…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
New York City’s 32nd Annual April Fools’ Day Parade
Yahoo News
April 1, 2017
The theme for this years parade is MAKE RUSSIA GREAT AGAIN! The Grand Marshall will be a Donald Trump look-alike. The full parade was actually a April Fools” prank. During the event, masked activists marched with a hand-pulled “float” featuring a likeness of Donald Trump sitting in an outhouse. (Getty)
3 Notorious April Fools Day Pranks Played by Notable New Yorkers
by Nicole Levy
DNAInfo New York
March 31, 2016
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.
We”re 30 and proud of it! New York”s spectacular April Fools” Day Parade kicks into its fourth decade of hilarious irreverence, poking fun at the past year”s public displays of hype, hypocrisy, deceit, bigotry, and downright foolishness. Nothing and no one is sacred. Our satire knows no bounds. In honor of our 30th year, we”ll be giving 30 lucky revelers free cartoon interpretations of their favorite taboo religious icons, picked at random at the end of the parade in Washington Square Park.
New York, New York — The 30th Annual April Fools” Day Parade will begin at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street at 12 noon, Wednesday, April 1, 2015. Rain or shine, the parade will march down Fifth Avenue to Washington Square Park for the climactic selection of the King of Fools from the costumed marching look-alikes.
The theme for this year”s parade is “Hands Up, Don”t Shoot“. The Grand Marshall will be Mayor Bill de Blasio wearing an “I Can”t Breathe” T-shirt. He will lead the NYPD Marching Band playing Smokey Robinson”s “You Really Got a Hold on Me”, however, they will be marching backwards in a continuing show of disrespect for the Mayor. Special guests will include Ebola-infected volunteers recently returned from West Africa who have ignored their quarantines. Color commentary will be provided by NBC”s Brian Williams making it up as it happens.
The first float will be a Mobile Carnival Shooting Gallery where police officers are firing at young minority targets. Then comes a Three-Story Glass Elevator float featuring President Obama on the 3rd floor with armed civilians; Beyoncé”s sister Solange ferociously assaulting Jay-Z on the 2nd floor; and NFL star Ray Rice dragging out his unconscious fiancée on the ground floor. Next are 2016 Presidential Hopeful Clowns riding in a hot-air balloon inflated by their own boasts and flatulence. They will be tethered to a voracious media circus. This will be followed by the Sarah Palin Bar Brawl float, packed with family members slugging it out with bar patrons. Next are several cattle trucks filled with the first wave of 11 million illegal immigrants en route to deportation, followed by a brigade of Russian soldiers en route to the Lower East Side”s Ukrainian neighborhood in order to annex it. Bringing up the rear will be an International Search and Rescue float looking for missing Malaysian flight 370. All floats will be powered by recalled GM vehicles. Parade organizers are not responsible for any injuries or deaths. Continue reading “Celebrate New York’s 30th Annual April Fools’ Day Parade!”