- It seemed like the whole world was talking about my video.
For a moment I felt bad because it wasn't real,
but then I realized that that didn't matter.
This is Nathan for You.
From the outside, this building may look boring.
But there's actually something pretty cool inside.
Byrnes Logistics, a shipping logistics company
based in El Segundo, California,
where customs broker Christy Pratt works tirelessly
to help her clients export their products all
around the world.
But sending goods across international borders
can be expensive because of import taxes known as tariffs.
But when I learned she was working with an exporter
of smoke detectors it gave me an idea that could
save her client millions.
Unlike smoke detectors, musical instruments ship
duty free to most countries.
So if Christy were able to convince customs that the noise
from her smoke alarms was actually intended to make music,
the savings for her clients would be astronomical.
The plan, ship smoke detectors tax free by rebranding
them as musical instruments.
So after auditioning a drummer named Chris
would could really pound the skins, and Yani,
a physically attractive singer
who had the right kind of ambition.
- I mean on a wider perspective like I want the whole
world to hear what I have to say.
- My band was starting to take shape.
- This is freedom to me.
- I uploaded our song to iTunes as a digital single
and I was excited to get this thing heard.
So I set up a meeting with the head of programming
at KDay 93.5 in the hopes he would put it on the air.
(bright music)
♪ Proof there's really to be had within the ♪
♪ Dance a sunlight in the-- ♪
- I don't think that would make Top 40 radio.
I couldn't play it, I wouldn't play it.
Is there anything I could do like if this could
get one play on air and see what the response is?
- Take the beeping sound out of it.
- Okay, yeah.
And in that moment, I realized what I should
have known from the start.
That the music industry would never accept a song
with a smoke detector in it.
I had failed everyone.
Not only Christy at Byrnes Logistics,
but also Yani whose beautiful song would never be heard.
But in listening to it more, I was reminded of the message
behind Orphaned Skies.
- Through distancing ourselves from nature,
we distanced ourselves from each other.
- It was about saving the environment.
And that's when it occurred to me that if I couldn't
get the song on the radio,
perhaps I could get it on the news.
Not far from Los Angeles, the Shell Oil Company recently
got into trouble after one of their pipelines sprung a leak.
- For the second time in less than a year,
a spill response unit has responded to this Shell
facility outside of Tracy.
- So if I could make it seem like Yani's environmental
anthem was callously stolen by Shell to use in a PR
campaign at the spill site,
there's a chance the controversy could ignite
a media firestorm that would get Orphaned Skies
and the blue smoke detector heard by millions.
With the band on board for a protest performance,
we began preparations for the showdown with Shell
that would hopefully bring the blue smoke detector
into the spotlight.
To maximize our chances of getting media attention,
I had a custom stage hitched to the back of a tanker truck
filled with gasoline so the band could give away free gas
throughout their performance,
taking business from the corporation that took from them.
But the most vital part of this operation
was the smoke detector.
So before heading out I had a quick word with Eddie.
Really show off that baby, okay?
- Okay.
- Yeah, I wanna see that smoke detector featured.
- Yeah, sure.
- Okay cool, thanks man.
- Let's do it.
- Great.
And with that our tanker truck was on the move.
Its destination was a busy Shell station in Hollywood,
in the middle of rush hour traffic,
and just a block away from the KTLA News headquarters.
So once the tanker was in place, members of the Banzai
Predicament took the stage and began to play.
(upbeat music)
- Woo!
- Within minutes, a line of cars began to form
around the block.
- Want a little bit of gas?
- And it wasn't long before the news showed up
to give us the coverage we needed.
- All right, the LA based rock band the Banzai Predicament
protested the petroleum giant Shell today by giving
away a tanker full of gasoline.
♪ It's time to revolutionize ♪
- [Woman] The Banzai Predicament band brought in a filled
gas tanker and began dishing out free gas to customers
at the Shell gas station at Sunset Boulevard
and Walton Place in protest they say of the company's
recent oil spills and the use of their music.
- They stole one of our songs and they used it
in a commercial and so we're out here
giving away free gas.
