When John was finished with the interview, we left the convention center to get some lunch.

But we had hardly made it out the door when John asked if we wanted to skip lunch to go sell some organs.

Rainfall earlier in the week had interrupted his plans to sell some "human organs" for transplant on the streets of Austin. He had done all the groundwork already, buying cow liver, kidneys and heart at La Fiesta market and preparing an ice-filled cooler and doctor's coat, but the weather had thwarted his plans so far.

Mo and I thought he had given up on the idea. He had even abandoned the transplant organs in his hotel room, but he was still hanging onto the idea that we might get it done.

Lunch could wait. Let's prank.

Our first stop was Extended Stay America. Katie, The gal at the front counter, had rescued John's oversized fishing net, but the housecleaners had already dumped the styro cooler and organs into the dumpster.

No problem. This wouldn't be my first time fishing fresh organs out of a trash dumpster!

No, wait, yes it would be. First time.

After 20 minutes of mining hotel waste, we found the meat!

We packed the cooler with some fresh ice and set up the cooler. It looked great!

Time was short so we scrambled out onto the streets of downtown Austin. Mo donned a white doctor's coat and wore a "Fresh Organs" sign around his neck, cooler at his feet.

Right away people were interested. No one wanted to get on those organ transplant lists, and here was a doctor advising them on the subject.

It was a hit! A ridiculous premise, but Mo pulled it off with great skill, never breaking character.
Even as a cameraman I had a tough time keeping from laughing at the absurdity of it.

Please continue reading page 5 of my visit to SXSW 2010.

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