TV News Falls for April Fools Funeral Prank!

Every year the Improv Everywhere crew executes some prank to make fools of us all on this day, but the one they put together this year at Greenwood Cemetery serves as an example of an April Fools' Day joke done well (because so often these things go horribly wrong). They announce: "For our latest mission, 30 Improv Everywhere agents found a random funeral in the obituary section of the newspaper and turned it into the best funeral ever. We picked a man who had very few surviving relatives and then showed up to his funeral to make it truly awesome."

The Ghosts of Pasha have returned! They might have had us were it not April 1st.

Update: Looks like the team at Channel 11 didn't get the joke:

For those who still don't get that it was an April Fools' joke, Charlie Todd, who heads up the improv group, Twittered: "hahahahaha CW 11 in NY just covered the funeral prank as a REAL news story!"

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By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on April 1, 2009 11:10 PM

Comments [rss]

Manitoba

I really can't believe anyone thought this was real. It's so clear that the old guy in front is acting.

Man, people are so gullible; it just confirms my belief that even in New York, Americans are dumb as hell.

sexisicilian

Don't these people have jobs ... get a life ... so lame

calcetines

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Past Taliban

Where can I contact these people? I bet nobody else would come to MY funeral.

David Topping

Everyone here who thinks this was real is really really stupid.

robingee

Did none of you read the article? It's ABOUT HOW IT WAS FAKE and most of you guys are posting as though it were real. No wonder it fooled Kaity Tong!

ugh

oh the casket is so OBVIOUSLY FAKE!

WorksInDUMBO

Not funny. Fake or not--not funny.

Clarice City

Fake or not, this guy is kind of an ass clown and not half as witty as he thinks he is. I think that so many people jumped to the conclusion that this is real because this guy will do anything to get his name in the media.

robingee

What guy?

mdow

funny how many commenters are as inept at analysis as channel 11.

"they are predators and one day they will get theirs." i guess they're predators, in that they preyed on your stupidity by arranging a fake funeral, fake family, then a group of fake mourners, and having people believe that they crashed a real funeral. "who do these people think they are?"

thefacts

It's not a real funeral. Do we agree on that?

One question: where do these hipster transplants pick up their fruitcake accents? Do they really talk like that in Ohio? I don't think so.

handsomedevil

Sigh. Ch 11 is actually the most tolerable and human evening newscast we've got. Too bad they fucked this up.

NorthShore

Hey, everyone who wants to bash the "mainstream media" over this: PIX is mainstream but it's not really media. Almost all their stuff is ripped off from newspapers or, in this case, blogs. The "newswriters" aren't even in the "newsroom."

It's fucking shameless, but welcome to the future you jerks

NorthShore

Hey, everyone who wants to bash the "mainstream media" over this: PIX is mainstream but it's not really media. Almost all their stuff is ripped off from newspapers or, in this case, blogs. The "newswriters" aren't even in the "newsroom."

It's fucking shameless, but welcome to the future you jerks

drewmaster

It's not a real funeral, they're all actors, it's an April Fool's joke that apparently fooled most of you...

ribaldry

More pathetic hipster trust fund bullshit.

robingee

Trust fund? What are you even talking about?

bucephalus

Oh, man, all the anti-hipster comments make me enjoy this prank (and IE in general) that much more. While I understand that the realization that there are people more creative and humorous than you can sometimes be frustrating, you could at least take two minutes to come up with a more original and biting insult.