- [Woman] Free fuel goes a long way with customers
thankful to not have to pay.
- 'Bout to get my free gas and I will protest too.
- I bet you that will get a lot of downloads today,
no doubt about that.
- If you need to move to a different house,
you might call City of Angels,
an up and coming moving company that serves the LA area.
But lately, owner David Sassounian
has been finding it hard to stay profitable with the rising
cost of labor in his industry.
- For us, our most expensive cost is our employees for sure.
- But after spending some time watching David's movers,
I realize there might be a simple solution
to all of his problems.
You see, the average gym member in America spends
over $700 a year to perform physical labor that's very
similar to the work that David's employees do.
So if we can make a convincing argument that moving boxes
and furniture from house to house is a better workout
than going to the gym,
David could tap into an endless supply of labor
that would actually pay him for the opportunity
to move stuff.
The plan, turn the job of moving
into America's next fitness craze.
I didn't know much about this stuff but it seemed
like every popular workout was based around a
charismatic figure whose a living example of what
the workout can do.
I know I'm charismatic.
And since the workout was my idea anyways,
I thought it would be easiest if I just did it.
But after reviewing the promotional images I took,
I realized I just didn't have the body to be a
convincing fitness authority.
So I sent my producers to a local fitness convention and
they found a professional bodybuilder who seemed interested
in being a spokesperson.
So I have some exciting news.
- Okay.
- One of the most popular morning news shows in the state
wants you to talk about the movement
live on air tomorrow morning.
- Oh, okay.
Wow.
- [Nathan] How do you feel?
- I felt,
I felt a rush go right by me.
I mean that is phenomenal.
- Just so you know, too,
I gave them this book.
That I had ghost written about your life.
- Okay.
- Obviously the author didn't know anything about you
so he kind of made some stuff up.
- Okay.
- It seems like a big part of it is how you were
childhood friends with Steve Jobs.
So, do you know Steve Jobs?
- Steve Jobs, yes.
He's the Microsoft--
- Apple.
- Apple, right.
- Yeah, so anyways yeah you might want to read it over
to get a sense of what your life was like before tomorrow.
In the later chapters it actually says you spend a lot
of time volunteering with jungle children?
I don't know what that is but you might want to bring it up
because audiences love someone who gives back
and is charitable.
- Okay, I'll be able to,
I'll tell them what they want to hear.
- [Announcer] You're watching
San Diego Six News in the Morning.
- Welcome back, we are in spring but we're always looking
ahead to summer.
And if you're looking to lose a couple of pounds,
we have a free way to do it with things that are
already in your home and we have proof that it works.
- We're gonna introduce you so someone,
come in here and look at this before picture.
This Jack Garbarino before.
This was Jack about 100 pounds ago.
Now let's have you the grand reveal.
This is Jack now.
- Hello. - How great do you
look now Jack?
- I look great, I feel great.
I feel a renewed person.
I'm lean and mean and I'm a fighting machine.
- [Nathan] The news appearance couldn't have gone better.
And over the next couple weeks, Jack made appearances on
morning shows throughout the region.
- [Woman] Our next guest lost more than 100 pounds and never
stepped foot in a gym.
- Can you lose 100 pounds just by
moving boxes and furniture?
One guy says it's possible.
- Look at this man, he lost over 100 pounds and now he's
sharing his fitness tips with all of us.
- Jack.
- Good to be here.
- You're a story of inspiration.
- Yes, yeah, that was me.
I mean you could see that I was a fat tub of lard.
- You can say it, I can't.
- And you also came across Steve Jobs?
- Yes.
- How did you meet him?
- Well I grew up with him as a child.
- No kidding.
- He was my best friend as a child.
- Were you able to keep that friendship with Steve Jobs
so he could see what you were motivated
to potentially become?
- You know he never saw me really at this fit.
We kept in touch but.
That's it, simple as this.
I do work, charity work with jungle children.
- Jungle child is what?
- Jungle child are children that live in the jungle.
Awhile ago I was working with a jungle child.
