Martin Eisenstadt
The Martin Eisenstadt hoax is an elaborate scheme of filmmakers Dan Mirvish and Eitan Gorlin that involved the creation of a fictional "talking head", Martin Eisenstadt, who was quoted by numerous major news outlets (such as the Los Angeles Times and MSNBC), as well as countless blogs, all of which failed to verify his actual existence. "Eisenstadt" claimed to be the source of commentary about Sarah Palin in the wake of John McCain's 2008 Presidential Campaign. Mirvish and Gorlin have since written a satirical novel called I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (Wildly Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans for Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 978-0-86547-914-2. The book was written under Eisenstadt's pseudonym and purports to be a first-person memoir of Eisenstadt's experience with the McCain/Palin campaign, including buying Palin's wardrobe. In the book, the Eisenstadt character denies rumors that he does not exist.
Background
In 2007, Mirvish and Gorlin created short videos for YouTube, with Gorlin playing a parking valet, Sheldon, who spewed effusive (and offensive) praise of then-presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani. The original short film Sheldon played at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival in Aspen in 2007. After Giuliani's campaign ceased, the character was modified to be a Sr. Fellow at the "Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy", a fictional entity named in jest for one of the least-respected US presidents, Warren G. Harding. The pair created a website for the Harding Institute, created the character of the commentator, dubbed Martin Eisenstadt, played again by Gorlin.
