Plot

In Jerry Lewis's first film in a decade, he plays Bo Hooper, an unemployed circus clown who can't seem to hold down a job. The film opens with a brief montage of clips from past Lewis movies. He then moves into a succession of jobs that he gets himself fired from including a gas station attendant and a mailman - all with disastrous results.—alfiehitchie

Circus clown Bo Hooper (Jerry Lewis) entertains the Florida matinee crowd, including his sister, Claire Trent (Susan Oliver), and her two children. Afterward, the owner reveals the circus lost its funding and must close. Bo's work experience is limited to clowning, but it is too late in the season to find work at another circus. He moves in with Claire and her disapproving husband, Robert (Roger C. Carmel), at their suburban house in Palm Beach while looking for employment.

Bo finds a job as a gas station attendant, and rushes outside when a beautiful blonde, Millie (Deanna Lund), drives in with her son, Peter (Stephen Baccus). However, Bo's attempts to service her car are a disaster. Gas overflows the tank, water pours out of the engine, and a tire explodes. Millie and Peter laugh, but the station owner is not amused and fires Bo.

Bo takes another job at a glass and mirror factory... which quickly ends in shattered glass.

Claire arranges a job for Bo as a bartender, but the go-go girls dancing on the bar distract him, and when he hugs one of the dancer's legs, Bo is thrown out and fired.

Bo takes another job as a table chef at an Asian restaurant ends with the customers attacking Bo.

Bo's next job is as a gift shop clerk which is is washed away when he opens a porthole window and water soaks his customer.

Later, at dinner with Claire and Robert, Bo admits he is ready to settle down with a steady job, but claims he has not found the right opening. Robert contacts his friend, Ted Mitchell (Leonard Stone), a city councilman with connections at the United States Post Office. Bo is interviewed, tested, and ordered to report for orientation in two weeks. Meanwhile, he looks for extra work to make his car payments. As he scans the newspaper outside a tennis court, Millie and her son, Peter, walk by. Smitten by Millie, Bo apologizes again for damaging her car, and tells her he is starting a good job at the post office. Millie is also happy to see Bo and admits she is a single mother.

Later, Bo moonlights as a disc jockey at a nightclub, and on a break, he imagines that he is a disco dancer like the character "Tony Manero" in the film Saturday Night Fever. However, his boss is not a fan of Bo's moves on the dance floor, and he is fired again.

Bo reports for work at the post office and meets his boss, Frank Loucazi (Harold J. Stone). As usual, Bo is klutzy, and knocks over paperwork. Frank warns that carriers are fired if they receive one hundred demerits, then introduces Bo to the floor manager, Claude Reed (Buddy Lester), who assigns him to train with Steve. Bo immediately knocks over stacks of mail, and also has difficulty driving the postal truck as Steve attempts to train him.

Later, Frank meets Millie outside and informs his daughter about the incompetent new trainee. She asks Frank to babysit Peter on Saturday night, but will not reveal her date's name. On his date with Millie, Bo is klutzy, but also funny, and she finds his company enjoyable.

At work, when Bo delivers a package to the Goodyear blimp, no one is on board, and he cannot resist the temptation to fly it. When Bo lands, he acts as if nothing unusual happened and walks past the crowd of police and spectators, but back at the office Frank yells at him.

Later, when Millie picks Frank up for lunch, Bo returns to work and their two vehicles collide. Frank is furious to learn Millie is dating Bo, who is equally shocked to learn she is Frank's daughter. Millie admits she did not tell her father about Bo because her ex-husband was a mail carrier, and now Frank does not want her to date postal workers. Frank gives Bo 10 demerits, orders Bo to stay away from his daughter, and plans for the additional ninety demerits needed to fire Bo.

Frank gives Bo the longest, hardest postal route, then tails Bo as he delivers the mail. When Bo crashes his truck into a lamp, Frank adds another demerit to the tally. Frank asks Ted, the city councilman responsible for Bo's hiring, to join him on Bo's carrier performance evaluation. To Frank's dismay, Bo performs perfectly and Ted congratulates him. Bo admits his performance was weak at first, but compliments Frank for being a great boss. Steve also congratulates Bo on not acting like a clown during the evaluation, but Bo asks Steve not to use the word because he is no longer a clown. Later, Frank apologizes to Bo and asks him to telephone Millie, who admits she loves him.

On Bo's last day of probation, Claude asks Bo for a favor. Bo was unable to deliver a pair of rabbits because the owners had moved, and because there was no return address, Claude kept them at the post office and the rabbits multiplied. Bo agrees to handle the rabbits and asks for Steve's help. Dressed as a clown, Bo delivers mail with Steve. A crowd gathers and follows them through town to a store parking lot. Millie and Frank also pull into the lot, and when Bo moves his postal truck, the two vehicles crash. A group of reporters surround them and Frank wants to fire Bo for violating the sanctity of the mail, but Bo insists he is quitting upon completion of his final delivery. Bo opens the truck door and dozens of rabbits hop out, to the delight of spectators and reporters.

Later, Millie and Peter join Bo as he heads to his new job at the Ringling Bros. Clown College in Sarasota, Florida.