weird news - The Art of the Prank

November 17, 2017December 15, 2023

Today In Human Head Transplants

In the “quit while you’re ahead” department…

“World’s first human head transplant a success, professor says”
By Yaron Steinbuch
New York Post
November 17, 2017

The world”s first human head transplant has been carried out on a corpse in China, according to a controversial Italian doctor who said Friday that scientists are now ready to perform the surgery on a living person.

Professor Sergio Canavero, chief of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, said the operation was carried out by a team led by Dr. Xiaoping Ren, who last year successfully grafted a head onto a monkey”s body.

“The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done. A full head swap between brain-dead organ donors is the next stage,” Canavero said at a press conference in Vienna, the Telegraph reported.

“And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent,” said Canavero, who has gained a mix of fame and notoriety for his Frankenstein-like pursuits. Read more.

September 18, 2013December 15, 2023

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid…

For Wendy:

Northampton Clown Terrorizes English Town Just By Standing Around
by Sebastian Murdock
The Huffington Post
September 16, 2013

tumblr_mbcb7kY7Dr1rwjzpqo1_500 It doesn’t speak. It doesn’t juggle. It has balloons but doesn’t hand them out. It probably doesn’t even sleep. It just stands there, haunting our dreams with that sinister smile.

An anonymous man has been striking fear into the hearts of the Northampton, U.K., community by ominously standing around in creepy clown apparel.

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The Northampton Herald & Post first reported the sightings earlier this month. The clown has allegedly been spotted all over town, and sometimes is seen carrying a clown teddy.

Efforts made to discover the identity of the jester have yielded few results. A recent YouTube video showing a man being interviewed in clown garb made waves, but the clown denied that it was him on his Facebook page. Continue reading “Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid…”

March 31, 2013December 15, 2023

April Fools’ Day 101

April Fools’ Day Prank Products: From Self-inflating Whoopie Cushions To ‘I’m A Douche’ Coffee Mugs
by David Moye
The Huffington Post
March 31, 2013

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For some people, April Fools’ Day is a day to say, “whoopie” — as in cushion.

Celebrated since medieval times, the humorous holiday is perfect for those people who want to get a rise out of friends, family — or even authoritarian figures who have tortured them the other 364 days of the year.

“It’s an excuse to vent frustrations, and be playful and harmless,” according to prank artist Joey Skaggs, whose specializes in fooling the media into printing outrageous stories.

One year, Skaggs convinced major New York newspapers that he’d created a “cathouse for dogs,” where pooches could get sexually gratified by a “savory” assortment of “hot bitches”; another time, he was a guest on Good Morning America, where he posed as the leader of a group of ex military commandos who were now helping dieters as the “Fat Squad,” a team that would physically restrain fat people, to keep them from breaking their diets. Continue reading “April Fools’ Day 101”

December 20, 2012December 15, 2023

Joey Skaggs as Santa Takes His Missile Tow to the United Nations

Update: Checkout Joey Skaggs’ Facebook Page to see the event invitation and photos.

‘Santa Claus’ At United Nations: Prankster Joey Skaggs Demands Nuclear Disarmament
by Michael McLaughlin
The Huffington Post
November 14, 2012

Joey Skaggs, dressed as Santa Claus, worries that a nuclear apocalypse is a serious threat overlooked by the mainstream media.

NEW YORK — Doesn’t it seem like the holiday protest season starts earlier and earlier every year?

A protesting Santa on an adult-sized tricycle pedaled up First Avenue Tuesday, dragging an 8-foot missile to the United Nations. His message to world leaders: “Peace on Earth — Or Else.”

Nobody ran for cover. The comically fake bomb was a dud. And this St. Nick was the legendary media prankster Joey Skaggs, accompanied by six performance artists serving as elves.

Given that New York suffered the worst hurricane in its history just two weeks ago, perhaps it’s little surprise that this Santa and his giant toy explosive were overlooked.

Skaggs didn’t care. He just wanted to kick off the holiday season with a not-so-gentile reminder about “the absurdity of nuclear Holocaust and the direction we’re going with North Korea, Iran and Israel.

“Everyone wants a missile,” Skaggs told The Huffington Post.

“If you don’t do it now, when do you do it?,” he said, “after the Holocaust?”

Continue reading “Joey Skaggs as Santa Takes His Missile Tow to the United Nations”

February 12, 2012December 15, 2023

Bear With Fish Impersonates Wooly Mammoth, Fools Millions

Woolly Mammoth Video From Siberia Faces Credibility Issues
Huffington Post
February 9, 2012

A woolly mammoth has reportedly been seen and videotaped in Siberia, offering irrefutable proof that the giant hairy prehistoric elephants — believed to have gone extinct thousands of years ago — still exist.

That is, of course, if this new video shows an actual mammoth crossing a Siberian river. According to The Sun, a government engineer, conducting a survey for a potential new road last summer, saw the beast in question in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia.

He supposedly filmed the creature. And here is where so many questions come to mind: Continue reading “Bear With Fish Impersonates Wooly Mammoth, Fools Millions”