Therapist Baba Wa Simba, the Lion King, has the answer: Be like a lion and roar!
Check out the story behind Baba Wa Simba here.
A Message From Hell
Is he looking for unsatisfied voters? Here’s another entry in the long tradition of unsanctioned sign art.
Why are those ‘We buy souls’ posters all over LA?, by Paula Mejía, SFGate, February 15, 2025, h/t Richard Johnson.
The signs have become a ubiquitous sight on telephone poles across town
There’s hardly an inch of real estate, private or public, that isn’t occupied by advertisements in Los Angeles. You’ve got massive freeway billboards that crowd the sky, painted murals hawking dating apps and digital ads designed to catch your peripheral vision. It also happens on the street level, with bright signs plastered on telephone poles to hopefully attract drivers, pedestrians and bikers.
Yet amid the familiar blocky posters advertising concerts, offers to buy up junk cars, hair braiding and tattoo expos, another type of telephone pole advertising has become ubiquitous around LA for its sheer weirdness. The nondescript white sign features chunky red letters spelling out a cryptic and tantalizing message: “WE BUY SOULS!” A phone number accompanies the message, should interested parties want to call and learn more.
Homo Velamine Interviews Joey Skaggs “Maestro of the Farce” [Spanish and English]
Spanish Art and Activism Collective Homo Velamine Interviews Joey Skaggs [Spanish and English]
Joey Skaggs: “A fool is a fool, no matter what their political leaning is”
by Demófila Martínez and Luis Platypus
Homo Velamine
October 31, 2019
Homo Velamine: The increase of fake news in the media in recent years makes us feel that the limits between fact and fiction are more unclear than ever. In the documentary Art of the Prank (2015), you let the viewer peek into the creative process behind one of your hoaxes. The trickiest part seems to be deciding how far you can take it, without crossing the limits of plausibility and creating something that is impossible to believe. After all these years, does it still surprise you how far this limit can actually be pushed? Which of your performances would you say has pushed this limit the farthest and still has been successful?
Joey Skaggs: Pushing the limits of plausibility is the fun part for me. I create the problem and I create the solution. I take a gamble that what I’m doing is so ridiculous that no one’s going to believe it. I want it to be totally absurd because if the news media does fall for it, it will be even funnier and more effective in revealing their gullibility and/or hypocrisy. Continue reading “Homo Velamine Interviews Joey Skaggs “Maestro of the Farce” [Spanish and English]”
Here’s Truth in Advertising
Oscar nominated movie poster alteration in service of the truth… h/t Miss Cellania
If The Posters For This Year”s Oscar-Nominated Movies Were Honest
by Caleb Reading
uproxx.com
January 24, 2018
This year”s Oscar nominations are in, and there have been some surprises, like a Wolverine sequel becoming the first superhero movie to garner a screenplay nomination. It seems The Academy seeks to reshape its image, and you know what would really reshape everyone”s attitude toward this business of show? If movie posters were brutally, hilariously honest.
As we have in previous years, we”ve collected our favorite honest posters for the films with at least one nomination in any category for the 90th Academy Awards (full nominees list here). Many of these come courtesy of The Shiznit and this College Humor post, along with several other posts. Read more
Muscleman Prank Turns Ugly
Sometimes, laughs come with a penalty: legal charges. Such is the case for two comedians whose brawn didn’t match their claims. Thanks Naomi.
“TV Station Suing Comedians For Pranking Morning Show As Fake Strongman Duo”
by Laura Hurley
Cinemablend
April 27, 2017
There is a time and a place to pull epic pranks on unsuspecting targets, and the pranks are often pretty hilarious. Recently, however, one prank was received very poorly by the target, and the pranksters are facing a lawsuit because of it. Two men tricked the Wisconsin TV station WEAU-TV into bringing them on as a strongman duo with stunts to show off. When the comedians turned up without any real skills to demonstrate, the WEAU owners weren’t too happy, and they’ve deciding to sue.
Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher posed as a strongman duo going by “Chop & Steele.” The prank began when a person calling himself Jerry Chubb emailed two WEAU anchors about the strongmen appearing on the Hello Wisconsin morning show to promote themselves. New York Daily News reports that this “Jerry Chubb” sent WEAU a press release claiming that Chop and Steele were popular contestants on the third season of America’s Got Talent. The Hello Wisconsin anchors didn’t realize until they were already on the air that Chop and Steele had no idea what they were doing and were definitely not strongmen, and parent company Gray Television is suing Pickett and Prueher for allegedly using false materials and identities to convince WEAU to book them.
The suit from Gray Television claims that Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher infringed on the company’s copyright of the Hello Wisconsin episode they appeared on. Additionally, Gray Television wants the court to order Pickett and Prueher’s Found Footage Festival to “render a full and complete accounting… of its profits, gains, advantages, and the value of the business opportunities received from the foregoing infringement.” Ouch. Read more.