For this comedy duo, the source of their housing dispute may be more than just smoke and mirrors.
Toronto performers SE Grummett and Sam Kruger are facing eviction following complaints about indoor smoking. The couple, however, says their landlord’s concerns about air quality may actually be linked to their flatulence.
Grummett and Kruger perform horror comedy and interactive “queer theatre” as Creepy Boys. According to the International Business Times, they told Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board that air-quality readings point to bodily odors rather than cigarette smoke as the source of the smell.
“This is not a joke. We wish we were joking,” reads a fundraising page seeking money for the pair’s legal expenses.
Their landlord, who has a chronic lung condition, reportedly noticed volatile organic compounds detected by an air-quality monitor in her upstairs apartment. That unit shares an air duct with Grummett and Kruger’s home, according to the fundraising page.
The tenants insist they do not smoke inside. They said they investigated the possible source of the VOCs and, through trial and error, ruled out appliances and household fragrances.
They further claim that a health specialist confirmed information from the monitor’s manufacturer indicating that VOC readings can respond to bodily functions. Because the levels reportedly rise overnight, the pair believes flatulence could be responsible — not smoking, as their landlord alleges.
“We are being wrongfully evicted because we fart too much,” the fundraising page states. It claims the landlord pursued eviction after the tenants challenged her theory that smoking was responsible for the readings, and that she wanted to convert the apartment back into a single-family home.
“We are currently being evicted for ‘personal use,’ but we believe this is retribution for us enforcing our tenants’ rights, as well as our landlord’s belief that the poor air-quality readings in her unit are from us smoking,” the pair wrote.
“We believe this to be in bad faith. In Ontario, such evictions have to be heard by the Landlord and Tenant Board. So, we are going to court.”
The fundraising campaign had collected about $2,400 for the duo’s legal expenses by Sunday morning, roughly one month after it was launched.
Creepy Boys did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
