Most of us have heard that the comedian Tommy Cooper collapsed and died during a performance on stage. Most of us know about Brandon Lee and the tragic accident that saw him shot to death while filming The Crow. However, the fact is that multiple people have died during or as a result of a performance. And they stretch back over the centuries.

From people who have simply had heart attacks to being mauled by lions and even being shot by crazed fans as they performed blissfully unaware of such danger, all are morbidly intriguing. And all are a reminder that the curtain call of life could happen at any moment.

Related: 10 Sporting Events That Ended in Tragic Deaths of Athletes

10 “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott

Without a doubt, one of the most horrific deaths to occur during a performance was that of heavy metal guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. Less than two minutes into a show with the band Damageplan in Columbus, Ohio, on December 8, 2004, Abbott was fatally shot in the head by a crazed “fan,” Nathan Gale.

Gale had entered the building through a side door and went straight to the stage, where he fired directly at the guitarist. In the mayhem that followed, a member of the road crew, an employee of the club, and a fan in the audience were also killed by Gale.

A police officer was soon at the scene and ultimately shot Gale dead when he raised his weapon to the head of a hostage he had taken on the stage. It would come to light that Gale had a history of mental problems. He had even written that the band had “stolen his songs.”^[1]

9 Colonel Bruce Hampton

Although his death was not as bloodthirsty as the one above, the death of Colonel Bruce Hampton was equally as harrowing for those in the audience who witnessed it. The show in question was a 70th birthday celebration for Hampton himself at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta on the evening of April 30, 2017.

Perhaps what made the situation even worse is that when Hampton “toppled over” while playing the song “Turn on Your Lovelight,” the rest of the musicians on stage continued to play. They would later reveal that they believed it was a stunt for the audience’s amusement. Many even laughed. However, when Hampton stopped moving and didn’t get up to continue to play, they realized something had gone tragically wrong. It would come to light that a massive heart attack had struck the veteran musician.

One person in attendance, photographer Michael Weintrob, would later state that “at first everyone thought he was messing around. But he was dying while everyone else was playing.”^[2]

8 Jon Erik-Hexum

The death of actor Jon Erik-Hexum is perhaps particularly distressing as not only was it a tragic accident, but it also ultimately arose out of boredom on set. The actor—only 26 years old—was shooting a scene for a CBS show, Cover Up, in 1984. As part of the scene, he had a .44 Magnum loaded with one blank bullet.

Due to delays with the filming, Hexum quickly grew bored and began spinning the chamber around in the gun—as if playing Russian roulette. Although he spun the chamber, the only blank bullet was not ready to fire. Unbeknown to Hexum, though, a “wad of paper” was. When he placed the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, the paper smashed through his skull. This, in turn, sent a coin-sized piece of bone fragment directly into his brain. He was ultimately kept alive on life-support but was officially declared “brain dead” less than a week later.^[3]

7 Joe E. Ross

Joe E. Ross is perhaps best known for his role in Car 54, Where Are You?—a popular TV show in the early 1960s. However, it would be while performing a low-key show at a clubhouse in the apartment building where he lived in the Van Nuys suburb of Los Angeles that he would collapse and suffer a fatal heart attack during the performance in August 1982. By the time the 67-year-old had been removed from the stage and taken to hospital for treatment, he was pronounced dead.

Although he had remained active on television throughout the years, he had become a regular on the club scene in the years before his death. Despite his age, he was thought to be in relatively good health, which only served to make his death that much more shocking for his family and friends, many of whom were in attendance.^[4]

6 Karl Wallenda

As an acrobatic tightrope walker, Karl Wallenda’s death was not only filmed by a local news film crew in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but was also witnessed by 200 people at the scene. During an attempt to walk a tightrope over 120 feet (60 meters) from the ground between two of the towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in 1978, the 73-year-old lost his balance and tumbled to his death. He would hit a parked taxi on his way to the ground, which is thought to have been the fatal blow. In reality, though, he would likely have met the same fate if he had landed squarely on the ground.

It is thought that the wires were incorrectly secured. This, combined with particularly high winds on the afternoon of the stunt attempt, caused the veteran acrobat to lose his balance. Although the footage filmed did not circulate widely among the world’s media, it was shown on several media outlets and is particularly disturbing to watch.^[5]

5 Leonard Warren

What perhaps made the sudden death of opera star Leonard Warren all the more grim is the line he was singing in the moments before his death. While performing La Forza Del Destino—an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi—in March 1960, Warren sang the line “… to die, a momentous thing.” He was then supposed to continue with the rest of the performance along with the other cast members.

Some cast members would claim that the opera star began to say, “Help me, help me!” before he collapsed on the stage of the sold-out performance. Others, however, state that he remained silent aside from a gasping sound as he tried to catch his breath.

