History of Europe

The artist who worked with his ass

Joseph Pujol , alias le Pétomane (the pedomaniac) , was a French comedian who used the ass as a work tool.

From a very young age it was already clear that his future would be linked to the world of entertainment , he was in charge of entertaining the parties singing and dancing but an accident changed his record… during a swim in the sea, he took a deep breath to submerge himself and felt how the icy waters entered his anus. Frightened, he quickly went to the shore and as he ran to where his mother was, he noticed that the water was now coming out. His mother took him to the doctor but he did not diagnose any illness or malformation and told him that he should not worry.

That incident would mark his life... he verified that, thanks to abdominal control, he could suck in water through his ass and, later, expel it projecting a jet of 4 or 5 meters. When he had absolute control, he tried the air and managed to expel it producing different notes and even playing simple melodies. After the success achieved for five years (1887-1892) in Marseille with his show «Le Petomane «, He made the leap to Paris… to the Moulin Rouge . There he performed for 3 years, becoming the best paid artist in France (20,000 francs), with a show in which he played melodies, blew out candles, imitated sounds, smoked cigarettes and as a finishing touch he put a pipe that connected to an ocarina and played popular songs. When he left the Moulin Rouge due to contractual problems, he opened his own theater and was performing until the First World War.

After his death in 1945, the Paris School of Medicine offered 25,000 francs to inspect Pujol's body, but the family refused:

there are some things in life that should be treated with respect.