Total Sci-Fi has interviewed some pretty unusual individuals over the years, but we’re fairly sure that Erik Sprague is the first person we’ve spoken to who’s attempted (and in many ways has succeeded) to turn himself into a lizard. Going under the stage name of The Lizardman, the performance artist has scales tattooed over his body, razor-sharp teeth, horns and a bifurcated, two-pronged tongue. With Season Two of the reptilian-themed V remake returning to SyFy on 24th March, we thought now would be a good time to speak to Erik about his unique life and work. Words: Matt McAllister

In the past you’ve been described as both a performance artist and a sideshow performer. How would you label yourself?

I often refer to myself as a professional freak – I think that has a nice ring to it. But the other descriptions are pretty accurate – performance artist, sideshow performer, general entertainer. I try to make people smile – that’s really my job description!

What exactly has your transformation into a lizard involved so far?

Thus far I’ve had approximately 700 hours of tattooing over my entire body, I have sub-dermal horns implanted on my forehead, my teeth have been filed down into points, and my tongue has been bifurcated.

Over what period have you had all of that done?

I started getting tattooed in 1993, which has continued to the present. My tongue was split in 97, my teeth were filed in 98 and my implants were also done in 98.

Is it a very time consuming process?

Yeah. I don’t know if you have any tattoos, but it’s a very time sensitive thing to tattoo your entire body. I like to leave it a window of time to heal after a tattoo session, so with all the travelling and performing I do, it’s meant I’ve had less time to get tattooed, which has drawn out the process even longer.

How much pain have you had to endure along the way?

There’s been quite a bit of a pain. There are people out there who claim that tattoos don’t hurt – well, for me it always hurts! The most painful thing would absolutely be the horns on my forehead; it’s the only time I’ve hallucinated and vomited from pain. It was excruciating!

What else do you need to do to make the process complete? Reports about a lizard tail transplant are presumably false…

That story came about when somebody interviewing me years ago asked, “What about a tail?” I said if it was medically possible I’d consider it. But at this point, as far as modern technology goes, it’s not really a feasible option!

So what I’m looking at the moment is finishing off the tattooing. I’m 70% done. I’m like a giant colouring book. The outlines of scales are over my entire body; we just have to fill them in green, which is what we’re working on now.

I guess the next inevitable question is why do you do it?

Right! (Laughs) The reason why I wanted to transform my body was initially an idea I had as an art student – it was a concept art piece. I considered a lot of things and like anyone I drew from my experience. And one of the biggest influences for me was the reptilian visitors in the original V. I remember one of the V characters was this lizard man with a Mohawk. I’ve actually got a black stripe Mohawk tattooed down the centre of my head, which was what I was thinking of when I did that.

Would you like to make a cameo in the new V remake?

People have suggested that, but I’d need to get finished first. A partially finished lizard man in there just wouldn’t look right! But I’m a fan of the new V. When I heard they were going to remake it there was a combination of excitement and trepidation, but I’ve been pleased with what they’ve done in terms of both the effects and storytelling.


What’s the biggest misconception about what you do?

I think it varies from person to person. And thanks to the internet I get to see myself psychoanalysed every day! I think typical reactions are: “Oh, his parents didn’t love him,”; “He’ll never get a date,”; and, “He’s probably living off of the state.” Whereas my family has been nothing but loving and supporting, I’ve been happily married for almost eight years and I make a very successful living by most people’s estimates!

What’s the reaction to what you do in general though? Do most people get it?

A lot of people do stare. But doing a lot of touring, performing and TV shows means that I’m lucky enough to get a lot of recognition. In the beginning, when nobody knew who I was, a lot of people thought I was just this strange green person with a forked tongue. A lot of people thought, “Oh my God, what is that? What’s going on?” Whereas now, several years later, it’s more like, “Oh, I think I saw that guy on a show about tattoos, or in a magazine, or on a rock tour.” So the recognition softens it a lot.

But you must turn heads when you go to the local supermarket…

Actually, I think as an artist one of the most appealing aspects is that I create surreal moments in people’s lives simply by existing. I don’t have to do anything more than go to the grocery store to pick up a carton of milk to inject these moments into other people’s lives. People might be in a rut, driving to work or walking home, and suddenly say to themselves, “Was that a lizard person?” I love that I create these moments simply by going about my life.

I know you must get asked this a lot, but how do you think you’ll feel about it in 20 or 30 years? Are you ever worried you might regret it, or is the permanence sort of the point?

Permanence is a big thing for me. As an art student I very quickly moved away from things like painting and sculpting. Because it seemed that you just created a work and then walked away from it. The appeal for me in doing body-based work was that you live with it for the rest of your life.

I spent a lot of time considering what I was going to do. The initial idea came to me at 18 or 19, and I was 21 when I got my first tattoo. I spent more time thinking about this than most people I know did having kids! I planned it out carefully, so I think I’ve got a good safeguard against regret. There are no guarantees in life, but if I’m lucky enough to live another 20 or 30 years I’m actually looking forward to it, because I think as I get older and get wrinkles it’s going to add an extra factor to the tattoos and everything else.

Can you tell us about some of your other talents?

For a while I was known as one of the single most complete sideshow performers in history. There’s nothing in the traditional sideshow that I can’t do aside from contortion. Sword swallowing; fire eating; eating glass; pierced weightlifting; swinging things around from my earlobes; straitjacket escape… I’ve invented a few actually – I’ve got a giant corkscrew that I can twist right the way through my head.

How can you top the Lizardman concept?

Really my project now is just getting the rest of the work finished – the last 200 or 250 hours of tattooing done. I’ve also been changing the way I present shows. I’ve done a lot of work in comedy clubs in the States. A lot of what I do is scary, so I find it a challenge as to make people laugh as well!

For more information on The Lizardman visit: www.thelizardman.com

V – Season 2 will air on Syfy on Thursday at 9pm from 24th March 2011.