Joey Skaggs

Joey Skaggs (born 1945) is an American multi-media artist, activist, satirist, educator and prankster whose work has been widely exhibited, disseminated and discussed internationally. Skaggs pioneered the use of the media as his artistic medium and is one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. In a career spanning six decades, he has produced scores of works, including paintings, sculptures, guerrilla theater, performance art, socially revealing hoaxes, media pranks, films, and other projects.

Artistic career
Joey Skaggs’ art has a history of challenging and disrupting the status quo, examples of his notorious work include the Crucifixion, Cat House for Dogs, Solomon Project, and Metamorphosis. Fostering social change, cultural understanding, and individual empowerment are key elements of his activism through art. His work employs guerrilla theater and public relations strategies for social critique, continuing the legacy of theatrical satire with modern communication tools, all while adhering to the law and ethical practices.

Skaggs’ projects are meant to reveal the media’s susceptibility to hype, hypocrisy, and misinformation, highlighting the public’s vulnerability to media manipulation by corporate conglomerates prioritizing profits over integrity. His art underscores the dangers of power misuse, conflicts of interest, and the blurring of entertainment and news.

In interviews and on his website, Skaggs advocates for media literacy, critical analysis, questioning authority, using multiple information sources, and challenging preconceptions.

According to Skaggs’ website, his artistic process frequently unfolds in stages he calls the hook, the line, and the sinker. First he crafts an absurd premise through press releases, brochures and/or staging an event or theatrical fabrication with actors and props, leaving obvious clues. Then he documents the hoax’s impact, recording media and public reactions, and tracking the narrative’s evolution. Finally, he unveils the truth, points out media irresponsibility, and begins a discussion about the underlying issues.

Films
In 2017, "Art of the Prank", Andrea Marini's award-winning feature documentary about artist Joey Skaggs, was released internationally on television and streaming platforms.

In 2020, production began on a series of short oral history documentaries featuring Skaggs and materials from his archive titled, “Joey Skaggs Satire and Art Activism, 1960s to the Present and Beyond”. The films are screening in international film festivals and will be available to the public at some point.

Crucifixion (1966-1969):

 * On Easter Sunday, 1966, Joey Skaggs carried his life-size sculptural depiction of a naked and decayed Jesus Christ on a cross to Hoving’s Hill in Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side in New York City. When he erected it, onlookers attacked and partially destroyed it. After repairing the sculpture, he continued to both exhibit it and bring it to public protests for three more years. It was featured in the 1967 New York University exhibition, Angry Artists: Artists Against the War in Vietnam, and became a center piece in the 1967 and 1968 Be-ins in Central Park. In 1969, anticipating further damage, he built a duplicate sculpture and dragged it through the Easter Parade up to the doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral (Midtown Manhattan) on 5th Avenue, where the church closed its doors, denying entry. A brigade of police then dragged him away. According to Skaggs, the piece represented the hypocrisy of the Church and man’s inhumanity to man.

Hippie Bus Tour to Queens (1968):

 * In September, 1968, Joey Skaggs, who lived in the East Village in New York, grew weary of the hordes of camera-toting tourists cruising the streets on tour buses gawking at the freaks. He decided to reverse the situation and take a bus load of 60 bearded, beaded, camera-toting hippies out to suburbia. It was an ironic reversal he called his “cultural exchange tour”. Howard Smith, writer for the Village Voice Scenes column, announced the event and Skaggs’ was immediately visited by an undercover detective asking to buy a ticket for his daughter. Skaggs told him the tour was free, but the detective kept pushing a five-dollar bill into his hands. As soon as Skaggs took the money, the detective identified himself and busted Skaggs for running an unlicensed tour business. When Skaggs proposed to reveal to the media what had just happened, he was informed he could take a tour-guide exam and get a temporary license. When he failed the test and said he would do the tour anyway, the licensing agency suggested he hire a tour operator. So, Skaggs hired tour guide Bob Lake for $25 for the day. The bus tour started at St. Marks Place and 2nd Avenue in front of Gem Spa, a local candy shop and news stand. Skaggs invited friends to come, including author and publisher of the Realist, Paul Krasner, and the Group Image rock and roll band. Artist Yayoi Kusama asked if she could come too. The tour bus made its way through neighborhoods in Queens, with the guide pointing out the “squares” mowing their lawns and washing their cars. They stopped at Hillside’s Nirvana head shop where the band played and tour passengers danced naked, while Kusama painted polka dots on them. Skaggs then treated everyone to White Castle hamburgers, which were $.14 at the time, and to ice cream cones at Howard Johnson’s Restaurant. Journalists rode both on the bus and in vehicles following behind. Skaggs was interviewed for the Today Show and the story made the front page of the Daily News. Articles about the Bus Tour also appeared in the New York Times and in other news publications. Shortly afterwards, Skaggs received a call from Greyhound Bus Line to see if he would continue doing tours in the Bronx and Brooklyn. He politely declined.

