Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Is it true that there was once a vaudeville performer whose act consisted of nothing but farting?
Dear Matthew Alice:
A friend of mine has been trying to convince me that there was once a vaudeville performer whose act consisted of nothing but farting. My friend prides himself on knowing strange facts, most of which at least seem plausible. But this one I won't believe until you tell me it's true.
-- Ralph W., San Diego
It's true, assuming simulated farting counts. Between the late 1880s and 1914, Joseph Pujol, a Frenchman who called himself Le Petomane ("the fart artist," from petard, fart) cashed in big on a peculiar physical skill -- the ability to command his abdominal and rectal muscles to do weird and wonderful things. He sucked volumes of air into his rectum, then expelled it again in various melodic ways. He did fart impressions, smoked a cigarette, blew out candles, played tunes on an ocarina, and generally wowed audiences in Europe and America. A late-Victorian-era Benny Hill, apparently. And another clue to help explain why French audiences love Jerry Lewis movies.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Is it true that there was once a vaudeville performer whose act consisted of nothing but farting?
Is it true that there was once a vaudeville performer whose act consisted of nothing but farting?
Dear Matthew Alice:
A friend of mine has been trying to convince me that there was once a vaudeville performer whose act consisted of nothing but farting. My friend prides himself on knowing strange facts, most of which at least seem plausible. But this one I won't believe until you tell me it's true.
-- Ralph W., San Diego
It's true, assuming simulated farting counts. Between the late 1880s and 1914, Joseph Pujol, a Frenchman who called himself Le Petomane ("the fart artist," from petard, fart) cashed in big on a peculiar physical skill -- the ability to command his abdominal and rectal muscles to do weird and wonderful things. He sucked volumes of air into his rectum, then expelled it again in various melodic ways. He did fart impressions, smoked a cigarette, blew out candles, played tunes on an ocarina, and generally wowed audiences in Europe and America. A late-Victorian-era Benny Hill, apparently. And another clue to help explain why French audiences love Jerry Lewis movies.
Comments