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Fake Chef, Real Recipes — And The Food's Disgusting

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Now, let's cook up something tasty to eat.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)

BLOCK: That was Chef Keith Guerke in one of five appearances he made on local TV morning shows around Thanksgiving time last year. This one was in Milwaukee. He was demonstrating what to do with holiday leftovers.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

A couple of problems here. First, his mashed potato ice cream cones are disgusting. Second, there is no Chef Keith Guerke. There is only Nick Prueher. And Nick Prueher is no chef. He only plays one on TV. In other words, this was a complete fraud.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)

BLOCK: You see, Nick Prueher's expertise is not in cuisine, but in pranks. Prueher is the co-host of the "Found Footage Festival." That's a touring comedy show. He passed himself off as a chef marketing a book. And as he told us today, he managed to get himself booked on several stations.

: We thought, you know, around the holidays it would be a slam dunk to get booked if this fake chef, Chef Keith, had a book he'd written. So we came up with the title "Leftovers Right: Making A Winner Of Last Night's Dinner" and we just had a graphic designer friend whip something up for us.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)

CORNISH: Now, that Chef Keith is admitting the prank, we asked the general manager at Milwaukee station WITI for reaction. He had no comment.

BLOCK: And we asked Prueher if he had any misgivings about misrepresenting himself.

: You know, luckily I have no scruples. It doesn't weigh on my conscience at all.

BLOCK: Prueher has called his shtick a victimless crime. But at least one TV station took action. WSAW TV in central Wisconsin filed a copyright claim with YouTube. The video of their host being punked by Prueher was taken down today. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Melissa Block is a 28-year veteran of NPR and has been hosting All Things Considered since 2003, after nearly a decade as an NPR correspondent. Frequently reporting from communities in the center of the news, Block was in Chengdu, China, preparing for a weeklong broadcast when a massive earthquake struck the region in May 2008. Immediately following the quake, Block, along with co-host Robert Siegel and their production team, traveled throughout Sichuan province to report extensively on the destruction and relief efforts. Their riveting coverage aired across all of NPR's programs and was carried on major news organizations around the world. In addition, the reporting was recognized with the industry's top honors including a Peabody Award, a duPont-Columbia Award, a National Headliner Award and the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award.
Melissa Block
As special correspondent and guest host of NPR's news programs, Melissa Block brings her signature combination of warmth and incisive reporting. Her work over the decades has earned her journalism's highest honors, and has made her one of NPR's most familiar and beloved voices.
Audie Cornish
Over two decades of journalism, Audie Cornish has become a recognized and trusted voice on the airwaves as co-host of NPR's flagship news program, All Things Considered.