So there’s an article on Improv Everywhere in the June issue of Maxim.  It’s a great piece, and I’m really impressed that they published such an in-depth look at IE.  There is one section of it, however, that I did not like.

The editor needed something extra for the article to publish as a sidebar.  He asked if I could write a list of prank tips.  I said sure and sent in a few short tips.  The tips were published alongside the article under my name and with my photograph.  The trouble is, they added a jokey sentence to the end of every tip without bothering to tell me.

Now I know that if you’re a writer for a magazine, your work is going to be edited and changed quite a bit.  That’s how it works.  But I’m not a magazine writer (I certainly didn’t get paid for these tips.)  I’m the subject of the article.  These tips are essentially quotes they got from me.  It feels pretty unfair to just make up quotes for someone you are doing a story about.

What’s most annoying is that the content they added is completely out-of-character for me.  I would never say the things they have me say.  Here’s a side-by-side comparison of what I wrote and what they published:

I wrote:

If you’re planning something in a public place, go there at least once at the same time and day of the week you intend to pull the mission.  It’s best not to learn the day of the mission that there’s a Farmer’s Market set up in the middle of the park you targeted.  You’ll want to get a sense of how crowded it gets, how much security is on hand, etc.

They published:

Walk the prank zone at the same time and day of the week you intend to pull the mission.  It’s best not to learn the day of the mission that there’s a farmer’s market set up in the middle of the park you targeted.  (Unless your prank involves charging stupid people $15 for an organic tomato.)

Ok, so this first one is a pretty harmless change.  It still irritates me that they took out some of my practical advice to make a hacky joke about organic food.

I wrote:

Get into character the moment you start walking to the location and don’t break out of it until you’re safely out of sight after the mission.  The best missions are completely unexplainable and if people can spot you high fiving your friends a half-block away, it ruins the magic.  Also, don’t applaud when the stunt is over, and definitely don’t hand out fliers promoting your band or comedy show.  Just leave like nothing unusual happened at all.

They published:

The best missions are completely unexplainable.  If people can spot you high fiving a half-block away, it ruins the magic.  And, really, you should never high-five in public under any circumstances.

What?  Never high-five in public?  How ridiculous is it that me, the guy that came up with High Five Escalator and orchestrated 2,000 public high fives is quoted saying this?

I wrote:

All Improv Everywhere missions have one thing in common; they seek to make the world a funnier place, if only for a few minutes.  Keep your stuff positive and focus on ways to make others laugh and smile.  Your mission should seek to improve your location with a bit of comedy and unexplainable mirth.  It’s too easy to pull a prank that embarrasses, angers, or humiliates.

They published:

All Improv Everywhere missions have one thing in common: They seek to make the world a funnier place, if only for a few minutes.  Keep it positive.  The only tears that your pranks should cause are the ones streaming down your parents’ faces when you tell them this is what you do for a living.

OK, this is the one that really pissed me off.  I have the most supportive parents one could ask for.  They’ve been proud of what I do from the get-go.  I know it’s supposed to be a joke, but it’s not a joke I would ever make in a national publication.  It doesn’t seem right that a magazine can just make something up like this and attach it to my name.

Alright, rant over.  All in all, it’s a great article and it has some really cool illustrations along side it.  The editor was nice enough to apologize to me for not giving me a chance to review his changes before it went to print.  I’m just riled up about this because it’s not the first time I’ve had my quotes made up for me, and after seeing the CW 11 report a YouTube video as fact with no research, I’m at the end of my rope with journalists!