misterpants.com

Harmon Leon articles
The first Harmon Leon article I ever read was in Might magazine, and it was funny. In it, he was trying to get fired from Jack in the Box. Since that time, Mr. Leon has written about television for HotWired, has performed stand-up, and has written many more articles--some of which ended up in his book, The Harmon Chronicles.

His usual tactic is to assume a character and infiltrate an organization (the Raelians, Hollywood studios, the Guardian Angels, the Philip Michael-Thomas Psychic Reader Network) and then write about his experiences.

Below are most of the Harmon Leon articles that I found online as of 1/2004. If you're reading this more than a few months in the future, some of these links may be broken. Sorry for any inconvenience, but I don't plan on keeping this page up-to-date. I did, however, put big red stars () next to the articles that made me laugh out loud.



  infiltrative journalism
* Blind Date, Leiderhosen, and Me, The Wave, 1/28/2004
  Michael Jackson's Media Circus of Horrors, The Metropolitan, 12/18/2003
  New Urbanism, Mon Amour!, The Metropolitan, 11/6/2003
*Major League Jack Ass, The Wave, 10/23/2003
*Arnold Mein Governor!, The Metropolitan, 10/2/2003
  Faith Healing: 21st Century-Style, The Wave, 7/2003
  The Bay Area Pilgrimage, The Wave, 6/2003
*The Armed Farces: An excerpt from The Harmon Chronicles, Friction Magazine, 5/19/2003
  Infomercial Infiltrator, The Wave, 3/2003
  A Waste of Timeshare, The Wave, 2/13/2003
*Letter from Canada: Rael Against the Machine, The Rake, 2/2003
*UFO EXPO Undercover, The Wave, 1/2/2003
  Russell Racing School, The Wave, 9/12/2002
*The Plight of the Actor, The Wave, 8/29/2002
*The Insecurity Guard , The Wave, 7/4/2002
  The Business Card Story, The Wave, 6/20/2002
*Raiderette RAH RAH RAH!, The Wave, 6/6/2002
*Get Fired in 3 Hours or Less, The Wave, 5/2002
*A guerrilla telemarketer in the San Francisco Chronicle subscriptions office, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 10/10/2001
* "It's Survivor With Apes and a Robot...", Stuff Magazine, 2/2001
  Christmas In Hell, The Metropolitan, 1/24/2000
  Love in the time of spam, Salon, 12/10/1999
  Nose Job Hut, Salon, 11/20/1999
  Model Behavior, The Metropolitan, 10/25/1999
  Roller Boogie of Doom!, The Metropolitan, 10/11/1999
  Xtreme Imposter, The Metropolitan, 8/2/1999
*I Was a Telephone Psychic, Word.com, 1996
  The Sweater Story, Axcess Magazine, 1996
*My Life as a Celebrity Scientologist, The Met, 1995
*I'm a Little Angel! & Now I Become a Scientologist, Modern Pirate
 
other writing
  How to find a Russian bride (named Boris), Sacramento News & Review, 12/11/2003
  The Day We All Got Tattoos, Friction Magazine, 3/9/2002
  I Spotted Curie, Friction Magazine, 9/21/2001
  "A Lobster Walks Into a Bar...", Stuff Magazine, 10/2000
  Holy Sh*t!: Holy gifts for the truly devout, The Metropolitan, 12/6/1999
  Rock of Ages, 2, 3, The Metropolitan, 6/21/1999
  Can You Get Rich at Home?, Maxim, 5/1999
 
interview
  The Great Infiltrator by Spike Gillespie, Pop Cult Magazine
 
other
  bear.mov