and Salmonella.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy: In "Rent-a-Ed," Eddy's latest scam is forming a circus act with Ed and Double D as "The Flying Eduardo Brothers". Of course, it impresses none of the other cul-de-sac kids.
• Foofur: Rocki hopes to become a performer after coming to the circus in "New Tricks".
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: "Circus of Fear", where Grim goes to an underworld circus with Billy and Mandy, who end up getting kidnapped by the ringmaster Doctor Fear.
• The third act of The Hair Bear Bunch episode "Unbearable Peevly" takes place at a circus. Mr. Peevly and Botch had donned bear costumes so they could infiltrate the bunch and learn their escape routes out of the zoo. The bears lead them to a clearing where two circus trainers mistake the keepers as two of the circus' escaped dancing bears. Once at the circus, the Hair Bear Bunch strike a deal with Peevly to get him and Botch out of the circus.
• The opening, closing and first season host segments of The Huckleberry Hound Show take place at a circus.
• Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling: In "Big Top Boobs", the wrestlers perform in a circus.
• The Inspector Gadget episode "Gadget at the Circus" has Inspector Gadget infiltrating a circus which is a front for MAD to commit crimes wherever the circus stops.
• Ivick Von Salza: The Little Lumberjack: Ivick and Vigoras visit one in one episode.
• In one episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny goes to a circus led by the Femme Fatale ringmaster Vivian Vixen, who has captured recurring character Jungle Boy, forcing him to perform circus tricks. Johnny falls for Vivian immediately, not realizing that she's evil. She takes advantage of him, manipulating him into helping her keep Jungle Boy under control.
• Kaeloo: The episode "Let's Play Circuses" had the gang set up their own circus.
• King Arthur's Disasters: In "Circus Calamity", Guinevere needs a temporary chaperone and King Arthur and Merlin travel to Baden-Baden to fetch Petal's cousin, Tatiana, a trapeze artist at Countess Griselda's International Circus. This may be a good time to point out the show is one gigantic Anachronism Stew.
• Lilo & Stitch: The Series: The episode "Elastico" has Stitch finding one of his cousins being part of a circus. After chasing after said cousin, the circus notices how indestructible Stitch is and offers Stitch to join them under the name "Indestructirado". For a moment, Stitch agrees to join and signs a contract due to Lilo ignoring him for the majority of the episode. Once he and Lilo make amends though, he has regrets over signing only to be pointed out by the ringleader that because Stitch used the name Lilo gave him instead of the name they gave him that the contract is null and void, allowing Stitch to return to Lilo.
• The Little Dogs on the Prairie episode "Have Gum, Will Travel" is about Scout ending up in the circus because of his amazing ability to blow giant bubble gum bubbles.
• In The Little Rascals episode "Big Top Rascals", the kids are denied entry to a traveling circus because they don't have any money to buy tickets. So they put on their own circus, charging the neighborhood kids 10 cents each, but Butch and Woim take unfair advantage of their free admission. Unknown to them, the circus lion has escaped its cage and wanders into the Rascals' tent.
• Looney Tunes:
  • "Big Top Bunny" has Bugs Bunny join a circus, with Bruno the Magnificent, a Russian circus bear, trying to get rid of him.
  • "Acrobatty Bunny" has Bugs at the circus dealing with a lion when the circus arrival wakes Bugs from his sleep.
  • In "Bear Feat", Pa Bear finds a want ad in the newspaper for a trick bear act at the Mingling Bros. Circus, so he trains himself and his family so they'll be ready for it. Near the end of the short, he finds out that the newspaper with the want ad is 21 years out of date, meaning all his efforts were for nothing.
  • Other Warner cartoons set in a circus include "I Love a Parade" (1932), "Circus Today" (1940), "Tweety's Circus" (1955), and "Three-Ring Wing Ding" (1968, with Cool Cat and Col. Rimfire).
