* Fools Guild, California " jester " themed entertainment troupe

Cover art from Discworld Diary | Discworld Fools ' Guild Yearbook and Diary 2001 featuring Dr Whiteface.

Formally the Guild of Fools and Joculators and College of Clowns ( described in Wyrd Sisters and appears in Men at Arms and Making Money )

* Headed by Dr. Whiteface in Men at Arms and Fools Guild Diary

The Fools ' Guild is a trading and training organisation for clowns, jesters and other practitioners of slapstick humour.

This is in large part because, in contrast to the pleasant, airy environs of the Assassins ' Guild, the grim premises of the Fools ' Guild were originally the city's Plague House, and after that the monastery of the Brotherhood of the Infernal Zoth the Undying Renderer (" a contemplative order ", according to their literature ).

The Fools ' Guild have modified the frontage slightly with the addition of a giant Red Nose over the door and a canvas tent roof in winter.

The Guild was founded in 1567 as the Guild of Fools, Joculators, Minstrels, Buffoons and Mime Artists, but due to the peculiar predelictions of Lord Vetinari, the current ruler of the city, who hangs mimes upside down in his dungeons in full sight of a placard reading " LEARN THE WORDS ", the mime element has been dropped.

As Terry Pratchett notes in The Art of Discworld, humour, as a profession, is hard, and nowhere is it harder than in the Fools ' Guild.

The Fools ' Guild is not composed of people ; it is composed of clowns.

Upon the death of a clown, his face, dress, name and approved routines are passed on to another student, who will then assume that identity for the rest of his life (" His " being operative pronoun here, there are no women at the Fools ' Guild, the Council having concluded that women have no sense of humour ).

The Fools ' Guild is governed by Dr. Whiteface, a grim, hatchet-faced, gimlet-eyed clown in white facepaint.

That said, because it contributes little of any practical value to the city, the Fools ' Guild is not treated very seriously by its establishment.

The Guild of Assassins is located in a light, airy series of buildings next to the Guild of Fools and Joculators, which, being a far more sinister building, is often mistaken for the Assassins '.