Swami X
{{short description|America boardwalk performer and comedian}}
Harry W. Hart, known by the stage name Swami X, (November 1925, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—August 29, 2015, Los Angeles, California) was an American boardwalk performer and stand-up comedian. Active from the 1970s to 1985, he performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, and New York. He was known for bawdy sexual humor and political invective.{{cite book |first=Patricia J |last=Campbell |title=Passing the Hat - Street Performers in America |year= 1981 |location=New York |publisher=Delacorte Press|isbn= 978-0-385-28771-5 |oclc= 7461199 }}
Biography
Hart was born in mid-November 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died at age 89 on August 29, 2015 at the home of former Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.{{cite web |url=http://www.laweekly.com/news/venice-beach-comic-swami-x-is-dead-at-89-5985241 |title=Venice Beach Comic Swami X Is Dead at 89|publisher=L.A. Weekly |date=1 September 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://freevenicebeachhead.org/2015/10/17/swami-x-has-left-the-building|title=Swami X Has Left the Building|publisher=Free Venice. Beachhead |date=1 September 2015}}
Career
Swami X's act was a monologue mixing pithy sociopolitical observations with poetry, sarcasm and humor, which typically included blasphemy, profanity, and attacking "sacred cows"—producing "pleased shock and delighted outrage" in observers. His notable lines include:
- "Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. 'Yes' is the answer."{{Cite book | last1 = Weiss | first1 = Stefanie Iris. | title = Eco-sex : go green between the sheets and make your love life sustainable | year = 2010 | publisher = Ten Speed Press | location = New York | isbn = 978-1-58008-118-4 | page = 197}}
- "How do we know Jesus Christ was Jewish? Because he went into His Father's business."
- "If I had known I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself".
- "You are what you eat. If that's true, then I'm a nymphomaniac".
He was known for appearing on the Venice Boardwalk, at the UCLA and U.C. Berkeley campuses, in San Francisco, and at Washington Park in New York City. He retired in 1985.{{cite web|title=SWAMI X - Comedian|url=http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/venice/the-crumbs/swami-x---comedian.html|publisher=KCET website|accessdate=29 November 2010|date=2010-03-25}} In 2009 the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, presented him with an official proclamation.{{cite web|url=http://www.venicepaper.net/pmt_more.php?id=454_0_1_0_M|title=Villaraigosa Honors Swami X; Blows Off Officially Running for Gov|publisher=The Venice Paper|date=22 June 2009|access-date=30 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724121111/http://www.venicepaper.net/pmt_more.php?id=454_0_1_0_M|archive-date=24 July 2011|url-status=dead}}
Swami X appears as a character in Roger L. Simon's mystery novel, The Straight Man{{cite book|title=The Straight Man|first=Roger L.|last=Simon|year=1986|publisher=Villard Books|pages=[https://archive.org/details/straightmanmose00simo/page/46 46, 88, 91]|isbn=978-0-394-55837-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/straightmanmose00simo/page/46}} and is referenced in Pat Hartman's volume of Venice vignettes, Call Someplace Paradise.{{cite book|title=Call Someplace Paradise|first=Pat |last=Hartman|publisher=Xlibris |year=2000|isbn=978-0-7388-2005-7|page=93}}{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=January 2018}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Jeffrey Stanton, Venice California: 'Coney Island of the Pacific' (2005), page 273
- {{cite video |url= |title=Spirit of Venice, California (contains an audio version of a spoken word performance by Swami X) |publisher=Priority Records |date=March 10, 1992 |asin=B00000E7DU}}
- Sweet William, 'X Swami X, The Sidewalk Comic', Los Angeles Times, Calendar Section, p. 170 (Dec. 23, 1979).
External links
- [http://freevenicebeachhead.wordpress.com/category/swami-x/ Archive of blog postings by Swami X] on the Free Venice Beachhead blog
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimXlnwM_08/ Video of Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa presenting Swami X with official proclamation and recounting his experiences with Swami X at UCLA in the early 1970s]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02s62DV8o40 Excerpts Video of SWAMI X Performing on the Venice Beach Boardwalk 1981, taken from "STREET LIFE" the documentary film by Mark S Shepherd]
- [http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/venice/the-crumbs/swami-x---comedian.html/ Brief article and recent photos of Swami X with quotations]
Category:American street performers