World Famous Bushman

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World Famous Bushman
David Johnson aka The Bushman in August 2007
Born	David Johnson
Occupation	Busker
Years active	1980–2019

David Johnson, also known as the World Famous Bushman, is a busker who scares passers-by along Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, active since 1980.^[1] Johnson hides motionless behind some eucalyptus branches and waits for unsuspecting people to wander by. When they approach, he shakes the bush towards the unsuspecting tourists and startles them, sometimes making gruff "oogah-boogah" noises, while in-the-know observers giggle. Crowds gather to watch him work,^[2] often including those he has previously scared.^[1] The Bushman typically operates toward the western end of the Wharf (at Jefferson and Hyde Streets or thereabouts), well to the west of the Grotto. Johnson used to work with or, at different points in time, as a rival to a second Bushman, Gregory Jacobs, until the death of Jacobs in 2014.^[3]

Crowds usually watch Johnson across the street from where he usually sits,^[4] to see him entertain people.

In a "good year", Johnson claims to earn $60,000.^[5] However, he cited the same figure to one of his victims (after said victim chided him) in 1992. At one point, he employed a bodyguard to protect himself against attacks by the unamused, distract his targets, and to alert him to the approach of elderly people so he could avoid scaring them.^[1]

The police have received a number of complaints about the Bushman, and Fisherman's Wharf merchants have tried to shut him down.^[6] In 2004, he was charged with four misdemeanors, but a jury cleared him. The District Attorney subsequently dropped several remaining public nuisance complaints.^[2]

Although engaging in his street performance utilizing the bush as a prop, as of the mid 1990s, Johnson did not formally refer to himself as "The Bushman" until he was befriended by then Alameda residents John and daughter Alison Nowakowski, who would refer to him as such. Eventually, the name stuck and Johnson adopted the name as his formal street performing moniker.