# Those guys on letterman eating lightbulbs and martini glasses..Fake, right?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 1, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987 "2004-05-01T14:26:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/1 "2004-05-01T14:26:51Z")
You can’t really do that, can you. Yet they don’t give a disclaimer, so I’m sure many kids will get hurt.
Although ground glass is safe, biting a lightbulb produces lots of sharp edges. I’ve cut myself more than once on broken bulbs.
So, can you buy “candy glass” lightbulbs and martini glasses at magic supply stores? I can’t believe the freaks make their own.
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### Author:  [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/2 "2004-05-01T14:35:20Z")
Nope, it’s not fake. Here’s a link to check out: [http://www.badfads.com/pages/events/glasseating.html](http://www.badfads.com/pages/events/glasseating.html)
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### Author:  [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/3 "2004-05-01T14:55:39Z")
I gather that you are not familiar with [Monsieur Mangetout](http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9806/11/fringe.mr.eat.everything/) (no relation with the poster… I think.)
Light bulbs? Feh. Monsieur Mangetout ate a whole _airplane_!
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### Author:  [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/4 "2004-05-01T15:19:11Z")
S **ronincyberpunk** - Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s really easy to fool lots of people just by saying “Sure it was a real lightbulb, but you have to know exactly how.” They buy that and don’t ask further.
But I’ve been trying to find things on Google, and here’s a quote from a magicians’ message board [The Magic Café](http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=24637&forum=23&13&start=0#12)
> [@](#):
>
> While I am no expert in the sideshow arts, I have been -playing with sugar- for a little while. It can be blown, just like glass, and while you can make lovely items with it, you can get injured as it is SHARP, just like glass! Now I will not say there is not a way to eat it safely, we do it all the time, but I have cut myself on my creations when they break, and trust me … the blood is real! (It also ruins the sugar art!)
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/5 "2004-05-01T15:23:52Z")
When I was about 10 or so, I dropped a large novelty light (a big flickering blue bulb in a 7-UP can, bought from Spencers) and it shattered. I piece of the bulb flew into my mouth, into the back of my throat. It was so far back I reflexively swallowed it. I had zero ill effects from this, no pain or blood in my stool or anything.
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### Author:  [@Flyhalf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyhalf)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/6 "2004-05-01T15:31:48Z")
I’ve eaten light bulbs before. It’s really not that big of a deal.
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### Author:  [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/7 "2004-05-01T15:58:53Z")
**Flyhalf** - Not that I doubt you (meaning yes I doubt you), but how do you avoid being sliced up?
As mentioned in [this SDMB thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=32567&highlight=eating+glass)
> [@](#):
>
> He opened his mouth to prove he actually chewed, and his tongue was all bloody and sliced up. Hell of a party trick, if you ask me.
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### Author:  [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/8 "2004-05-01T16:09:51Z")
I heard one of these glass-eating freaks explain the trick once on the radio (Howard Stern Show). His explanation was basically thus:
Glass is basically just sand, and if you chew it enough, it turns back into a sand-like property. Yes, it cuts the mouth, and the cuts do bleed a lot, but IIRC he likened the cuts to shaving wounds (not much pain if any).
I have also seen Jim Rose do this on his sideshow circus. He then proceeded to drink ‘Windex’ claiming it “keeps him from streaking”… :smack:
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/9 "2004-05-01T16:30:14Z")
They taste like chicken.
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### Author:  [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/10 "2004-05-01T17:49:36Z")
That one with the martini glass had to be fake. Besides being a thick glass that could not be quickly ground, he just broke off a huge chunk and wasn’t even trying to be thorough about chewing. As that magic link shows you can easily make candy glass. Those magicians have lots of free time to do it. It’s not like they can get a gig every weekend or anything.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/11 "2004-05-01T18:27:13Z")
> [@TheMadHun](#):
>
> That one with the martini glass had to be fake. Besides being a thick glass that could not be quickly ground, he just broke off a huge chunk and wasn’t even trying to be thorough about chewing. As that magic link shows you can easily make candy glass. Those magicians have lots of free time to do it. It’s not like they can get a gig every weekend or anything.
Years ago I was in a pub in Canberra and some traveller came in and started making bets with the people drinking there. Some were just tricks that fooled us with semantics, some were things he could do that we didn’t think he could. He entertained a bar full of people for hours. He would have a drink and then issue a challenge. Us drinkers would put our heads together and go “No he can’t do that,” and bet him the requisite amount. He would then do it. The conclusion of his performance was eating a “middy” glass that the barman handed to him. His encore was eating every piece of some guy’s glasses - frames and all. Glasses must have been cheaper then.
The guy made lots of money and it was one of the funniest nights of my life. Thoroughly memorable.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/12 "2004-05-01T18:57:56Z")
See if you can find a copy of the book _Freak Like Me_, by Jim Rose. It explains how to do various sideshow stunts. Lightbulbs are made from very thin glass, and if you chew thoroughly, your teeth will grind it to powder before it comes into contact with the soft tissues of your mouth.
