Commedia dell'arte

The video is of German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück referring to Beppe Grillo and Silvio Berlusconi as "clowns", the latter with excess testosterone. The most elegant workaround this awkwardness in German-Italian relations comes from SPD party chief Sigmar Gabriel who tells the tabloid Bild --

Clown ist ja schließlich ein ehrbarer Beruf! 

Clown is after all an honourable profession!