Cast members quickly went to administer aid when they realized something was wrong. Warren, however, was already dead. It was eventually revealed he had suffered a fatal heart attack. Incidentally, he had been cast in performances for several years, something which caused numerous problems for those who had to recast for their respective shows.^[6]

4 Gilbert Genesta

All magicians and illusionists accept the risk of death during their performances. However, when considering the sheer number of such shows over the years, this is a rare occurrence. However, in November 1930, American escape artist Gilbert Genesta attempted to perform an escape from a water-filled barrel. And it would go tragically wrong. He had witnessed the great Houdini perform the stunt and wished to do so himself.

By the time he was performing the stunt in Frankfort, Kentucky, he had already successfully escaped on numerous occasions. However, unbeknown to the performer, the barrel he was using on this night (a metal milk barrel that contained milk instead of water) had a small dent in it. This was more than enough to limit the escape artist’s movements, meaning he failed to escape in time.

When stage assistants realized something was wrong, they quickly rushed on stage and dropped the curtain in front of the audience. When they pulled Genesta out, he was unconscious but still barely alive. However, despite an initial successful revival, he died a short time later. Perhaps ironically, his death only served to make such escape tricks more popular with both audiences and performers.^[7]

3 Thomas Macarte

Rightly or wrongly, there might be many people who have little sympathy regarding the death of Thomas Macarte. In January 1872, he was doing what he did best: lion taming. On this occasion, in Bolton in the United Kingdom, he was inside a cage with five large lions. There were approximately 500 people in attendance. All were horrified when not one but each of the lions in the cage suddenly turned on the veteran lion tamer and ultimately mauled him to death.

It is thought, according to Macarte’s wife, that one of the lions had bitten his hand several days previously. He had allegedly confessed to his wife that he was “afraid” of this lion despite his ample experience. It is also thought that before the show, he had consumed several alcoholic drinks in order to settle his nerves because of this. Whether this contributed to his death or whether the lions in question merely “snapped” after years of such treatment is open to debate.^[8]

2 Molière

Perhaps the earliest person who died while performing on our list goes back to the seventeenth century when Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), the French writer and actor, died while onstage in February 1673.

In fact, Molière actually collapsed twice on the night in question. He would insist after his coughing fits and breathlessness that he continue with the play. However, a short time later, he would collapse again, this time with severe bleeding. He was accompanied home, where he passed away shortly after. He was waiting to receive the last rites at the time of his death. However, while two priests had arrived at this home, a third hadn’t, prompting the first two priests to insist they must wait. By the time the late priest arrived, the Frenchman was dead.

Incidentally, Molière was wearing green at the time of his fatal performance. It is said that the belief that the color is bad luck for actors stems from his death.^[9]

1 “Mr. Cummins”

Although there is little known about the person himself or the aftermath, the 1817 death of an actor known only as “Mr. Cummins” at Leeds Theatre in Hunslet is still spoken of today. At least by actors in the United Kingdom theatre scene.

The play in question was named The Tragedy of Jane Shore. The plot of the play revolves around a husband (played by Cummins) who forgives his wife of a life of sin following her repentance. However, after he had shouted out his last line of the performance, the unfortunate actor simply fell to the stage and died. It is thought he died from heart failure.

Whether the heart attack was a sudden one or whether he had felt unwell before and during the performance is not known. However, Cummins, like actors since the beginning of the craft, was very much a believer in the “show must go on.”^[10]

It is very rare that “eating” is regarded to be a skill of great renown. However, when one tests the extremes of what could possibly be consumed, things quickly start to become impressive.

This is a top ten list of the most extreme dietary feats, most of which were performed in front of an audience. Those who panic at accidentally swallowing a piece of bubblegum certainly don’t have the stomach for some of the things that people on this list have been able to ingest harm-free (we hope). Probably don’t read this list if you’re about to eat, though.

Related: 10 Unappetising Facts About Eating Contests

10 A Bible, a Torah, and a Quran

Although this performance piece was less of a stunt and more of an artistic criticism, Abel Azcona’s performance involving the eating of three holy books is undoubtedly a test of endurance. Azcona’s piece titled “Eating,” or “La Ingesta” in Spanish, involved the eating of a Bible, a Torah, and a Quran. It was performed once in Berlin in 2012 and once in Copenhagen in 2013. Each performance took around nine hours—with breaks—over the course of a few days.

However, the eating of three significantly sized texts wasn’t the only endurance hurdle involved with “Eating.” Azcona’s installation, being a critique of religious fundamentalism, also drew the ire of many religious fundamentalists. The location of Azcona’s performance, would continue to draw ire as in 2015, the Krudttønden Museum in Copenhagen, was attacked by a man named Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein. Two people at the museum were shot and killed with others injured while attending an event featuring speaker Lars Vilks, the controversial Swedish cartoonist.^[1]

9 A Car

Born in Greece in 1934, Leon Samson was a prolific sideshow strongman. Samson did a majority of his performances in various venues in the Australian state of Queensland. Some feats of his involve swallowing 22,000 razor blades over ten years, bending three different one-inch steel bars in half, and letting himself get run over by a car, but in 1969, a performance based on a bet would by far be his most impressive.

