Meet 'The PoopFarter' Who Made This Whole C Train Crack Up

NEW YORK, NY — On Monday afternoon, a man hopped on the downtown C train. But it wasn't just any man. It was a man dressed in hot pink, with a tank that said "poop," holding a sign that said "Farting," and toting a stereo that played his own voice saying "pooping ... farting ... poop ... fart ..." in a 90-second loop.

Unsuspecting passengers started smirking and eventually laughing, and a rider caught it all on camera.

Who is this "PoopFarter" who has been seen around New York City in the past year, and before that in several cities in Massachusetts? His name is Zev Hersh, Patch learned, and his act is self-proclaimed performance art meant to make people laugh and to push the limits of what's acceptable in public spaces.

You might have seen him around town, or on Instagram. He also has a Tinder profile.

"I'm trying to set an example that you can be silly in public and different," Hersh told Patch.

Hersh's performance art goes like this: He wears the same pink shirt every day, with a white T-shirt underneath, "so it doesn't get too smelly," he said. His recording reverberates over unsuspecting passers-by and usually hits them in their funny bones. He stands there and stares blankly while people sit or stand and watch... or pretend to ignore him.

His Instagram photos have racked up comments from fans. "Classic, man. This is the Poopy Guy we know and like," one commenter said. Another commenter called him "lil poopy," and said he missed seeing him around Nolita.

A 28-year-old Massachusetts native, Hersh has been mastering the "PoopFarter" act for five years, beginning in Massachusetts and traveling to NYC about a year ago. His first sign said "Hello," but he eventually moved on to a sign that said "Poopy," and now, "Farting."

"I realized that poop and fart jokes were what I wanted to do because I like immature and silly humor," he said. "I find that it's only really cool people that come up and talk to me."

It was only a matter of time before a passenger caught the act on video, and someone shared it to Reddit. The video of Hersh on the C train last week making passengers giggle had been watched nearly 10,000 times as of Wednesday afternoon, two days after it was posted to YouTube.

He recorded the audio he plays with an app called Repeat It Again, which allows him to endlessly loop his recording, he said. That automatic loop is important as he often goes out into the city and performs for six hours at a time.

Hersh told Patch that 99 percent of the reactions he gets are positive, but every once in a while he will anger someone with his forwardness. In Massachusetts, a man once threatened to beat him up, he said.

He doesn't ask for money for his performances, but sometimes people will give him an unsolicited dollar. After all, who doesn't like some good toilet humor every once in a while?

So what's next for "PoopFarter" man? He said he takes his life "month-to-month" and plans to stay in NYC for the near future. He also said he expects to release his own videos of his experiences within the next month, which will include close-ups of people's "most epic reactions" to his art.

Photo Courtesy of Zev Hersh