Joey Skaggs (born 1945) is a U.S. media prankster who has organized numerous successful hoaxes and other presentations. He is considered one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... A popular practical joke is to completely block someones doorway while they are in the room. ... A Kill your TV slogan with skull motif Culture jamming is the act of transforming existing mass media to produce negative commentary about itself, using the original mediums communication method. ...

In his youth, Skaggs studied at the High School of Art and Design and School of Visual Arts in New York. Between 1966 and 1968, Skaggs organized crucifixion performances on Easter Sundays. High School of Art and Design is a vocational high school in New York City that offers a traditional education, augmented with advanced courses in art and commercial design. ... The School of Visual Arts Main Building, circa 1992. ...

In 1968, Skaggs noticed that middle-class suburbanites were going on tours of the East Village to observe hippies. Skaggs subsequently organized a sightseeing tour for hippies to observe the suburb of Queens. On Christmas Day, he created the Vietnamese Christmas Nativity Burning to protest against the Vietnam War. East Village Also known as Newmyers Seven Nuts, named for its inventor Chris Newmyer, East Village is a community card poker game. ... Hippies (singular hippie or sometimes hippy) were members of the 1960s counterculture movement who adopted a communal or nomadic lifestyle, renounced corporate nationalism and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and/or Native American religious culture, and were otherwise at odds with traditional middle class Western values. ... Queens Borough in New York City, in yellow Queens is the largest of the five boroughs of New York City in area. ... Nativity is the general time and place of a persons birth and early years. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) United States of America South Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand the Philippines Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) Commanders Strength ~1,200,000 (1968) ~420,000 (1968) Casualties South Vietnamese dead: 1,250,000+ US dead: 58,226 US...

In 1969, Skaggs tied a 50-foot bra to the front of the U.S. Treasury building on Wall Street, organized a Hell's Angels' wedding procession through the Lower East Side, and made grotesque Statues of Liberty on the 4th of July, again to protest against the Vietnam War. A woman wearing a brassiere. ... The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department and the treasury of the United States government. ... For other uses, see Wall Street (disambiguation). ... Hells Angels (without an apostrophe) is the motorcycle club Hells Angels (with an apostrophe) was a World War II flying squadron in the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers Hells Angels (movie) is the 1930 aviation movie directed by Howard Hughes This is a disambiguation page, a list of... Categories: Manhattan neighborhoods | Stub ... Statue of Liberty Liberty Enlightening the World, known more commonly as the Statue of Liberty, is a statue given to the United States by France in the late 19th century, standing at Liberty Island in the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as a welcome to all...

In 1971, Skaggs bought Earlville Opera House. In the same year, he organized what he called a Fame Exchange during the New York Avant Garde Festival, where he hired a group of admirers to follow him around instead of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was a forerunner for his next pranks: John Winston Lennon (later John Winston Ono Lennon) (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980) was best known as a singer, songwriter, poet and guitarist for the British rock band The Beatles. ... Yoko Ono. ...

• Cathouse for Dogs (1976): Skaggs published an ad for a dog brothel in The Village Voice and hired actors to present their dogs for the benefit of an ABC news crew. The prank annoyed the ASPCA and the Bureau of Animal Affairs until Skaggs revealed the truth after a subpoena. ABC did not retract the story (the WABC TV producer insisted that Skaggs had said it was a hoax to avoid prosecution), possibly because the piece had been nominated for an Emmy Award. It was subsequently disqualified.

• Celebrity Sperm Bank (1976): Skaggs organized a sperm bank auction in New York; the sperm bank was then robbed and semen was supposedly taken as hostage.

• Wall Street Shoeshine (1979): Skaggs played Joseph Bucks, a shoeshine man who had become rich on Wall Street and was working his last day—at $5 a shine.

• Metamorphosis (1981): Skaggs played Dr. Gregor, inventor of the Cockroach Vitamin Pill, which was supposed to be a cure-all drug. It was a nod to Franz Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis."

• Gypsies Against Stereotypical Propaganda (1982): Gypsy King JoJo (played by Skaggs) led a protest demanding that the Gypsy moth's name be changed because it was demeaning to his people.

