clown around
slang To joke, play, or otherwise behave in a silly way. I can see you boys clowning around back there! Sit down and do the math problems I assigned. The kids are just clowning around with each other in the back yard, if you want to call them for dinner.
clown around (with someone)
Fig. to join with someone in acting silly; [for two or more people] to act silly together. The boys were clowning around with each other. The kids are having fun clowning around.
clown around
in. to act silly; to mess around. We were just clowning around. We didn’t mean to break anything.