Tag: April Fools Day

Posted on

New York’s Bad Boys

3 Notorious April Fools Day Pranks Played by Notable New Yorkers
by Nicole Levy
DNAInfo New York
March 31, 2016

Literary journalist George Plimpton, pop star David Bowie and career prankster Joey Skaggs have all set up hoaxes that fooled the media and the masses. Getty/Evan Agostini, Bryan Bedder; Flickr/Andres Rodriguez
Literary journalist George Plimpton, pop star David Bowie and career prankster Joey Skaggs have all set up hoaxes that fooled the media and the masses. Getty/Evan Agostini, Bryan Bedder; Flickr/Andres Rodriguez

April Fools” Day is this Friday, and we sincerely hope you don”t get taken for one.

Concern for your own dignity doesn”t, however, exclude you from enjoying the pranks played on others. We”ve culled three of our favorite gags from the annals of recent history, all orchestrated by notable New Yorkers:

Literary journalist George Plimpton, pop star David Bowie and career prankster Joey Skaggs have all set up hoaxes that fooled the media and the masses. Getty/Evan Agostini, Bryan Bedder; Flickr/Andres Rodriguez

â–º The 15th Annual New York City April Fools Day Parade
On April 1, 2000, television crews from CNN and the Fox affiliate WNYW arrived at the intersections of 59th Street and Fifth Avenue at noon, expecting to cover a non-existent parade.

According to the press release they”d received, the 15th Annual NYC April Fools Day Parade would march down the avenue to Washington Square Park. It would feature “Beat “em, Bust “em, Book “em Floats created by the New York, Los Angeles and Seattle Police Departments, portraying themes of brutality, corruption and incompetence,” and a “Mayor Rudy “˜Doody” Giuliani” lookalike throwing elephant dung at passersby.

Longtime media prankster Joey Skaggs had been issuing fake news releases for the non-event recognizing “the day designated to commemorate the perennial folly of mankind” since 1986.

(Last year, he hooked the Chinese news agency Sinovision, which ran a 4-minute preview before April Fools” Day.) The tradition continues this year, with an announcement of the 31st annual parade.

Read the rest of the article here.

Related posts:

  1. Catch the First Four Joey Skaggs Oral Histories at the (Virtual) New Jersey Film Festival Friday
  2. r/Place: Recollections of a Pop-up Online Subculture
  3. NYC’s 32nd Annual April Fools Day Parade in Photos
  4. The April Fool’s Day Parade gets the NYT Treatment
Posted on

Google’s Rare April Fool’s Foul

Like everything else in the tech world, April Fool’s Day is highly competitive. For years, the supple minds at Google led with the cleverist, “stickiest” stunts.

It’s barely dawn on the West Coast, and this year’s edition has already confused and alienated enough users to prompt a rare and serious backlash and retraction. Verdict: Too hip for the room.

“Google Disables April Fool’s Joke Amid User Fury After Prank Backfires”
By Alex Hern
The Guardian
April 1, 2016

minionmicdropGoogle”s April Fools” Day prank has backfired, leaving the company looking the fool and a number of concerned users fearing for their jobs – or worse.

As 1 April began in Australia, the company announced its latest stunt: “Gmail Mic Drop”, a special version of the send button which appends a gif of a minion (one of the sexless, ageless merchandising icons from the Despicable Me series) dressed as the queen dropping a microphone to the end of your email.

“Everyone will get your message, but that”s the last you”ll ever hear about it,” Google added in a blogpost announcing the feature. “Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won”t see it.”

For most companies, that would be the end of it, but Google has a longstanding tradition of actually building the products they “announce” on April Fools” Day, even if they only survive for 24 hours. Read more.

Related posts:

  1. In Review: April Fools’ Day 2019 Branding, Marketing, and Media Stunts
  2. April Fools’ Day 2018: Stunt Roundup
  3. The April Fool’s Day Parade gets the NYT Treatment
  4. April Fool’s 2015 Geeky Gags from the Tech Sphere (Roundup)
Posted on

The April Fool’s Day Parade gets the NYT Treatment

The Annual April Fool’s Day Parade has long been among Joey Skaggs’s most highly visible projects.

