april fools

Chris Knight's avatar

The other week my very good friend Eric Smith (yes, the same one who also made a campaign commercial during that VERY wacky school board race years ago) approached me with a project.  Could I help him pull off an April Fools stunt this year?  I said absolutely, that it would be an honor and a pleasure to work with him.

Along with being an expert welder, Eric is also a professional Santa Claus (the reason his beard is so big and bushy).  And he’s a certified beer expert (no really, you can get certifications for that) who regularly posts videos on YouTube as “Beer Santa”.  So he came up with the idea for Duke’s Mayonnaise Beer.

Here’s the video he published two days ago.  Looks and sounds pretty convincing aye? 🙂

Maybe next year I’ll come up with another prank.  It’s been too long since I’ve pulled off ...

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Yes the rumors are true!  They were absent for a few years but 2013 saw the return of the April Fools pranks to The Knight Shift.  The story about CBS producing a pilot for a modern-era reboot of The Andy Griffith Show was my own humble entry in this year’s festivities.  It seems to have been moderately successful ‘cuz a few friends were taken in by it (one of whom had some rather colorful remarks about it) and a few hours after I posted it some news site in France had picked it up!  It’s in some weird font though: apparently something like Iranian or Pakistani, so I don’t know if they thought it was real or they were saying “look at what this American idiot is doing!”

As always, I gotta note what the “clincher” was.  Every time I do a prank like this, I try to give some ...

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Keep in mind that what you’re about to read is as of right now a pilot episode and maybe not even that much.  I thought it noteworthy that the CBS execs are describing this not as a pilot but as a “proof of concept”.  Meaning the idea is being explored but it may not go any further and I doubt it will.  But hey, stranger things have happened in Hollyweird…

Mayberry, The Andy Griffith Show, remake, reboot, April Fools :-)
MAYBERRY pilot episode title card.  Copyright CBS Television

Entertainment and celebrity gossip website TMZ.com is reporting this morning that CBS Television head honchos have sanctioned and produced a pilot for Mayberry: a modern-age remake of the network’s classic Sixties comedy The Andy Griffith Show.  Seems that when star Andy Griffith passed away last summer his last will and testament stipulated that CBS would enjoy uncontested rights to do with the show – along with spinoff Mayberry RFD – ...

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All good things must come to an end. Which as more than one person has noted, means that my jokes are cursed to live forever! 😛

You know what I like most about April Fools Day? It’s that my birthday is March 31st. So for me it’s like a two-day long extravaganza of hilarity and thanks to this blog, I get to share that good-natured nuttiness with a wide audience!

Okay well anyhoo, obviously this year’s April Fools Day on The Knight Shift was nothing like last year’s infamous “Johnny Robertson arrested at the Vatican” stunt that saw this blog slammed with visits from such places as the U.S. State Department and Vatican City itself. This time, I wanted to do something a bit quieter, but no less funny. And as things turned out I wound up running three prank stories on this blog.

Let’s count ’em off…

1. “Governor ...

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I remember a few years ago when Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith came out, and one of many interviewers asked George Lucas “Will you make any more Star Wars movies?” And the Flanneled One said “no”. He remarked that he wanted to make “smaller, more personal, more intimate films” for a bit, as opposed to big-budget blockbusters. You know: “art-house movies”.

Well, we’ve known for quite awhile that after he was done with Star Wars movies that Lucas wanted to proceed on Red Tails, his long, long, LONG-awaited film about black aviators during World War II. But what would Lucas possibly want to do after Red Tails is in the can?

As of yesterday evening, now we know. GeekTyrant was the first to break the news that George Lucas will – of all the things that he could afford to spend his time and effort ...

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We already knew that ROCK BAND 3 is scheduled to retail later this year… but I am already drooling about this one even more: Rock Band: “Weird Al” Yankovic has just been announced by Harmonix and MTV Games! It’ll publish on October 27th, just over seven months from now.

Here’s the press release that IGN Games posted a short while ago…

ROCK BAND: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC WILL BRING PRINCE OF PARODY TO POPULAR PARTY GAME

Harmonix and MTV Games is proud to announce ROCK BAND: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC is in production for a release date of October 27th, 2010.

The latest in the popular Rock Band series of music and rhythm video games, ROCK BAND: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC is a homage to the unique character and career of “Weird Al” Yankovic: the best-selling comedy musical artist in history.

Much like last year’s critically acclaimed and commercially successful ROCK BAND: THE

...
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What. The. #&@$ ?!?!?

Just saw on the website for the Raleigh News & Observer that Governor Bev Perdue is talking with members of the General Assembly about levying a tax on all NASCAR-related sales within the state of North Carolina.

I say again: What. The. #&@$ ?!?!?

According to the article, if enacted into law the tickets for NASCAR stock car races will have a 10% tax imposed upon them. And it’s not just that, friends and neighbors: the NASCAR merchandise is going to be hit extra-hard too! Want a scale-model replica of “King” Richard Petty’s famous Number 43 car, or a calendar highlighting Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s career? Well in addition to the regular sales tax it’s gonna have 5% extra added to the final price as well.

I can guess why Governor Perdue might be trying to do this. North Carolina is already the most-taxed state in ...

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Never in my wildest fevered delirium could I have imagined what the reaction would have been.

Let’s put it this way: since early this morning, I have been in a nearly constant gigglefit about this whole thing.

Here’s a sample of the correspondence that’s come in…

“Brilliant, pure genius with Johnny and his minions.”

“I’m speechless, absolutely without a single bit of speech.”

“Chris, Chris, Chris… this one goes down in the history books: Best. April. Fools. Post. Ever.”

“what a stunt, dude… You know that I bought it for THIRTY WHOLE SECONDS? (even with my knowledge that this was gonna happen – I bought it!) It looks so real! Well done! :-)”

“This is horrible but actually expected. I do hope the boy will be OK. It’s a shame he has to pay for Johnny’s evilness.”

“Bahahah … April Fool’s, eh?”

“Chris, You have written a masterful work

...
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UPDATE 04/02/2009: Please click here for major new developments in this story!

The damned lunatic has finally gone too far. And not all the pathetic PowerPoint charts on his laptop can possibly save him now.

Local cult leader Johnny Robertson of the “Martinsville Church of Christ” – the very same individual who has harassed many churches in the area and has sought to inflict his own warped brand of “Christianity” with rude force and heartless lies – has been arrested in Vatican City following what is being called a “coordinated and persistent attempt” to threaten Pope Benedict XVI within the very Papal Apartments of the Apostolic Palace!

Behold the front page of today’s New York Post, screaming the over-the-top sins of Henry County, Virginia’s most rabid mad dog for all the world to see…

Robertson’s 16-year old son Micah Robertson is also in critical condition at a Rome hospital ...

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Just to be clear on some things…

1. There is no such thing as the U.S. Department of Public Health.

2. Reidsville does not have a deputy mayor.

3. Irving “Bud” Wombler is a fictitious character that I made up this morning.

4. Rockingham Regional Medical Center only exists in my mind, and will likely never be built in the Midway area.

5. Fritz Hippler was a real-life filmmaker who ran the Film Department of the Propaganda Ministry under Joseph Goebbels during the reign of Nazi Germany. I “borrowed” his name since this story needed someone likewise doing propaganda. And I’ll admit that I liked the sound of the name. But other than that there was no other reason why I chose to use it, in case anyone’s wondering.

6. The murals are not in any danger.

7. This whole thing was not meant to be a reflection at all ...

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