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. [1] [2]
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. [3] [4]
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:
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. [6]
Swami X appears as a character in Roger L. Simon's mystery novel, The Straight Man [7] and is referenced in Pat Hartman's volume of Venice vignettes, Call Someplace Paradise. [8][ self-published source]