Events - Part 84

April Fool's Day

In San Francisco, April 1 is the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day parade.  The event celebrates everything stupid.  People wear stupid costumes and carry stupid signs.

Above, the Doggie Diner heads are brought in by truck for the parade.

The event was started in 1979 by Ed Holmes, who has organized it ever since.  He dresses up as Bishop Joey of the fictitious First Church of the Last Laugh.  Above, Bishop Joey addresses the crowd and tells them how stupid things are.  His name is a takeoff on entertainer Joey Bishop, who had a TV show in the 1960s.

Then Bishop Joey moons the crowd, and the parade begins.

The parade visits six Stations of Stupid, a parody of the Catholic Stations of the Cross.  The first Station of Stupid is the Federal Reserve building, where parade goers bless the Fed by throwing away their losing lottery tickets.

The third Station of Stupid is the Statue of the Bare Butt Mechanics, above (actually a 1901 bronze sculpture called the Mechanics Monument, but the figures do have bare butts).

Speaking of bare butts, this is San Francisco, so there are always a few naked parade-goers.

We end with this video clip of part of the St. Stupid's Day parade in 2016.

April Fool's Day

April Fool's Day

In San Francisco, April 1 is the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day parade, sponsored by the First Church of the Last Laugh.  The event celebrates everything stupid.  People wear stupid costumes and carry stupid signs.  Being San Francisco, there are always a few naked guys.

Above, one of the naked participants in the 2009 parade, wearing a birthday cake hat, waits in Embarcadero Plaza where people gather for the parade to start.

Another 2009 participant is wearing body paint but nothing else.

This one has a pig nose.

This one is putting on a performance, swinging weights around.

The parade stops at six Stations of Stupid, a parody of the Catholic Stations of the Cross.  The first Station of Stupid is the Federal Reserve building, where parade goers bless the Fed by throwing away their losing lottery tickets (above).

Then parade-goers head for the next station (above).  The naked guy wearing a bowler hat is a regular, appearing in each annual St. Stupid's Day parade.

The second Station of Stupid, above, is the Tomb of Saint Stupid.  It's actually a utility door at an office building at 101 California Street.  Above, we see Bishop Joey (real name Ed Holmes) who founded the First Church of the Last Laugh.  He's at center, wearing his bishop's hat and banging on a drum.  Someone knocks on the door of the Tomb (the utility door below the bishop) to see if St. Stupid is there.  Of course nobody ever answers.  The bishop then says "I guess we missed him; he must be out to lunch."

The third Station of Stupid is the Mechanics Monument, above, which the bishop calls the Statue of the Bare Butt Mechanics (which it is).

Above, a bare butt parade participant seems to be wiping the ass of one of the bare butt mechanics.

At this station, the bishop asks the parade-goers to take a "leap of faith", i.e. everybody jumps up in the air a few inches.

The fourth Station of Stupid is the Sunken Plaza of Slack, a.k.a. One Bush Plaza, where parade-goers get to sit down and rest.

The fifth Station of Stupid is the former Pacific Stock Exchange building.  Parade-goers bring socks and throw them up in the air (above) – that's their sock exchange.

The last Station of Stupid is this modern sculpture in front of the former Bank of America building, which the bishop calls the Banker's Black Heart.  Parade-goers toss pennies at the Banker's Black Heart.

Then the parade is over until next year.

April Fool's Day 2024

April Fool's Day

In San Francisco, April 1 is the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day Parade, conducted by the First Church of the Last Laugh.  The event celebrates everything stupid.  People wear stupid costumes and carry stupid signs.  The parade follows a path connecting six "stations of stupid."  The first station is at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where Bishop Joey, above (a reference to 1960s comedian Joey Bishop) blesses the Fed with a bunch of losing lottery tickets.

Being San Francisco, there are always a few naked guys around.  Today's naked photos are from the St. Stupid's Day celebration in 2017.

Above: a lawyer with his briefs.

Three naked guys on the sidewalk before the parade.

A better look at the guy on the left in the previous photo.