Cathouse for Dogs (1976):

 * Skaggs placed an ad in New York’s Village Voice newspaper and sent out a press release announcing a Cathouse for Dogs where for $50 you could get your dog sexually gratified. When the news media requested to visit the facility, he organized a group of 25 volunteers and 15 dogs and staged an evening in a dog bordello. WABC TV News included footage in a documentary on animal cruelty which won an Emmy. Skaggs was subpoenaed for illegally running a whorehouse for dogs, for which there was no law. In a press conference he held at the Attorney General’s office, he revealed the hoax, explaining that television is not necessarily reality. WABC TV News did not retract the story.

Celebrity Sperm Bank (1976):

 * In July of 1976, Giuseppe Scaggoli (Skaggs), owner of the Celebrity Sperm Bank, announced an auction of rock star sperm in New York City. Celebrities whose sperm Scaggoli claimed to have were Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Jimi Hendrix.   On the day of the event, Skaggs’ volunteer actors crowded the street in front of a building on Waverly Place, some to bid on the sperm and others to protest the concept. Scaggoli appeared and announced that the sperm had been stolen and read a ransom note purportedly from Abbie Hoffman to the crowd. The cancellation of the auction caused disappointment and outrage. News of the event was published in print media and broadcast on television.

Wall Street Shoeshine (1979):

 * Skaggs, as "Joseph Bucks", a shoeshine man who had grown rich hearing investment tips from his Wall Street clients, returned to celebrate his success. He arrived on Wall Street in a limousine and set up a luxurious shoeshine stand where he charged $5.00 per shine, about ten times the going rate. Skaggs recruited friends and students from his School of Visual Arts media classes to form an initial crowd, which prompted passersby to join the line to get their shoes shined.

Metamorphosis (1981):

 * On May 22, 1981, Dr. Josef Gregor (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), an entomologist who had created a strain of super-roaches immune to all toxins known to man, held a press conference and claimed that by extracting a hormone from these insects he had produced a miracle cure. He was accompanied in his fake laboratory by friends, colleagues and students from his classes at the School of Visual Arts. He announced that he and his followers were now immune to acne, anemia, menstrual cramps and nuclear radiation and that he was now offering his discovery for free to the world. The story went out on the UPI wire service and other news sources, and Dr. Gregor was featured on WNBC TV’s Live at Five with Jack Cafferty and Sue Simmons. It was a nod to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, but none of the media picked up the clue. This satire was meant to expose the media’s role in promoting charlatans and the need for the public to question the sources of their information.

Gypsies Against Stereotypical Propaganda (1982):

 * On June 15, 1982, JoJo, the King of the New York gypsies, (a.k.a. Skaggs), called for a city-wide, weeklong gypsy work stoppage (no fortune telling and no reading of horoscopes, tarot cards or palms) to protest the use of the term gypsy moth, an insect that had been decimating hardwood trees in the Northeast. He formed Gypsies Against Stereotypical Propaganda, or G.A.S.P., and said, “Call it the Ayatollah moth, call it the Idi Amin moth, call it the Hitler moth, but never again the Gypsy moth.” This protest was reported by Clyde Haberman in The New York Times. 39 years later, in 2021, The New York Times reported that the Entomological Society of America changed the name of the gypsy moth and the gypsy ant because they are “offensive to a community of people.”

