Kenny Strasser is a Pensacola Regional Grand Champion and a pro for Zim Zam Yo-Yo Corp, a non profit toy company dedicated to a greener earth. Kenny was once nearly awarded the highly coveted Walt Greenberg Award.
Also, Kenny Strasser does not exist.
Neither does the Pensacola Regional Contest, Zim Zam Yo-Yo Corp, or even the highly coveted Walt Greenberg Award.
It appears that Kenny Strasser’s Keepin It Green Tour was all an insidious prank aimed at local news stations across the Midwest. When asked how he got in to yo-yoing, during an appearance on WSAW’s Sunrise Seven Tuesday morning, Kenny replied: “Honestly I am just a 35 year old kid at heart… twice divorced.. I have no kids. I, uh, don’t have a girlfriend- don’t want one. Um, you know [yo-yoing] takes a lot of practice. My parents live in Denver- they just got divorced.”
Kenny then continued on about lack of performance venues and other personal issues before interrupting the interview to take a call on his cell phone. Although I’d hate to be one of the news anchors who fell victim to this prank, I have to say Kenny’s performances were fantastic… and oddly, hit close to home in some rather uncomfortable ways.
And he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those darn reporters. In particular, he would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for the investigative reporting of WSAW’s own Mikel Lauber who posted this in depth follow up to Kenny’s floundering on air performance. Mikel was able to connect the dots between the “Zim Zam Yo-Yo Corp” and Joe Pickett, who co-runs the Found Footage Festival, a comedy website with a keen eye for bizarre old videos. Coincidentally, as Mikel points out in his piece, the video posted on Found Footage’s website yesterday was of the late great “First Lady Of Yo” Linda Sengpiel.
One more note, I actually am a professional yo-yoer and I’d love to have K-Strass on my PopCast Yo-Yo Vlog sometime. If anyone can make that happen, please hit me up!
–@docpop
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