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Earlier this month, political pranksters known as the Yes Men made headlines – literally – when they declared the Iraq War over in a fake publication of the New York Times. Collaborating with the group Improv Everywhere and anti-war organizations, the fourteen-page edition of the news as it should be and not as it is was, was distributed in major cities in the United States as a message to the incoming Obama administration to make good on its campaign promises. In addition to the bold headline about Iraq, the spoof version of one of the nation’s most prominent newspapers also featured parody articles written under appropriately humorous pseudonyms on how the course of the economy, health care, the war in Afghanistan and climate change were all back on a progressive track. At least three staffers from the actual New York Times are said to have participated in secret to craft the prank publication which circulated an estimated 1.2 million copies. Claiming partial responsibility for this latest activist antic, the Yes Men have long made a career of anti-consumerist exploits including parody websites of government agencies and presenting at international conferences while impersonating corporate spokespersons.

GUEST: Andy Bichlbaum, Yes Men