Aussie clown also known as Jolly Goodfellow died in LA

Friends of street entertainer and globetrotting fool Jolly Goodfellow have raised more than £16,000 to return his remains – and his possessions – back to Australia.

The performer, also known as Rumpelstiltskin, or Rumpel as well as Sean Goodfellow – died in Los Angeles last week.

Now a crowdfunding campaign to return his ‘endless stashes of props, fabulous costumes, musical instruments, drawings, and incredible documentation’ – as well as his remains back hoe to Australia. 

Funds will also be used to cover the costs to his family of resolving all the complicated legal issues associated with a death in a foreign country. 

Some of the funds will also help cover an ‘an inclusive, joyous memorial gathering and service in his honour'.

Raised in Melbourne, Goodfellow performed all over the world. He was a regular at the Glastonbury Festival, with one official social media account of the event posting: ‘He performed for us for many years and was a favourite of so many people. Some performances he would go on all day.’

In 2012, he even staged a 53-hour show in Lublin, Poland. 

He was the original Fool on the Hill character in the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show Love, in Las Vegas, playing the role for two years. He played the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival two years later.

Among those paying tribute after his death was John Godbolt, who runs the Cornwall-based street entertainment agency Megabeast Productions. He said: ‘I remember seeing his 25-hour one-man show… It was supposed to be 24 hours but he accidentally overran and did another hour!  It was incredible how he just kept going [with the] same energy. He would collapse at the end of his show and be carried around the festival site in a big silly joyous parade.’

And David Litchenstein of Clowns Without Borders said: ‘Artis the Spoonman said that a clown plays a role, but a  fool lives a life. Nobody was as true a fool as Rumpel. His shows were full of love, innocence and above all chaos, a true original, everybody has their Rumpel stories. 

‘He would often live days at a time in his crazy jester costume and stay in character all the time., Eventually becoming famous for performing 24 hour and 48 hour long marathon shows. His life was often as chaotic as his shows. He performed in 60 different countries and often needed help from friends to get from one to the next.’

Australian comedian Damian Callinan added: ‘Rumpel was cut from a single piece of gloriously unique fabric. The first time I met him I looked around for the medieval time portal through which he’d clearly stepped.’

And British comic and magician Paul Zenon posted: 'Am really upset to hear that Rumpel has gone. I can’t think of any better example of ‘iykyk’. What a unique, lovely human. Despite officially changing his name to Jolly Goodfellow, he was known generally as Rumpel (short for Rumpelstiltskin). That’s the way it works.

‘I don’t really like the way the terms "clown" and "fool" are currently used, but I can’t think of any better description for Rumpel. In the very most loving, positive way. Be gone you silly goose.’

Published: 20 Sep 2026