Buzzfeed featured my YouTube prank antics in an article today titled “An Early Dad YouTuber Reflects On The Viral Prank Videos That Made Him Famous — And Ones He’s Since Decided To Delete.” It’s part of an ongoing series by Tanya Chen about YouTube and pranks.
I discuss some of my experience with pranks, and when they’re funny and when they cross the line. Enjoy. And comment below. This blog has been dark for years.
The other day I got an alert from MySpace that Sasquatch had an update. I was reminded of a post I wrote 2 years ago about a “Messing With Sasquatch” campaign for Jack Links Beef Jerky. Unfortunately, the original 2006 videos are missing and the 2007/2008 videos are a bit over produced and make Sasquatch a little more vindictive than the first year of the campaign.
In the campaign’s infancy, the joke was based on people stumbling into Sasquatch — rather than being terribly surprised — deciding to play a harmless prank on him. In the end, he got the last laugh but it was subtle. In recent years, he chases people, smashes car windows, tosses people into trees, and knocks over golf carts. And the pranksters are less opportunistic and more mean spirited. There are hysterical moments like when he summons birds or chases bunnies. But I want to care about him not see him thrash mean prankster.
Brilliant campaign, but if it continues in 2009 I’d love to see a more human side of Sasquatch. We need to care about him, not root for his vengeance on dick pranksters. Maybe he needs a girlfriend.