Noël Godin (born 13 September 1945) is a Belgian writer,

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

, actor and notorious pie thrower or ''entarteur''. Godin gained global attention in 1998 when his group ambushed

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

CEO

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, pelting the

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

magnate with pies. After bombarding Gates, Godin allegedly said, "My work here is done." He has been described as "the French-speaking world's best-known prankster."

Philosophy

Godin insists he is non-violent and is careful to use only soft pies made of cream and sponge cake that will not physically hurt his victims, which he purchases from local bakeries. He says his humor can be traced back to

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

, Wile E. Coyote, the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...

, Norman Wisdom, and the radical "yippies" of the Youth International Party. A supporter of

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

causes, Godin targets figures representing elites whom the public has turned against. One of his favorite targets is the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, who has been pied by Godin or one of his accomplices on at least seven occasions.

Pieing targets

Since 1969, Godin has thrown pies at more than 25 people in the fields of culture, politics, and beyond. The list of public figures Godin and his accomplices have targeted with pies includes: *

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

(1969) * Maurice Béjart (1969) * Marco Ferreri (1976) *

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

(1985) * Bernard-Henri Lévy (at least seven times, including 1985, 1994, 2015) * (1993) * Patrick Bruel (1993) * Jean-Pierre Elkabbach (1994) * Hélène (1995) * Philippe Douste-Blazy (1995) * Daniel Toscan du Plantier (1996) * Patrick Poivre d'Arvor (1996) * Priests at Nantes Cathedral (1996) * Nicolas Sarkozy (1997) *

(1998) * Bernard Landry (2000) * Jean-Pierre Chevènement (2002) * Jean Charest (2003) * Doc Gynéco (2007)

Books

* ''Anthologie de la subversion carabinée, L'âge d'homme'', 1989, (philosophical study of political freedom), réédition revue et augmentée, 2008 * ''Zig zig boum boum'', Le Veilleur, Toulouse, 1994 * ''Crème et châtiment : mémoire d'un entarteur'', Albin Michel, 1995 * ''Godin par Godin'', Yellow Now, 2001, * ''Armons-nous les uns les autres!'' (novel), Flammarion, 2003, * ''Entartons, entartons les pompeux cornichons!'', Flammarion, 2005, (The story of all his pieings).

References

External links

Official Site of the "Internationale Pâtissière" (IP)Official Site of the Montreal "entartistes"
1945 births Living people Belgian male actors Belgian non-fiction writers Belgian male writers Belgian film directors Belgian anarchists Bill Gates Walloon people Writers from Liège Film people from Liège Belgian male non-fiction writers {{Anarchist-stub