Control Room with Mekki Leeper

Comedian Mekki Leeper sets out to test how easy it is to manufacture credibility in the wellness world, using only one thousand dollars and seven days. He invents an absurd alternative medicine company, creates branding and fake testimonials, and pushes the story into public view to see who will take it seriously. The film mixes staged stunts with on-the-fly encounters, letting cameras capture reactions from potential customers, journalists, and influencers. It keeps the experiment front and center, showing logistics, missteps, and the ethical questions that pop up when a prank starts to gain momentum, without revealing any surprise ending.

Released in 2019, the film was directed by Austyn Jeffs and Mike Bernstein and features Mekki Leeper as the central performer, presented in a documentary-prank format rather than adapting any prior work.

The movie didn’t register as a mainstream box office presence, it played in select screenings and found attention primarily through festivals and online conversations instead of wide theatrical grosses.

Its satire riffs on the booming wellness industry and the mechanics of social proof, so it resonated with viewers who follow internet culture and media hoaxes. The project prompted talk about how branding, simple storytelling, and a few staged moments can make dubious products seem legitimate, and those conversations carried into social feeds where clips and reactions spread.

Stylistically the film mixes observational footage with setup sequences, and thematically it questions trust, gullibility, and the responsibilities of creators who manipulate belief for comedy. Viewers may appreciate the humor in the setups while wrestling with the ethics of deception, since the film raises clear points about how misinformation gains traction without resorting to heavy-handed commentary. Overall it reads as an experiment in social influence, satire, and the messy consequences that follow when a joke starts to matter to other people.