A New Zealand man hired a clown to give him emotional support during a meeting in which his bosses told him he was fired. The New Zealand Herald reports the man had a feeling he was going to be let go so paid $200 to have Joe the Clown cheer him up by performing amusing tricks as he received the bad news. According to the report, the clown blew up balloons during the meeting and made them into an array of animals—including a unicorn and a poodle—and mimed crying when the redundancy paperwork was handed over. The newspaper published a picture of the clown attending the sombre occasion. The man, Josh Thompson, said: “It was rather noisy him making balloon animals so we had to tell him to be quiet from time to time.” Thompson admitted his choice of support person was a “touch unusual” but said his bosses saw the funny side. And it had a happy ending—he said he's already secured new employment and will start next week.