A businessman in the Australian city of Darwin bet Leon Samson 30,000 Australian dollars that he couldn’t eat an entire four-seater car. Samson would win said bet. Over the course of four years, the strongman would eat around a pound and a half’s worth of the automobile. His process involved snipping off small enough pieces over time so that he wouldn’t need to chew on metal, but he would, indeed, be able to digest the whole thing. Unfortunately, he moved to America at the end of the four-year stunt and was unable to bring the rest of the car with him, though he was able to eat enough of it to win the bet.^[2]

8 Live Eels and Snakes

Perhaps one of the most prolific “eaters” in history was Tarrare, an 18th-century performer, soldier, spy, and, as some claim, possible cannibal. He would routinely showcase a bizarre proclivity to eat more than his entire weight in food while still only remaining somewhere around 100 pounds throughout his entire life.

His medical situation wasn’t by choice, though. While little is known about Tarrare’s upbringing in Lyon, France, it is believed that he was kicked out of his family home early on simply because his family was unable to afford to feed him. It is claimed that, even at thirteen, he could eat “a quarter of a bullock,” a portion of a cow close to 100 pounds, while still appearing to be malnourished. So he wandered around the French countryside, begging and robbing to feed his unnaturally large appetite until he wound up in Paris in 1788, where he came across a doctor by the name of Baron Percy.

Dr. Percy reports witnessing Tarrare showcase his odd new ability as a part of a pantomime review. The performer was able to eat many things, including corks, flints, a pocket watch, and an entire bushel of apples—bushel included. But perhaps the weirdest things that Tarrare could eat were live snakes and eels—without needing to take a single bite.^[3]

7 4 Pounds of Raw Cow Udders, 5 Pounds of Raw Beef, and 12 Tallow Candles

While it is a bit of a stretch to refer to the feats of Charles Domery (Domerz) as “performance art,” his case is definitely interesting. He and Tarrare both had nearly identical dietary maladies and lived in Europe in the same century. Domery even fought in the War of the First Coalition, just like Tarrare would, albeit on the opposite side. However, Charles Domery would be captured by the British Navy and have his eating habits studied while in prison in Liverpool.

Charles Domery was born in Poland in 1778 and had an insatiable appetite, despite only being around 100 pounds. He is reported to have eaten 170 cats within a single year and sometimes five pounds of grass a day if other food wasn’t available. This prompted him to join the military for the rations (which, too, proved to be too little), eventually leading to his capture in the UK. Doctors were immediately drawn to their strange prisoner’s eating habits and tested him a bit. As the entry in their records claims, he is said to have eaten four pounds of raw cow udders and five pounds of raw beef; when that wasn’t enough, he ate twelve additional tallow candles that night. He never gained a pound while in prison.

Unfortunately, Charles Domery disappeared from the public record from that point onward. However, Domery’s talents were enough for even Charles Dickens to make a comment about him in a magazine he often wrote for: Household Words. “A man like this, dining in public on the stage of Drury Lane, would draw much better than a mere tragedian.”^[4]

6 Nuts, in Order

The title of this entry is a bit of an undersell on the feat itself. Still, magician and performer Hadji Ali had the ability to swallow around forty hazelnuts and then one almond (all unshelled, of course). He would then proceed to regurgitate the unshelled hazelnuts, one at a time, until an audience member would ask him to specifically bring up the almond. He was able to summon the almond on command, no matter when it was called for.

This is far from the only trick in Hadji Ali’s repertoire; he could also regurgitate coins, jewelry, and even a live goldfish (who would remain alive during the whole performance). Born in Egypt in 1892, he would begin his career on the vaudevillian circuit on Broadway in the Roaring Twenties. Besides his regurgitation act, he was also a prolific “water-spouter” who could swallow up to a hundred glasses of water and spit the entire amount out in a continuous stream. He could also perform this act with kerosene, which he would do in front of an open flame in order to burn an entire wooden castle prop to cinders.^[5]

5 4,000 Light Bulbs

Todd Robbins is a magician, comedian, and self-described “self-made freak” and has performed his modern sideshow act since the 1980s. Born in Long Beach, California, in 1958, Robbins got his start in a renaissance vaudeville movement that took place in New York in the ’80s. He even trained under famous vaudevillian Melvin Burkhart, the pioneer of the nailing-a-nail-into-your-nostril act, and inherited his props in full when Burkhart passed away in 2001.

Todd Robbins’s crowning achievement would be that he has eaten over 4,000 lightbulbs throughout his career. He wouldn’t just eat them whole, though; he would chew the bits of glass in front of a live audience, before swallowing the whole thing.

Todd Robbins is far from a one-trick pony, though, and his other talents involve nailing a nail into his nostril, sword-swallowing (though not ingesting, omitting it from the requirements of this list), and spicing up his routine with, as Robbins describes, “light comedy.”^[6]

4 25,000 Light Bulbs

If the rules of math still hold up, then it stands to reason that 25,000 is a tad bit of a higher number than 4,000. Therefore, logic should follow that stuntman Branco Crnogorac takes the title of “bizarre eater”—one rung above Todd Robbins.

