You’ve probably never heard of Richard Heene (pronounced HEE-nee). But I’m willing to bet that, after October 3, you will.
I have known Richard for over 20 years. He is an amazingly creative human (now turned mad scientist) who insists on repeatedly proving that there is a very fine line between genius and insanity.
It’s impossible to paint a true picture of Richard for you. I could tell you about the cocker spaniel he gave a purple mohawk in the 80s and pronounced a “Punker Spaniel.” I could tell you about the two books he’s published, The Herp-AIDS Detector/Deflector Kit and The Official Offensive Driving Handbook (designed and printed by yours truly).
I could tell you about how impressed my son Jimmy was when, at age 10, I took him to visit Richard in the abandoned house he was occupying. Jimmy was especially taken with the boarded-up windows and the Mickey Mouse cartoon graffiti on the interior walls. I could also tell you how Richard is convinced that he has found the secret of an anti-gravity device in the cyclonic action of tornadoes (watch this news report).
At the same time I could tell you about scores of amazing ideas, products and projects Richard’s fertile mind has created. Projects like Boxtime, the incredible children’s television show he conceived and produced, that was so good Elmer’s Products invited us to present it to their executive team at their headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. And I could send you a copy of the scientific paper he recently wrote which was just published in the Digest of the National Weather Association.
But I’m sure nothing that I could tell you will possibly match the explanatory value of the premier episode of this season’s Wife Swap television show. Somehow Richard and his saint-of-a-wife Mayumi were chosen to appear. Not surprisingly (to me at least), the resulting video was so amazing that the network executives selected their episode to be the very first one aired this fall season.
Even if you have never watched this show before, I implore you to put it on your calendar, set your TIVO, do something! But DO NOT miss this show, Friday October 3, 2008 at 8:00 p.m., 7:00 Central Time on ABC-TV. Check your local listings.
I have not seen so much as a preview of the show (and Richard won’t give me even a single morsel), but take it from Uncle Frankie: HEENE WILL NOT DISAPPOINT!
P.S. We’ll probably start seeing some juicy bits in ads for the show in the next few days.
Other posts on this blog about Richard Heene and Mayumi Heene…
Stuff Frank Finds Funny 
“The Official Offensive Driving Handbook”? I have that book, and I found it quite amusing. Kudos to both of you!
– Grace
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This is the guy whose kid is in the balloon, right?
Sorry, that sounded callous, my thoughts are with this family.
…And if you haven’t heard of Richard Heene by October 3rd, you certainly will after today.
THESE PARENTS NEED TO GO TO JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A CROCK OF BS, THEY DON’T KNOW WHERE THEIR SIX YEAR OLD CHILD IS??
PLEASE SEND THESE IDIOTS TO JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10/15/09 Richard Henne’s son missing after balloon launches from home in Colorado!!!
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/21306839/detail.html
Thanks Frank!
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It looks like this guy is going to be much more famous now after this balloon episode
I have a feeling your blog is about to get a bunch more hits.
I hope Falcon’s ok.
It’s the same Richard Heene, father of the kid who floated away on the homemade balloon??? i think he truly is a mad scientist…
Well, it’s now October 15th. A LOT of people suddenly know who Heene is, but not exactly in the way anyone would want to be famous. Very sad day.
Prayers are with them.
We’ve heard of him now!
You jackass.
Your friend and his family are fucking losers. Shocking and disgusting people that need to get a clue.
Your friend Richard is a jackass. An attention seeking, piece of shit.
Ironic. A year later, a few days (less than two weeks) this guys prophesy was right
I was in 2 of richards movies,
and if you go to my facebook/kevin indio copeland, i did a movie with his wife in a room a weird scary movie, check it out
If you are really a friend of Richard Heene and his family then please admit him to a mental hospital for observation. The stories you wrote about above are not funny or interesting, but INSANE! Do not let this man parent three young boys! People like Richard Heene and his ignorant wife are the reason why there are so many fucked up people in this world…. Either admit them or kill them!
P.S. Is Falcon even a real name? What happens when hes 15 and shoots everyone in his high school?
what a whack job.
This is starting to sound creepily familiar. The last time we heard about a guy whose reality vs fantasy lines were starting to “blend”, the world learned that a girl missing for 18 years was living in his backyard, having his kids, while he was convincing people he could hear “voices” in a box he made….blurring reality and fantasy….
Has anyone checked the rest of this guy’s home, or the abandoned house you talk about in your blog from last year? WOW! He may be “bright” when it comes to weather, but I think there is a LOT more to this family than meets the eye!
“I could tell you about how impressed my son Jimmy was when, at age 10, I took him to visit Richard in the abandoned house he was occupying. Jimmy was especially taken with the boarded-up windows and the Mickey Mouse cartoon graffiti on the interior walls. I could also tell you how Richard is convinced that he has found the secret of an anti-gravity device in the cyclonic action of tornadoes”
Really?????
Yes, Terri. Really.
After the Balloon Boy incident, why would you question the veracity of those stories?
