An American friend
who lives in North Carolina once had a job just over the state line, in Tennessee, at a cowboy show for tourists. It was pretty gaudy, and in remarkably bad taste: the end of the show featured three bandits, of which my friend was one, being hanged.
It was all done as safely as possible; each bandit wore a harness that clipped onto the rope, so when the trapdoor opened they would fall but be caught by something other than the rope around their neck.
My friend (lets call him Luke, for that was his name) had long, luxuriant locks that he was far too proud of. when his boss insisted he had to cut it short to save it getting tangled he refused, saying they weren't long enough to be a risk.
He was wrong.
Sure enough, on his first day of being 'hanged', a tuft got caught, and was torn out, to much swearing and blaspheming. Apparently the sight of a bandit corpse springing to life shouting "fuck fuck fuck!" is hilarious, but not suitable for children.
His boss eventually gave him a book on safe stunts, since there is a kind of harness you can get that protects your head and hair from mechanisms, and after reading his book on noose health awareness he bought a new safety harness.
I'll be here all week.
(Paolo Nutini's Bikini Better than Frederick Fleet's optometrist, Thu 6 Dec 2012, 11:59, Reply)