TVSquad

I'd like to say I knew it all along, but I was initially duped by Pauly Shore's staged video that showed him getting punched by a heckler in Odessa, Texas. Shore now has a video on his MySpace page (via Best Week Ever) that shows him coaching the crowd and his fake attacker before his act, telling everyone to film it and then put it on the internet.

Shore later said he wanted the video to make fun of the whole "viral video" fad and to serve as a lesson to those who take things at face value. Most people still saw it as a cheap stunt on the part of someone who's been out of the spotlight for many years, but I still think Shore has a good point. Besides, it's not like he's the first one to do this.

For example, in an effort to gain more publicity in the late '60s, Bigfoot staged this video of himself walking through a wooded area in California:

I spoke with Bigfoot recently by phone:

Adam: I'm surprised no one else has mentioned your video in the wake of Pauly Shore's.

Bigfoot: Me, too.

Adam: Is that you in the video?

Bigfoot: Not exactly. It's me, dressed as me.

Adam: I don't understand.

Bigfoot: I'm wearing a bigfoot costume.

Adam: Why?

Bigfoot: To prove how easy it is to fake something like this.

Adam: By making a video of yourself, looking exactly the way you look.

Bigfoot: Right, yes.

Adam: Huh.

Bigfoot: As soon as the film went public, people said it was just some guy in a costume. No, jerkwads, it was ME in a costume. Now you don't know what to believe, anymore.

Adam: Well, you sure fooled us all. Nice job.

Bigfoot: Thank you.