The true story behind Liquid Ass:
At first whiff, Liquid ASS doesn’t seem like a noble creation. Invented by prankster Allen Wittman, it comes in a little spray bottle and smells exactly like you’d imagine from the name.
Needless to say, Wittman’s invention was a hit with teenagers and shock jocks like Howard Stern. But as fate would have it, Liquid ASS eventually rose above its immature origins to save lives.
In “
Worst Smell in the World,” Roman Mars and Amy Standen explore how Liquid ASS became an integral part of military training—thanks to Stu Segall, a 1990s TV producer of shows like Hunter and Renegade. After 9/11, networks wanted to scale back on the violent content. Suddenly, Segall was out of a job, and his sets were wasting away.
That’s when Segall came up with a bright idea. What if he used his sets to help train soldiers? Particularly, what if he used all his skills to create a fake Iraqi market? That way, young troops could experience what it was really like to be in a foreign country. Segall erected prayer towers, hired Iraqi actors, and set up stalls full of fake vegetables. As soldiers wandered about the revamped television sets, Segall would play the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and even scenes from Saving Private Ryan.
All this hands-on training helped prepare soldiers for the reality of war. But Segall wasn’t just helping combat troops. He also wanted medics to gain real-world experience. That’s why Stu put a few actors inside Cut Suits. Similar to fatsuits, these full-body prosthetics allowed medics in training to practice making incisions on a “real” victim. Intestines even hung out of fake stomach cavities, which is where Liquid ASS returns to our story.
As part of their training, medics would often operate on these fake entrails. As they sewed up the guts, Segall and his crew would often release the smell of Liquid ASS because the worst thing that could happen was for the organ to tear open. Fecal matter would spill into the body, and that’s incredibly dangerous. It also makes field surgeries even more difficult, especially when there are bombs going off everywhere.
Liquid ASS helps medics get used to the realities of actual combat. So when they’re in the field and get a whiff of a real problem, they’ll be able to fall back on their days of working with the world’s worst gag gift.