And here's the guy who was on the right.

A rear view of him, next to nudity activist Rusty Mills carrying a sign "I bought the Emperor's new clothes."

Is he a Trump supporter?  No, I think the location of the name is telling us what he thinks of Trump.

Then there's the parade.  Above is a parade float featuring three Doggie Diner heads.  Each head was originally outside a Doggie Diner, a chain of fast food restaurants in San Francisco that went out of business in 1986.  The heads were featured in the comic strip Zippy and have passed into San Francisco popular culture, including their annual appearance in the St. Stupid's Day parade.

We end with a video clip of the parade, including some of the naked guys whom we have just seen.

April Fool's Day 2023

 April Fool's Day

In San Francisco, April 1 is the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day Parade, conducted by the First Church of the Last Laugh.  The event celebrates everything stupid.  People wear stupid costumes and carry stupid signs.  The parade follows a path connecting six "stations of stupid."  The first station is at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where the bishop who leads the parade blesses the Fed with a bunch of losing lottery tickets.

Being San Francisco, there are always a few naked guys in the crowd.  Above, the crowd leaving the Federal Reserve Bank in 2014.

Another naked parade participant, this one with a birthday cake hat in 2010.

The third station in the parade is the Statue of the Bare Butt Mechanics.  Its real name is the Mechanics Monument, and it was sculpted by Douglas Tilden in 1899.

Above, the parade crowd at the Statue of the Bare Butt Mechanics in 2010.  The statue is graced by the bare butt (and front) of the guy with the birthday cake hat.  The crowd is chanting "No more chanting!"  I told you it was a celebration of everything stupid.

After a stop at the old Pacific Stock Exchange to do a Sock Exchange (the parade participants throw socks up in the air), the last station is the black sculpture in front of the Bank of America building, above.  The parade organizers call it the Banker's Black Heart, and parade participants throw pennies at it.

Here's a video clip of the parade in 2017.  There are several naked participants, but unfortunately their fronts are blurred.

This is the parade float at the end of the previous video, featuring three Doggie Diner heads.  Each head was originally outside a Doggie Diner, a chain of fast food restaurants in San Francisco that went out of business in 1986.  The heads were featured in the comic strip Zippy and have passed into San Francisco popular culture, including their annual appearance in the St. Stupid's Day parade.

April Fool's Day

 April Fool's Day

In San Francisco, April 1 is the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day parade, sponsored by the First Church of the Last Laugh.  The event celebrates everything stupid.  People wear stupid costumes and carry stupid signs.  Being San Francisco, there are always a few naked guys. 

I don't think this guy is a Trump supporter.  I think where the name was written says what he thinks of Trump (as well as the fact that it's a day to celebrate stupidity).

Some other naked celebrants join him.  These photos are from the 2019 event.  The parade was cancelled for the last two years.

Another naked celebrant.

And another.

The parade winds around the Mechanics Monument, sculpted by Douglas Tilden in 1899.  The St. Stupid's Day program calls it the "Statue of the Bare Butt Mechanics," and that's an accurate description.

Happy April Fool's Day!

April Fool's Day

 April Fool's Day

When researching the 1974 college streaking craze, I came across this article in the University of Michigan student newspaper.  University president caught streaking!  (Click on the picture for a larger version.)  Note that this was in the April 1 issue of that year.

April 1 is also the date of the annual St. Stupid's Day parade in San Francisco, sponsored by the First Church of the Last Laugh, and celebrating everything stupid.  This is not a nude event.  People join the parade wearing all kinds of strange costumes and holding deliberately stupid signs.  But like many San Francisco events, there are always one or two guys who show up sans clothing, like the two above in 2011.

Here's a front view of the same two guys.

According to the event website, the parade route goes past the "Statue of the Bare-Butt Mechanics."  Officially, the statue is called the Mechanics Monument, sculpted in 1899 by Douglas Tilden.  But I think "Statue of the Bare-Butt Mechanics" is a good description.

Happy April Fool's Day!