When he was a child, Claudio was always bullied and laughed at, which affected him psychologically. Watching evil clowns on television growing up, like The Joker and Pennywise, he was inspired to become a clown himself when he was an adult. But his aim wasn't to make others laugh... it was to make *himself* laugh by beating and torturing those that cross him. While he may be a brute, he isn't against showing compassion to people that he likes, but those people are few and far between.