Windsurfing from Hawaii to California (1983):

 * At noon on January 15, 1983, Hawaii windsurfer, J.J. Skaggs (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs) set out to become the first person to cross the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to California on a sailboard. After a Hawaiian blessing and a send-off party complete with a rock-and-roll band, a man said to be Skaggs departed equipped with enough water, snack bars and Dinty Moore stew to last for the estimated 30-day trip where he would encounter over 40-foot waves. His board sail said CAL OR BUST. The windsurfer was not actually Skaggs, but J.J. Jones, a world-class windsurfer who had cut his hair and mustache to resemble Skaggs. J.J. set sail, but once out of sight, he rounded the point and came ashore, making his way to a local bar to secretly rendezvous with Skaggs and friends. When there was talk of a Coast Guard rescue mission, Skaggs revealed the hoax. The TV networks that had covered the story never retracted the story.

Fish Condos (1983):

 * Outraged by the degradation of our natural resources as well as New York’s burgeoning gentrification, Joey Skaggs decided that soon fish would need better homes. He created Fish Condos, working aquariums that depicted kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms, for upwardly mobile guppies. The aquatic sculptures were published in New York Magazine’s “Best Bets” and became an instant sensation, appearing in museum and gallery exhibitions, publications, and on television around the world. What began as a satire became so popular that in 1996 they were featured in the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog for thousands of dollars.

Bad Guys Talent Management Agency (1984):

 * To help his friend Verne Williams get an acting job, Skaggs created the bogus Bad Guys Talent Management Agency featuring bad guys, bad girls, bad kids, and bad dogs. Skaggs designed a wanted poster for Verne and sent it to casting agents. This landed Verne a role in Berry Gordy’s feature film, The Last Dragon. As a result of media coverage from People Magazine and other outlets, the demand was so great that Skaggs held casting calls for actors wanting representation and signed up more than 300 "bad" actors. Many were cast in commercials, print ads and movies. Skaggs not wanting to manage a business, passed the agency to Sara Jones, one of the original bad girls.

WALK RIGHT! (1984):

 * In December of 1984, Joseph Virgil Skaggs (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), had had enough of the outrageous behavior exhibited by inconsiderate, unconscious, hostile pedestrians in New York City. Satirizing vigilantism, Skaggs formed WALK RIGHT! — an ad hoc group of sidewalk etiquette enforcers who patrolled the streets to make New York a better place to live and walk. The group proposed 66 rules for walking, such as no short people with umbrellas, no squeaky wheels on strollers and no wearing sunglasses at night. CNN and WOR TV Channel 9 were among the news stations that reported the story

The Fat Squad (1986):

 * Joe Bones (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), an ex-U.S. Marine drill sergeant, formed the Fat Squad, an organization created to help wipe out fat. Bones’ Fat Squad Commandos would, for $300 a day and a 3-day minimum, keep clients from eating anything not on their diet. The company’s motto was, “You can hire us, but you cannot fire us, our commandos take no bribes.” This was a satire about America’s obsession with diet fads. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post were among the first media establishments to fall for this hoax. It was widely covered in the U.S., including on ABC’s Good Morning America, and appeared on television and in print in Japan, Australia, England, Italy, Germany and France.

April Fool’s Day Parade (1986):

 * Joey Skaggs' New York City April Fools' Day Parade is an annual event marked by a press release renowned for its satirical and humorous take on current events and societal norms. Organized by Skaggs since 1986, the parade features elaborate floats, performers, and participants who mock political figures, social issues, and cultural trends with witty and often absurd commentary. The parade route begins at 5th Avenue and 59th Street and ends at Washington Square Park, attracting both spectators and media attention with its promised creative and provocative displays. The parade challenges conventional thinking and provokes thought about important issues through humor and satire. The event has become a celebrated tradition, blending artistic expression with social critique to offer a unique perspective on the world's happenings during the lighthearted spirit of April Fools' Day.