Born in Apatin, Serbia, in 1931, Crnogorac is another performer with a proclivity to eat and digest metal objects. His resume of consumed items includes the aforementioned 25,000 light bulbs, around 12,000 forks, 2,000 spoons (which one would think goes down easier), and about 2,600 plates, among other objects.

However, after a 60-year long career, Crnogorac decided to retire after choking on the pedal of a bike, a bike that he was dared to eat in its entirety in less than three days. Nonetheless, the stuntman survived and left behind a career of bizarre eating that definitely qualifies him for a high position on this list.^[7]

3 18 Bicycles

Michael Lotito, also known as “Monsieur Mangetout” or “Mr. Eat-All,” was a French performer whose talent involved eating the inedible. In fact, out of all the people on this list, Lotito is the man decided by Guinness World Records as the “Man with the Strangest Diet.”

Born in Grenoble, France, in 1950, Monsieur Mangetout was discovered in 1959 by physicians to have the ability to ingest two whole pounds of metal each day. He was also diagnosed with a condition known as “Pica,” a psychological desire to eat inedible materials, such as rocks or metal. However, it was also discovered that Lotito’s stomach was heavily lined and that his stomach acid was particularly potent, allowing for the digestion of heavier objects. In the year 1966, Michael Lotito put his skills to use.

Throughout the course of his performing years, he ate TV sets, shopping carts, and chandeliers, but the largest quantity of large, metallic “entrees” that Lotito consumed would definitely be eighteen different bicycles.^[8]

2 A Secret Message

This list would be incomplete without remarking on Tarrare’s entire culinary career. While performing in the Parisian Pantomime circuit took up a large part of his teenage years, something larger called to him in the form of the War of the First Coalition.

Tarrare enlisted as a soldier, but when General Alexandre de Beauharnais heard word from the doctor Baron Percy that Tarrare was able to safely ingest inedible materials, his mind turned to espionage. Beauharnais had Tarrare swallow a wooden box with a secret message written on it to see if it could pass through his body safely, and sure enough, the trial test was a success.

And thus, Tarrare was sent to Germany to try and deliver his message to a captive French colonel. But alas, the fact that the spy spoke no German, coupled with the fact that he had a bizarre need to constantly eat and had an equally bizarre smell, Tarrare was captured immediately as a spy. Though held in prison and tortured for a few nights, the Prussians that captured Tarrare turned him back toward the French when they discovered that the message that he had swallowed was yet another test message, with no useful information, though it did indeed pass safely.^[9]

1 A Cessna Light Aircraft

The man with the world record of “Strangest Diet” also deserves two entries on this list. While having the ability to eat appliances from TVs to computers is definitely noteworthy, the meal that landed Michael Lotito in his illustrious Guinness World Record-holding status would be that of a Cessna 150 light airplane.

Much like Leon Samson and his car, Lotito would cut up and eat the light aircraft in order to ingest it. However, unlike Samson, the French performer was able to completely finish the airplane over a two-year period. He would also lubricate his digestive tract with mineral oil and drink plenty of water.

Michael Lotito passed away in 2007 due to natural causes and never suffered a serious ailment from his performances.^[10]

We all love rock concerts and stand-up comedy; going to live shows gives us a certain thrill that watching from home can’t compare. And celebrities have always fascinated the general public. Their politics, personality, or extreme behavior has often landed them in trouble. Sometimes the entertainer or the police take their job way too seriously. So seriously, in fact, the musician or comedian is hauled off stage in the middle of their act and brought to jail. It happens more often than you think. Here are ten times a celebrity was arrested because of their performance.

10 Marty Wayne 1946

In 1946, Marty Wayne was an up-and-coming comedian with a penchant for filthy jokes and pantomime. While performing in Philadelphia, Wayne was arrested. At the time, the newspaper wouldn’t quote the police; they reported that he was arrested “for his purple passages,” which would most likely be considered mild by today’s standards. The venue’s owners were fined, and Wayne spent six months in prison!

Wayne’s career never really took off after his release. However, Wayne may well have been the inspiration for other more famous entries on our list. Obscenity laws were stricter and more plentiful in Wayne’s time. Most likely, he would have had a longer and more successful career had he lived in modern times, much to the chagrin of comedy fans everywhere.^[1]

9 Marilyn Manson (2001)

While Manson was not stopped during the show, he was arrested immediately following a 2001 performance in Michigan. Allegedly while on stage, Manson rubbed his gentiles on a security guard’s head. Manson recalled the incident at a 2013 show in Detroit. He claimed that he almost went to jail for having sex with a man’s head, an embellished version of the event. Officially Manson was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery for spitting on security officer Joshua Keasler’s head and felony sexual misconduct charges for wrapping his legs around Keasler and “grinding” on him.

