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Henne Family: FAIL-errific (photo: myspace.com)
The ongoing (and hilariously FAIL-tastic) story of the Henne family-- they who decided to pull the ol' "runaway weather balloon with a 6 year old inside of it" trick on the entirety of America-- has reached its next milestone: being officially revealed as a hoax by the local authorities. Oh, Henne family, you are so screwed. For more on this laughably idiotic situation, read on, my gentle Examiner readers...
The "Balloon Boy" crisis has now turned into "Balloon Boy"-gate, with the family getting quite the whooping from late night talkshow hosts, comedians, commentators, plumbers, beekeepers, librarians-- virtually everyone is dogpiling on this family for their hilariously failed attempt to score some publicity (in order to get their own TV show, of course) through an awkwardly executed hoax.
If you've been following this story, you know the details and can skip on down to the video, where the family's local sheriff is now straight-up calling them out for being FAILed hoaxers (not a word). If not, here's what's up: earlier in the week, teh internets and every news show on TV blew up over the story that a 6 year old boy had been trapped in-- and floated away with-- a weather balloon. For a few hours, it looked like this kid was going to suffer a gruesome fate, and the hearts of the populace went out to the Henne family. But then, the whole story started to fall apart: the science involved-- how a weather balloon with X amount of helium could conceivably carry a 6 year old who weighs X pounds-- seemed a little more than wonky; the kid said something about the whole stunt being "for the show" while getting interviewed on CNN; it turned out the family was shopping around a reality series called "Adventure Family". And thus, a walking punchline was born. A whole family serving as walking punchline? We haven't seen that since the Baldwins.
Anyway, here's the sheriff, calling out the Hennes:
If there was ever an appropriate time for Nelson from "The Simpsons" to jump up outta nowhere and shriek: "HA-ha!", this is it. This family is so screwed, as the sheriff is probably well into his next phase of the Henne's massive FAIL: bringing up charges on the crew. According to this video, that includes both felonies and misdemeanors. Has there ever been a more satisying FAIL? For anyone that's still feeling sympathy for this family, we have to ask: what sort of effect does involving your children in a nationally-televised hoax have? We're not licensed shrinks, but we'd imagine it's probably an adverse effect. Wonder if anyone'll still pick up their TV show? As funny as it sounds, I wouldn't completely rule it out.
Whatta you think about these hilariously misguided people, folks? Starved for attention? Deserve what's comin' to 'em? Should we leave 'em be now that they've been revealed as fools? Sound off in the comments section below, folks: we wanna hear what you have to say!
In the meantime, check out these other recent articles from the Comedy Examiner's Office:
"Weekend Box Office: How'd comedies do?"-- find out in our weekly recap of box office results. What movie'd you see this weekend?
"Must DVR Comedy: The Monty Python documentary airs on IFC tonight! (with video):-- in which the Comedy Examiner reminds you what you need to set your DVR to record this evening! With bonus videos! Click now!
"Comedy Examiner Review: Last night's "SNL" with Gerard Butler!"-- how's SNL doing these days? Find out here, folks; it ain't all bad news.
"Bill Murray ain't afraid to headbutt you (and other stories)"-- in which we read a really funny, informative article about Bill Murray and pass some of it along to you.
Comments
Sick people. They almost make Jon & Kate normal.
How is this comedy??? I'm completely confused how this news story is related to comedy at all.
What makes it comedy is this obnoxious attention whore family will be getting their attention through court supervision. It also tickles my heart the ovnoxious attention whore family will have to pay restitution for all the man hours spent trying to rescue the boy instead of the taxpayers getting stuck with the bill.
Confused:
I've received several requests to continue coverage on this subject under the "commentary" banner in my usual snarky style. The Comedy Examiner happens to find all this very amusing in a schadenfraude-kinda way (that's misspelled, by the way). We've got a tradition here of covering pop-culture events in a sarcastic tone, but if you're not digging them-- again, this is meant to be sarcastic commentary, not news-- I'm certain that one of the other Examiners would have a less flippant approach. That said, thanks for reading, even though you don't seem to have enjoyed it!
Cheers,
Scott Wampler
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