User Reviews

Wonderful documentary that captures a true artist. Joey Skaggs is the artists that pushes envelopes, but always with the intent to be an artist. Art of the prank paints a perfect portrait of a man with a mission. The good news is none of the pranks harm, this is not a stupid YouTube movie or directed by someone who got lucky and has no clue who D.A. Pennebaker is or landmark documentarian Ken Burns. The whole crew knows how to show you ART OF THE PRANK. Good for some laughs and also, original----not your documentary that 45 minutes in you realize "I've seen this."

We saw this film in NYC and thoroughly enjoyed it . You'll find that In this day and age of 'fake news' and sadly fake presidents, it is truly spot on ! The images will remain in your head as you look around at our so called 'Real World". The Art of The Prank is from the brilliant and somewhat skewed mind of Joey Skaggs. Don't miss it.

The Premise. Art of the Prank is an emotional and humorous journey following the evolution of Joey Skaggs,

Godfather of the media hoax, as he tries to pull off the most challenging prank of his career.

This is interwoven with amazing archive footage of his earlier escapades-all reported as fact by prestigious journalists.

The resulting twists and turns provide unprecedented insight into Joey's work as an artist, activist and social satirist.

I was REALLY ho[ping to like this movie. Unfortunately it's rather boring. It also shows that Scaggs hey day was 25 years ago and now he's all dried up of creativity.

His stunts are silly and easily debunked, but the media could not care less about vetting.

I forget the guy's name, but Scaggs is NOT the godfather of the prank. There was another guy before him who was so much better and a documentary was made about him a number of years ago by his daughter. Look for that one.

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.

I discovered Joey Skaggs through his interview in RE/Search: Pranks!, a book that transformed my worldview two decades ago. I always wanted to see video footage of his media stunts and colorful public performances.

This is that, and more.

Just as Skaggs's work is well-suited for video, his ideas are urgently relevant to our current predicament.

This doc will acquaint you with an artist and avuncular personality who makes the world brighter and smarter through mischief. It will remind you to question your assumptions, that power structures are more permeable than they seem, and that fun can still triumph over fear.

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".

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.

Hilarious takedown of the culture and media. Original, witty and not to be missed!! From the cathouse for dogs, to the cockroach cure for everything, to the fat squad, this film satirizes the culture. It's amazing how ahead of his time Joey Skaggs has been, and how he continues to come up with new and piercing critiques.

Loved, loved, LOVED this movie! I like to laugh when I watch a flick and this one did not disappoint. A guy dressed as a priest bicycling around midtown with a booth in tow to offer quick confessions to New Yorkers? Who is then covered by the earnest local press as a sincere cutting edge padre ministering to the harried masses? If you think that might be funny, see this movie! And the construct is terrific: instead of doing just a "greatest hits" compendium of Joey Skaggs' pranks that fooled print and TV reporters (of which there are plenty in the movie), the documentary morphs into a close-up of a Joey prank which is a fake documentary that fooled the festival cinema crowd. The pace is great and the laughs are heartfelt. I saw this with a pal who thought this was not a good time to cast reporting in a negative light considering the present hostile environment created by Trump and his acolytes. I say, fear not, oh defenders of the fourth estate! This movie is a great tonic against all that madness. I wish everyone sees it - they will experience a wonderfully apolitical HILARIOUS treatise on what fake news REALLY is all about.

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!