His name was Dandy, he was a great inspiration for me.
And unfortunately tragically he died and when baboons
kidnapped and ate him.
It was actually one of the worst days of my life.
- Where is this?
- [Nathan] Jack turned out to be an extremely
compelling spokesman and he was really hitting
our message home.
- In my opinion, gym stands for giving your money away.
Never been to a gym in my life.
Never stepped a foot in the gym
in my entire life.
I got this body by simply just moving boxes and furniture.
If I could do it, anybody else can do it.
Sign up, and you can see what we're doing to help
people around the country.
- Good work.
You look amazing.
- Thank you very much.
- Terry Fox has been running this petting zoo in Oakland,
California for years.
Can I touch the fat pig?
- Yes you may.
Absolutely.
- But with several other petting zoos located
closer to the major city of Los Angeles,
Terry needs to give people a good reason to visit hers.
And that's where I come in.
My mission was to make Oak Glen Petting Zoo a destination.
What they needed was a star animal.
The plan, to create a hero pig by staging a viral video
in which he rescues a baby goat from drowning.
- Oh, okay.
- So I think if you had a video like that,
people would come from places as foreign as Japan,
and even more foreign like China,
just to see your hero pig.
- That would be great.
- The first step was picking our animals.
Vince would be our hero pig.
And Gangster the goat would be our victim.
The zoo had a large trout pond so this would be
the setting for our rescue.
But when I brought Vince near the water,
I realized hew as an incredible coward.
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
(pig squealing)
So we hired some animal handlers to bring in a professional
movie pig that looked identical to Vince.
The question now was how do we get a pig
to rescue a goat on camera?
Answer?
You can't.
So I decided to have two scuba divers secretly submerged
beneath the animals guiding the pig towards the goat
to make it look like a real rescue.
During the first couple of attempts,
the pig kept slipping out of the divers hands.
So we decided to build an underwater track
out of PVC to guide the pig like a bowling ball
going down a bumper lane.
This worked a lot better and I was hopeful it would
fool the internet audience into believing
this video was real.
But as the amount of people involved began to grow,
including animal trainers, stuntmen,
and humane society reps, I started to get worried.
After all, word couldn't get out that this was fake,
or it would be a disastrous scandal for Oak Glen.
So I asked everyone on set to sign
non-disclosure agreements stating that they swore
not to tell anyone the rescue was fake or else they would
face the death penalty.
Even though my lawyer said the death penalty clause was
not enforceable I still wanted to leave it in there
so people knew how serious I was.
And after several failed attempts,
we finally got the rescue on tape.
(gentle music)
We had our video and it was great.
When I woke up the next morning,
I was astounded to see the video had been
posted on Gawker, eBaum's World,
and a BodyBuilding message board.
It had over 3,000 views,
and that was way more than I ever expected.
Then I saw it was climbing the charts on Reddit.
Then I checked the view count an hour later.
Holy (beep).
- By the way, this may sound like a sea rescue
but a goat, a baby goat, gets stuck in water.
- This is some pig, you have to see it.
A goat at a petting zoo got stuck in a lake.
- [Girl] This really happened!
- [Woman] That was cool!
- Have no fear, there's a pig there.
I mean you couldn't do this at Warner Brothers.
As a cartoon and make it seem more realistic.
- We're duty bound to pass this on,
it's the leading web video today.
While we have no way of knowing if it's real,
this was apparently shot at a petting zoo.
That's a baby goat who got out into too deep water,
begins crying for help.
Enter this pig.
- (speaks in foreign language)
(sings in foreign language)
- [Nathan] It seemed like the whole world was talking
about my video.
For a moment I felt bad because it wasn't real,
but then I realized that that didn't matter.
- Inter-species, he went and helped,
learn from it humans.
- [Nathan] In these cynical times,
people are desperate for something to believe
in and I gave people a reminder that it's okay
just to believe.
- Some love.
- How did the pig free the goat?
- Oh, Elizabeth.
- Just kinda guided it.
- Everyday with Elizabeth it's like how did this happen?
- I always knew this video was something special.
