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We sewed a man’s lips shut on German TV! Lip sewing body modification, Joko & Klaas in Vancouver.

vancouver fashion blogger, british columbia

A meditative moment at the beach? Not quite. I’m surrounded by TV crew cameras, and about to force a German man to stitch his mouth together with needle and thread.

I appeared on the popular TV show “Joko und Klaas” or “Circus HalliGalli,” which aired last week on Pro Sieben network. Our body modification episode got a lot of stunned tweets from viewers in Germany. What was so shocking about it?


Lip sewing on German TV! Lips sewn shut, body… by lacarmina

Watch the “Joko in Kanada” video clip, featuring La Carmina, First Mate Naomi, and body mod artist Russ Foxx… if you dare.

grunge plaid dress

For the shoot, I wore a Miho Matsuda plaid dress from Closet Child, a Danier leather jacket, and Demonia shoes. My hair color and crimped/rolled style is the work of Stephanie Hoy, at Avant Garde hair in Yaletown.

tv hosting, travel tv presenter

You may recall that we Pirates previously worked with Joko und Klaas, on a bagelhead forehead inflation challenge filmed in Tokyo, Japan. The episode was such a hit that they wanted to do another show with us.

Our TV production company pitched a few crazy ideas, and the one involving lip-sewing in Vancouver stuck. Naomi and I took charge of arranging, casting and coordinating the episode (as well as hosting it).

tv news interview, local reporter

The night Naomi arrived, tragedy struck. Her hotel was set on fire, and my car window was smashed with a giant rock by a crazy random person. Nobody was hurt, but we were left with quite the shock. On the bright side: the Vancouver Global TV news team decided to interview me about my harrowing experience.

local news eyewitness report, interview witness tv

At least my life-long goal of being a hysterical eyewitness on the news has been fulfilled. How funny that I looked like this on camera.

wreck beach, acadia beach vancouver

We kicked off the German TV shoot at gorgeous Acadia Beach. (The filming took two days in June, in various Vancouver BC locations.)

Duell um die Welt, kanada

The concept of “Duell um die Welt”: Joko and Klaas challenge each other to insane tasks around the world. Relaxing by the ocean, Joko thinks he’s off the hook.

Joko in Kanada, Der König der Freaks

But an Asian horror doll creeps up on him… in the video, you can see how I gave Joko a mighty scare!

travel tv filming, pro sieben, germany

Before each take, the director gave us a general idea of the narrative, but we improvised all the lines. The sound boom microphone went back and forth between us as we spoke. We did it a few times, from a few different angles, and then moved on.

joko winterscheidt, tv host

With this landscape as our backdrop, it’s easy to make the shots look good.

deutscher Moderator tv, joko klaas

The 8-person crew (plus Naomi and me) piled into the rental van, and we stopped by Granville Island. I showed Joko the beauty of the marina.

tv crew filming, cameraman

Gotta work the body to get the shot! (Photos in this post by First Mate Naomi.)

granville island, joko klaas vancouver kanada

We hammed it up — ohohoh! Muahaha! So far, life is a laugh for Joko. He has no idea what’s coming for him…

steam clock, gastown

Getting direction at the Gastown steam clock. You can tell I’m enjoying my TV presenting work.

hollywood north, vancouver tv film crew

It was fun to show Joko the tourist-y parts of my hometown. When the clock struck the hour, the steam blew and we danced around in joy.

gassy jack statue, downtown vancouver

In front of the Gassy Jack statue, there were inevitably gas jokes.

pan pacific place vancouver tv

No, that’s not a stalker. It’s how we film walk-and-talk scenes, this time at Pan Pacific.

downtown vancouver tv show shoot

In all, this ended up being a good travel overview of Vancouver. We finished downtown, at Robson Street. Joko did a somersault in the crosswalk.

pro sieben cameraman

Everyone worked quickly and was easygoing — a nice change from the frantic attitude of some TV productions.

la carmina hosting tv show

However, when night falls, I am not such a nice girl. We reunited with Naomi by the dumpster in a dark alley. She told him, Klaas sent her to deliver a challenge.

russ foxx, extreme body mods studio

Can anything beat a bagelhead? I think we did. We sent Joko to the studio of Russ Foxx… to get lips stitched shut!

Körper-Modellierer Russ Foxx, body mod artist

If you’ll recall from my HuffPost interview, Russ is a body modification artist based in Vancouver. He made a theatrical entrance that scared the daylights out of Joko.

russ foxx body modifications

Lip sewing is an extreme body mod that should only be done by an experienced artist like Russ. Why stitch your lips together? Some do it as a fetish, or to reflect and self-test, or for performance. I’ve seen people with sewn eyelids and mouths firsthand in Prague and Tokyo party scenes.

Joko Winterscheidt ließ sich mit Nadel und Faden den Mund zunähen

Russ Foxx made six stitches in total, without anesthetic. He used the utmost precision and sanitation measures, and walked Joko through each step.

lip sewing, sewn mouth

The sewing hurts, as much as six lip piercings would. Here’s the finished result. (Wonder why my friend is suddenly speechless…)

vancouver goth party poster

For the final scene, we threw an impromptu underground party. None of this would have been possible without Isaac, master of Sin City Fetish night, who pulled together the venue and crowd in record time. Naomi made the poster above for “Spooky Saturday.”

the waldorf, vancouver bar nightclub

I’m so grateful to everyone who came to The Waldorf to party with us, and be on German TV. Thank you for always supporting me.

gothic dj, goth girl blue hair

DJ Evilyn got people dancing.

sin city party vancouver clubbing

I felt bad because the TV shoot ran late, and we couldn’t get to the party until around 1am. Still, there was a grinding crowd and lots of latex outfits!

alternative vancouver club scene, parties

For the closing scene, we all sang the Crash Test Dummies song, “Mmm mmm mmm mmm.” With his Miffy-mouth, Joko was barely able to hum along.

mouth sewing, lips sewn shut, stitched lip

That’s a wrap! Russ removed Joko’s stitches — you can only keep them in for a few hours — and all was well in the universe again.

