Channing Tatum's worst stripping job was when he had to dress as a clown.

The hunky actor—who plays an erotic dancer in new movie Magic Mike—previously worked as a stripper and was dismayed when his boss told him he had to put on a comic outfit for a routine, and despite his protests that it wouldn't be sexy he was made to go on stage anyway.

Channing told Access Hollywood: '' [I had to wear] a clown outfit—true story, not making it up. It was the worst idea that I had heard—and I had heard some bad ideas and seen some bad skits!

''I was like, 'Clowns aren't sexy—if anything they're scary. Why is this gonna work? 'And they were just like, 'Nah, nah—it kills, bro. It kills, bro. They're gonna love it.'

''I danced to, like, '99 Red Balloons' or something, I come out and ... crickets. Crickets. People didn't know if it was a joke [or] if it was supposed to be for real. No one cheered, no nothing. That was the last night I did that. I was like, 'What did I tell you?!'''

Wearing a Boy Scout uniform to perform while his sister and her friends sat in the audience was also a low point for the actor.

He explained: ''[It was] my first night of stripping and my sister and six of her friends came my first night up, which was horribly mortifying.

"My sister didn't watch, but all her friends watched, all in the front row, and I'm just like, 'This [Boy Scout routine] is the worst idea ever!'

"But the clown was the worst of all.''