Save the Geoduck (1987):

 * Joey Skaggs, using the alias Dr. Richard J. Long (or Dick Long), posing as a marine biologist, oceanographer and environmental activist, launched an international campaign to save the geoduck, a species of clam found in the Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington. He claimed this species was being over-harvested by commercial fishermen to satisfy Japan's insatiable appetite for aphrodisiacs because the Chernobyl nuclear accident had rendered Lapland reindeer antlers radioactive and no longer suitable. He organized a protest in front of the Japan Society in New York. UPI wire service, U.S. News and World Report, WNBC TV News, Der Spiegel, The Fisherman’s News and more fell for the hoax, reporting on the protest. This thinly veiled phallus joke highlighted Americans' racism and tendency to blame others rather than themselves for their own problems. At the time, protestors were destroying Japanese cars and electronics as retribution for the loss of jobs, and exacerbated trade imbalances.

Comacocoon (1990):

 * In the fall of 1990 Skaggs as Dr. Joseph Schlafer, a German anesthesiologist, launched Comacocoon, a vacation service that induced clients into a controlled dream-state simulating their ideal vacation. The service could help participants quit smoking, have elective surgery, learn a foreign language, and get a tan. When Dr. Schlafer refused an interview request by the Globe tabloid, the reporter alerted New York City police that the organization could be a front for hallucinogenic drugs. Detectives soon visited and Skaggs explained that it was a conceptual performance piece. The detectives offered him a job on the spot to help them identify scams and frauds. The hoax continued until a subpoena arrived from the Department of Consumer Affairs, at that time headed by Mark Green. There were 17 charges related to the company’s purported use of drugs and BioImpression computer system. Skaggs was deposed, at which point he cheerfully revealed the hoax to be a satire about mind control, the environmental effects of vacation travel, and self-help and alternative medicine industries.

Hair Today, Ltd. (1990):

 * Joey Skaggs created "Hair Today, Ltd.," a fictional company that claimed to offer a revolutionary hair restoration treatment. The service involved transplanting hair from cadavers to live clients who were balding or experiencing hair loss. Skaggs posed as a Native American surgeon named Dr. Joseph Chenango, and created a marketing campaign, including brochures, advertisements, and even a storefront office. The brochure was sent to 1,500 journalists, as if they were potential clients, claiming that the procedure was safe, effective, and FDA-approved. The hoax was a satirical commentary on the vanity and desperation associated with hair loss, the lengths to which people would go to restore their hair, and the extremes of the beauty industry. This underscored the gullibility of both consumers and the media, highlighting the need for more critical examination of grandiose claims.

Geraldo Hoax (1991):

 * Geraldo’s television show producers invited Skaggs to appear on a show about liars and scam artists. He declined, saying this was antithetical to his work. Instead, the producers aired some of Skaggs’ archival footage without him. They contacted him again and requested to follow him perpetrating a media prank to be revealed on-air. He again declined, having seen Geraldo’s effort at unearthing Al Capone’s vault (which proved to be empty). They called him a third time requesting a one-on-one interview, promising they now fully understood his work. He agreed, having decided to hoax them. When they asked him to come to the studio and bring contact information for journalists who had fallen for one of his hoaxes, he enlisted a friend, author Nancy Weber, to pose as a journalist from Associated Press. Together Skaggs and Weber fabricated an article in the real estate section of the New York Post about artists illegally living in water towers atop buildings where they had commanding views and cheap rent. He put the fake story in his portfolio with real articles and went to the pre-interview. Thumbing through his press book, he stopped at the article suggesting that maybe Nancy Weber from AP would be willing to talk with them. They called her and she agreed. During the show, Weber, sitting in the audience, was asked what she thought of Skaggs. To their surprise, she said she had been angry at first about being fooled, but now thought his work should be taught in journalism school. After the show aired, Skaggs revealed the hoax in the New York Post. Steve Powers, a reporter with Channel 5 News, did a follow-up story and tried to contact Geraldo, who was not available for comment.

Brooklyn Bridge Lottery (1992):

 * On March 24, 1992, someone named "J" (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs) leaked an inter-office memorandum to the news media on official letterhead purporting to be from New York Mayor David Dinkins, announcing a lottery for the Brooklyn Bridge to help raise funds to fix its failing infrastructure. The lottery winner would receive a million dollars, and have the bridge named after him or her for five years. After five years, there would be another lottery. If the plan worked, other prominent landmarks would soon follow. This satire played upon a long-standing tradition of huxters exploiting suckers into buying the Brooklyn Bridge. This story was covered by both print and TV news. Five years later, ironically, reality imitated art when Mayor Rudy Giuliani proposed a similar concept for real.

