From Legendary Internet Humorist Sir John Hargrave comes Prank The Monkey Each month, over 1.5 million people tune into Sir John Hargrave's comedy Web site, zug.com, which shronicles his cleverly crafted pranks on such high-profile targets as Michael Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, and the entire U.S. Senate.
Born on April Fool's Day, Sir John secretly began his site on a company computer in 1995, making it the world's oldest comedy site. Co-workers loved reading about his hilarious, real-life stories such as subsisting on a diet of Olestra-laden potato chips for a solid week, or trying to kiss Microsoft CEO Bill Gates at a technology Industry party.
That kind of establishment-tweaking stunt became Sir John's speacialty. But it was a 2001 piece called "The Credit Card Prank" that turned the Internet humorist into an Internet Celebrity. "I was tired of being asked to sign my name every time I used my credit card," he explains,"So I started signing every wacky name I could think of. to see if anyone would notice."
No one did. But the photos of his credit card receipts--forged with names from "Mariah Carey" to "Zeus"--did get noticed by bloggers, who passed around the article nearly 20 million times.
In his new book, Prank The Monkey, Sir John goes after targets like Wal-Mart, Starbucks, e-mail spammers, Madonna, and even the British Royal Family, skewering each target with a cleverly orchestrated prank. He challenges the IRS by filling out his tax returns in Roman numerals; he tricks Elizabeth Hurley into signing a will the bequeaths all her assets to Hargrave estate.
Despite its bad-boy stylings, Prank The Monkey is a wickedly funny book, proving that one man armed with nothing but a cell phone and a computer can take on the world's most powerful institutions. And in the process, he might just become an Internet institution himself.