• Windsurfing from Hawaii to California (1983): Windsurfer J.J. Skaggs attempted the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean on a sailboard.

• Fish Condos (1983): Skaggs created an aquarium depicting rooms with furniture. It was meant to satirize gentrification, but the aquariums sold very well.

• Bad Guys Talent Management Agency (1984): In an attempt to get an acting job for a friend, Verne Williams, Skaggs founded a fictitious management agency for "bad-guy" actors. Eventually even real studios and wannabe actors contacted him.

• WALK RIGHT! (1984): Skaggs put together a fictitious militant group that wanted to enforce proper street walking etiquette and make its rules into law.

• The Fat Squad (1986): Skaggs played Joe Bones, the founder of a disciplinarian diet program where musclemen watched the customers 24 hours a day to make sure they stuck to their diets, at a cost of $300 a day.

• 1986 was also the first year of the Annual April Fools' Day Parade; it existed only as press release.

• Save the Geoduck Campaign (1987): Skaggs played Dr. Richard J. Long who sought to save geoduck mollusks from extinction because they had become a popular aphrodisiac among the Japanese.

• Comacocoon (1990): As Dr. Joseph Schlafer, Skaggs offered a literal dream vacation—customers were to sleep in a cocoon, enjoying programmed dreams about the vacation. The Department of Consumer Affairs was alerted.

• Hair Today, Ltd. (1990): Joseph Chenango—another Skaggs character—marketed a new kind of hair implant: whole scalps from the dead. The prank began as an ad in the Village Voice soliciting scalp donors.

• Geraldo Hoax (1991): Skaggs appeared on Geraldo Rivera's TV talk show and told a story about New York artists living in water towers—which he had not done.

• Brooklyn Bridge Lottery (1992): Skaggs released a "leak" informing the public of a lottery where the first prize would be renaming rights to the Brooklyn Bridge.

• Portofess (1992): Skaggs played Father Anthony Joseph, appearing with a portable confession booth at the Democratic National Convention.

• Sex Tapes Saved Marriage (1993): Skaggs sent two actors to Faith Daniels' show to claim that sex tapes had saved their marriage.

• SEXONIX (1993): Skaggs created a hoax about a sex machine, claiming that the prototype had been seized by Customs at the Canadian border on its way from the United States. He used his own name. Uproar ensued in various bulletin boards.

• The Psychic Attorney (1994): On April 1, Skaggs appeared as Madnadanda, a combined New Age telephone psychic and lawyer. His voice mail box was flooded with calls.

• Dog Meat Soup (1994): Skaggs portrayed Kim Yung Soo, a butcher who wanted to purchase dogs for food, to expose cultural intolerence and the media's tendency to overreact.

• Baba Wa Simba (1995): Skaggs appeared in London as Baba Wa Simba, a therapist who recommended that participants roar and behave like lions (reminiscent of primal scream therapy).

• The Solomon Project (1995): Joseph Bonuso (Skaggs) claimed to have created a computer program that would work as both judge and jury and announce sentences. It pronounced O. J. Simpson guilty.

• STOP BioPEEP (1998): Skaggs appeared as Dr. Joseph Howard, supposed employee of an Australian company, and revealed surreptitious genetic engineering to create addictive poultry.

• Doody Rudy (1999): Skaggs created a large satirical portrait of New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and let people throw fake elephant dung at it, in response to Giuliani's criticism of an artwork by Chris Ofili that incorporated real elephant dung.

• The Final Curtain (2000): Skaggs' creation was a combined funeral company, virtual graveyard and theme park. It was meant to satirize showmanship in places like Forest Lawn cemeteries. Some investors were actually interested. Final Curtain's website is still functioning.

• Art Attack (2000): Espai D'Art Contemporani (EACC) in Castellon, Spain asked Skaggs to organize a presentation; in response, Skaggs created a computer game where people could shoot passersby in the outside corridor going through the building.

