Art of the Prank

Art of the Prank is a feature documentary about New York artist Joey Skaggs, the godfather of the media hoax. Famed for such media fictions as the Celebrity Sperm Bank, the Cathouse for Dogs, the Fat Squad, and Portofess (the mobile confessional booth), all reported as fact by prestigious journalists, he’s one of America’s greatest living satirists. When he decides to pull off the most demanding hoax of his career, filmmaker Andrea Marini gets a unique view into the mind of this most unconventional man. The resulting film is an emotional and humorous journey of will and determination following the evolution of an artist who has dedicated his life to seeking social change by relentlessly challenging the status quo. Filmed in New York, Connecticut, London, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Kentucky and Tennessee, and with unprecedented access to the man and his archives, the 82-minute documentary reveals the man behind the curtain, interweaving his current unfolding hoax with a look behind-the-scenes at some of his classic performance pieces.