The Yes Men Bring DOC NYC to a Hilarious and Inspiring Close

Written by Krystal Grow

Welcome to the world of The Yes Men- a place of hi stakes hijinx and heartfelt calls to action. A pair of pranksters who stage outlandish performances in an effort to raise awarness around big issues, The Yes Men tackle their biggest challenge yet in Laura Nix’s documentary The Yes Men Are Revolting, which closed the fifth annual DOC NYC festival on Thursday night.

From humble beginnings as practical jokers and performance artists, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno become serious activists in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds that not only test their capacity to make their actions truly impactful, but the deep friendship that is at the core of their work.

“I watched that moment happen when they first met and the obsessive hanging out started to happen,” Nix said in the Q&A following the screening. “I really wanted to show that, and show how hard it is to sustain that, and also how hard it is to keep going when you’re faced with these huge, seemingly insurmountable problems.”

Nix’s latest film is her third in what has become a decades-long documentation of The Yes Men and their hilariously subversive, performative protests, which are largely based on the premise that if you do anything with confidence and authority, you will likely get away with it. Impersonating mid-level representatives from major corporations and claiming to speak on behalf of major policy makers, The Yes Men fabricate elaborate stories that end up bringing widespread media attention to issues that would otherwise remain completely hidden from the public.

“This is something we started when we were young, rebelling against popular culture,” Bonanno said, “and there’s a way you start to do that impulsively-though we do it compulsively too.”

In their latest crusade, the duo take on the impending doom presented by climate change. Staging actions that balloon to a level that rivals major theater productions, they enlist actors and activists from around the world to sabotage the COP15 global climate change summit in 2009. Their ambitious plans yielded mixed results, but the Yes Men were revitalized by the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, and brought their particular brand of protest to the proceedings. In the non-descript business suits that have become their public calling cards, the Yes Men stage a ‘brokers march,’ shouting “Wall Street is our street!” until they attract a police convoy that was unknowingly ensnared in their renegade parade.

While their satirical pranks are delivered with a healthy dose of absurdity, their intentions are rooted in a serious desire to inspire change and spark intelligent rebellion. “People always think that the current moment is harder to create change than other times in the past when it has happened,” Bichlbaum said, “but that isn’t true. Massive change can happen, and it can happen quickly.”

For more information on The Yes Men and to get involved in their actions, visit actionswitchboard.net

For more on The Yes Men Are Revolting, visit the film page on the DOC NYC website

Krystal Grow is an arts writer and photo editor based in New York. She has written for TIME LightBox, TIME.com, LIFE.com, the New York Times Lens Blog, the Magnum Foundation, Vocativ.com, and the Stranger Than Fiction blog and is the 2014 DOC NYC Blog Coordinator. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @kgreyscale.