According to his web site, Skaggs does not care for vicious pranks such as letters containing fake anthrax; he also states that he is not doing anything illegal. He hires actors to play his customers, refusing to really scam anyone except the media. Often the prank is nothing more than a press release with a phone number; in these press releases, Skaggs leaves hints or details that easily could be checked for accuracy. Eventually, he reveals the hoax to make his point. Brothels are establishments (usually illegal) specifically dedicated to prostitution and may be confined to special red-light districts in large cities. ... The Village Voice is a New York City-based weekly newspaper featuring investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts reviews and events listings for New York City. ... ABC News is a division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). ... American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (usually referred to as the ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing the abuse of animals. ... An Emmy Award. ... A sperm bank is a facility that collects and stores human sperm from donors, primarily for the purposes of artificial insemination. ... Semen or sperm is a fluid that contains spermatozoa. ... -1... Metamorphosis - First edition 1915 Illustration: Ottomar Starke The Metamorphosis (in German, Die Verwandlung) is a novella (a work of middling length between a short story and a novel) written by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915, and arguably the most famous of his works along with the longer works The... A Gypsy (derived from Egyptian/Copt) may be: any member of any nomadic people (the term is sometimes considered derogatory), especially: the Roma and Sinti, found worldwide but mainly in Europe; Travellers found mainly in Great Britain, Ireland and the United States; and Luli in Central Asia. ... Binomial name Lymantria dispar Linnaeus, 1758 This article deals with the moth Lymantria dispar. ... Windsurfing (also called boardsailing) is a sport involving travel over water on a small 2-4. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... April Fools Day or All Fools Day, though not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. ... Binomial name Panopea abrupta Conrad, 1849 The geoduck (pronounced GOO-wee-duck), Panopea abrupta or Panope generosa, is a species of large saltwater clam, also known as the king clam or elephant trunk clam. ... An aphrodisiac is an agent which causes the arousal of sexual desire. ... Geraldo Rivera on the Fox News Channel in 2004. ... The mushroom-shaped concrete water tower of Roihuvuori in Helsinki, Finland was built in the 1970s. ... Plan of one tower for the Brooklyn Bridge, 1867. ... This article is about the practice of confession in the Christian faith. ... Featured at the Democratic National Convention are speeches by prominent party figures. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... Primal therapy is a trauma-based psychotherapy developed and popularized by Arthur Janov, Ph. ... O.J. Simpsons mugshot, taken in 1994 Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947 in San Francisco, California), publicly known by the initials O.J., and nicknamed The Juice, was a Hall of Fame former college and professional football player and film actor. ... An iconic image of genetic engineering; this 1986 autoluminograph of a glowing transgenic tobacco plant bearing the luciferase gene of the firefly strikingly demonstrates the power and potential of genetic manipulation. ... Duck amongst other poultry The Poultry-dealer, after Cesare Vecellio. ... Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Rudy Giuliani III KBE (born May 28, 1944) served as the Mayor of New York City from January 1, 1994 through December 31, 2001. ... Chris Ofili (born 1968) is an English painter noted for works referencing aspects of his African background. ... Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries is an American not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates a chain of cemeteries and mortuaries in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties in Southern California. ... Castellón de la Plana (in Catalan/Valencian Castelló de la Plana) is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian autonomous community, Spain, in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, by the Mediterranean Sea (40°N 0°W). ...

On a couple of occasions, Skaggs sent a substitute to interviews with programs such as Entertainment Tonight and To Tell the Truth. Apparently, producers did not notice. Also, photographs in the National Enquirer and Playback magazine have depicted the wrong man. Entertainment Tonight is a daily television entertainment news magazine that is syndicated by CBS Paramount Domestic Television throughout the United States and Canada. ... To Tell the Truth is a classic American television game show that has been seen in various forms on and off since 1956. ... The National Enquirer is a national American supermarket tabloid. ...

Many of Skaggs' pranks are originally reported as true in various news media. Sometimes the stories are retracted.

When not pranking the media, Skaggs earns his living by painting, making sculptures and lecturing.

External links

• Joey Skaggs' homepage