Noah talks to put-on artist Mal Sharpe. With the late Jim Coyle, Sharpe staged deadpan encounters with strangers on the streets of San Francisco in the early 1960s. The two taped the bits for a radio station. They presented the people they met with odd challenges -- absurd premises that made the victim grasp for reality. A collection of some of that material has now be re-issued on a compact disc. Sharpe says he and his partner dressed and acted like upright citizens, but spoke sanely about insane things. He says people were more suspectible to such charades back then, but are more suspicious these days.
Copyright 1996 NPR
