At the beginning of Mr. Methane's "Let's Rip!" DVD, a disclaimer is run which proclaims that all of the farts we are about to hear are 100% genuine. In other words, no artificial, post-production sweetening is used to boost his anal prowess. Having never seen Mr. Methane's stage show for myself, I found myself wondering why this disclaimer was necessary--but within three minutes, I realized why. This man is able to do things with his ass that defy the very laws of nature!

As the only full-time practitioner of petomania in the world today, Mr. Methane has been bringing his unique brand of entertainment to the masses for over a decade. The word "petomania" translates from the French into "controlled anal voicing". In fact, it was a French man by the name of Joseph Pujol that first practiced this art back in the 19th century. See that? The French have been talking out of their asses for YEARS. (Cue rim shot.) And much like Mr. Methane, Pujol became a well loved and well paid star in his day.

Despite his many appearances on such shows as Howard Stern, I avoided the genius of Mr. Methane for several years. It wasn't anything personal, I've just never been that interested in toilet humor. I didn't understand what people found so hilarious about farting--when somebody floated an air biscuit in my direction, my first reaction was to flee the scene. Far from laughing, I'd usually get a bit pissed off and tell the farter to keep their gas bomb to themselves, lest I use my shoe to plug up the fluttering hole in their anus. I realize that farting is supposed to be a "guy" thing, but maybe I thought my sense of humor was a bit more sophisticated than that. Or maybe I was just being a prissy little bitch... who knows?

That all changed one morning during my dreaded, lengthy commute to work. I was listening to The Drew and Mike Show on the radio and the featured guest of the day was none other than Mr. Methane. The first thing that surprised me about Mr. Methane was the fact that he was British--for some reason, the name had me picturing a disgusting, smelly trailer trash type of man with stained briefs. I guess I wasn't expecting a guy that makes a living by farting to be a charming and well-spoken bloke, but that's the way he presented himself. I still wasn't convinced about his talent, however, until he did a live performance of "I Just Called To Say I Love You". To say I laughed would be an understatement--I was driving on the freeway at the time and I literally almost lost control of my car. Tears were streaming down my face and I couldn't catch my breath because I was laughing too hard. There was just something so appropriate about hearing someone fart his way through a Stevie Wonder song. Yes, sir, Mr. Methane made a new fan that day.

For those of you that have never witnessed the Methane experience live, this "Let's Rip!" DVD is the next best thing. It incorporates all the antics of his stage show along with plenty of fart-related vignettes. You want to see Mr. Methane blow out candles on a birthday cake by farting? It's here. You want to see him fart along with the classical, musical strains of Strauss? Check. You want to see his infamous "dart farting" in which he shoots a dart from his ass and blows up a balloon? That's here, too, along with an utterly amazing performance of "Flight of the Bumblebee" which needs to be seen to be believed. Now THAT is sphincter control! Mr. Methane performs his schtick in front of an enthusiastic crowd that really gets into what he's doing. Plus, he even has a dwarf named Albert as his onstage assistant. Everybody knows you can't go wrong when you employ a dwarf for comedic purposes. I especially enjoyed seeing Albert's toupee blown right off his head by one of Mr. Methane's many anal explosions.

Another highlight of the DVD are the recurring Candid Butt-Pipe Shockers segments. Shot on location in the streets of Blackpool, England, Mr. Methane has a phony television crew asking random people on the streets rather mundane questions about the city of Blackpool. Dressed in his incognito street gear, Mr. Methane interrupts each interview, makes a quip and cheerfully farts in their general direction. (You like the Monty Python reference there?) Then he briskly strides away, leaving the victims to deal with the aftermath. The humor in these segments lies not with the farts themselves, but in the reactions of those left in their wake--and many of the reactions he gets are priceless. I mean, how would YOU react if you were doing what you thought was a television interview and some strange guy comes up and farts in your face?

There's plenty more where that came from, from Mr. Methane's "Rectal Recitals" to his "Classic Moments In Sports", which marks the first time I've ever seen somebody win a game of pool by using the powers of his ass. There's even a Mr. Methane music video, complete with hot women and singing turds. In other words, this DVD is fun for the entire family.

Mr. Methane is also cool enough to be a friend of DeansPlanet.com and was interviewed by Doc one year ago. But with the release of his DVD, I thought I'd catch up with the man they call Methane and "shoot the shit", so to speak. Enjoy!

THE INTERVIEW --->