VIDEO: Man pranks Times Square crowds by posing as a fake celebrity
Brett Cohen is not a movie star or pop singer, but the video prankster sure got treated like one by gullible crowds when he swanned through the streets of midtown Manhattan with his own entourage of eager paparazzi and a camera crew.
Brett Cohen, third from left in striped shirt, posed as a celebrity in Times Square last month by hiring bodyguards, a camera crew and fake paparazzi to follow him around.
An Average Joe says he duped scores of tourists and gawkers in Times Square last month when he posed as a celebrity and had fake paparazzi and a camera crew follow him around.
SUNY New Paltz student Brett Cohen posted a video of the July 27 stunt on YouTube titled "Fake Celebrity Pranks New York City."
Cohen, 21, said he and a pal, Edward Sturm, 23, cooked up the plan about three months ago.
“The idea was, 'I bet if we walked through with bodyguards and photographers, people would go nuts,’" Cohen told the Daily News. "And that’s exactly what happened.”
WATCH VIDEO BELOW
The video opens with Cohen wandering around Times Square during the day in a T-shirt and gym shorts, looking like a regular Joe.
"My whole life, I've always wondered what it would be like to be famous," Cohen muses in a voiceover.
He found out later after strolling out of Rockefeller Center with slicked-up tresses, faux-glam shades and a fresh tan, along with two bodyguards and several planted shutterbugs snapping away.
Cohen, center, in Times Square on July 27. Members of his crew created 'buzz' by telling the crowd that a big star was about to walk out of Rockefeller Center.
Cohen said the crew -- which he recruited though Craigslist -- created a buzz that a "big star" was inside, but didn’t say who he was or what he did.
As the entourage cruised Times Square, dozens of dopey bystanders gathered and asked to take photos with the baby-faced prankster.
Cohen insisted that no one in his gang said he was famous.
"The only thing I told people to say was my name," he said. "We really wanted people to come up with their own answer."
"I had to pretend it was normal, but it was insane," he said. "(The crowd) kept getting bigger and bigger...It was hard to keep a straight face the whole time."
Meanwhile, Sturm filmed interviews with star-struck "fans," who believed the Long Island native was either an action star or a pop singer.
Cohen with a group of ‘fans.’ In the video, one star-struck teen girl squealed, 'I love him!'
“Where do you know him from?” Sturm asks two young gawkers.
“Uh, was he Spiderman?” one of them says.
“Yea,” Sturm replies.
“He’s a very good actor,” the young man says.
Cohen with a member of New York's finest. 'It was insane. (The crowd) kept getting bigger and bigger,' he said.
In another interview, a man who thinks Cohen is a singer says, "I heard his first single, which is good. I don't know the name of it, but I heard it on the radio."
Later, another hoodwinked rube gushes, "I think he's excellent, I think he's absolutely awesome, I think he's got a great future in the movie business."
"I just took a picture with him, I feel special," he says.
The clip ends with Cohen, still in his celebrity getup but sans entourage, walking unnoticed to subway stop.
Cohen said he recruited the bodyguards and photographers from Craigslist and wore knockoff shades and shirt from an Express clearance rack. ‘Maybe I tried to channel Tom Cruise, in a way, I wanted that red carpet look. But I wasn’t doing a lookalike thing,’ he said.
Cohen, who lives in Bellmore, estimated he took 300 pictures during the three-hour stunt.
The media management major, who hosted an Internet radio show in high school and dabbled in standup comedy, said he’d love to fill Regis Philbin’s shoes someday, but wasn’t thrilled with his brief brush with stardom.
“I got a taste of fame, and it was good, but it’s not something I would want as part of my everyday life,” he said.
Brett Cohen is not a movie star or pop singer, but the video prankster sure got treated like one by gullible crowds when he swanned through the streets of midtown Manhattan with his own entourage of eager paparazzi and a camera crew.
Brett Cohen, third from left in striped shirt, posed as a celebrity in Times Square last month by hiring bodyguards, a camera crew and fake paparazzi to follow him around.
An Average Joe says he duped scores of tourists and gawkers in Times Square last month when he posed as a celebrity and had fake paparazzi and a camera crew follow him around.
SUNY New Paltz student Brett Cohen posted a video of the July 27 stunt on YouTube titled "Fake Celebrity Pranks New York City."
Cohen, 21, said he and a pal, Edward Sturm, 23, cooked up the plan about three months ago.
“The idea was, 'I bet if we walked through with bodyguards and photographers, people would go nuts,’" Cohen told the Daily News. "And that’s exactly what happened.”
WATCH VIDEO BELOW
The video opens with Cohen wandering around Times Square during the day in a T-shirt and gym shorts, looking like a regular Joe.
"My whole life, I've always wondered what it would be like to be famous," Cohen muses in a voiceover.
He found out later after strolling out of Rockefeller Center with slicked-up tresses, faux-glam shades and a fresh tan, along with two bodyguards and several planted shutterbugs snapping away.
Cohen, center, in Times Square on July 27. Members of his crew created 'buzz' by telling the crowd that a big star was about to walk out of Rockefeller Center.
Cohen said the crew -- which he recruited though Craigslist -- created a buzz that a "big star" was inside, but didn’t say who he was or what he did.
As the entourage cruised Times Square, dozens of dopey bystanders gathered and asked to take photos with the baby-faced prankster.
Cohen insisted that no one in his gang said he was famous.
"The only thing I told people to say was my name," he said. "We really wanted people to come up with their own answer."
"I had to pretend it was normal, but it was insane," he said. "(The crowd) kept getting bigger and bigger...It was hard to keep a straight face the whole time."
Meanwhile, Sturm filmed interviews with star-struck "fans," who believed the Long Island native was either an action star or a pop singer.
Cohen with a group of ‘fans.’ In the video, one star-struck teen girl squealed, 'I love him!'
“Where do you know him from?” Sturm asks two young gawkers.
“Uh, was he Spiderman?” one of them says.
“Yea,” Sturm replies.
“He’s a very good actor,” the young man says.
Cohen with a member of New York's finest. 'It was insane. (The crowd) kept getting bigger and bigger,' he said.
In another interview, a man who thinks Cohen is a singer says, "I heard his first single, which is good. I don't know the name of it, but I heard it on the radio."
Later, another hoodwinked rube gushes, "I think he's excellent, I think he's absolutely awesome, I think he's got a great future in the movie business."
"I just took a picture with him, I feel special," he says.
The clip ends with Cohen, still in his celebrity getup but sans entourage, walking unnoticed to subway stop.
Cohen said he recruited the bodyguards and photographers from Craigslist and wore knockoff shades and shirt from an Express clearance rack. ‘Maybe I tried to channel Tom Cruise, in a way, I wanted that red carpet look. But I wasn’t doing a lookalike thing,’ he said.
Cohen, who lives in Bellmore, estimated he took 300 pictures during the three-hour stunt.
The media management major, who hosted an Internet radio show in high school and dabbled in standup comedy, said he’d love to fill Regis Philbin’s shoes someday, but wasn’t thrilled with his brief brush with stardom.
“I got a taste of fame, and it was good, but it’s not something I would want as part of my everyday life,” he said.
man you bout to start some shit, for real 
