buffoon

Etymology

From Middle French bouffon, from Italian buffone (“jester”), from buffare (“to puff out the cheeks”), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Middle High German buffen ("to puff"; > German büffen), Old English pyffan (“to breathe out, blow with the mouth”). More at English puff.

noun

1. One who acts in a silly or ridiculous fashion; a clown or fool.
   To divert the audience with buffoon postures and antic dances. 1810, W. Melmoth, transl., Letters of Pliny
2. (derogatory) An unintentionally ridiculous person.

verb

1. To behave like a buffoon
   His mimicry of gay speech and facial expressions is analagous to an Amos 'n' Andy routine, in which white men buffooned their way through incredibly demeaning impersonations of black men. January 22 1988, Henry Sheehan, “Little Boy Blue”, in Chicago Reader