If you’ve bothered to look at the calendar, you’d know that it’s time for our grand annual tradition of revealing our April Fools Day gag. It’s easily the most glorious day of the year, followed closely by April Fools Day itself.
If you stopped by ToughPigs.com on April 1st this year, you may have seen a series of #FakeNews articles. We decided that our theme this year would be “No News Tonight“, commenting on the lack of Muppet news in the past year or so. With no new Muppet movies or TV shows, not a lot of merchandise, and a general lack of Muppets in our lives, we just wanted some news to talk about. Is that so wrong???
We ended up filling the front page of the site with real-ish articles about non-stories and fake articles about other things that honestly just made us sad.
If you missed it, don’t worry – We archived them all! You’re welcome!
Features:
- ToughPigs’ Renewed Dedication to Muppet News
- Disney Doesn’t Announce New Muppet Movie
- Drawing a Blank: Remember the Muppets?
- Facing the Curtain: A ToughPigs Special Report
- VCR Alert: Classic Muppet Movies on TV
- David Rudman Spotted at Home Waiting for Phone to Ring
- The Most Exciting Project: A Documentary About Stuff from 40 Years Ago
- Remember When the Muppets Did Stuff? That was Great
- BREAKING: No New Muppet Album
- WOW! A MUPPET COLORING BOOK!!!
News:
- BREAKING: Muppet Fan Sites Desperate for Content
- Gonzo Puppet Deteriorating, Not to Be Rebuilt
- Breaking: No New Muppet TV Show
- Muppet Penguins Declared an Endangered Species
- Disney World’s Muppet Courtyard Demoted to Muppet Alleyway
- Electric Mayhem to Play Live Show in Henson Workshop
- Fozzie’s Hat Currently Gathering Dust
- Toy Fair Report: Muppet Key Covers are Here!
- The Muppets Were on TV, But I Slept Through It
- Muppet Show Seasons 4 & 5 Still Not on DVD
Wow, that is far too many articles for one April Fools Day joke.
This April Fools Day gag was brought to you by the talented writing staff here at ToughPigs. Many, many thanks to Matthew Soberman, Julia Gaskill, Anthony Strand, Evan G., and Matt Wilkie for all their hilarious contributions!
And you may have noticed our brand new (sadly temporary) logo, courtesy of our resident artist Chris “Smig” Smigliano. Fun Fact: The Newsman/Behemoth image was his second take, after delivering us the one you can see below. We thought it was a bit too morbid for our already-depressing event, but it’s still an amazing and bizarre thing to lay your eyes on. We just couldn’t deprive you all of seeing what the Newsman would look like without skin.
We weren’t the only Muppet-related April Fools Day gags this year. Our frenemies at the Muppet Mindset turned their site into “The Muffin Mindset”. They reviewed “The Muffin Movie“, shared behind-the-scenes pictures of Jim Henson performing muffins, and pages from the upcoming Muffin coloring book. Believe me, it’s funnier than it sounds.
And elsewhere on the internet, ToughPigs friend Cameron Garrity pranked his friends with a tease of Funko’s next Sesame Street Pop vinyl figure: Big Bird as the Bluebird of Happiness from Follow That Bird! Personally, I’m glad it isn’t real, or else I’d shed tears every time I pass my toy shelf.
If you enjoyed this year’s April Fools Day gag, you should check out the other pranks we’ve pulled in past years! Click here to read about them all!
Many, many thanks to everyone who read through our crazy April Fools Day gag, and here’s hoping we can figure out how to top it next year!
Click here to hope we never use the hashtag #FakeNews again on the ToughPigs forum!
by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
