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The Congress of Clowns is a new collection of essays on Russian circus satire. The book introduces American readers to some of the century's greatest political clowns, including Vladimir Durov, Vitaly Lazarenko, Yuri Nikulin, and Boris Yeltsin.

Russian clowns, Russian political satire, and Russian theatre are discussed in these essays by Joel Schechter. The author argues that clowns are the "intellectuals of the circus," and when freedom of expression is restricted in Russia, circus clowns are among the most outspoken intellectuals in the whole society, although their dissent takes comic and indirect forms.

In successive chapters, Schechter examines Yuri Nikulin's plan to set free all the animals in his circus; the threat laughter posed to the Russian revolution; Stalin's direction of the Moscow Circus; anarchist tendencies of clowns and satirists; and Schechter's own revival of Vladimir Durov's trained pig act in the United States.