Portofess (1992):

 * “If people can confess on Oprah, Phil and Geraldo, I don’t see why they can’t confess right here on Eighth Avenue.” So said Father Anthony Joseph (Skaggs), a Dominican priest from San Bernadino who pedaled a confessional booth mounted on the back of a tricycle to the Democratic National Convention in New York City in July of 1992. The portable confessional booth provided “religion on the move for people on the go.” As Father Joseph claimed, “The church must go where the sinners are.” Skaggs enlisted friends to enter the confessional, but real people lined up to confess as well. Portofess was widely reported on TV, radio and in hundreds of newspapers around the world. Father Joseph was featured on CNN, Fox, CBS and by scores of other news outlets including Reuters and Associated Press.

Faith Daniels TV Hoax  (1993):

 * Joey Skaggs received a call from a producer friend in San Diego who had been contacted by the Faith Daniels Show to help them find couples for an episode to be titled, “Sex Tapes – Do They Work?” Skaggs agreed to appear on the show, but enlisted actors Clayton Bartner and Maria Betancourt, to play him and his wife to talk about how using sex tapes had spiced up their relationship. The show sent a limousine to deliver them to the studio and they were featured sitting in the audience. After the airing, when Skaggs revealed the hoax to the media, the show producers said they had no idea who these people were; that they had just unexpectedly participated. Skaggs told the New York Daily News, “I’m trying to show that these reality shows are totally contrived. They have nothing to do with reality.’

SEXONIX (1993):

 * In the Fall of 1993, SEXONIX, the world’s first sexual virtual reality company, planned to exhibit their equipment and software at the Metro Toronto Christmas Gift and Invention Show at Sky-Dome. Headed by American inventor Joseph Skaggs, PhD (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), they secured a booth and launched a public relations campaign. Skaggs, during the lead up to the Canadian demonstration, reported that all the hardware and software had been confiscated at the border by Canadian customs agents on the grounds that SEXONIX was morally offensive to the Canadian people. In what became the first hoax on the internet, Skaggs posted his story to news groups on various electronic bulletin boards around the country including FidoNet, AlohaNet, and the WELL requesting help finding and retrieving the impounded equipment. One WELL user, Journalist Brock Meeks, decided to investigate the story. He did exactly what Skaggs had hoped someone would do. He tried to trace the confiscation through the bureaucracy of Canadian customs. Not surprisingly, he was unable to turn up anything conclusive. Finally, he resorted to contacting Skaggs’ neighbors to confirm his identity. When investigations revealed the whole thing was a hoax, many online users were upset that the sanctity of their chat spaces had been breached. Skaggs said, “Any new technology is the artist’s territory, and that means a challenge to all pre-conceived limitations.” Mark Dery, author of Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century, wrote in an article published by The Web Magazine, April 1997, “The Sexonix hoax is a parable for weird, wired times. By perpetrating it, Skaggs poked fun at our evangelical faith in way-new technologies. More seriously, he also encouraged us to reflect on the slippery nature of even the most basic facts online — where biography and biology can be altered with a few keystrokes, and where hoaxes, rumors, and urban myths take on an almost viral life, infecting each new wave of credulous newbies.”

Maqdananda Psychic Attorney (1994):

 * As a satire on ambulance chasing lawyers looking for accident victims and the proliferation of ads for fortune telling psychics, Joey Skaggs wrote and produced a 30 second TV commercial in which he portrayed a psychic attorney called Maqdananda. The guru-like psychic could tell you “whether to sue or settle, whether you’d win or lose”. He offered a wide range of legal services, including psychic surgery malpractice and renegotiating contracts made during past lives. When callers dialed the number, 1-808-UCA-DADA, the outgoing message on the answering machine said, “I knew you’d call.” The commercial aired on CNN Headline News at the end of March throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Dog Meat Soup (1994):