In a world where one company has practically perfected
the coffee experience,
going against the grain has caused Elias'
shop to be empty.
So I paid him a visit with a way for him to finally
compete with the big players.
The problem with you is you have great coffee
but just no one knows what this place is.
- Correct.
- [Nathan] No one, you don't have a brand
that people recognize.
- Absolutely.
- But maybe there's a shortcut to actually having brand
recognition using a little something called parody law.
- Parody law.
- Often used by artists like Weird Al Yankovic and
shows like Saturday Night Live,
parody law allows you to use trademarks and copyrighted
material as long as you're making fun of them.
So if Elias could find a way to make fun of Starbucks,
he'd be free and clear to borrow their valuable corporate
name and image for his store.
The plan, turn the Helio Cafe into the world's
first parody Starbucks.
With our sign now on display,
my plan quickly began to work as people started coming
in thinking it was an actual Starbucks.
- Oh, Dumb Starbucks, okay, okay.
- Oh, you thought it was Starbucks?
- I did.
- But the few customers we did get seemed to have
trouble understanding what we were all about.
- Do you have your license to sell food and drinks?
- I mean, legally speaking,
this store has to be categorized as an art gallery,
so we don't have to abide by the same health regulations
as a Starbucks would.
- But who's held accountable if let's say,
your food is dirty or if there's--
- I mean we don't want any of our customers to get sick
but if they do, technically,
that's part of the artistic experience.
- Okay.
- Things were off to an okay start,
but as the day progressed,
I became frustrated we weren't getting the amount
of customers I expected.
With an underwhelming launch day,
I began to feel like I'd put in all this effort for nothing.
But the next morning, things changed.
Jeremiah called me to say there was a line of over
15 people at the store.
Then I saw photos of my shop posted on a
straight BodyBuilding message board.
But I couldn't have foreseen what happened next.
- A new coffee shop with a familiar name
creating quite a stir in Los Angeles.
The coffee shop, get this, it's called Dumb Starbucks.
- That looks exactly like a Starbucks, the logo,
the lettering, the green coloring.
How do they get away with this?
- Because they put the word dumb on top of Starbucks
so they're parodying Starbucks.
- A coffee chain notorious for suing imitators
may have finally met its match.
At the counter, customers can order a dumb venti
or buy a CD of dumb Norah Jones duets.
- [Man] Some people waited in line for up to an hour.
- It's an art gallery where coffee is considered art.
- What's the point of the art?
I mean what's the message?
- I don't know.
- (speaks in foreign language)
- [Nathan] I was stunned.
We had more customers than I ever dreamed of.
And within 24 hours, Dumb Starbucks had become
a worldwide sensation.
- Yeah, there's absolutely artistic value here.
- To me, this is a protest.
This is a protest against the big fish.
The leviathans of Starbucks.
- [Nathan] It was cool that people could draw their own
meaning from a business that was just there to make money.
- There's a rumor that it might be Banksy and we're all
really excited about that.
- [Nathan] I had inadvertently created something that
was on par with one of the world's greatest artists.
- Something tied to an art installation,
maybe this is Banksy.
- [Nathan] Before I knew it, cups from my shop
were selling on eBay for $500 apiece.
And swindlers were even trying to cash in on the hype
by hawking fake merchandise outside the store.
By the end of the weekend, I realized that dumb Starbucks
was a bigger idea than I ever thought it could be,
so I gathered the worldwide media to announce that
we were expanding.
(crowd cheers)
Hi.
I'm proud to announce that we'll soon be opening a second
Dumb Starbucks location in Brooklyn, New York,
within the next two weeks.
(crowd cheers)
My business was not only a bonafide success,
but for the first time in my life,
it felt like people actually wanted to be around me.
Whatever I had done resonated with the entire world
and the attention was like sunlight on my soul.
My entire marketing plan depended
on using their corporate logo to get attention
and the only way to legally do it is by using dumb.
Every major network in America wanted to know my story.
- Nathan Fielder.
- [Nathan] I was invincible.
And I have to admit, the view from the top was pretty nice.