When most folks say “people walk all over me,” it’s a bad thing. When Pete Tino says that, it’s a way of life.
Pete Tino, you see, is “The Human Floor.”
What does that mean? Well, in 2010, at the Shawnee Playhouse in Shawnee On Delaware, Tino set a world record by having 21 women, weighing a cumulative total of 3,531 pounds, stand on his torso, arms, legs and even his face for 10 seconds. The achievement was recorded by the Record Holders Republic.
“Everybody asks me if I meditate when I do this stuff, and I say ‘No. I just do what I do.’ I don’t put any thought it into it,” Tino remarked. “If I think I can do it, I can do it. That’s all there is to it.”
On Saturday, March 3, Tino will return to NEPA for a show at Diane’s Deli & Internet Café in Pittston. In between performances from local bands Our Ashes Remain, One Red X, Psycho 38 and Snow Falling on Cedars, Tino will entertain audience members with an assortment of freakish feats from his bag of tricks, which includes eating and breathing fire, rolling around in piles of broken glass and being sandwiched between beds of nails.
Tino points out that, unlike many sideshow performers, he doesn’t use assistants. The people he gets to throw darts at his chest and swing sledgehammers at those cinder blocks stacked on his stomach aren’t trained professionals. They’re average, unsuspecting people plucked from the audience.
In addition to whatever else he has in store for those who check out the Diane’s Deli show, Tino will also try to break his record. As always, he’s looking for the audience to get involved.
Specifically, Tino hopes to get at least 24 girls to come and stand on him, hoping for a combined weight of 4,000 pounds, or two tons.
Strange as Tino’s act may seem, his abilities have landed him TV appearances on such show as “America’s Got Talent” and “The Tyra Banks Show” among others. Despite pushing his body to the very limit literally hundreds of times throughout his life, though, Tino said he’s never been seriously injured.
“This one time, I was on a bed of nails with two girls standing on top of me. I had my arms outstretched and I had my bracing onto something. One of the girls went to get off me and she stepped right on my arm. It pushed my elbow in,” he said. “It felt a little funny at the time, but the next morning I couldn’t move my arm. I thought I broke it, but it was OK. I got lucky.”
Admission for the show at Diane’s Deli in Pittston is $5. The event starts at 9 p.m. For more information, call 570-602-5200 or visit “The Human Floor” on Facebook.
The Human Floor Double Beds Of Nails At Mayfaire On The Green from Pete Tino/The Human Floor on Vimeo.
The Human Floor Cinder Block Act At Club Oasis from Pete Tino/The Human Floor on Vimeo.
The Human Floor Jeep Run Over from Pete Tino/The Human Floor on Vimeo.