Tractable

Docile, Easily Managed (adj.)

Grupo the sad clown could juggle chainsaws. He could hit an apple sitting on a beautiful woman's head with a knife. He could put a smile on an unhappy child's face by pulling a never-ending hankerchief made of all the colors of the light spectrum from his painted mouth.
He was also the best employee the circus had. He never got angry. Even when they lost funding for the elephant riding portion of his act and repo men came and took his elephants away, creatures he cared for greatly--he didn't protest. Even when they fired his fiance Mammy, the trapeze artist, because she was muslim and the manager said that no one would come to watch a circus with a terrorist in it--he didn't question his manager's decision.
Yes, Grupo was an obeidient clown.
And one day Stoompa, the Prussian giant, approached Grupo with a look of concern.
"Grupo," he said, "I've noticed that you haven't taken off your makeup for some time, not even after shows. This doesn't seem healthy to me."
Grupo brought his hand to his cheek. He felt the old crust of a clown's face: the downward painted smile, the large painted tear falling from his eye.
"Oh," he said, blinking, "I guess I didn't even notice."