First there were the middle-aged British nudie calendar posers. Then the 9/11 firemen. Now, a group of clowns from the San Francisco Clown Conservatory is coming out with a calendar of the class of 2008— naked. If this sounds like the setup to a documentary about pedophiles, you’re not alone, but the naked clown calendar actually benefits a great (though rather specific) cause: people with multiple sclerosis who want to learn the circus arts.

According to the Contra Costa Times:

Graduates of San Francisco's Clown Conservatory Class of 2008 have stripped down to their birthday suits to make a 2009 Naked Clown Calendar, a joyful and humourous work of art the clowns hope to sell in honor of a beloved mentor paralysed from the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) and others stricken with the disease.

These aren't the usual photos of clowns at kids' parties or falling out of cars. No, they're photos of clowns tumbling though the air, performing songs in the park or flying out of cannons — with pies and top hats hiding the naughty bits.
"Our goal was to create this sort of craziness in your mind," says Chad Benjamin Potter, the lead clown on the project. "When you think of clowns you think of costumes and makeup and hair. When you think naked clowns, that's something else entirely."

… Sales of the calendar will help raise money for the Judy Finelli Fund, a non-profit organization set up through the Circus Center. The fund works with the MS Foundation of Florida to do advocacy and research. It also will provide scholarships to people with MS who want to do circus arts

If the idea of a naked It staring at you from behind the word “September,” is a bit nightmarish, you can always just make a donation. And buy a Dilbert calendar.