A flatulist, fartist, or professional farter is an

entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers * Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Athlete * Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Circus performer * Clown * Club Hostess/Host * Co ...

often associated with a specific type of humor, whose routine consists solely or primarily of passing gas in a creative, musical, or amusing manner.

History

There are a number of scattered references to

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

flatulists, who could produce various rhythms and pitches with their intestinal wind.

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

in ''City of God (De Civitate Dei)'' (14.24) mentions some performers who did have "such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing."

Juan Luis Vives Juan Luis Vives March ( la, Joannes Lodovicus Vives, lit=Juan Luis Vives; ca, Joan Lluís Vives i March; nl, Jan Ludovicus Vives; 6 March 6 May 1540) was a Spanish ( Valencian) scholar and Renaissance humanist w ...

, in his 1522 commentary to Augustine's work, testifies to having himself witnessed such a feat, a remark referenced by

Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...

in an essay. The professional farters of medieval

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

were called braigetoír. They are listed together with other performers and musicians in the 12th century ''Tech Midchúarda'', a diagram of the banqueting hall of Tara. As entertainers, these braigetoír ranked at the lower end of a scale headed by

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to prais ...

s, fili, and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orch ...

ers. An entry in the 13th-century English ''Liber Feodorum'' or ''

Book of Fees The ''Book of Fees'' is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the medieval (Latin: 'Book of Fiefs'), being a listing of feudal landholdings or fief (Middle English ), compiled in about 1302, but f ...

'' lists one

Roland the Farter Roland the Farter (known in contemporary records as Roland le Fartere, Roulandus le Fartere or Roland le Petour) was a medieval flatulist who lived in twelfth-century England. Roland the Farter's given name was George. He was given Hemingstone ma ...

, who held Hemingstone manor in the county of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, for which he was obliged to perform ''"Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bombulum"'' (one jump and whistle and one fart) annually at the court of King Henry II every Christmas. The ''Activa Vita'' character in the 14th century allegorical poem

Piers Plowman ''Piers Plowman'' (written 1370–86; possibly ) or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in un- rhymed, alliterativ ...

appears to number farting among the abilities desirable in a good entertainer, saying: "As for me, I can neither drum nor trumpet, nor tell jokes, nor fart amusingly at parties, nor play the harp." In Japan, during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, flatulists were known as "heppiri otoko" (放屁男), lit. "farting men." The term He-gassen (屁合戦), "farting competitions", is applied to Edo-period art scrolls depicting flatulence.

Notable flatulists

* Mr. Methane, contemporary flatulist *

Le Pétomane Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 – August 8, 1945), better known by his stage name Le Pétomane (, ), was a French flatulist (professional farter) and entertainer. He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him ...

, performed in France from 1887 until 1914 *

, flatulist in the court of King Henry II of England. * Will the Farter, from the ''

Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 10 ...

'' (2007–08). * Terrance and Phillip of the US comedy cartoon

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

References

Notes

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History

Notable flatulists

See also

References

Notes

Further reading