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Peter's Human Block-Head Stunt

Update

I have a table knife that works pretty well for this stunt. I need more practice with it, but I'm pretty excited.

First Entry

I'm sort of obsessed with the carnival. From talkers and ballyhoos to the freaks, both natural and self-made. Of course I have an interest in magic and juggling, but it's the self-made freaks that really intrigue me. Fire eating. Tattoos. But most of all, the human block-head.

The human block-head isn't a trick. It isn't an illusion or a sleight. It is a stunt.

It's a stunt created by Melvin Burkhart: self-made freak of the highest order. Melvin's nose was broken in a boxing match. As the doctor dug out fragments of bone Melvin realized that the nasal passages aren't aligned the way people think they are. The rest is carney history.

I am not going to preform the human block-head today. I don't have the patter down, and frankly, I'm afraid to hammer the nail in.

I am, however, going to preform the stunt itself in all its discomfiting glory.

[Here I produce the nail.]

This is not a trick nail. It isn't "gimmicked" in any way. The truth is that I found it on the floor of my father's garage. I will allow you all to examine it freely after this demonstration.

And now, my modest portrayal of the stunt at the center of Melvin Burkhart's "The Human Block-Head".

[Perform the right nostril first, leaving a cm or so of length left. Then perform the left, touching the head of the nail to the tip of my nose.]

I make a t-shirt every day. Sometimes they're funny. Get the t-shirt feed.

One of my current projects is the Free Curriculum Project. It's slow going, but I have high hopes.

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Original text and images Copyright 2003–2006 Peter Hutnick. All rights reserved.
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