• Looney Tunes Cartoons: In "Ring Master Disaster", a circus tent is built over Bugs Bunny's burrow, and Yosemite Sam is the circus' lion tamer. Bugs and Sam soon get into a competition over who is the better lion tamer.
• Misi Mókus kalandjai: On the way back from the journey, Misi and his friends visit a circus where Misi challenges the climbing champion for a reward. The ringmaster wants to employ Misi as the new climbing champion, but he chooses to return home. Bumba joins the circus instead of him.
• Mr. Benn: In "Clown", a clown suit sees Mr. Benn join a circus troupe, which had been stopped at a cliff on account of a collapsed bridge. It would take all their combined efforts to build a new bridge to get across so they could get on with their planned show.
• Oggy and the Cockroaches: "Fame & Glory", wherein Jack sets up a circus for Oggy after the latter finds he can't afford the real thing.
• In the Pac-Man episode "The Greatest Show in Pacland", Pac-Man and his wife take Pac-Baby to the circus for his second birthday. At the same time, the Ghost Monsters take little Dinky to the same circus.
• Phineas and Ferb and their friends put on a circus in their backyard in "Jerk de Soleil".
• The Ready Jet Go! episode "Moon Circus” focuses on the kids setting up a circus for Carrot's birthday. They can't do their stunts on Earth, so they take it to the moon instead.
• In one episode of the Animated Adaptation of Redwall, a travelling circus visits Redwall Abbey. The Abbeydwellers are suspicious of the circus, especially the knife thrower. However, while said knife thrower ultimately turns out to be benevolent, Big Bad Cluny the Scourge has some of his Mooks join the circus so they can infiltrate Redwall. Interestingly, this plot was made up for the cartoon, and was not present in the book.
• Rocky and Bullwinkle: The "Bumbling Bros. Circus" arc involves Bullwinkle becoming the Bumbling Brothers' new lion tamer after he is able to soothe a savage lion with his hum-a-comb (blowing through his comb through a handkerchief), but is also able to entertain the other animals with it. At the same time, Boris was fired from being the circus' lion tamer, so he makes continual efforts to sabotage the circus as revenge.
• Rubbadubbers has two, Sploshy's Tail, where Sploshy wants to have a tail like Winona, and Silly Sploshy, where Sploshy wants the other Rubbadubbers to clown around with her.
• Rugrats (1991):
  • In the episode, "Circus Angelicus", the babies are forced to leave the circus when Chuckie cries out of his fear of clowns, and Tommy cries to back him up. Angry that she has to leave when she wasn't crying like them, Angelica stages her own circus in Tommy's backyard. Her circus features Tommy as a "lion trainer" and Spike as the lion, Phil and Lil as trapeze artists, and Chuckie as the human "candyball".
  • In the episode, "Clown Around", Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi, and Angelica go to the circus. While the other babies have fun, Chuckie is afraid of clowns. Angelica tricks the babies into thinking that Chuckie is going to turn into a clown, and after having a red snow-cone, clown shoe souvenirs, and a run-in with a powder puff, Chuckie ends up looking like a clown. He even gets roped into the center ring to perform with the clowns. Meanwhile, Angelica sneaks into the center ring to be a trapeze artist, which gets her in a lot of trouble when Drew sees her.
• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The episode "Bedlam In The Big Top" had a phantom clown with a hypnotic coin sabotaging a circus.
• In the Sonic Boom episode, "Circus of Plunders", after a fall-out with Tails from one of his inventions, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks get jobs at T.W. Barker's Circus of Wonders, as most of his performers were reportedly sick from eating bad sushi. Sonic is given the job of running in the "Sphere of Fear" at unparalleled speeds, Knuckles becomes a Human Cannonball, Sticks becomes an acrobat, and Amy becomes a Sad Clown (much to her dismay). It is later revealed that Barker is an extremely cunning Con Man with two bears dressed as clowns as well as some robots he ordered from Dr. Eggman as Mooks, and that his other performers actually ran away from the circus. Thus, when he holds Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks hostage, it's up to Tails to rescue them.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: In "Bound for Rescue", the younglings join a circus to infiltrate Hondo's camp and rescue Ahsoka.
