During a career that spanned more than twenty years, Frenchman Joseph Pujol--Le Petomane--captivated Parisian audiences and brought international crowds to tears of laughter with his unusual performances. Alone on stage and elegantly attired, Pujol demonstrated his peculiar ability to take in copious quantities of air or water at will through his rectum and to expel either when convenient, a skill which allowed him to perform a number of spectacular feats. Pujol used his disciplined flatulence, for example, to blow out candles (from a distance of 12 inches) or to shoot jets of water--sucked in immediately beforehand--as far as four or five yards. He could imitate various animals with his emissions and could play recognizable tunes. (A newspaper of the day reports: "In reality he produced only four notes, the do, mi, sol, and do of the octave. I cannot guarantee that each of these notes was tonally true.") And in a coup de grace that would have left Howard Stern screaming for more, Le Petomane would insert a rubber hose into his anus and, thrusting a cigarette into the hose's free end, would enjoy a rectal smoke, his sphincter alternately breathing in and exhaling. (Pujol played the flute using the same apparatus.) In his very brief biography, author Jean Nohain tells the bizarre story of Le Petomane, an evidently kindly baker, and a father of ten, who was determined to use his talent for flatulence for good.