John McCain Prank Featured On The Daily Show (Video)
March 30th, 2007
I can now die peacefully knowing that my imbecilic sense of humor is not lost on Jon Stewart nor the studio audience of The Daily Show. I’m sorry, but this is just fucking cool:
Full details of the John McCain MySpace enhancement are available at Newsvine. The whole story and additional video should make its way around CNN and other stations on Friday.
Thanks for posting this Mike - the icing on the cake, indeed
Unas garrafas de cerveza te esta esperando en Sevilla :-)
Definitely the icing on the cake…
I love all the publicity this is getting. It’s absolutely hilarious. The one criticism of the Daily Show clip is they label you a ‘hacker’ implying that you did something illegal and hacked into his MySpace account.
Drop the one offensive word above. Misuse of it on the national stage is uncool even if the effort itself was fun and in good humor. Remember people are tuning in — perhaps kids. To your friend, sure it’s descriptive. To others it will be offensive and erode your point.
So do you prefer to be called “Seattle Man” or “Hacker”?
Seattle Man seems woefully understated. Hacker, inappropriate because you didn’t hack anything.
Glad to see it posted! I got in at 11:15 last night, missing the clip when it was aired. I’m still spitting coffee on my keyboard.
Well you now have achieved one of my life goals: do something that is aired on either the Daily Show or Colbert Report. Congrats!
Amazing! That is pretty funny they called you a hacker.
I certainly raised an eyebrow when they said “hacker”. Still, on the internet it’s always cool to be labelled as one.
Don: Good luck with your mission of single-handedly eradicating the word “fuck” from the web — let me know how that goes.
Awesome Mike, definitely something to tell the grandkids about. But if McCain wins because he carries the lesbian vote, we’re going to have to talk …
Kudos Mike,
Getting a mention on The Daily Show, wow.
Here’s hoping much of the increased traffic you must be seeing at Newsvine sticks!
Go, Seattle Hacker Man! This whole story is just classic.
Awesome. As others have pointed out, calling you a “hacker” doesn’t tell the whole story — and also implies you have some level of technical skill, which is clearly untrue. :)
But still, you can see it on Jon’s face — you cracked him up. Congrats, man.
Not my point. I don’t suggest that the word should be banned from the internet. I don’t tell Mike not to use it. I suggest he might not want to. When you stand in the national spotlight it might not be the word you want out front for people meeting you for the first time. I am aware the word’s use is rampant, that you can find images and video of the concept in action literally and figuratively, etc. My point is just that Mike might choose more carefully under the circumstance … On the other hand, maybe it helps connect search rankings to the hot lesbian female issue? I was trying to help a possible BFF with a suggestion.
> I don’t tell Mike not to use it.
You don’t? How does “drop the one offensive word above,” not constitute a command? You definitely told him not to use it. You told him to remove it from this post.
THis is Mike’s site, and I’m pretty sure that makes it Mike’s responsibility to determine what language is appropriate and what isn’t.
Seeing that on The Daily Show has truly made my day today!
Thanks all.
Re: the “F” word — Readers of this blog know that I generally keep my posts here pretty clean. The use of the word in this situation illustrates just how fucking psyched I am about this particular piece of coverage. I wouldn’t be using it on Newsvine… just this blog.
Re: “Hackers” — Yes, on the one hand, it’s wildly inaccurate. But on the other hand, “hacking” is merely “quickly changing the function of something so that it does something it did not previously do.” Modifying the exhaust pipe of your car so that it’s really loud when you drive by is an example of the sort of “hack” I’m talking about. For the record though, yes, I would have preferred “CEO of Newsvine.com” to “hacker”. :)
Next step: one on one interview on Colbert. Or one on one b-ball tourney with Colbert where he sprains his ankle and brings out a ringer like Kobe or something. Either that or Katie Couric (sp?) refers to you as a “Seattle hacker CEO man” and awkwardly mentions lesbians. Can’t imagine it getting much better than that.
Awesome, Mike! Congrats on having your “work” featured on the Daily Show. That simply *is* fucking cool :-)
Shame about the term hacker being used, but it could’ve been worse. At least you managed to crack up Jon Stewart =)
Fucking hilarious.
