Whether one enjoys "Quit Clowning" is very dependent on one's feelings on Keenan Thompson. Which is actually true for all the episodes of 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who', but more so than others. Personally am not a Thompson fan to put it lightly, but still saw the episode anyway because of being such a big Scooby Doo fan, as one can tell from previous reviews, and as someone who on the whole has been very pleasantly surprised by 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who'. Even when acknowledging that it is inconsitent.
The Scooby Doo franchise actually has a good track record with villainous clowns, especially the iconic ghost clown in 'Scooby Doo Where are You's' "Bedlam at the Big Top" and the Menacing Metallic Clown in 'What's New Scooby Doo's' "A Terrifying Round with a Menacing Metallic Clown", but "Quit Clowning" is nowhere near close to being on the same level as those. Actually consider it one of my least favourite 'Scooby Doo and Guess Who' episodes and it does nothing to change my mind on Thompson, in fact it reinforces it.
"Quit Clowning" does have good things. The animation has a lot of atmosphere, rich colour and even richer attention to detail. The music is dynamic and groovy, also loved the modern spin on the iconic classic theme tune for 'Scooby Doo Where are You', although it is too short. The voice acting is spot on from all.
Did think that the clown was cool and suitably creepy and there are a couple of inspired references (though likely to be obscure to many), particularly the Jeannie one, that don't feel cheap or shoehorned.
On the other hand, Thompson doesn't work. He doesn't dominate too much unlike guests like Steve Urkel and Jim Gaffigan, but all his jokes fall flat and are very unfunny. Also found him annoying and that he did not gel that well with the gang, despite supposing to be a friend it actually looked as though they disliked him. While finding the villain cool and likewise with the methods, the reveal was a letdown. The perpetrator was obvious too early for me (one of those something about them as soon as they're introduced) and the motive is out of nowhere and extreme.
Also found the mystery really weak. It is not only completely lacking in surprises and creepiness, but there was a dull going through the motions quality and it is very over simple and slight. The writing is very flabby and lacking in wit, there is an overuse of increasingly useless laughing gags that are very dragged out and incredibly irritating. It contains one of the very few times in the whole franchise where Scooby and Shaggy grated, just couldn't see how they could react to Thompson in that way and in an uncharacteristically grating way. A criminal waste of two timeless characters.
In summary, underwhelming in a lot of areas. 5/10.
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