A comedian and motivational speaker who has been living with just one leg since age 9 has continued a tradition of unique Halloween costumes by becoming the iconic lamp from the Pixar movies logo this year.
Josh Sundquist says on his website that he has used his sense of humor to deal with the social discomfort of missing his left leg. But it wasn't always so. He lost the leg to childhood cancer and says he wore a prosthesis in high school to hide his disability.
But he says he's more comfortable with it now. For example, he once told an audience about smuggling a 2-liter bottle of soda into a movie theater by putting it in his left pant leg and tying it off, making it look like he had half a leg.
"But let's be honest with ourselves. What's he going to say?" Sundquist said about a security guard who was eyeing him. "Sir. I noticed there's a problem with your leg. You are correct. It appears that I do not have one."
Sundquist calls himself a "Halloween Enthusiast" and shows it off with costumes that only he, with his one leg, can pull off.
This year, it's the Pixar lamp. Sundquist dressed up in all black with the frame of the lamp around him. The lampshade went over his head and, yes, it was lit up. His leg served as the base of the lamp.
Before a Pixar movie plays, a lamp bounces onto the screen, lands atop the "I" in Pixar, pounds it into the floor, then turns its head to the camera.
To recreate this, Sundquist did his own version in a room with small, silver mylar balloons. He hopped into view, landed atop the "I" and popped it, then turned his lamp head toward the camera.
A video he posted to YouTube shows this, then shows him talking about the other costumes he's tried over the years. Then, the video shows Sundquist trying again to recreate the Pixar scene, only this time at a trampoline center with larger balloons for the letters. While he wasn't able to land on the "I," he kicked it away and took its place to recreate the image.
Other costumes Sundquist has pulled off include
- The leg lamp from "A Christmas Story."
- A pink flamingo (with his leg as he head while he holds himself up on his crutches)
- A Christmas Tree (His leg is the trunk)
- A gingerbread man with one leg eaten off
- A foosball player
- Lumiere, the candelabra from "Beauty and The Beast"
- An upside-down Blizzard from Dairy Queen (His leg is the straw)
- A fidget spinner
- Tigger from "Winnie The Pooh" (His leg is Tigger's tail)
- Genie from "Aladdin"
- An IHOP restaurant sign
In addition to being a motivational speaker and comedian, Sundquist also skied for the U.S. Paralympic team in 2006.