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### Author:  [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/13 "2004-05-01T21:10:07Z")
> [@mbh](#):
>
> See if you can find a copy of the book _Freak Like Me_, by Jim Rose. It explains how to do various sideshow stunts. Lightbulbs are made from very thin glass, and if you chew thoroughly, your teeth will grind it to powder before it comes into contact with the soft tissues of your mouth.
I can elaborate on this a bit, with the book right in front of me. To paraphrase Rose, one doesn’t bite into a whole lightbulb, but eats a broken one. (He usually has an audience member smash it for him, to indicate that it’s a real lightbulb.)Chew very softly to break the shards into smaller fragments, then shift them back to the molars and chew more vigorously, to reduce the glass to sand-like particles. These can then be swallowed with minimal danger to the stomach. Rose does admit that the stomach may feel a bit “sandpapery” the next day, and he adds the caveat that tooth damage is a possibility for those who perform this trick regularly.
I’ve seen him do it, up close and personal, when I spent a harrowing hour interviewing him and his band of sideshow freaks several years ago. :shudder: His method certainly seems to work, though. In the book, he also mentions that in some countries, light bulb glass is thicker than in others, so the martini glass is most likely not out of the question.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/14 "2004-05-01T21:31:05Z")
> [@jovan](#):
>
> I gather that you are not familiar with [Monsieur Mangetout](http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9806/11/fringe.mr.eat.everything/) (no relation with the poster… I think.)
True; I limit myself to actual foodstuffs.
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### Author:  [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/15 "2004-05-02T01:34:41Z")
> [@MissGypsy](#):
>
> To paraphrase Rose, one doesn’t bite into a whole lightbulb, but eats a broken one. …
You’re talking about a _different stunt._
But that’s _not the way_ they guys did it on Letterman.
That’s what makes it so obvious they were fake. The first guy just helt the metal part and chomped right into the neck. The martini glass was not some delicate crystal affair but something that looked like cheap thick bar glass.
Sure, some people may carefully chew pieces of a thin real bulb, but that’s not what they were doing on Letterman.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/16 "2004-05-02T01:44:56Z")
> [@DakotaDog](#):
>
> I have also seen Jim Rose do this on his sideshow circus. He then proceeded to drink ‘Windex’ claiming it “keeps him from streaking”… :smack:
I’m not sure who stole it from whom, but in his standup act The Amazin Jonathon says right before drinking Windex. “I’m gonna take off my cloths and run around…this keeps me from streaking”
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### Author:  [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/17 "2004-05-02T05:34:49Z")
A friend of my mother’s claimed to have eaten glass in her salad days as a dancer. She picked it up from a circus preformer. She said the same basic thing: don’t bite off a whole bunch at once, and chew it up until it becomes sand.
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### Author:  [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/18 "2004-05-02T11:26:57Z")
My mother used to hide new razor blades in her mouth with harm. But I have no idea how she did that.
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### Author:  [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/19 "2004-05-02T15:10:17Z")
> [@Joey P](#):
>
> I’m not sure who stole it from whom, but in his standup act The Amazin Jonathon says right before drinking Windex. “I’m gonna take off my cloths and run around…this keeps me from streaking”
You see, he didn’t really drink Windex. I think any of us could fake that one.
??? And yet he claims that’s exactly what he did do ???
Well, the Li’l Magician Kit I got as a kid had the Magician’s Oath: Never tell how you do it!
But I found a reference to a TV show that demonstrated how they faked eating a light bulb.
It was on the episode : “Master of Illusion N0. 7 chain saw escape, Rocco’s butterflies, eating a light bulb Feb. 3, 2001”
I remember the chainsaw escape. It was basically “sawing the lady in half”, with a lot of noise and fake feet being wiggled around.
I can’t say I recall the other two acts, but there was a reason they were called illusions.
Unfortunately I found this reference on a site called [Mile High Magician’s lending library](http://www.milehighmagicians.com/Video.html) and I’m nowhere near Denver. Any Doper near there can check out the copy for $5 and report back and I’ll PayPal for the report.
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### Author:  [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-guys-on-letterman-eating-lightbulbs-and-martini-glasses-fake-right/242987/20 "2004-05-02T15:22:52Z")
I just located the first guy’s website. It’s him all right, wearing the same flame design shirt.
> [@](#):
>
> Some of the tricks I perform during this show are my unique comedy levitation, a record breaking straitjacket escape, a hilarious human pincushion act, unusual card discoveries and my infamous razor blade eating routine, to name a few.
Well, we know that eating a razor blade is fake, and the human pincushion routine is done with the paint-on vinyl skin you see in joke shops. I suppose the levitation must be real though, since science can’t explain everything.
[MagicBrian.com - Stand-Up Comedy-Magic](http://www.magicbrian.com/aboutshow.htm)
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