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Wisconsin man earns Internet fame by replacing family photos with Steve Buscemi

Posted at 2:51 PM, Jul 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-28 19:30:37-04

FOND DU LAC, Wis. — Sometimes, all it takes to capture the Internet's attention is a good old-fashioned prank.

That's exactly what Kevin Manion learned when his idea to replace more and more photos of his father with actor Steve Buscemi started getting shared thousands of times on Twitter.

"It's ridiculous, but I'll enjoy my 15 seconds of fame," Manion said.

The prank's inspiration arrived when Kevin came home for the summer from the University of Missouri and needed something to do.

"I was bored; I figured why not, might be funny. Thought the family would get a kick out of it," he says.

While his friends followed daily updates on Kevin's Snapchat, it was his sister Clare who first had the idea to take the scheme to Twitter.

"Once you get to four pictures, I'm going to put this on Twitter," Kevin recalls Clare telling him. "Because I think this could go viral."
 
And go viral it did - as of this writing, one of Clare's tweets has been retweeted more than 30,000 times. Internet publications like Buzzfeed even got in on the action. The greatest surprise of all for Kevin, however, came when comedian and director Judd Apatow shared the photos on his Twitter account.
 
"I think he makes the funniest movies and for him to think something I did was that funny is really an honor."
 
But the big question remained - how long did it take Mom and Dad to discover their son's hijinks? 
 
"It took my dad two days," Kevin said. "My mom noticed on the fifth day. They both thought it was hilarious."
 
When asked if we could look forward to more of his pranks in the future, Manion's lips remained sealed.

"Like magicians say, 'never reveal your secrets'...I got some stuff brewing, but I don't want to spoil it for anybody."