lack of sleep

Peter Tripp was a New York DJ who once stayed awake for more than eight days (210 hrs 10 mins) in a glass booth in Times Square, as a stunt. Most of that time was spent spinning records and talking into the mic. There were nurses and doctors there to play games and give him tests when he got tired. And he did hallucinate after a few days, viz., cobwebs, mice, and kittens. He looked in drawers for money that wasn't there and insisted that a technician had dropped a hot electrode in his shoe. The last 66 hours were spent on drugs (I don't know what kind) that were administered to him by the medical personnel in the booth. When he finally slept, he did so for 13 hrs and 13 mins. Other DJs tried to beat his record, like Dave Hunter in Jacksonville, Fla. Hunter stayed awake for 225 hrs, the crazy motherfucker.

The Guinness Book of World Records will not accept the above DJs trial without sleep because the poor guy ended up so fucked up it was judged to be dangerous and ruled inelligable for entry. The current world record for the longest radio broadcast goes to a UK DJ, Simon Mayo of BBC's Radio 1 who made the attempt in March, 1999 for the charity event Children in need after loads of attempts were struck off the record after the people on high decided they were all too dangerous to people's health. He now has the world record for the longest radio show (which was the attempt being made). He made it all the way to 36 hours with a break for the toilet every 8 or so hours.

When they showed the end on TV, the poor guy was so tired he could barely stand. The sight of him with a glass of champagne in his hand while he slowly goes cross-eyed is one I won't forget for a while!