It is with sadness that I have to say goodbye to my long-time friend Steffani Martin who left us September 1, 2024. I knew Steff for over 50 years. She was a profound thinker and was extremely funny with a quick wit. Whenever I called on her to take on a role as a co-conspirator in one of my performances, she was always there for me. She appeared in the Fat Squad portraying a “fat client” when I hoaxed David Hartman on Good Morning America in 1986.
In 1990, she played a telephone receptionist for both Comacocoon and Hair Today, LTD., launched simultaneously from the same apartment, and she appeared on Italy’s RAI TV coverage of the two performances. In 1995, she played a computer technician in the Solomon Project, my hoax about AI replacing the American judicial system, a fabrication that CNN fell for hook, line and sinker.
In real life, among other endeavors, she was a college administrator and later a pioneer supporting equal rights for women, particularly in the field of pornography. She was sought-after as a spokesperson on porn made specifically for women by women. Steff deserves a long and colorful obit to laud her many accomplishments, as well as a book about her life.