 * In 1994, Joey Skaggs assumed the persona of Kim Yung Soo, President of Kea So Joo, Inc. (Dog Meat Soup with alcohol, Inc.), a Korean company purportedly offering to purchase unwanted dogs for human consumption at $0.10 per pound. Skaggs sent letters in broken English to over 1,500 dog shelters across the United States, soliciting dogs for cooking and canning. The outgoing message on his answering machine, recorded in both Korean and English, featured a woman with a Korean accent and had the sound of dogs barking in the background. Although Skaggs only mailed letters to animal shelters, the recipients, outraged by the proposal, forwarded them to local media outlets. Despite Skaggs never answering his phone, numerous reporters claimed to have spoken with company representatives. Some even reported that large dogs were disappearing from the streets and that legal charges were being brought against the company. In Atlanta, a reporter warned viewers not to send money to the organization, while another confronted an Asian restaurateur with the letter, asking if he had seen it before. The public’s response mirrored the media’s bias, with numerous threats, both legal and physical, directed at the fictional Kim Yung Soo. Offers to sell dogs, often blatant attempts to entrap him, also poured in. The outrage and reactions were exactly as Skaggs had anticipated, highlighting issues of cultural bias, intolerance, and racism towards the Asian American community. His purpose was to expose the media’s and the general public’s tendency to be reactionary and thus irresponsible. Journalist John Tierney documented the entire process and published an exposé of the hoax in The New York Times Magazine on July 17, 1994. In 2003, John Stossel interviewed Skaggs for ABC TV's 20/20 program and among other topics, discussed the Dog Meat Soup hoax.

Baba Wa Simba (1995):

 * In 1995, Joey Skaggs was challenged by a producer for the UK’s Channel 4 television show, “The Word,” to dupe the British media. Having previously fooled the BBC and Sky TV with his Fat Squad hoax in 1986, Skaggs accepted. He created the Baba Wa Simba hoax, posing as a New Age therapist from Kenya whose parents were killed by lions. Skaggs claimed to have developed a therapy involving “roarings” to heal inner pain and was working with disenfranchised youth. The producers rented a parish hall and hired young actors to rehearse with Skaggs, who led them in roaring on all fours, eating on the floor, and cuddling like lions. The British media, including ITV Channel 3’s “London Tonight,” “Good Morning TV,” Sky TV News, the East London Advertiser, and BBC Radio, were quickly taken in. Even respected commentators, such as Brazil’s Pedro Bial of TV Globo, participated and found the sessions therapeutic. The hoax was exposed when “The Word” aired the show a week later, but no media outlet admitted to being duped. Five years later, Veja magazine interviewed Skaggs before he was schedules to give a lecture at the Catholic University in São Paulo. When asked if he had ever hoaxed the Brazilian media, Skaggs recounted Pedro Bial’s involvement. Despite TV Globo’s denial, Skaggs played the video during his lecture, and the audience immediately recognized Bial’s voice. Veja followed up with a story correcting TV Globo’s disavowal. Baba Wa Simba was part of Skaggs’ broader efforts to critique and expose the gullibility and irresponsibility of the media.

The Solomon Project (1995):

 * Joseph Bonuso (Skaggs) claimed to have created a computer program that would work as both judge and jury and announce sentences. It pronounced O. J. Simpson guilty.

The Final Curtain (2000):

 * Skaggs' creation was a combined funeral company, virtual graveyard and theme park. It was meant to satirize showmanship in places like Forest Lawn cemeteries. Some investors were actually interested. Final Curtain's website is still functioning.

Bigfoot & The Tiny Top Circus (2014):

 * Bigfoot, the world's most illusive and terrifying creature, was captured and put on display by the Tiny Top Circus in New York City's Washington Square Park. The creature (Joey Skaggs dressed literally as a big foot) made a daring escape and disappeared into the West Fourth Street subway station.

Trump's Golden Throne (2017):

 * For New York City's 32nd annual April Fools' Day Parade, after 31 years promoting a parade that didn't exist, Joey Skaggs orchestrated a real one. He held a Trumpathon, the world's largest gathering of Trump look-alikes, and together they paraded a golden outhouse, featuring President Donald Trump tweeting on his phone as he sat on his throne, to Trump Tower on 5th Avenue.