Boston College students possess immense talent, but there are certain feats that a college student could never achieve, such as swallowing a billiard ball, a light bulb, and a goldfish and then coughing them back up whole and dry, in that order. Or, perhaps, guzzling 57 hot dogs in 12 minutes.
On Friday, BC students were able to witness both horrendous and mesmerizing feats on campus. In the Nights on the Heights' double-dose gorge of gluttony, students crammed into the Cabaret Room to witness Stevie Starr, "The Human Reguritator," and participate in an eating contest.
At 9:30 p.m. the show commenced with Starr, a man who has created a career and celebrity out of swallowing objects and regurgitating them. If Willy Wonka's majestic creepiness, George Carlin's dirty crude humor, and a circus performer with a Scottish accent were mixed, Starr would be the result. Decked in black leather pants and a sparkling gold open blazer (revealing his belly to emphasize his control over his stomach), he snatched the audience's attention - and fear - as he slurped a light bulb down his throat, sparking a collective roaring gasp in the crowd of 200. A moment later, he regurgitated it, stating that this was his simplest trick before the crowd could clap with astonishment.
How do you top swallowing a light bulb? It's a question most BC students will never have to ask themselves, but, when Starr asked the crowed for a cigarette, they were forced to ask. Before he lit it, Starr squeezed bursts of butane down his throat. Then in one sickening drag - as the crowd shouted, "That's awful," and "Cancer!" - he smoked the stick dead in 20 seconds. He may as well have dumped tar into his mouth. Since he inhaled the entire cigarette, smoke has filled his lungs.
He then proceeded to ask: "How would you like the smoke to come out: in one breath, in circles, or in a bubble?"
Like kids at a puppet show everyone yelled, "bubble!" He then grabbed a bottle of soap, showing to someone in the front row that he hadn't filled the bottle with water, and proceeded to chug about half the bottle (for all the strange items he shoves down his esophagus, his digestive tract could use the cleansing). In a deep breath, he blew a soccer-ball-sized foggy bubble and, as it floated by his head, he popped it, releasing a cloud of smoke. An eruption of ooh's and ahh's mixed with applause rumbled throughout the audience. "You probably think this is a big con," he conceded. "But it's real, and I'm going to prove it with a participant from the crowd."
