Donny Vomit © Leland Bobbé

As part of my Neo-Burlesque project I wanted to photograph not just the burlesque performers but the hosts and sideshow performers as well. This is Donny Vomit. For nearly a decade, Donny has been performing acts of the strange and bizarre such as the Human Blockhead(nail in nose), Fire Eating, Sword Swallowing and more. For this shoot we tried a few different things but i really liked this sword. We actually did some shots of sword swallowing but this was my favorite because i felt it  really captured his personality.

A quote from Donny:

“When I first started doing sideshow stunts I was opening for punk and rockabilly bands back in Oklahoma. A friend of mine who was in one of the bands saw my show. I was eating light bulbs and swallowing balloons at the time. He said  that I needed to get myself a rock ‘n roll name. He smirked at me and said . . . ‘I know what I’m going to call you . . . Donny Vomit, because every time I see your act, I just want to throw up’.”