According to prosecutor David Gorcyca, “These acts are sexual and physical assaults on an unsuspecting individual whose job was to protect the performers” Eventually, the felony charge was dropped, but the misdemeanor stuck. Manson seemed unaffected by the incident in every possible way.^[2]

8 Richard Pryor 1974

1974 was a big year for Richard Pryor, Blazing Saddles premiered, which he co-wrote, and he was arrested following a live performance in Richmond, Virginia. By the mid-1970s, laws concerning obscenities had been overturned throughout most of the country, leading some to believe there was racial bias in the arrest. According to comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff, “All the words that are in Blazing Saddles are the same words that he got arrested for saying onstage.”

Whether or not that was the case, Pryor was arrested for breaking a “foul language” ordinance. The local newspaper quoted the police saying, “He was repeatedly told to clean up his act.” The comedian used unapproved language in his jokes, one of which he directed toward the Richmond Police Department. He was released on a $500 bond and was later forced to attend a hearing on the matter later. Pryor never “cleaned up his act.” In 2006, he was the first Mark Twain Prize for American Humor honoree presented at the Kennedy Center, a distinctive honor for one arrested for his sense of humor.^[3]

7 Janis Joplin 1969

As the first queen of rock ‘n’ roll, it’s not necessarily surprising that Janis Joplin spent a few nights in jail. The circumstances of this particular arrest, however, are classic Janis. On November 16, 1969, B.B. King opened for her at Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa, Florida. The crowd of roughly 3,500 people was losing their minds by the time she got on stage. They ran into the aisles toward the stage and stood on top of each other for a better view. She was doing a slow, bluesy version of “Summertime” as police tried to escort people back to their seats.

Things got heated between the crowd and the cops, and Joplin noticed. She allegedly yelled, “Don’t f**k with those people” through the microphone. Her comment was enough to provoke Sgt. Ed Williams to get a warrant for Joplin’s arrest because of her “vulgar and indecent language.” Joplin continued to antagonize the Tampa Police force throughout her set, and by midnight, she was behind bars. She was released on bail within a few hours and continued to play shows with the same vigor until she died at 27.^[4]

6 George Carlin 1972

George Carlin had an outstanding comedic career that spanned over fifty years. Carlin was renowned for his vulgar yet well throughout jokes and had multiple run-ins with the law in his early days.

He appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows and countless live performances. Most memorable was his “Seven Words You Can’t Say” bit. While performing that act at the 1972 Milwaukee Summerfest, Carlin was arrested for “profanity,” despite obscenity laws being overturned throughout the country by the early 1970s. Officially charged with disorderly conduct, the charges were eventually dropped, and the judge ruled in favor of Carlin’s first amendment freedom of speech rights. Carlin remarked later that he had the last laugh on the topic. The arrest gave the comedian publicity that he just couldn’t buy and significantly impacted his career.^[5]

5 Bobby Brown 1989

Following a 1987 Beastie Boys concert, the people of Columbus, Ohio, passed an anti-lewdness ordinance. Early in 1989, R & B star Bobby Brown broke that ordinance during a live performance, to the surprise of no one. “My Prerogative” had just been released, and there was no way Brown wasn’t going to live up to the song’s name. He brought a woman from the crowd on stage with him during a rendition of the popular song and “simulated sexual intercourse” with her, according to Columbus Police.

Brown came off the stage for a break around 8:30 that night when the auditorium’s head of security arrested him. He was taken to the county jail and booked. However, he was able to pay a $652 fine and was released. Brown was only off stage for about 90 minutes before returning and finishing the show.^[6]

4 Axl Rose 1987

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has had quite a few run-ins with the law over his storied career. In 1991, he allegedly coerced the crowd into a riot during a show in St. Louis. Rose was arrested after the fact and made to stand trial for his role in the Riverport Amphitheater Riot. Years before that, he had been arrested during another show.

In 1987, GNR was on tour for their debut album, Appetite for Destruction. The band arrived in Atlanta in late November; their performance was scheduled for the 22nd. Allegedly, Rose punched a Black police officer in the face and was arrested. The police stated that he could be released if he apologized to the officer, but Rose responded to this offer in his own way. He refused to apologize and said, “F**k you!” to the cops. He was arrested due to physical assault during the band’s performance.^[7]

3 Jim Morrison 1967

In December 1967, while performing in New Haven, Connecticut, Doors frontman Jim Morrison became the first rock star ever arrested mid-performance. The incident became famous after being written about in countless newspapers and magazines and even appearing in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic The Doors. As the story goes, Morrison was “making out” with some girl backstage before the show. The two were interrupted by a police officer who ordered the couple to leave. Morrison, of course, refused and was consequently maced by the officer. Shortly after that, the officer was informed that his victim was, in fact, the ultra-famous lead singer, Jim Morrison.

