New York City officially began licensing professional fire eaters earlier this year, and classes have sprung up to teach the art so that the city’s Fire Department Explosives Unit can test for competence (if not “judgment”) and issue the “E29” certificates. In the “bad old (license-less) days,” a veteran fire eater told The New York Times, a “bunch of us” performed regularly for $50 a throw, largely oblivious of the dangers (though some admit that almost everyone eventually gets “badly burned”). 

For authenticity, the Times writer, a fire eater who dubbed herself Lady Aye, completed the licensing process herself (“it was as sexy as applying for a mortgage”), but declined to say whether she is awaiting bookings.