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That Time A Genius Convinced A '90s News Show His Homeless Carsitting Service Was Real
By
Lauren Evans
Published Sep 10, 2015
Modified Sep 10, 2015
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Sep 10, 2015
Modified Sep 10, 2015
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The birth of the internet may have heralded the golden age of trolling, but that doesn't mean trolling didn't exist in fine form beforehand. You desire proof? Here is your proof.
What we have here is a 1992 segment produced by WNYW Fox 5, about a business that farms out homeless people to sleep in New Yorkers' cars so they won't get broken into overnight.
The video begins with a sweeping shot of the Manhattan skyline, punctuated by the shrill blasts of a blaring car alarm. The viewer is given a second to process this bedlam before the reporter's voice breaks in: "Sometimes, when technology just doesn't do the job, the old fashioned way might." In this case, the old fashioned way entails paying a homeless person a few bucks to man the front seat of your car—a warm, flesh-and-blood theft deterrence system packaged in his or her own plastic sheath to protect customers' Connolly leather seats from the indignity of touching unmaintained Poor Skin. Fox News, of course, ate it right up.
Hoax mastermind Bob Pagani, who poses as Car Sitting Manager Robert Porter in the segment, tells the reporter that the service costs "15 bucks a night, because we want to keep it competitive with the garages."
Pagani, who also worked closely with Professional Media Hoaxer Alan Abel, writes that WNYW went on to announce his home phone number as the contact for the "business."
I had NO idea they were going to do that. The phone started ringing immediately from people supporting and reviling me. When the hoax was exposed, a spokesman from WNYW told the New York Post that I was "loathsome and sleazy."
"Some people might call this car sitting service a 'gimmick,' reporter Christopher Jones says by way of conclusion. "But when you think about it, it could be the quintessential New York story." Quintessential indeed.
Tagged
bob pagani
hoaxes
the nineties
Lauren Evans
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