Freak Show

When George Carlin passed away earlier this week, I got to thinking about some of my favorite routines. And, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I spent nearly a whole day watching clips of his priceless performances. One of my favorite Carlin rants is when he takes on the absurdity of political correctness, arguing that our modern culture has distorted and diluted our terminology so much in trying not to offend, that our language has become meaningless and even hypocritical. He calls to task everything from “post-traumatic stress disorder” to “bathroom tissue.” With a familiar sneer of disbelief on his face, his tracing the transition from the term “cripple” to “differently-abled” is particularly hilarious and scathing. It’s not that Carlin was flaunting his being an insensitive bastard, but rather that somehow our culture had tried to deflect individuality and difference to the point that identity had been whitewashed.

Enter the 999 Eyes Freak Show, a celebration of the odd, deformed, and truly amazing, which takes over Antone’s tomorrow. The carnival has long since passed into the vacuum of our political correctness and, according to 999 Eyes, they are the first traveling freak show in the U.S. in over 40 years, at least with more than three “human oddities” performing. Among the crew are the Lobster Girl, the Human Tripod, the Elephant Man, and the Flipper Boy, to name but a few of their freaks, along with sideshow acts of sword swallowing and fire breathing. All of this is backed musically by the irresistible raucous gypsy folk of That Damned Band.

Some of you may be offended by this already, thinking of the freak show as some kind of exploitation of “genetically challenged” or whatever p.c.-modified term assuages your conscience. So perhaps it’s best to let show’s mission statement speak for itself:

“The 999 EYES authentic human oddities freakshow explicitly celebrates real genetic diversity by showcasing amazing feats performed by LIVING HUMAN ODDITIES! The freaks share real stories of what it is like to be born truly different from the average 10-fingered and 10-toed genetic blueprint for humanity – giving folks from all corners a chance to realize that what is different in beautiful.”

More than anything though, the 999 Eyes and That Damned Band put on an amazing performance and a helluva good time, the kind of spectacular brush with the bizarre and talented that we seem to have become largely immune to.