Mr. Methane

Mr Methane
Pseudonym	Mr Methane
Birth name	Paul Oldfield
Born	1966 Macclesfield, Cheshire, England
Medium	Performance art
Nationality	British
Years active	1991-present
Genres	Speciality act
Influences	Le Pétomane
Website	www.mrmethane.com

Paul Oldfield, born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, North West England, is better known by his stage name Mr. Methane. He is a British flatulist or "professional farter" who started performing in 1991;^[1] he briefly retired in 2006 but re-started in mid-2007; he claims to be the only performing professional flatulist in the world.^[2] He has worked on railroads before focusing on his flatulence performances.

Background

According to When Will I Be Famous? (2003),^[3] a BBC book on British variety acts, Oldfield discovered his ability at the age of fifteen when practising yoga. The next day he performed twenty rapid fire rasping farts in under a minute for a group of his friends. It became so popular he made it into a regular event.

In the late 1980s, Oldfield turned professional, performing as an opening act for the Macclesfield-based bands The Screaming Beavers and The Macc Lads. The latter wrote a song about him on their album The Beer Necessities. Oldfield subsequently traveled to New York, USA, where he appeared as a guest on the Howard Stern Show as the "British Blaster". While in New York, Mr. Methane also performed a series of farts on Broadway.

In July 2004 Q magazine voted Mr. Methanes album mr methane.com the second most bizarre album ever released in a Q special edition entitled "The 150 Greatest Rock Lists Ever".

In 2009 Oldfield auditioned for Britain's Got Talent, where he announced his intention to "put the art into fart",^[4] but failed to make it through to the live finals, after being "buzzed" out by all three judges - despite two of them, Morgan & Holden, laughing uncontrollably - and received negative reaction from some of the audience - other audience members are visably seen to be in hysterics - in less than two minutes during his flatulist performance of the Blue Danube waltz, with Simon Cowell calling him "a disgusting creature". That same year, Mr. Methane also auditioned for Das Supertalent in Germany, but was eliminated in the semi-finals.

DVDs

• Methane, Mr (2000), Mr Methane Lets Rip! ASIN B00004D03A

See also

• Le Pétomane

Books

• Featured in Jennings, Charles (7 Dec 1995). "Up North - Travels Beyond The Watford Gap". Abacus. ISBN-10: 0349106851 / ISBN-13: 978-0349106854. Page 51.
• Chapter on Mr Methane in Kelner, Martin (12 June 2003). When Will I Be Famous. BBC Books. ISBN 0563487771 / ISBN 978-0563487777
• Featured in Foster, Tim (1 November 2007). Superman's Pockets. FiveFootSix. ISBN 0955704006 / ISBN 978-0955704000
• There is a lengthy chapter on Mr. Methane called "The Man With the Singing Sphincter" in Jim Dawson's 2006 book Blame It on the Dog: A Modern History of the Fart. Ten Speed Press ISBN 978-1-58008-751-3

Footnotes

1. ^ Pile, Stephen, "Ride The Wild Wind". Sunday Telegraph' (London), Review Section p. 7 (June 27, 1993)}
2. ^ "Independent, 31 January 2004"]. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040131/ai_n9686753/pg_2. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "amazon.co.uk page for "When Will I Be Famous"". http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0563487771. 
4. ^ "Auditions 5: Mr Methane". itv.com. http://talent.itv.com/2009/videos/video/item_200160.html. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 

Guardian G2 Page 14 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/jul/23/edinburghfestival.comedy

July 2004 THE 150 GREATEST ROCK LISTS, Q special edition in the UK and a MOJO special edition overseas, including the USA. Page 06. mrmethane.com CD voted No2 in a chart of The 20 Most Bizarre Albums.

References

• The Independent ( London ), 1 January 1994 - front page article.
• Daily Telegraph (London), 17th March, 2001
• Interview/feature in The Age (Australia), 20th March, 2005

Guardian G2 Page 14 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/jul/23/edinburghfestival.comedy

July 2004 THE 150 GREATEST ROCK LISTS, Q special edition in the UK and a MOJO special edition overseas, including the USA. Page 06. mrmethane.com CD voted No2 in a chart of The 20 Most Bizarre Albums.

External links

• Mr Methane at the Internet Movie Database
• Official web site of Mr. Methane
• Mr Methane's MySpace page
• On The scott mills show

Persondata
Name	Mr. Methane
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1966
Place of birth	Macclesfield, Cheshire, England
Date of death
Place of death