Nice work. I love the look on his face when he’s talking about this. He’s clearly amused.
This prank was hilarious. One thing though, you should have notified his campaign staff that they hotlinked your images. I’m sure they were unaware of it.
Just seeing Jon Stewart laugh about the “passionate females” part made it that much funnier. Kudos.
@ mike steinbaugh
Sorry, if you come into my house and steal my ipod, which I’d been reconstructing as a remote-detonation device for burningman, and it explodes in your hand… (Whoopsie!)
Since when does it become MY responsibility to prevent YOU from damage inflicted upon yourself by stuff you stole from me?
That’s messed up. The most important fact is NOT that he changed something that appeared on McCain’s site… it’s that he changed stuff on his OWN servers, at his OWN discretion and that McCain’s theivery became evident. Let the chips fall where they may.
Ultimately, they got what was coming to them. Well done, CEO Mike!
Pretty impressive Mike - very well executed.
Just heard about actually - late to the party.
Oh and McCain is a hack himself. Not the swift kick in that ass this country needs in 2008 that’s for sure.
I want a “I liked Mike Davidson before it was cool” shirt.
Nice work man! Great to see John Stewart laugh like that.
Prank of the year without a shadow of doubt. *tips his hat*
Pity the Daily Show refers to you as a hacker, instead of referring to McCains campaign team as incompetent thieves never mind them getting bitten in the rear with their hand in the cookie jar. They looked like idiots twice. How sad is that!?
Just fantastic. I mean, fucking fantastic!
Hey, Mikey, They Like You!
*grinning* (…and yes, I just seeded that one too.) Free world-wide publicity for Newsvine… love it.
Dude, congratulations - awesome prank, great timing, hi-friggin’-larious, and well worth the media luv. (The Daily Show!) “Passionate females” was a very nice touch. Well played!
Congratulations on the achieving Daily Show status. Mission accomplished!
Good call not waiting for April Fools Day for this, it wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much coverage. :)
Don wrote:
I’m not sure which word(s) you are referring to. Do you mean “John McCain” or “MySpace”?
It’s hard to tell, because “McCain” and “MySpace” are both fucking offensive words. But Mike has the right to publish these words, no matter how fucked up they are.
Mike, as someone who’s enjoyed your presentations at Web seminars and a regular reader of your blog here, I was not surprised one bit to find out it was YOU who masterminded this practical prank. I do believe this is the perfect example of what the definition of the term “Practical Joke” should be.
This was SO Mike Industries in fact, that when I heard this news on NPR the other day, you were the first person that popped into my head - before I even heard your name mentioned!
To paraphrase the Great Bard:
“Some are born to hilarity — others have it thrust upon them!”
Keep up the great work!
Nice! Congrats on making tDS!
(Hacker?!)
David: Wow, I don’t know what that says about me! Glad you liked it though. :)
Mike,
Heh - Well perhaps evil geniuses think alike.
This is the kind of coup that most pranksters only DREAM about! SWEET!
Soak in the glow bro’!
Ciao
This is amazing. They knew better. I hope it really brings to light how people steal templates and such without giving credit where it’s due. Go Mike Go!
Dude, long time reader, first time poster. I always thought you were pretty damn funny, why I kept reading. Man… congrats, this truly an awesome recognition, pr, or whatever you wanna call it.
Go dude.
Gotta love The Daily Show! McCain and the rest give Jon Stewart enough fodder every day for more jokes.
You were mentioned on BBC Radio 4’s “PM” programme last night (I presume you know as there was a soundbite from a yank, so I assume it’s you).
And they too wrote that you “hacked into” his mySpace site.
Congratulations to the Daily Show status. Good work. Greetz from Germany
Oh, this was great! 　Nice work man!
To bad the movie is unavailible at the moment. Does anyone have an alternative url?
I am able to see the videos.
Mike,
Congrats on having your work featured on the Daily Show. This prank was hilarious. Keep them cummin!
Great prank, nice work! LOL!!!!!
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