• In the Super Mario World episode, "Send in the Clown", King Koopa stages the Koopaling Bros. Circus, and invites the cavepeople to see it for free. Mario, suspecting it may be a trap, travels to Koopa's neon castle to see the circus for himself. After a performance from Koopa's mooks, it is revealed that the circus is indeed a trap, and Koopa captures Mario, his friends, and the cavepeople. With help from Princess Toadstool, Mario escapes and battles Koopa's mooks, leading to a battle with Koopa himself, reminiscent of the final battle from the game the show is based on.
• Superman Theatrical Cartoons: "Terror on the Midway", where Superman has to save spectators from a ferocious gorilla. Notably the last short made by Fleischer Studios.
• In addition to the adaptation of "Henry and the Elephant" (see the Literature section), Thomas & Friends also has the episode, "Thomas and the Circus". The circus comes to the Island of Sodor, and Thomas is chosen to pull the circus train. Due to how many freight cars there are, Thomas is told by Sir Topham Hatt to share the workload with another engine. Despite this advice, Thomas is determined to pull the heavy train all by himself, and as a result, breaks down towards the end of the episode. This breakdown leaves Thomas so sad, that not even the circus performers can cheer him up. After James and Percy arrive and bring him replacement parts and hay for the animals, Thomas apologizes to them and shares the workload with them.
• In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode, "Sawdust and Toonsil", Silas Wonder's Wonderful Circus of Wonderment comes to Acme Acres, and he invites Buster, Babs, and Plucky to see it. Is it later revealed that Silas is a Repulsive Ringmaster who captures rare and exotic animals, horribly mistreats them (practically poaching them), and extorts them for profit. When Gogo Dodo tries to rescue them, he gets captured by Silas, who needs him to complete his collection of rare and exotic animals. Thus, it's up to Buster, Babs, and Plucky to sneak into the circus to save Gogo and his friends.
• The Triplets: "In the Circus"
• Wacky Races and its two spin-offs, Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop each have at least one episode covering this theme:
  • In the Wacky Races episode, "Whizzin' to Washington", the Ant Hill Mob elude a motorcycle policeman by posing as a troupe of circus acrobats. Afterward, Dick Dastardly assumes the character of a circus ringmaster and has the mob perform a dangerous high dive.
  • On Dastardly and Muttley, the Magnificent Muttley short "The Big Topper" has Muttley imagining himself and Dick Dastardly as rival circus performers.
  • In the Perils of Penelope Pitstop episode, "Big Top Trap", Penelope and the Ant Hill Mob are rehearsing for their performance in a charity circus, where she does a trapeze act and they are clowns. As usual, the Hooded Claw sets death traps for Penelope, and even impersonates her at one point.
• Wonder Pets! had a particularly odd one that was a borderline Bizarro Episode. The three pets are part time heroes and in all other episodes everyone is a normal animal implied to speak Animal Talk. The circus is different. The ringmaster was a penguin, not a human, and the audience were all wild animals wearing clothing. It showed animals were riding a normal sized train in front of a school and no humans caring. You may think that this indicates that all the "humans" in the show (who are never actually seen) are actually animals that treat smaller animals as pets but it was explicitly said in early episodes that the humans were humans. The episode was full of Furry Confusion in a series devoid of it.
• Yogi Bear: In "Acrobatty Yogi", Yogi finds out that Cindy Bear is performing in a circus, so he leaves Jellystone Park to join it so he can be with her. The ringmaster gets him a job as a lion tamer, but Yogi runs back to Jellystone Park when he discovers just how dangerous the lions are.
• The Young Justice episode "Performance," where the Team goes undercover at Haley's Circus as a family of acrobats.

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