Joey Skaggs

Joey Skaggs (born 1945) is an US media prankster who has organized successful hoaxes and other presentations. He is also regarded as one of the originators of phenomena such as culture jamming.

In his youth Skaggs studied in the High School of Art and Design and School of Visual Arts in New York. In 1966-1968 Skaggs organized crucifixion performances in Easter Sundays.

In 1968 Skaggs noticed that middle-class suburbanites had tours in the East Village where they observed hippies. Skaggs organized a sightseeing tour for hippies in the suburb of Queens. On Christmas day he made Vietnamese Christmas Nativity Burning to protest against Vietnam War.

In 1969 he tied a 50-foot bra in 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 to again protest against the Vietnam War.

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; he hired a group of admirers to follow him instead of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

It was a forerunner for his next pranks:

• Cathouse for Dogs (1976): Skaggs published ad for a dog brothel in The Village Voice and hired actors to present their dogs for the benefit of ABC news crew. The trick annoyed the ASPCA and the Bureau of Animal Affairs until Skaggs revealed the truth after a subpoena. ABC did not retract the story and received an Emmy Award from it.

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

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

• Metamorphosis (1981): Skaggs played Dr. Gregor, an 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 (Skaggs) led a protest that demanded that the name of Gypsy moth must he changed because it is demeaning to his people.

• Windsurfing from Hawaii to California (1983): Windsurfer J.J. Skaggs tried to become the first man to cross the Pacific Ocean on a sailboard.

• Fish Condos (1983): Skaggs created aquarium that depicted rooms with furniture. It was meant to satirize gentrification. Aquariums sold very well.

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

• WALK RIGHT! (1984): Militant group that wanted to enforce proper street walking etiquette and make their rules into law.

• The Fat Squad (1986): Skaggs took a mantle of Joe Bones, founder of a disciplinarian diet program where musclemen would be watching the customer 24 hours a day to make sure that he follows his diet. Cost $500 a day.

• 1986 was also the first year for the Annual April Fool's Parade; it exists only as press release

• Save the Geoduck Campaign (1987): Skaggs become Dr. Richard J. Long who wanted to save geoduck mollusks from extinction because they had become the favorite aphrodisiac for Japanese.

• Comacocoon (1990): As Dr. Joseph Schlafer, Skaggs offered a literal dream vacation—sleeping in a cocoon with programmed dreams about the vacation. Department of Consumer Affairs was alerted.

• Hair Today, Ltd. (1990): Joseph Chenango—another Skaggs character—marketed new hair implants—whole scalps from the dead. Pranks begun with an ad in the Village Voice soliciting scalp donors.

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

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

• Portofess (1992): Skaggs appeared as Father Anthony Joseph 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 and claimed that it had been seized by Customs at the Canadian border on its way from the United States. He used his own name. Uproar ensued in the various bulletin boards.

• The Psychic Attorney (1994): On April 1, Skaggs took the role of Madnadanda, the combination of a New Age telephone psychic and a lawyer. His voice mail box was flooded with calls.

• Dog Meat Soup (1994): Skaggs played Kim Yung Soo who solicited for dogs to butcher for food, to play with a stereotypical ideas about Orientals.

• Baba Wa Simba (1995): Skaggs appeared in London as Baba Wa Simba who recommended therapy where the participants would be roaring and behaving like a lion (reminiscent of primal scream therapy).

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

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

• Doody Rudy (1999): Skaggs made a large satirical picture of New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and let people throw false elephant dung on it, a response to Giuliani's criticism of artwork by Chris Ofili that incorporated real elephant dung.

• The Final Curtain (2000): 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: http://www.finalcurtain.com.

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

According to himself—and his web site—Skaggs does not like vicious pranks like fake anthrax-containing letters. First Skaggs ensures that he is not doing anything illegal. He hires actors to play the role of customers before the media and refuses real willing customers to avoid really scamming anyone. However, often the prank is nothing else than a press release with a phone number. He leaves hints or uses details that could be easily checked. Eventually he reveals the hoax to make his point.

On a couple of occasions he sent a substitute to an interviews on programs like Entertainment Tonight and To Tell the Truth. Apparently producers did not notice. Also, the National Enquirer and Playback magazine have depicted the wrong man.

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

Skaggs earns his living by painting, making sculptures and lecturing.

External links

• Joey Skaggs' homepage (http://www.joeyskaggs.com/)