Have you heard about the lip sewing body mod before? If you have opinion or questions about it, I invite you to leave a comment and we can discuss.

victory roll hair, crimped hairstyle

I hope you enjoyed our latest TV work! Please take a minute to watch it on Dailymotion, and let me know what you think. Thanks to all the German newspapers who wrote about our episode, including Focus, Bild, and News.de

joko und klaas, Circus HalliGalli

PS: if you’re interested in working with La Carmina & The Pirates, we offer TV coordination, production, casting and hosting services, in Tokyo and worldwide. We’ve worked with National Geographic, Food Network, Travel Channel, Discovery, NHK and more (all clips and details here.)

PPS: Off to Japan soon! We’ve confirmed a new TV job, shooting in Tokyo this December. Stay tuned to my site for casting announcements; we’d love for you to join the fun.

51 Comments

  1. Evilyn
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:04 am | Permalink

    ahahahaa!! Awesome!

  2. Tristan
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:04 am | Permalink

    Amazeballs! <3

  3. jessica
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:05 am | Permalink

    Teehee! L)

  4. ashestoyoursoul
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:41 am | Permalink

    the ending had me in stiches. pun intended

  5. starrygleam
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:41 am | Permalink

    love your blog and vids =]

  6. AnimeM
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:41 am | Permalink

    Lol, you really have to be a sadist. I would totally pitty Joko for having to undergo this…

  7. Morgan
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:41 am | Permalink

    Omg that would hurt so much btw

  8. Morgan
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:42 am | Permalink

    Will he ever get the stitches out

    • librasgirl08
      Posted November 4, 2013 at 6:42 am | Permalink

      He did and you can’t see scars

  9. Tanja
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 7:19 am | Permalink

    The pics are fun and you look really So beautiful! Want your hair,i used to have coloured hair too… :-)

    can’t understand why peoples are shocked..I would totaly do this too.that just proof that we are not like “normal” peoples..haha

  10. MelissaR
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 8:32 pm | Permalink

    This is a really fun video – I wish the majority of it was in English! I love how “Canada” is “Kanada” and Carmina’s appearance on the beach is hilarious! Same with meeting Naomi by a dumpster – really, really fun and good stuff!

  11. chung
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 8:51 pm | Permalink

    omg

  12. Varis Varjo
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 10:10 pm | Permalink

    I never heard of lip stitching! :O Wow!
    I’ve heard about these dorsal surface piercings that are used for an on-skin ‘corset lacing’ and such. From what I know these are also only temporary as you can’t keep the rings in there because there’s just too much muscle movement and stress on the tissue there. But I think it looks really cool!

    • lacarmina
      Posted November 4, 2013 at 10:56 pm | Permalink

      I think they look really cool too! Maybe for a photoshoot, could be a great visual.

  13. Ben
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 10:32 pm | Permalink

    …it’s awesome.

  14. Denni
    Posted November 4, 2013 at 10:33 pm | Permalink

    Great to see so many out to support this project. Keep it going!

  15. Rebecca
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 1:09 am | Permalink

    Fun!

  16. JKe
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 1:10 am | Permalink

    I LOVE IT!!!

  17. Nora
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 7:16 am | Permalink

    Beautiful hajr. The new color suits you too.

  18. Steven <3
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 7:08 pm | Permalink

    i was in love with you, instantly Carmina

  19. REV
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 7:09 pm | Permalink

    i spook everyone i face

  20. Catrina
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 7:15 pm | Permalink

    la carmina is the best

  21. hamm
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 7:18 pm | Permalink

    nice

  22. Marie
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 10:05 pm | Permalink

    very beautiful

  23. Robyn
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:55 pm | Permalink

    this was way crazy… wow that guy was super calm about the whole thing…

  24. Marie
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:55 pm | Permalink

    surprisingly in fashion like always :)

  25. Seto
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:56 pm | Permalink

    I’m not a fan of the show but since you was in it, I watched ;)

    • lacarmina
      Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:58 pm | Permalink

      Thanks for watching! The guys are very nice and good to work with :)

  26. Kevin
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:56 pm | Permalink

    Sew my girlfriend’s mouth up.

  27. An Dre
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:56 pm | Permalink

    ust know u from this show! U r sooo awesome girl! ;)

  28. Kathi
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:56 pm | Permalink

    I saw it :3

  29. Anne
    Posted November 5, 2013 at 11:56 pm | Permalink

    haha omg, thanks for putting it up! I missed this episode

  30. ebog
    Posted November 6, 2013 at 8:47 am | Permalink

    Hair and your dress. They really are amazing things sweet. I really like that hair. It looks great, inviting a crazy way. I’m really intrigued by it

  31. Nan
    Posted November 6, 2013 at 8:52 pm | Permalink

    That’s so funny!

  32. keller'
    Posted November 6, 2013 at 8:52 pm | Permalink

    Can’t wait to see it!

  33. Jennifer
    Posted November 7, 2013 at 5:42 am | Permalink

    Congratulations. I’m waiting for your show. Loved your hairstyle. I purchased Neon Wig. It looks awesome.

    Visit House of Rave to buy Stylish Neon Wigs : http://www.houseofrave.com/costume-accessories.html

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