Mass Fainting on Donahue Hoax

One of Phil Donahue's first live national shows out of New York City featured the topic of gay senior citizens. Seeking to poke fun at the sensationalism creeping into the talk show genre, media hoaxer Alan Abel planted several of his pranksters in the audience. As per his instructions, they stood up, one by one, to ask Phil a question. And as soon as the microphone came near, they collapsed onto the floor. Fearing a possible gas leak, Donahue decided to evacuate the entire studio audience. Alan later revealed to the press that the name of the campaign was called, "Fight Against Idiotic Neurotic Television", or F.A.I.N.T.
For more information on Alan Abel and his hoaxing career, visit www.alanabel.com

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Abel
• hoax
• Donahue
• faint

[darrentom]

*THUD* "We've lost another one", priceless :)

[obsidiansands1]

Alan Abel rocks!

[adlereagle123]

We lost another one! Man down!

[BigScaryFace]

0:05 "I know i felt that way many.....Oh SHIT ! THAT'S NOT WHAT I FELT!!

[TheJcanno8]

@Azooka1234 sounds like you need a sense of humor.

[TheJcanno8]

That was just hilarious,

[MrsSmokesTheBong]

lol... now I really want to go on Jeremy Kyle with a load of friends and do this... knowing me though, I would end up pissing myself laughing.

[royalsteven]

Yeah, somebody should pee all over the presentator's suit and say he's incontinent ^_^

[royalsteven]

Bs lol combination of lights. Is it like 40 degrees in there? Just underfed actors.

[elpobre415]

The work of Alan Abel. Hired actors put a dent on a live show. Alan is the best at fooling media and its viewers...

[MultiKNOWLEDGE]

WE ALL GONE DIE SUM DAY

[roderickgreene]

The irony of this is that one of the reasons Phil ceased doing his original show was because talkshows were turning to silly, yellow journalism. In the grand scheme of things, his show wasn't that sensational, but rather was informative, topical, and open.