‘Found Footage’ Duo Pranks Local News Again, This Time as Fake Strongmen Chop and Steele

Alex Logan

Chop and Steele may seem like your friendly neighborhood gym rats with some unconventional tips for strengthening your core, but looks can be deceiving. The duo are actually Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, founders and hosts of the Found Footage Festival, a touring road show of weird clips from home videos and public access television. They also have a storied history of pranking local TV with sublimely stupid stunts.

There’s Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser, a self-proclaimed yo-yo master, actually a character created by Joe Pickett and played with perfect patheticness by Mark Proksch. Or there’s Chef Keith, a Nick Prueher character with a penchant for disgusting leftover concoctions.

The pranksters have a simple method for convincing local news stations to book them — they send out press releases about an inspirational “Give Thanks 4 Strengths” Tour, mentioning an America’s Got Talent appearance that never actually happened, and then they wait for the bookings to roll in. This time WEAU News 13 in Eau Claire, Wis., Good Day Dakota in Bismarck, N.D., and 69 WFMZ-TV in Allentown, Pa., fell for the gag before the duo called off the tour due to being “stressed out.”

The local newscasters may have thought something was a bit off about Chop and Steele, but they were great sports and kept the snickering to a minimum.

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Tell us what you think! What has been your favorite prank by the Found Footage guys? And do you think your local news team would fall for the caper? Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.