Michael Rosenbaum’s close-knit friendship with Jon Heder helped inspire his newly released children’s book, The Talented Farter.
“The older I get, the more I realize that you just have to do things in life because you want to do them, and you will have fun doing it,” Rosenbaum, 52, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting the book — which features the sounds of his own farts.
Rosenbaum admitted that it may sound “immature,” but the idea for the book actually came from a real-life experience.
“As a joke, sometimes I send my friend Jon Heder — who’s Napoleon Dynamite — I’ll send him a fart and he’ll go, ‘That sounds like a creaking door,’” the Smallville actor told Us, doing a spot-on impression of Heder’s voice. “I go, ‘What if I make up a story about a little boy, and his talent, his only ability, is to make his farts sound like things that you hear every day.’ He goes with what he’s got. So, I pitched my agent.”
Rosenbaum’s team was immediately on board, and the actor was adamant about making the book “really beautiful.” Illustrator Heath McKenzie delivered.
“I got a lot of my friends to read it and then [write] quotes, like Henry Winkler and Rainn Wilson,” he continued. “It’s a dream. I made a fart book, and this is exciting for me.”
Jon Heder and Michael Rosenbaum. Getty Images (2)
Once the book was finished — he approved all the farts and offered notes, especially if they were “not long enough” — Rosenbaum invited his best friends over and showed off the final product.
“I make everything comfortable. I’m a kid at heart,” he told Us. “I try not to take things too seriously. I insist on finding something funny in everything I do.”
Before there was the Arrowverse, there was Smallville. The series, which ran for 10 seasons on the WB and The CW, followed a teenage Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in his early days as a farm-dwelling kid living with his adoptive parents Martha (Annette O’Toole) and Jonathan Kent (John Schneider). In addition to developing his powers, […]
While it is technically a children’s book, Rosenbaum wants readers to know that adults can enjoy it as well.
Michael Rosenbaum Us Weekly
“This adds humor to life. It adds entertainment and joy [for] people,” he added. “Everybody gets a kick out of it. I mean, farts are funny. They’re part of the norm. People do it. I don’t care. You never know what you’re gonna get with a fart. It could be the weirdest sound you’ve ever heard.”
Rosenbaum hopes that people will “embrace it” just like he did. “If you can’t fart around your friends or your family, then you’re living a fake life,” he told Us.
The Talented Farter is out now.
