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For San Diego man, it pays to be a fraud

By David Moye

March 6, 2006

San Diego--You can’t fool all of the people all of the time, but Russell Stolnack is trying his damnedest.

Stolnack is a comedian-turned-corporate speaker who makes big bucks by impersonating top executives at big corporate events.

He’s known as the “Executive Imposter” and his shtick is pretending to be an expert with legitimate information. He gets the audience to believe he’s a serious speaker, then gradually slips up until the whole audience gets in on the joke.

“The best gig is when I’m performing for two companies or divisions that are either merging or meeting for the first and no one knows if I’m with group A or group B. I’ll be introduced as, say, a marketing executive—basically, the guy who could take your job.”

So far, he has been everything from a fake fundraising expert to a make-believe marketing executive and a phony CEO. Stolnack says the hardest part about the job is being offstage.

“Sometimes, I attend corporate gatherings the night before a performance and I have to mingle with the audience while tip-toeing around the questions of who I am or why I’m there.”

When he was just starting out in the world of corporate lying, Stolnack says he spent hours preparing the first parts of his speeches—before the comedy—and admits he’d pull his hair out “trying to get it perfect.” But now that he’s more comfortable with professional deception, he tries to just wing it. “As I grasp for straws, the audience realizes I’m making it up.”

But corporate deception isn’t the only kind of fakery Stolnack practices. Because of his radio connections, he often appears on talk radio shows as a fake guest who says outrageous things to stir up phone calls. For instance, last April Fool’s Day he helped one radio station by pretending to be a casting director for Desperate Housewives, then later the disgruntled father of a blind little leaguer who was upset that officials won’t allow his child to pitch in a game.

This year, he is hoping to set two world records for “Most April Fools Pranks Committed By One Man” and “Largest Number of People Fooled By One Prankster” by doing as many radio shows as possible. To set the records, he’s willing to pretend he’s everyone from a ping-pong player addicted to steroids to the ex-drummer of U2.

Being a professional liar and imposter sounds like a dirty job but Stolnack says he is guided by a code of honor.

“Those guys at Enron lied. You can buy made-up degrees on the internet. I’m the only one who’s admitting I’m a liar.”

For information on Stolnack, check out www.executiveimposter.com

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