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The Yes Men, an activist and documentary filmmaking duo known for elaborate pranks that bring attention to political or corporate issues, will appear at the Lensic Performing Arts Center as part of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center’s 30th anniversary celebration.

The Yes Men have previously consulted with the law center, seeking information about environmental issues like climate change, and on the oil and coal industries.

According to The Yes Men co-founder Mike Bonanno, he and partner Andy Bichlbaum will show the Lensic audience clips of their work, including previously unreleased videos. One is of a June 2016 action in which they pretended to be National Rifle Association officials starting a safety campaign for at-risk neighborhoods with the motto of “buy a gun, give a gun.”

They’ll also discuss the current status of “fake news” and the 2016 presidential election’s outcome, and answer audience questions.

The Yes Men in 2009. Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum created ‘special editions’ of the New York Post telling the city about the threat of climate change. (Photo By Nate Igor Smith )

Bonanno and Bichlbaum (whose real names are Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos) started off nearly 15 years ago by calling out large corporations and policies during the George W. Bush administration, often by creating fake newspapers or websites, or pretending to be officials from organizations like Exxon and Chevron or the federal government.

The rise of fake news over the past year has created a very different landscape for their activism these days. But Bonnano says it’s important to separate what The Yes Men do from the falsehoods now “plaguing” the internet.

“Although we sometimes create a momentary hoax, like we tell a lie, we almost instantly reveal it as untrue,” he said. “The goal, of course, is to get at truth.”

When it comes to addressing issues related to or supported by the Trump administration, Bonanno said the pair doesn’t have any current plans to aim their famous tactics in that direction.

Both said that if they eventually think of an effective way that their jokes will create change, they’ll try it. But for now, they say, elaborate hoaxes likely wouldn’t faze Trump and his “henchmen,” as Bichlbaum calls them.

“We have a government that’s not susceptible to any amount of negative attention,” said Bonanno. “They’re not going to change as a result of public opinion. That’s what we rely on in democracy, but in a way we have a hijacking of democracy here in which old techniques don’t apply.”

Their latest action in July instead targeted progressives, as Bichlbaum posed as a Democratic National Committee official to bring attention to the Democratic Party’s corporate lobbying and to private campaign financing interfering with citizen interests.

The entire mission of The Yes Men, they say, is to highlight issues that are not receiving proper attention at a moment its needed most. Bichlbaum said that now means exposing problems in the Democratic Party rather than the more heavily covered flaws of Republican leaders.

“We can only have an effect on our side in this case,” he said of this change of target. “I don’t think we have any hope of changing Trump voters, or at least we haven’t found a way to.”

When it comes to issues they’ve been fighting for over nearly two decades, like climate change or other social movements, Bonanno said he sees the general public still moving forward in a promising direction on their own.

“Ultimately, we have to hope it’s going to invigorate people to fight,” said Bonanno of The Yes Men’s unique style of activism.