Longest career as a flatulist (male)

The longest-working flatulist is currently Mr Methane, aka Paul Oldfield (UK), who made his first professional appearance in December 1990 and gave up his full-time job as a British Rail train driver in October 1991 after registering with Equity under his superhero stage name (Equity #M00128851). His profession requires him to pass gas in front of an audience, typically on cue, at various pitches and in time with music. He has performed regularly with Circus of Horrors and appeared on various radio and TV shows, including Britain's Got Talent. His most recent TV engagement was in October 2020 on the show Channel Hopping with Jon Richardson.

Paul began by farting for friends in the early 1980s at Ryles Park County High School in Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK. He made his first professional appearance as Mr Methane in 1990 while working as a train driver, and his first paid TV job was on the Yorkshire Television programme The James Whale Radio Show in December that year. In July the following year, he had amassed sufficient professional credits to qualify for membership of the actors' union Equity, and by the end of 1991, he was performing his flatulist act internationally.

Fartists, flatulists or farteurs have been recorded in literature from as early as the 12th century, and have been documented not only in medieval Europe but also as far afield as Edo-period Japan. Mr Methane is merely the latest in a long line of performers entertaining audiences with their intestinal eruptions; other notables from history include Roland the Farter from the court of English king Henry II, Kirifuri-hanasaki-otoko (“the mist-descending flower-blossom man") from 17th century Tokyo, and France's Le Pétomane, aka Joseph Pujol, a tuxedo-wearing stage performer who also numbered the firing of jets of water from his posterior as part of his "rectal breathing and musical anus" stage shows at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Le Pétomane ("gas maniac") was a baker by trade who worked as a farteur from 1887 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, a career of 27 years.

According to Mr Methane, he is able to "inhale" through his anus, taking in air and expelling it back out at will – a physically demanding task he calls "controlled anal voicing" that requires him to practice yoga. Indeed, it was during a moment in the "full lotus position" that he first discovered this rare skill.

Paul gave up his career as a train engineer to perform full time in his superhero lyrca, appearing on TV shows, in commercials and on stage, performing for the likes of radio shock-jock Howard Stern and even releasing the music albums mr methane.com (1998) and, just in time for Christmas, Merry Methane (2001).