SENDING THE CLOWNS

Since the US House Republican-led show isn't going well, they sent in the clowns, in other words, let's try these jokes.
The show's best-known and Sondheim's biggest hit song was almost an afterthought, written several days before the start of tryouts.
it means to act stupidly to make other people laugh: to clown around when all hope is gone. Some folks always want to know, when listening to a song, what the end is going to be, so "Send in the Clowns" didn't settle in until the end is near, "Don't bother, they're here",