This paper considers a new theoretical and practical approach to understanding unconventional methods of laughter-making in early modern English theatre. It establishes theatrical emotional reciprocity through French philosopher Michel Foucault’s theory on heterotopia and argue that theatre audience and their projections play a role in fostering a relationship between theatregoers and actors on stage. Further, this paper examines embodied communication on stage that allow for a new kind of laughter-making where the characters become the joke, instead of merely performing a comedic act. The success of this alternative method of humour-creation is facilitated through mirror neurons in the brain where mirror neurons are activated when the subject observes others’ actions. Using the character of Malvolio from Twelfth Night as a case study, this paper coins the term “anticlown” to discuss characters that demonstrate this alternative process to laughter-making and argue that this method expands the role of the clown beyond that of simple comedic providers.