Pennywise is the shapeshifting clown villain from Stephen King's IT, first published as a novel in 1986 and brought to a new generation by the 2017 film adaptation. As a horror icon, his voice and laugh became instantly recognisable, and short clips of his dialogue spread across soundboards, video edits and short-form horror content. Creators keep returning to him because a couple of seconds of Pennywise instantly signals danger, dark humour, and classic horror, even without showing the film itself.