• Alyson Court played Loonette the clown in The large comfortable sofa from 1992 to 2002
• At 16, she participated in the demo, unaware that she was embarking on a decades-long journey as Loonette the Clown.
• Alyson returns to filming her final season of The large comfortable sofa when she was six months pregnant with her son

Alyson Court was just a teenager when she started playing Loonette the Clown on The large comfortable sofa.

The Canadian children’s series from the early 1990s experienced a boom that the actress could never have imagined. What seemed like “just a job” at the time became a big part of her life, Court told PEOPLE.

“At first it was just, ‘This is the character I’m playing and my life is outside of him.’ And then I started interacting with little children who loved the series,” says the 50-year-old actress. “I understood the need for good behavior, but there was still a big distance between doing the show and the impact it had on the world.”

There was no indication that the series would become a phenomenon at first, where Court would clown around with his castmates in the summer heat.

“I remember our first season. Where we filmed, we didn’t have air conditioning at that time and we were filming in July. The noses we wore for the first season were heavier rubber,” she remembers.

“Our lighting director dimmed the set lights when we went out to lunch, and it said 104 degrees in the studio. Obviously, with all the lights on, it was way more. We’re trying to do these scenes, and our noses are they just slide down our faces because the glue melts,” she says with a laugh.

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Court played Loonette throughout the show’s original run, from 1992 to 1996. There was a long hiatus until her final season as the character, in 2002.

“We were greenlit for the last 13 episodes, and there were discussions about a feature film, so everyone stayed engaged in those conversations. We were keeping the property alive,” she explains.

“That’s when dolls started coming out. First it was Molly dolls and everyone wanted a Molly doll. Then there were books and videos available. They started making other toys like Snicklefritz dolls. There were even Loonette dolls, and some talking Loonette dolls, which was weird, but it was all about keeping things going.”

She continues: “When we came back to do season 6 in 2002, at that point I had done the tour on stage and I was pregnant. Doing that season six months pregnant was amazing too because that I can watch these episodes and I say to myself: “Here is my son, he is here. He was in this season.”

It meant a lot to Court to embrace motherhood while still keeping Loonette a part of her.

“I was about to become a mom and I had so many experiences with little kids that there was a huge aspect to wanting to do this thing. I wanted to be a part of it because it’s almost a legacy At that point, right? So it came back and we did these 13 episodes,” she says.

Court’s son, Blaede, was only 2 months old when he began performing the character and his mother was one. She was preparing to work with a charity called Dreams take flight

“The charity works with Air Canada to take the children Disney World for the day. The only criteria is if there is something in your childhood that keeps you from going to Disney World – whether it’s illness, economic hardship, abuse – and we’ll take those kids for the day. »

I was getting ready to make an appearance: “I was in a hotel room putting on my costume. I have my son on the bed and he’s looking at me (strangely) because I’m wearing the costume. I’m say: ‘No, my dear.’ It’s me. It’s mom,” she shares.

“I remember him looking at me, and all of a sudden you see recognition. He starts to smile when he realizes I’m a mom,” she continues. “That was one of the biggest moments, seeing my son put two and two together and then feeling comfortable with me as Loonette.”

Once he was a little older, “His dad would sometimes put episodes on for me if I had to go out and go to work. He would watch Comfortable sofa episodes because he knew it was mom.

Court also notes how this charitable work continued to take on more meaning, especially as she became a mother herself.

“It changed everything. It’s a heavy thing,” she says of her charitable work, which included organizations like Dreams take flight And Make a wish.

“Once I got involved in a lot of charities, it kind of completely swallowed me up. I would say it made me a better person, but it took its toll, especially at that age. charitable activities that I continued more than anything else.

Court is grateful to see what mark Loonette left on fans’ hearts and to have the opportunity to see it persist years later.

“It feeds my soul because people are really kind. They just want to express their love and gratitude. You can see them become that little kid again, in that moment,” she says.

“It’s especially true when we’re taking pictures together, and then I poke my nose in without them realizing it, and then they look over and they lose it. It’s those giddy little kids again. C “So it’s wonderful to be part of something that has had this impact on people for decades.”

Today, Blaede is all grown up and has a pretty healthy view of her mother’s fame.

“He’s typical in the sense of, ‘Oh, I don’t want to talk about my mom,’ which is what I wanted. He needs to have his own life and live in his world, not in my bubble. But I also joked with him once he was a teenager and i would end up being the. best winger Never. And he didn’t know what that meant, but I said, “Trust me.” ”

“Around Christmas, right before the pandemic, I brought gifts for his teachers and stuff to school. I came to drop them off and he was like, ‘Hey, some of my friends want to meet you “, and they were girls. In the past, Blaede had kind of ignored him. He’d always been quiet, but he was a little forgetful. And I remember whispering to him as he left, like, “I told you, best wingman.”

Although Blaede wasn’t always enthusiastic about Loonette the Clown, Court scored some interesting points with her role in the animated film. Scott Pilgrim.

“I managed a bit of a Canadian casting, which was cool. He loves Scott Pilgrim so much, so I was excited to finally be a part of something my son would think was cool. “

“It’s funny because he’s very stubborn,” she adds. “He’s very opinionated. He’s also incredibly bright and creative. I can see him kind of wanting – he’s doing his own thing, and I can give him comments or criticism and he’ll act like he doesn’t know not what I’m talking about But then sometimes he’ll end up doing what I suggested or whatever.

“I know he values ​​my opinion, certainly because of the amount of work I’ve done,” Court says, “and I think he’s starting to respect it more.”