Later, during a “Back Door Man” performance, Morrison improvised altered lyrics to recount the events to the audience. He then sang derogatory slurs at the police, and that was literally the show-stopper. The police came on stage, stopped the performance, and arrested Morrison. He was charged with inciting a riot, indecency, and public obscenity. This would not be his first arrest, though. In 1969, he was arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior, indecent exposure, profanity, and drunkenness a few days after a concert in Miami, Florida.^[8]

2 Lenny Bruce 1961-1964

Lenny Bruce is arguably the most revered name in stand-up comedy; his wit, charm, and jokes were ahead of his time. He believed in himself and his ability to make people laugh, whether or not authorities thought he was funny or not. He is responsible for bringing first amendment rights to his craft, paving the way for others like George Carlin and Richard Pryor. Bruce was arrested many times for obscene and vulgar language throughout his career.

The first time was in 1961 in San Fransico. On this occasion, the police waited until after his set. However, on December 4, 1962, Bruce was performing his act at the Gates of Horn Club in Chicago when he made multiple jokes containing what was considered obscene. Phrases like “schmuck” or “c***sucker” came out of his mouth one too many times, and police stopped the show and hauled him off to jail.

Over five years, Bruce appeared in court in several states for his act. He was convicted on the Chicago charges and sentenced to four months in jail. Comedy clubs nationwide blacklisted him after his conviction. He spent years going through the appeal process, but he died of a drug overdose before it could be completed. He won his appeal posthumously and was pardoned. In 2003, Governor George Pataki of New York pardoned Bruce, calling the state’s first posthumous pardon “a declaration of New York’s commitment to upholding the First Amendment.”.^[9]

1 Dave Chappelle 2022

Dave Chappelle was never arrested during one of his shows. Quite the opposite. For our last entry, we’re turning the tables. On May 3, 2022, Dave was in the middle of his Netflix is a Joke festival set when a member of the audience at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Ang attacked him. Later identified as Isaiah Lee, the attacker jumped onto the stage and shoved Chappelle (not a small man) to the ground. The incident occurred as Chappelle attempted to exit the stage for a mid-set break. The police subdued Lee quickly, and he suffered “minor injuries.” He was brought to the hospital to treat his injuries and to be evaluated for mental illness. Lee was later charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon.

Police say Lee was found with a replica handgun that produces a knife blade when fired. Chappelle is one of the top stand-up comedians of the last decade and has become a household name. His brand of comedy has offended a lot of people over the years. There are many reasons someone might take offense to his act, and this wasn’t the only time he was assaulted on stage. According to TMZ, he was once the victim of a racial assault when an audience member threw a banana peel at him during a show in New Mexico. Despite all this, Chappelle has stayed at the top of his industry while giving back to his community.^[10]

Whether it’s done for the press or for personal growth, performance art can get out of hand. From graphic sexual acts to life-threatening violence, the most extreme examples tend to escape the art world and horrify the public at large. Here are 10 of the most notorious.

10. ‘100. Aktion’ by Hermann Kitsch (1998)

Part of the Vienna Actionist movement, Hermann Nitsch’s works are often bloody and deliberately shocking. Under the banner of his Orgiastic Mysteries Theatre, he’s enacted scenes of animal sacrifice and human torture, among other earthly delights. But his magnum opus was his six-day play of 1998. All of his earlier works were merely preparation.

‘100. Aktion’ (note: the above video is not this piece, but should give you a good idea of his art) was held at his own private castle, with its sprawling grounds, sweeping vineyards, and underground tunnels. Although 100 actors were involved, the “genuinely occurring events” of the play were “performed” by the audience (500-1,000 guests). As well as the actors, there were 180 musicians—including an orchestra, brass bands, and tavern bands—playing a specially composed 1,595-page score. A belfry housing five church bells was also built for the play. 

Supplies included 13,000 liters of wine (“to produce the intoxicated, unbridled joy demanded by the score”), 10,000 roses, 1,000 liters of blood, as well as dead pigs and sheep, 60 stretchers, over 10,000 meters of canvas (for the “painting actions” of the second day), and 5,000 torches for the night-time parades. There were also two military tanks brought in for the fifth day.

But the shock value of the piece was not just the excess. Three live bulls were also slaughtered in the play—one each on the first, third, and fifth days. The idea was to reveal what is hidden. Sourced from an abattoir, they would have been killed anyway. As Nitsch put it, “society killed the animals … not me.” In fact, this was the point of the six-day play, to lay bare the facts of existence—”from the sublimest feelings of happiness and ecstasy … to the deepest abysses, revulsion, the bestial destructive rage of the darkest inner urges.” (The six-day duration alludes to the Christian Creation.)

It wasn’t all symbolism, though. Asked why participants were sometimes bound and blindfolded, Nitsch simply replied that he likes it.

9. ‘Solo Kristos’ by Sebastian Horsley (2000)

Sebastian Horsley was a painter with a problem: he could only paint what he experienced for himself. At least, that’s how he rationalized his decision to get nailed to a cross in the Philippines; he wanted to paint the Crucifixion.