Oh ya, isn’t Richard just so interesting. His son said they did this stuff today for “the show.” I hope they investigate the crap out of this man, charge him the 250k this cost the State of Colorado and make him famous for the ass he is. And wife…what a passive piece of crap she is. Apparently, she take children and puts them in the path of storm after storm. Richard’s two ex storm chaser parters said he and wife took the children each time they went storm chasing. They said it scared them and they don’t associate with Richard because of it!
These people are f*cked, telling their kids to lie on national TV. At least their kid is honest. They are not fit to be parents and should get their house taken away for payment for this multi-million$ waste of a spectacle.
Now we know who he is…a guy so intent on publicity he roped his kid into the scam and didn’t bother to check if he could keep his story straight. Nice child exploitation, Dick. You sure did shit yourself when Falcon dropped you in it.
A show called “Boxtime”?
Was it about a little boy who hides in a box perchance?
Ironic, ain’t it?
that guy is such a loser im surprised he even managed to talk to girls at all! he thinks he is such a great “scientist” but he will die a nobody
Wow…I was confused about the date & was thinking “this was totally planned out” but then noticed it was Oct 3rd, 2008. A year later EVERYONE knows not only who Richard Heene is, but who the entire Heene family is. Thank God this boy was found safe and sound.
RICHARD HEENE AND HIS HAM OF A WIFE ARE THE WORST PARENTS EVER! I HOPE THE STATE DOES NOT WASTE ANY TIME IN REMOVING THOSE THREE FOUL MOUTHED CHERUBS FROM THEIR PARENTS SCIENCE LAB. WITH SOME LUCK AND EXPEDIENCY THE BOYS WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO LEARN HOW WRONG THE HEENE HOAX WAS AND THAT REAL PARENTS DON’T TEACH THEIR CHILDREN TO LIE AND RISK THE LIVES OF OTHERS IF THAT IS WHAT IT TAKES TO GET DADDYS MUG ON TV. FOR THE SAKE OF SCIENCE I HOPE THE WORST DAD EVER IS BETTER AT SCIENCE THAN HE IS AT LYING.
Haha, your friend Richard Heene is a piece of shit.
Found Richard Heene MySpace page with the last login as june 26,2009 ….talk about a stab in the back ..would love to know what his wife Mayumi Heene thoughts are in him posting he is single
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=27617276
Holy cow- this guy was a former client of mine. I ran an audio facility back east, and he hired me to work on his “Offensive Driving” CD.
It didn’t click for a couple days that this was the same guy as the balloon story. But yep… this article confirms it. Same guy.
He was definitely intense, I remember that much.
Hey Mark –
I’m not sure how we didn’t cross paths back East but I also worked on the Offensive Driving project (book and collateral stuff) and coincidentally do audio production.
I hope you got paid. Frank
I was here, honey!
LOL!
Hi Chrissy! You thought Heene was just a figment of my imagination. I’m not sure whose imagination he IS a figment of but, whoever it is, they’ve got quite a fertile mind!
All I can say is glad Family Services are getting involved. Should have after seeing him in action in Wifeswap.
Your friend is an abusive egomaniac. Oddly (?) enough, though I rarely watch shows like “wife swap”, I happened to see the episode mr crazyman was in just a day or 2 before the balloon incident. After watching him yell at his temporary wife, and watching his actual wife yell at her temporary husband, one thing is clear- their children have heard enough yelling in their lifetimes to either be completely immune or deeply traumatized. So, did the kid go into hiding because his dad yelled at him? Hard to say. Is it possible that the mad scientist thought this would get some ego feeding attention? You bet. Will we ever know the truth? I hope not, because that would mean that the 15 minutes were up on this clown.
These parents need to be investigated by child services. They are immature, reckless, crazy and unfit!! And that was BEFORE this asinine stunt!!
Frank-
Overall he was on the level as I recall. He did ask me to do some weird forensic thing involving a taped phone call, which I declined to work on. I had a copy of the book until I moved a few years ago. Probably should have kept it. Did you work with him in that house in Burke? I remember meeting a few of his production friends there.
I’ve commented on another string of responses a few minutes ago . . . .
What have you perpetrated, Frank, by defending and encouraging someone that is so very obviously deeply disturbed?
Noticed that he was living in an abandoned house at some point?
Noticed that you stated you would not email Richard Heene now . . . after the balloon hoax . . . since the authorities are beginning to search his computer . . . why is that, Frank?
Don’t want to be held accountable for your part in supporting and helping to creat such an unstable egomaniac that has endangered his own children for the better part of their lives?
Again . . . shame on you.
I talked with a friend of mine who is working on this case as I speak and have heard some inside stuff that just completely cancel out the idea it was an accident. He and his wife supposedly met through drama school in L.A. So ironic dont you think? And we all know about the crazy scientology freaks out there . Ya this guy is a piece of work I tell ya. wow,you can just tell that this family’s got issues just by looking at their quite unusual children on the news.
i hope tis guy is found dead
Reading this blog, it sounds more like you and your BFF have fringe-of-society, make-believe “lives” where you have cleverly avoided “working” for years.
Also, you both seem to have senses of humor that aren’t actually funny. Tricky, that.
