Joel sat near us periodically indicating fools (7)
I believe the answer is:
jesters
'fools' is the definition.
('jester' can be a synonym of 'fool')
'joel sat near us periodically' is the wordplay.
'periodically' means one should take alternating letters (letters must be selected 'every so often').
'joel'+'sat'+'near'+'us'='joelsatnearus'
The alternating letters of 'joelsatnearus' are 'JESTERS'.
'indicating' is the link.
(Another definition for jesters that I've seen is " Jokers".)
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