He talked about phlegm.
He talked about mucus.And he gave some dirty details about the way smoking worms its way between boys and girls and ruins a young person's chances with the opposite sex.
"Danger Boy" wasn't on the official program, but some strong words from the popular radio host might have been the most memorable for 300 young people attending an anti-tobacco rally at the Utah Capitol Tuesday.
"You know what we smokers do when we get up in the morning?" Danger Boy asked the group gathered in the Capitol Rotunda.
"We get up and we brush our teeth, and then we go outside and take that first breath of cold air, and then we start to cough.
"And you hack and hack and it's this disgusting, nasty stuff you're choking on. It's gross . . . and you stink and girls won't talk to you."
Patrick Essex, aka "Danger Boy" of 94.9 radio fame, is a smoker.
He's trying to quit, but he's had a hard time. He hopes the students gathered in support of a Utah senator's bill will encourage the Utah Legislature to make it harder for youngsters to buy smokes.
SB39, sponsored by Sen. Robert Montgomery, R-North Ogden, provides penalties for businesses who sell tobacco to underage customers. It also requires businesses to renew their licenses each year and takes action against the business licenses of those stores caught selling tobacco to people younger than age 19.
That would have helped Danger Boy.
"I did not get ID'ed for tobacco, not once, not for tobacco or chew."
Flanked by signs and banners that read "Show me the license," Essex joined a former Winston Cigarette Man and several students who spoke out about smoking and students' power in the legislative process.
They chanted. They acted out skits.
"Smoking and tobacco are killers and their prey is us," said Ashley Thirkill of West Haven's Rocky Mountain Junior High in kicking off the event.
Somthing has to be done, said Dave Goerlitz, a former smoker and Winston cigarette advertising model."They're smoking. They're chewing. They're dipping and they're spitting. They're getting it somewhere."
The New Jersey resident and actor is in Utah on behalf of the Utah Health Department's Tobacco-Free Awareness Week, which runs through Saturday.
As a model, Goerlitz often appeared in advertisements rappelling from a mountain or flying a helicopter or airplane. The truth is, he told the students, "Smoking and mountain climbing rarely go together."
Goerlitz was a smoker averaging three packs a day until his smoker brother died of lung cancer. Since then, he has been a tobacco opponent, testifying before Congress about the dangers of tobacco.
Karli Ludwig of Mountain View High School, Orem, spoke directly to lawmakers. "What will it take for us to get your attention? Right now, one in four attempts to buy tobacco is successful. What are we going to do about this?
"You have educated all of the youth in the state with programs such as DARE and things of that sort but sometimes the only thing is to keep the candy away from the baby," Ludwig said.
Although students who came from throughout the state cheered at Ludwig's speech, only a couple of lawmakers heard the message.
Rep. Jordan Tanner, R-Provo, aggressive every year with anti-smoking legislation, attended and spoke to the group. Montgomery was home ill Tuesday. All others were absent.
A couple of lawmakers leaned over the second-floor railing briefly and looked down on the group, then went on their way. Both the House and Senate had noontime lunches, then meetings afterward.
"I was really disappointed, because a lot of them said they would come," Ludwig said. She had called nearly all lawmakers personally. Other students wrote letters and encouraged them to attend the event, sponsored by the American Cancer Society and supported by Gov. Mike Leavitt's Youth Council.
"I don't think they realize how important this is."