Three Joey Skaggs Bios
Full Bio:
Joey Skaggs has been a doctor, a lawyer, an Indian chief. Hailed as an entrepreneur extraordinaire, he created a bordello for dogs, was the proprietor of a celebrity sperm bank, and founded an organization to wipe out fat. He has saved the world with his cockroach vitamin elixir and was the first and only person to ever windsurf from Hawaii to California.
Although these and other illustrious activities have been presented as "truth" in the annals of the international news media, in reality they have all been hoaxes, products of his creative imagination. For over 40 years Joey has been an artist and a satirist with serious messages to tell. He has used the media as his canvas, creating performances to bring to light many of the difficult and complex socio-political issues of our day, and has successfully gotten his messages across. He is a master of media manipulation and has been hailed as "The World's Greatest Hoaxer."
The creator of such international hoaxes as The Cathouse for Dogs, The Celebrity Sperm Bank, Portofess, The Solomon Project, The Fat Squad, Sexonix, Hair Today, Ltd., and Metamorphosis - The Cockroach Vitamin Pill, Skaggs is the most prolific independent media satirist in America today.
His work is unorthodox, provocative and iconoclastic. Using guerrilla tactics and advertising and public relations techniques to make social commentary, he carries on in the tradition of theater and satire while using the tools and technologies of the 21st century to communicate on a global scale. And he does so without breaking the law or taking money from unsuspecting people. In essence, he is an artist who uses the media as his medium to make a statement.
Skaggs is a storyteller, myth-maker, skeptic, philosopher, writer, performer, and artist. His work is designed to rock the boat -- disturb, provoke, aggravate, and annoy the status quo, as well as to help make social change through awareness; expand people's understanding and tolerance of other cultures and concepts; and creatively inspire people towards self-empowerment.
Skaggs holds a mirror up to society. He illustrates how hype, hypocrisy, propaganda and disinformation that is fed to the media is consequently fed by the media to the public. And he shows, by example, how vulnerable the public is to abuses of a media that is largely owned by giant conglomerate corporations for whom the bottom line is the first priority. Issues of misuse of power, conflicts of interest and the use of infotainment commercials as news, abound.
He has been featured in newspapers, magazines, and on radio and television programs around the world including CNN, Entertainment Tonight, Good Morning America, Phil Donahue, PM Magazine, Geraldo, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and in the New Yorker, Newsweek, Life Magazine, WIRED, TV Guide, New York Magazine, People Magazine, Germany's Stern Magazine, the New York Times, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Italy's Corriere Della Sera, and the London Sunday Times.
Skaggs has formal training as a fine artist. He attended the High School of Art and Design, the Art Students League, and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His paintings and sculptures have been exhibited at galleries and museums around the world. He began teaching Media Communications at the School of Visual Arts in 1976 and continues to teach there from time to time. He has also taught at Parsons School of Design/the New School.
He has lectured extensively on media literacy and his media satires throughout the United States and in Europe, Asia, South America and Australia for organizations, associations, conferences, festivals and schools. His audiences include students, professionals, and the general public.
A Joey Skaggs presentation, illustrated by video documentation of his media work, provides a unique experience. He is a master storyteller who offers unforgettable creative insights to audiences of all ages who are concerned about communication, media literacy, education and the effects the media has on society.
Skaggs has lectured at Beijing Broadcasting University, presented at The Influencers Festival in Barcelona, Spain, exhibited a new multi-media installation at the Espai D'Art Contemporanio of Castellon (EACC) in Spain, presented at the Extreme Arts Festival in Tromso, Norway, was featured on ABC TV 20/20 and on the Arts and Entertainment television special "Scams, Schemes, and Scoundrels", was Artist-in-Residence and a featured speaker in the Media Literacy Forum at the Taos Film Festival, spoken at the Canadian Association of Journalists in Toronto and made presentations in Europe for the Open Society Institute. A more lengthy list is available online.
Short Bio:
PDF print version /
Joey Skaggs has been hailed "The Godfather of the Media Prank." The creator of such international pranks as The Cathouse for Dogs, The Celebrity Sperm Bank, The Portable Confessional Booth, Cockroach Vitamin Pill, The Solomon Project, and The Fat Squad, he and his performances have appeared on, to name a few, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, Good Morning America, Phil Donahue, Geraldo, National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Life, WIRED, New York, People, and The New York Times.
He's an artist whose work is unorthodox, provocative and iconoclastic. Using guerrilla tactics and advertising and public relations techniques to make social commentary, Skaggs holds a mirror up to society. He illustrates how hype, hypocrisy, propaganda and disinformation that is fed to the media is consequently fed by the media to the public. And he shows, by example, how vulnerable the public is to abuses of an irresponsible news media.
Skaggs is one of the most prolific media satirists in America today. A life long educator and performance artist, his commentaries on media literacy and creative independent thinking are hilarious and thought provoking and have reached hundreds of millions of people on a global scale.
Really Short Bio:
Internationally notorious media prankster Joey Skaggs is an artist whose work is unorthodox, provocative and iconoclastic. His hilarious lectures show how he deconstructs critical social issues of our time while manipulating the world press to rock the status quo.