To get the experience, he traveled to the village of San Pedro Cutud, where for Holy Week each year young men are crucified with nails through the hands and feet. They’re not being punished or killed; it’s their way of feeling closer to God.

Horsley wasn’t the first foreigner to seek out crucifixion for himself. In fact, locals had already banned foreigners from participating after a Japanese man sold footage of his own crucifixion as sadomasochistic pornography. However, after much persuading—and a bribe—Horsley was allowed a relatively low-key session, to be documented by a photographer friend.

It didn’t end well. Passing out from the pain, he slumped forward, breaking the straps around his wrists and arms meant to support his weight and minimize damage from the nails. The platform supporting his feet had also fallen off. Horsley plummeted to the ground as villagers ran away screaming. It was, he said later, an act of a God he didn’t believe in.

Adding insult to injury was the reaction back home. Not only was the British press characteristically cruel, with headlines like “Art Freak Crucifies Himself”, but the art world was also dismissive.

8. ‘Dinner – Eating People’ by Zhu Yu (2000)

Chinese artist Zhu Yu, like Feng Boyi and Ai Weiwei, set out to shock as a political statement. ‘Dinner – Eating People’ was a series of photos showing Zhu procuring, cooking, and eating a six-month-old human fetus, all with a look of indifference. 

The photos are gruesome however you look at them but while the fetus is real, it’s by no means fresh. You can see it’s soaked in formalin. Even after cooking, he only pretended to bite it.

Once flushed out to the web, however, the photos lost all their context. People saw them as evidence of: a baby-eating trend that caused the coronavirus pandemic; a clandestine Taiwanese fetus kitchen; legalized aborted-fetus-eating in China; and so on. Apparently pleased with the results of his “experiment”, Zhu went on two years later to video himself negotiating with a prostitute to let him impregnate her, then to get an abortion so he could feed the fetus to a dog, which he appears to do later in the film.

7. ‘Seedbed’ by Vito Acconci (1972)

Every Wednesday and Saturday for three whole weeks, visitors to the Sonnabend Gallery in SoHo would be forgiven for thinking there was nothing going on. Room A was entirely empty. But as they descended the ramp into the room, Vito Acconci’s ‘Seedbed’ began.

“You’re pushing … down on my mouth,” came his voice from the speakers. “I’m pressing my eyes into your hair.”

Hidden beneath their feet, inside the ramp, the artist repeatedly masturbated. He used the sound of their movements to fuel his sexual fantasies, which he narrated into a microphone. Increasingly breathless (and graphic), he would climax with words like “I’ve done this for you, I’ve done this with you, I’ve done this to you…” Then he’d start again with the next person.

The Met Museum has called it “a seminal work.” According to them, the point was to “create an intimate connection between artist and audience, even as they remained invisible to one another.” Also… it was the ’70s.

6. ‘Resonate/Obliterate’ by Ron They (2011)

Ron Athey’s 50th birthday celebration was bound to be bloody. This is the queer performance artist known for self-mutilation and blood-letting. Drawing on his Pentecostal childhood and HIV-positive status, his work has involved scarifying, branding, stapling, penetrating, and hooking. As he puts it, he always plays “either with flesh or with fluid or blood” in his work.

And his 50th birthday was no different. Titled ‘Resonate/Obliterate’, the piece saw him doing yoga inside a glass box, naked but for a long blonde wig attached to his scalp using pins. Moving in time to a “futuristic soundtrack,” he aggressively brushed the fake hair. Then, piling it up high to reveal his face, he removed the pins, blood flowing out, “like Christ in a crown of thorns.”

Finally, Athey spread lubricant over his body, mixing with the blood, “plunged his fist into his rectum, and … triumphantly began to laugh.” After the show he got his blood sugar back up with some birthday cake.

5. ‘Untitled’ by Aliza Shvarts (2008)

Yale art student Aliza Shvarts gained instant notoriety in 2008 when news of her untitled senior thesis leaked off campus into the press. Using semen from donors (or “fabricators” as she called them), she repeatedly artificially inseminated herself between the ninth and fifteenth days of her menstrual cycles for a year. Then, on the twenty-eighth day of each cycle, she took herbal drugs to abort pregnancy. Although she was never sure she was actually pregnant, she experienced cramps and heavy bleeding as a result.

Collecting this blood, she planned a sculptural installation as part of her work; but once the Washington Post got wind of the story Yale entered damage control. The university banned the sculpture and lied to the press, claiming Shvarts had hoaxed the whole thing. She had, they said, never inseminated herself for the piece. Shvarts denied their denial and the story went viral online.

In retrospect she noted how, in the absence of any tangible elements (the sculpture, video, photos etc.), “the piece only exists as a narrative circulation.” As for the point of her artwork, it was meant to “open questions of material and discursive reproduction.” That it most certainly did.

