Senator Larry Campbell at his home on Galiano Island in 2012, 4 years after the epic April Fools’ Day prank he played on Vancouverites with help from the CBC. Photo Bob Kronbauer.
Yesterday I penned a long rant about a short tweet that Mayor Gregor Robertson sent out on April Fools' Day. In that tirade I mentioned former-mayor now-senator, Larry Campbell, and his legendary prank that aired on CBC's Early Edition.
In it, senator Campbell called in to Rick Cluff's program on April 1st, 2008, to say that he was abandoning his seat in the senate to run for mayor... again.
The way I remembered it, Larry had cooked it all up on his own and managed to fool the CBC and other media, with help of Al De Genova corroborating by saying he was dropping his mayoral bid to support Larry's. But I had it wrong; Rick Cluff and company were in on the joke!
Listen to all of the segments in the clip HERE (or below, if the embed shows up on your computer), from the moment Larry calls in to an interview with the mayor at the time, Sam Sullivan, and others. And finally, the reveal. It is pure joy, this clip. Again, one of the best political pranks in the history of B.C..
