Art of the Prank (2015)
The great media prankster, Joey Skaggs, wants to fool the world media AGAIN, and, with the most complex hoax of his career in the pipeline, he now must use every trick in his prankster's arsenal to make it work. Art of the Prank is an emotional journey following the evolution of artist Joey Skaggs-a fierce proponent of independent thinking and the man who has turned the media hoax into an art form. With unprecedented access to the man and his archives, the 95-minute documentary interweaves a current unfolding hoax with a look behind-the-scenes at some classic performance pieces (all reported as fact by a wide range of prestigious journalists) plus commentary from co-conspirators and others. -IMDB
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Don't listen to the negative reviews
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Skaggs is America's preeminent prankster. He's been making American grin again for over forty years with hilarious but thought provoking satires/hoaxes that expose the vapidity of the mainstream media. This film documents his whole career and shows him at work today. He invented FAKE NEWS and should get a royalty every time those words are uttered by Trump and his hapless surrogates. Do yourself a favor and see this film.You'll never experience reality the same way again!
Watching the Art of the Prank was a totally joy inducing experience. Marini takes us through 30+ years of the career and times of Joey Skaggs, performance artist, provocateur, culture jammer, and media hoax extraordinaire, in what is a fascinating study of not only Mr. Skaggs artistry but also a haunting look at how our current systems of information are warped and easily manipulated. While this documentary is a highly entertaining journey about the life and art of Joey Skaggs, more aptly it reflects how broken and unreliably modern media outlets are. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Highly recommend it. I laughed, I cried. It was better than "Cats".
I found it both entertaining and containing more depth than I anticipated. Joey Skaggs has spent a lifetime satirizing life, politics, the arts and the media. More power to him. Anyone who believes that the world is a bit absurd will love this film. I am going to order a copy to show to my granddaughter. She needs to see this point of view.
Art of the Prank profiles the four decade plus career of media/art prankster Joey Skaggs. Skaggs would create hoaxes like saying he was creating a cat house (prostitution) for dogs just to have the media report on them, the expose that they'd be duped. The point? To cast a spotlight on the media, all with the intent that people should question what they read.The doc tracks a whole host of Joey's pranks going back to the Vietnam era to today. And it is drop dead hilarious and the way through, watching the backstory of how he creates and stages his events, and when the media, from the NY Times to CNN, have to eat crow and having been fooled.Again it's not only hugely entertaining but very timely, in this era where we have to deal with fake news coming at us from every direction.