zany

adj

1. Unusual and awkward in a funny, comical manner; outlandish; clownish.

   “And I will admit now but never then that, more than once, listening to the Viennese chattering their zany German on the pavements, or taking himself to one of the struggling small theatres that were cropping up in cellars and bombed houses...”

   “Press articles emphasized his [Dizzy Gillespie's] ambassadorial role and drew attention to the paradox that he was a shrewd musician and leader despite his zany image.”

   “When playing for Connie Mack, Rube [Waddell]'s pattern after one of his zany outbursts usually involved promises of good behavior and a spurt of excellent pitching.”

   “This runs counter to the play, where Grandpa is always benignly indulgent of all his zany progeny and their equally zany spouses, and is even somewhat zany himself.”

   “The montage goes on to show scenes of Carla singing, dancing, meditating, breaking the tension amongst her co-cheftestants with sing-a-longs and “hootie-hoo” lessons, and ultimately wooing the judges with a combination of her zany personality and solid cooking skills.”

2. Ludicrously or incongruously comical.

noun

1. (archaic)A fool or clown, especially one whose business on the stage is to imitate foolishly the actions of the principal clown.

   “Then write that I may follow, and so be / Thy echo, thy debtor, thy foil, thy zany.”

   “O great restorer of the good old stage, / Preacher at once, and Zany of thy age!”

   “So there he caught me lying like a zany on the ground. You may guess I stood at attention soon enough, but told him I was looking at the founds to see if they wanted underpinning from the floods.”

verb

1. (obsolete)To mimic foolishly.