“A Fool’s Parade”
by Alexandra S. Levine
The New York Times
April 1, 2016

You”ve heard of the St. Patrick”s Day Parade, right?

Macy”s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Of course.

But the April Fools” Day Parade?

01NYTODAY-articleLarge

The procession is expected to file from 59th Street and Fifth Avenue down to Washington Square Park, beginning at noon, rain or shine.

Organized by the New York April Fools” Committee, the spectacle is intended to poke fun at public figures “” celebrities, politicians, executives and anyone else who has proved deserving of caricature.

“Nothing is sacred. Our satire knows no bounds,” the committee said in a statement, adding, “The Parade Committee assumes no liability for damages caused by satire.”

Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, (a look-alike, of course) leads the parade, sitting atop a ballistic missile float.

The “Hypocrisy and Democracy” float features presidential candidates yelling confusing speeches at passers-by.

And Kanye West rides the “Infinity Mirror” float, because, well, organizers think he could stare at his own reflection until the end of time.

Just kidding.

To all of the above.

The nonexistent parade is solely a fixture in the imagination of the New York artist Joey Skaggs, a prankster who creates elaborate hoaxes as a form of social activism.

He”s blasted out news releases, posted videos and has managed to get his April Fools” Day Parade website appearing near the top of search engine results.

“It”s a mystery to me how we continue to enable fools to make fools of us,” Mr. Skaggs said.

Touché.

Related posts:

  1. Join Us at New York City’s 36th Annual April Fools’ Day Parade!
  2. Catch the First Four Joey Skaggs Oral Histories at the (Virtual) New Jersey Film Festival Friday
  3. Announcing NYC’s 35th Annual April Fools’ Day Parade — The Only Parade Not Being Cancelled!
  4. NYC’s 32nd Annual April Fools Day Parade in Photos
Posted on

April Fool’s 2015 Geeky Gags from the Tech Sphere (Roundup)

It’s April Fool’s Day, and TechCrunch is sending mixed signals. Yesterday, it published a rant about timely corporate PR stunts echoing the grumpy, contrarian style of the blog’s departed founder Michael Arrington.

And yet, today, it posted a fun gallery of its industry’s most clever gags, including a steam-powered gaming console, a reddit community dedicated to remixes of the Space Jam theme, and much more.

Is it attempting to drum up controversy? Who even knows anymore!

“April Fool’s 2015: The Mega-Roundup Of The Best Gags”
By Greg Kumparak
TechCrunch
April 1, 2015

Space Jam /r/listentothisIt”s that time of year again! The time when a massive chunk of the tech industry drops what it”s doing and puts all of its collective effort into getting a few laughs. As we do every year, we”re gathering up the best/worse/most cringe-tastic efforts in one place for your perusal. We”ll be updating this list as the day goes on, so check back in later! Read more.

Related posts:

  1. Join Us at New York City’s 36th Annual April Fools’ Day Parade!
  2. Announcing NYC’s 35th Annual April Fools’ Day Parade — The Only Parade Not Being Cancelled!
  3. In Review: April Fools’ Day 2019 Branding, Marketing, and Media Stunts
  4. Google’s Rare April Fool’s Foul
Posted on

April Fools’ Day 2015 Prank Round-up

April Fools’ day is upon us and the Internet is awash with well-funded corporate pranks, with Google once again leading the pack. For example, check out Google reversed at http://com.google. And, the Google Japan Panda product launch here. Or, you can play Pac-Man on your very own street at http://maps.google.com.

And, oh… Google says Australia is moving north

Beyond the all-seeing, all-knowing world of Google, there’s much, much more funny stuff all of which will be updated throughout the day on The Telegraph’s Best Spoofs and Pranks in Pictures; LifeHacker’s April Fools’ Day 2015 Spoilers: All The Fake Stories And Pranks Revealed; and Gamespot’s Video Game Joke Roundup.

Related posts:

  1. The Return of Sweden’s Giant Snow Penis
  2. How Actors Cry
  3. April Fools Round-up
  4. April Fools’ Day 2011 Prank Survey

Back to top