Swami X

Swami X 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.^[1][2]

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.^[2] His notable lines include:

• "Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. 'Yes' is the answer."^[3]
• "How do we know Jesus Christ was Jewish? Because he went into His Father's business."^[2]
• "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.^[1] In 2009 the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, presented him with an official proclamation.^[4]

Swami X appears as a character in Roger L. Simon's mystery novel, The Straight Man^[5] and is referenced in Pat Hartman's volume of Venice vignettes, Call Someplace Paradise.^[6]

Harry W. "Swami X" Hart died on August 29, 2015 at the home of former Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl. He was 89, two and a half months before his 90th birthday. Hart was born in Philadelphia in mid-November 1925.^{[7] [8]}

See also

• Busking
• List of well-known busking locations

References

1. "SWAMI X - Comedian". KCET website. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
2. Campbell, Patricia J (1981). Passing the Hat - Street Performers in America. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0-385-28771-5. OCLC 7461199.
3. Weiss, Stefanie Iris. (2010). Eco-sex : go green between the sheets and make your love life sustainable. New York: Ten Speed Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-58008-118-4.
4. "Villaraigosa "Honors Swami X; Blows Off Officially Running for Gov" Check |url= value (help). The Venice Paper. 22 June 2009.
5. Simon, Roger L. (1986). The Straight Man. Villard Books. pp. 46, 88, 91. ISBN 978-0-394-55837-0.
6. Hartman, Pat (2000). Call Someplace Paradise. Xlibris. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7388-2005-7.
7. "Venice Beach Comic Swami X Is Dead at 89". L.A. Weekly. 1 September 2015.
8. "Swami X Has Left the Building". Free Venice. Beachhead. 1 September 2015.

Further reading

• Jeffrey Stanton, Venice California: 'Coney Island of the Pacific' (2005), page 273
• Spirit of Venice, California (contains an audio version of a spoken word performance by Swami X). Priority Records. March 10, 1992. ASIN B00000E7DU. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
• Sweet William, 'X Swami X, The Sidewalk Comic', Los Angeles Times, Calendar Section, p. 170 (Dec. 23, 1979).

External links

• Archive of blog postings by Swami X on the Free Venice Beachhead blog
• 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
• Excerpts Video of SWAMI X Performing on the Venice Beach Boardwalk 1981, taken from "STREET LIFE" the documentary film by Mark S Shepherd
• Brief article and recent photos of Swami X with quotations