There’s hardly anyone who hasn’t heard of the Moulin Rouge, which opened in 1889 and became one of the most famous nightclubs in the world. Today we mostly remember the can-can dancers and Toulouse-Lautrec, the artist behind the club’s wonderful posters. But one man, whose performances filled the Moulin Rouge’s hall night after night and drew in, among others, the crowned heads of Europe, has been forgotten by our collective memory. His name was Joseph Pujol (1857-1945), though he became known as Le Pétomane (the “fartomaniac”).

The start of Joseph Pujol’s artistic career

Joseph was born in Marseille in 1857, and as a child he had an experience that changed his whole life. One day, while swimming in the sea, he suddenly felt a cold rush in his backside and discovered he was able to draw in water using his anal muscles. Pujol quickly realized the entertainment potential of this skill, and during his military service he became popular with his fellow soldiers for his ability to empty a pot full of water using those same muscles, spraying it as far as 5 meters.

After finishing his military service, Joseph opened a bakery in Marseille, where he used to entertain his customers, this time by imitating musical instruments: drawing air into his backside and releasing it in different rhythms. As his following grew, he decided to make it his profession and started performing on stages around Marseille. The show was a hit, and in 1892 Pujol moved to Paris, straight to the Moulin Rouge, where he took on the stage name Le Pétomane, a mix of the words “péter” (to fart) and “maniac”.

The star of the Moulin Rouge

The Pétomane’s show was a massive success, and he became one of the highest-paid performers at the Moulin Rouge. During his act, Pujol used his backside to imitate cannon fire and thunderstorms, and even played La Marseillaise through a small flute he inserted into his anus.

The show’s success drew the cream of European society to the Moulin Rouge. His admirers included Sigmund Freud, King Edward VII of England, and King Leopold II of Belgium, who nearly fainted from laughter during one performance (the king was lucky, since during one of Pujol’s shows at the Moulin Rouge, a man actually died of a heart attack brought on by laughing too hard).

My pick

Hotels in Montmartre

Hotel de Flore
Forty-three rooms on Rue Lamarck, on the quiet part of the hill and a four-minute walk from the Lamarck-Caulaincourt station. Breakfast is a sweet and savory buffet from seven to ten thirty, costs 13.5 euros and is free for children up to 12, and the baguette comes from an award-winning bakery. The reception is open around the clock and you can leave your luggage. The Comfort rooms face the courtyard and are quieter, and the Superior rooms face the street and get more light. Note that the hotel is simple, not fancy, and that the climb from here to the Sacré-Cœur takes about a quarter of an hour. I recommend asking for a Comfort room if you're a light sleeper.
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Korner Montmartre
Thirty rooms on Rue Aristide Bruant, a three-minute walk from the Blanche station on line 2 and the Abbesses station on line 12, which means two ways out of here without changing lines. There's an elevator, a 24-hour reception and a buffet breakfast, and the windows are double-glazed, so the noise outside barely gets in. Rue des Abbesses, with its bakeries and bistros, is just around the corner. The design is functional and unsurprising, and some of the courtyard rooms sit slightly below street level, so they get less light. I recommend asking for a room on a high floor when you book. The hotel used to be called Pavillon de Montmartre.
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In 1894, Pujol and the Moulin Rouge parted ways after he performed independently in a fundraising show for a friend in financial trouble, which deeply angered the club’s management. Once he went independent, Pujol created the Théâtre Pompadour and toured with it all across France until the outbreak of World War I.

The horrors of World War I let the air out of Pujol’s balloon, and he decided to return to Marseille and his old baking career. He died in 1945, and after his death the University of the Sorbonne offered his family a huge sum of money for permission to dissect his body and uncover the secret of his musical talent. His family refused, and the secret went with him to the grave. But as you’ll see, the memory of Joseph Pujol didn’t really go with the wind. Here, for example, is a clip from a musical inspired by his story:

And there’s also a chanson someone wrote about him (sorry about the video quality, I couldn’t find anything better, but the sound is perfectly fine):

And to finish, a short anecdote: the skirt-chasing, slightly dimwitted governor in Mel Brooks’s immortal film “Blazing Saddles” is named Lepetomane, after Joseph Pujol, since, just like our politicians, he too is full of hot air…

Looking for tickets to the Moulin Rouge?

You can find them on the Montmartre page on my site, along with a lot more useful information (recommendations, walking routes, and more).

Looking for more Paris attractions?

If you’re looking for museums, a Seine cruise and other attractions in the City of Light, feel free to check out this article.
If you’d rather step outside Paris for a bit and spend some time in Versailles, Giverny, or, heaven help you, Disneyland Paris, feel free to check out this article.