[lighter sparks]
[torch subtly catches fire]
[fire whooshes in air]
♪ [tense thumping beat] >> MAN: An art over which oblivion threatens to stretch
her darkening wings.
♪ [five dramatic string hits]
♪ ♪
>> Howdy folks, my name is Brian Brushwood,
and I spent 20 years touring all over the United States
and internationally with a bizarre magic show.
I also literally wrote the book on fire eating.
[electrical pop] [gentle vinyl static] [five more string hits]
Oftentimes, I would do shows,
and a lot of those audiences were not there to see me.
I had to figure out really fast
how to get their attention.
And I figured out the secret was
to begin
by just lighting a torch,
[lighter clicks] [fire whooshes]
twirl it.
I would say, "Shh."
And I would begin by telling them
the history
of fire eating.
♪ [enigmatic orchestral swell]
The concept of resistance to fire
is one as old as history itself.
As far back as the ancient Greek tragedy Medea,
references were made to holding a bar
of red hot iron in one's hands
in order to prove innocence or sincerity,
a practice co-opted by the Romans
and used for 2,000 years.
The first written account of a fire eater, however,
occurs in 1633 when a man named Sir Henry Wotton wrote
of an English sailor,
who upon returning from the East Indies,
could eat fire
as though it were candy.
With that in mind,
I want to demonstrate for you, the simplest method
to extinguish a torch with one's mouth.
♪ [suspenseful orchestral score withers to a hush]
[blows]
Thank you.
I can't hear your applause,
but I know all of you are very excited about that.
[laughs]
Actually, it is more impressive.
It looks more like this. Here we go.
♪ [bright keys fade in]
[deep, bassy fire roar]
[faster woosh of flame]
There we go.
Now the first commercially successful fire-eating act
♪ [bass guitar is introduced] went on tour during the 1660s.
It was performed by a French man
known only by the name of Richardson,
who was renowned not only for his ability to swallow flame
but for his apparent affinity for it.
♪ [drums and guitar] It was rumored that his teeth and gums were so calloused
and immune to heat and flame,
he could actually hold a burning torch between them
just like so.
♪ ♪
At which point, and this is totally true,
people would spontaneously post his routine to Reddit.
It was amazing.
[fire whooshes at a high speed, sounding similar to rushes of wind]
There we go.
Whoo! [laughs]
Now by the 1800s, we come to a time
that some people call the golden age of fire-eaters.
This is a time when performers
with names like Yama Deva, Ching Ling Foo,
or Xavier Chabert, the Fire King,
these individuals shifted the focus of fire eating
away from the tolerance of the heat and the flame
and instead, moved it
towards the artistry and the skill
[a rising inferno]
with which one manipulated them.
[fire pulse]
[chaotic whooshes]
Here's the hardest move in the whole show.
[whoosh]
There we go.
Now by the 1920s, we come to a time
where fire eating took a nosedive.
In fact, Harry Houdini, of all people, called fire eating
"an art over which oblivion threatens to stretch
her darkening wings."
This is a time when fire-eaters were kicked out of theaters,
and out into the streets where in order to draw bigger crowds,
they began performing increasingly dangerous stunts
like the tongue transfer.
[fire whoosh] [crisp crackling]
[engulfing fire]
♪ [cosmic vocal drones]
Or perhaps, eating twice the flame at once.
♪ [trumpet solo]
♪ [trumpet solo] That's a lot of fire. [chuckles]
All right, here we go.
[raging fire]
[roar of the fire slows]
♪ ♪
[fire swells and extinguishes to silence]
[pained] Whoo, boy!
Oh, whoo!
And finally, I'd like to conclude this demonstration
by showing you the single most difficult and dangerous
fire eating stunt.
This one's called the human candle.
♪ ♪
[deep atmospheric rumble of the flame]
[slight suction of air]
[subtle swirling gust]
♪ ♪
[thunderous propulsion of flame]
There we go!
Now this is usually the point where I ask the audience,
"Do you want to see more?"
At which point, I can't hear you guys.
I'm going to assume you're all posting
nice things in the comments.
[tape ejection] [mellow jazz music and light static]
[gentle beep]
[tape ejection]
And that's when I'd say,
"You know, I wrote a book on fire eating.
"And when I did, I discovered a combination of feats
that's become my favorite thing to show people."
Check this out.
♪ [keys and guitar switch to cosmic vocals]
[lighter spark]
[fire whooshes]
There we go.
[laughs]
Now at this point, hopefully,
we've captured the attention of everyone in the room,
and they want to see the rest of the magic show.
If you are in that camp,
the whole show is over at scamnation.com,
head on over there.
But, if you're somebody who just wants to know
how to do all the fire-eating stuff, guess what?
I'm going to be teaching Jason Murphy
right here on the Modern Rogue.
And you need the manual.
I wrote the book on fire eating.
It's normally $40.00,
for 48 hours, we're giving it away free.
Just head on over to gimme.scamstuff.com.
Sign up,
get it totally free in digital format.
Hope you guys dug it, man.
This is going to be a fun series of videos.
You're going to dig all of this.
Also, why is there so much water in here?
Is there a leak?
Is that what uh... ?
I mean, it looks cool.
I'm not going to deny that.
I'm just not in--
Where am I walking?
It's not like there's even an exit here.
I just hope that you'll cut at some poi--
-- CC BY REV -- ** MODIFIED BY BIZARRE MAGIC **
♪ [mellow electric guitar]
♪ ♪ [static and wind]
Oh no!
[defeated] That happens on stage, too.
[laughs]
Oh let me ice down.
I held that for a long time,
I was so bummed that it didn't land.