4. ‘Untitled’ by Lai Thi Dieu Ha (2011)

Hanoi artist Lai Thi Dieu Ha gained notoriety for her performances exploring sexuality and taboos in Vietnam. As she put it, her work is “about the control of the government, cultural censorship.” In the Vietnamese press she’s the one who causes shock (gay soc).

In ‘Fly Up’ (Bay Len), she stripped naked and covered herself in glue and blue feathers before performing avian movements. This piece culminated with the release of a live bird from her mouth.

But it was her next work that drew the most attention. In this untitled piece, she took hot irons to a mass of pig bladders then rubbed them over her arms, legs, and face. She then pressed the irons against her arms, attaching the bladders and blistering her skin before peeling off the burned parts.

3. ‘Shoot’ by Chris Burden (1971)

Chris Burden was adamantly anti-war—specifically when it came to Vietnam. As a performance artist, he expressed his solidarity with victims through shocking acts of violence directed against himself. Examples include crucifixion to a Volkswagen Beetle, getting kicked down two flights of stairs, and confinement to a school locker with a bottle above to drink from and a bottle below to pee in. He also had an audience stick him with pins.

In the piece for which he’s best known, ‘Shoot’, he had a friend shoot him at close range with a rifle. Although at a gallery, only a few guests were present—all friends of the artist. But the moment was captured on Super-8 film. In the footage we see and hear the gun fire, the victim stumble forward, and the shell hit the ground. 

The gun was off target. The bullet was only supposed to graze his arm but instead it passed right through—forcing Burden and co to make a hasty trip to the hospital and leave staff in disbelief at the reason. Although he might not have thought so at the time, it was actually kind of better for the piece that it caused a real wound. After all, the intention was to challenge America’s desensitization to violence.

2. ‘Ham Cybele – Century Banquet’ by Ham Cybele (2012)

For a brief period on April 8, 2012, one tweet cut through the noise:

“[Please retweet] I am offering my male genitals (full penis, testes, scrotum) as a meal for 100,000 yen … Will prepare and cook as the buyer requests, at his chosen location.”

It went on to reassure readers of the quality of the meat—22 years old and free of disease, dysfunction, or hormone treatment. This was no bot. The tweeter was Tokyo artist Ham Cybele (HC) and this was a serious offer. In the past they’d had their nipples removed. The idea for this “testicle banquet” was to raise awareness of “asexual” (non-binary) rights. And while some tried to get the grisly meal canceled, it wasn’t against the law. Cannibalism is legal in Japan—just as it is in all US states except Idaho.

Five days after the tweet, five diners split the bill between them and, listening to a piano recital, watched HC sautée their own penis, testicles, and scrotum with button mushrooms and parsley. Having signed a waiver freeing the artist of any responsibility for adverse reactions, the diners tucked in. The verdict? Rubbery and tasteless. But that wasn’t the point.

1. ‘Rhythm 0’ by Marina Abramovic (1974)

Marina Abramovic’s ‘Rhythm 0’ gets the top spot on this list not because she went too far as the artist but, uniquely, that the public went too far as her audience. In fact, she was more shocked than anyone.

This could not be said of her earlier ‘Rhythm’ pieces. In ‘Rhythm 10’, for instance, she performed the old gangster party trick of rapidly stabbing a knife between her fingers on a table, not stopping until she had cut herself twenty times. In ‘Rhythm 5’, she leapt onto a flaming star-shaped platform, losing consciousness due to lack of oxygen, and had to be rescued by audience members. Then in Rhythms 2 and 4 she lost consciousness again, this time on purpose—first with drugs then with hyperventilation.

‘Rhythm 0’ was a different beast entirely. When the audience entered the space, they found Abramovic stood passively by a long table on which she had arranged 72 objects. Some were for pleasure (perfume, grapes, wine) and some were for pain (whip, needle, razor blades), while others were ambiguous or neutral (newspaper, paint, lipstick). Some objects, like the Band Aid, implicitly invited injuries. But the most shocking objects were the bullet and gun. The written instructions were simple: “There are 72 objects on the table that one can use on me as desired. I am the object. During this period I take full responsibility”

Abramovic’s work was all about testing her limits, but here she was testing her audience. She wanted to see how far they would go. At first they were playful. But they became more aggressive. “It was six hours of real horror,” she recalled. Someone cut her clothes. Someone stuck  thorns in her belly.

Another picked up a knife and cut her close to her neck, drinking the blood before applying the Band Aid. Someone even picked her up, by now half naked, and carried her round the room. Dumping her on the table, they stabbed the knife into the wood between her legs. Eventually, someone loaded the gun and aimed it at her head. They “put in my hand,” she remembered, “[to] see if I were pressing it, her hand against my hand, if I would resist.”

As with some of her other works, it took someone else to stop the piece for her. When the gallerist entered and said it was finished, Abramovic came to as if from a trance. Naked and bleeding with tears in her eyes, she walked through the audience and they all ran away; “literally [ran] out of the door.” When she returned to her hotel room that evening and looked at herself in the mirror, she saw a “really big piece of white hair.”