Street performers- gotta love ’em. Actually, a good chunk of them are annoying. Like when they try to play the guitar and they actually aren’t any good or think they have a singing talent that just isn’t there. There’s the people who paint themselves with metallic spray paint and and think it’s worth big bucks. The beautiful woman I saw at Park Guell seemed to make decent tips just by striking different poses in her rather random outfit. But my all time favorite street performer is the bush man in San Francisco. You should look him up on YouTube if you have never witnessed this homeless man (who makes a lot more money than I do) scaring people near Fisherman’s Wharf.
But while we were in Boulder, we came across an entirely different type of street performer: the zip code man. You can tell this guy your zip code, and he can tell you what town you’re from (and perhaps what his favorite restaurant is in that town). He estimates that he knows between 35 and 40,000 zip codes. Holy cow batman. In his interview with NPR (linked to above) he’s asked if he has ever thought of putting this skill to better use. His response: “No. It’s perfectly useful right now. It makes people laugh.” So he makes people laugh and he has a gig that will be hard to replicate- I think that represents quality street performance if you ask me.
OMG the guy in SF with the bushes is HILARIOUS! Love watching him. People get so scared.
Okay um that is pretty amazing. This reminds me of a guy in our high school class that could tell you what DAY you were born if you told him your birthday. To this day I still have no clue how he could do that, because I still have no clue what day of the week I was born on.
How does someone decide they are going to memorize all of them? If he doesn’t get it does he pay you?
I’m assuming it’s free if he misses. But at the same time I don’t think he charges to do this, but rather has a jar out for people to just tip.
I love people’s random street skills. Way better than juggling or something typical like that!
Are the zip codes on in the US or can you give him one in, I don’t now….western China or something? Impressive either way. It’s actually a skill I would have considered completely useless, but I guess he found a way to make some use of it. I much prefer he do this than beat an empty paint bucket in a subway station somewhere.
He only knows zip codes in the US, but regardless it’s pretty impressive!
I’ve been watching the Zip Code Man for years. He’s the best! We were just down at Pearl Street again tonight and introduced our kids to the joys of the ZCM.
To answer an earlier commenter, he DOES know international zip codes. I was amazed tonight when he knew zip codes in Belgium, China, Brazil, South Africa and Canada. The guy’s amazing!!!
I appreciate his humility and clean humor rather than the obnoxious, begging-for-attention, crass guy that followed him. Isn’t he the coolest?
Thanks for the info. I can’t believe he knows international zip codes too!