This Guy Played the World’s Worst Flute for a Cobra and the Snake Showed What He Thinks Of It

There’s a guy in a bright orange turban and matching robe parked in the middle of a dusty wasteland like he showed up to the wrong wedding. Next to him is a hole in the dirt. Out of that hole comes a cobra, hood half-flared, looking like it just woke up and immediately regretted the decision.

The man pulls out a pungi, that gourd-and-reed instrument that sounds like a dying bagpipe having an argument with a kazoo, and starts playing. He waves it around. He gestures with his free hand. He sits there blowing like his rent depends on it.

As soon as the man starts to play a horrid sequence of notes, the cobra strikes him in the hand, causing him to wince in pain and pull back.

Snake charming has always been sold as some mystical hypnotism act. The performer plays, the cobra “dances.” Reality is dumber and funnier. Cobras cannot hear the music the way we do. They don’t have external ears for airborne sound, but this guy was so bad that the snake must have sprouted ears and decided that 3 seconds was more than enough.

This particular performance looks like the budget version. No basket. No crowd. Just a hole in the ground and a guy who apparently decided the cobra’s living room was the perfect venue. The snake stays mostly in its hole the entire time, which is the animal equivalent of leaving one-star reviews in real time.

People have been doing this for centuries across India, Pakistan, and parts of North Africa. Sometimes the snakes have been defanged or had their venom glands removed. Sometimes they’re just tired. Sometimes the charmer sits just far enough away that a strike would require the cobra to really commit. In this video, none of that drama happens. The guy plays. The snake watches. Nobody dies. The music still sounds terrible.