“Have you heard of my friend Richard Heene? The pseudoscience-promoting, TV show-hungry, angry, yelling, abusive, manipulative mental case? Isn’t he swell?”
Interesting that the news is reporting that criminal charges will be filed in what they now believe is the balloon hoax cooked up between Richard and his wife. Also, Did they honestly think they could pull off this fraud? This is such a totally bizzaro incident. I feel bad for their kids.
I’m just sayin’, you need a license to drive a CAR. It amazes me that people like this are allowed to breed. What kills me is that this poor kid, Falcon, will probably forever feel guilty for thinking he’s the reason his parents are going to jail. I hope a therapist someday convinces him he had nothing to do with this, but that he was the sad pawn in a psychotic venture for fortune and fame.
Hey Franksfunnies or Mark,
Did Mayumi and Richard ever have a video editing studio out in the LA area, circa 2001 or 2002? We produced some hip-hop stuff, and the lady who helped us do the final edit onsome of our projects was Mayumi, and I’m almost certain it was the SAME Mayumi…
Yes – On Bundy a few blocks from the O.J. murder house.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the obvious…Did Falcon get sick during the interview because he was drugged to sleep while he was supposedly hiding? With his major hyperactivity, how did he stay there quietly for five hours?
Wow, epic opening line. Who would’ve thunk it?
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Your boy’s a lair. You were duped by an attention whore who’s going to jail (if we’re lucky) and should lose custody of his kids.
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Never met a reality show I considered worth watching- stupid drivel put on to avoid paying decent costs for TV entertainment. As to Richard it was certain there was a scam going on as soon as the thing landed and you could see how small a volume it was- couldn’t carry much of anything. And the stupid wife saying you could only steer it by the ‘million volts’ of electricity across one side to the other for 1 minute every ten minutes. And then, such a dumb ass as to release the home video of the baloons escape, complete with the countdown. Let me count the ways the dumb shit fails to meet reality. I don’t care if he goes to jail or not but feel no regulated communications outfit should ever entertain using him for ANYTHING under threat of DEATH! And yes, let him pay for the associated costs!
I support this brave family. We can’t know if it was a hoax or not. Shame on the police department and shame on the media sources who turn whenever it’s convenient for them. This family has gone through so much. They thought their son was dead! For heaven’s sake, have some sympathy for what they’ve been through.
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Pete –
You have got to be kidding.
Sympathy for the children, YES.
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I am very sad for these children. I had not heard of this family until the balloon incident. Since then I’ve seen clips from Wife Swap as well as the boys’ rap video on youtube. Very very sad.
As one who was born a “gifted child,” I well understand the old adage: “It’s a fine line between madness and genius.” It is just a short step from one to the other, but I would suggest that the line is not a fine line, but more of a blur, meaning it is not a clear demarcation for one near that border. The salvation is in knowing to use friends as warning signs to turn back from the precipice of madness.
I was also born with that moniker and recently heard a great update on that old line. “The difference between genius and insanity is success.” If you succeed with your wild plans you’re an eccentric genius. If you fail, you were obviously crazy to begin with. Unfortunately for Richard, his recent behavior represents not only a lack of success (read failure), but also, apparently, purposeful deception. Dragging his wife and kids into the fray is indefensible.
This man should be made to spend time behind bars. You can see how the child is so afraid of answering that he wants to vomit. All that money spent on what ..for a scene to enhance some fools life. Any money he makes off of this or any fame should go to rescue societies.. and abused families. He is obsessed with fame and with the end of the world on 2012. and now we have children who could possibly become psychopaths and obsessive idiots due to thier fathers stupidity…
Ok, come on dude.. after Oct 13th, i bet this story is the one thing that drives traffic to your site. I guess having friends like him does help….in traffic rankings!
Heene regrets he was too stupid to go to college so he surrounds himself with educated people to try to make himself feel better and feel like he’s educated. He’s not just stupid, he’s DANGEROUSLY stupid. He shouldn’t have been allowed to breed and now that he has his children shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near him.
Mr. Heene isn’t just a nutball; he’s hateful and bigoted. Check out this homemade rap video called “Pussification,” written and produced by the Heene parents (complete with cameos by Mom & Dad):
http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=SXj28nQdXh0
At about 2:55 into the song, the elementary-aged Heene brothers sing this little gem of a lyric:
“I look up in a tree… what do I see? I see a f*gg*t, trying to pee on me. I pick up a rock…threw it at his c*ck….” The rest of the lyric is unintelligible, but alludes to “sending the f*gg*ot to the doctor to be taken care of.”
These children need to be removed from their parents and placed in a sane, stable environment, or we will have three new sociopaths to add to our current motley crew of fuktards in this country.
Is this Richard Heene the same person who rode a cock horse with Morrissey in the late 80s? If so, let’s give this incontinent genius the recognition (and supply of adult diapers) he so richly deserves.
Heene is insane and should not be allowed to raise children, I truly feel sorry for everyone involved in his twisted existance. He has no regard for others, is beyond selfish, and needs to be in an insane asylum.
Does The Herp-AIDS Detector/Deflector Kit contain just a trojan rubber or does Richard include directions?
It did actually include a condom.
he is in jail for the balloon hoax
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