San Fran Sit-In

BRIAN BALOGH: Earlier in the show, we spoke with actor Mat Fraser. He’s best known for his part in American Horror Story, where he played Paul, the Illustrated Seal Boy. The role was a fitting one; 15 years ago, Fraser constructed an entire act based on a historic sideshow performer named Stanislaus Berent, whose stage name was Sealo the Seal Boy.

We asked Fraser how he started in the profession, and to tell us about its history.

MAT FRASER: It all started when I was an actor, and I went for an audition at The Bill, which is our long-standing police drama. And I had a great audition with the guy, but then I didn’t get the call, and I just knew it was my disability.

And we called them, and they said, “Oh,”—we caught them on the hop—and they were all, “Um, um, um, he needs to drive, so there’s a problem. The character needs to drive,” and I have “full driving license” at the front of my resume, so they just picked the wrong excuse.

And I thought, “OK, I get it. People don’t want me. Right. Where can I go where not only will I be wanted, but no one can take the job from me?” and, at the time, I was interested in looking at freak shows as the cultural heritage of disabled performers today.

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MAT FRASER: For myself, I come out in usually to some sort of sexy, pretend sexy, music with a jacket with pretend long arms. I then let them drop from the sleeves. Then I throw away the jacket, and I’m like, “Yes, it’s me,” and then I explain my physical condition, this condition called phocomelia, is seal-like limbs.

So, I talk about being the seal boy and being scared when Canadians come to the show because they’re famous for clubbing seals and, you know, real bad-taste humor like that.

I end up by doing my clever rock drumming and, say, do a roll in a paradiddle and do a bit of explanation, and then I get the hell out of dodge.

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MAT FRASER: When I explain my medical condition in terms of what my bones are like, I can see that the audience are genuinely interested, and do I detect a sort of relief to understand? I think I do. I don’t want to put words into their expressions, but I’m really convinced there’s a sort of appreciation of understanding.

You know, you’re not allowed to ask the disabled person, “So, how are your bones work then? Those funny little arms you’ve got, how do they work?”

It’s the fear of the unknown, I think, that is a lot of difficulty around the language of disability and, of course, political correctness—and, of course, self-respect to disabled people—meant that it’s just not cool to go around going, “So, why can’t you walk?” It’s just not cool to do that, but people still want to know and, in the sideshow, you get to tell them, and they get to find out.

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MAT FRASER: This is part of America’s entertainment heritage, and so I very much feel that in doing the Sealo the Seal Boy’s act, you get a guilt-free slice of history to see what it was like for a disabled performer.

He was very proud of the fact that throughout his 35-year career, he looked after all five members of his family. He kept them clothed, housed and fed, and it was something that he was tremendously proud of. And back in those days, he wouldn’t have been able to do much, so it was a way of validating him. Because in—not to get too political—but in our capitalist society, you are what you do.

I have to say, I think this is actually a growth movement at the moment, not a subsiding one, which it was when I came into the business about 15 years ago. And I think what’s wonderful is that disability is just considered normal now within it.

It’s simultaneously a normalizing of the congenital difference with a glamorizing and an exoticizing of that difference for performance purposes.

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BRIAN BALOGH: Phew. Mat Fraser is an actor and performer. We’ll link to videos of his performance at BackStoryRadio.org.

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