Years ago, armed with super soakers loaded with cheap perfume, members of the Ten Fat Tigers commandeered the University of Wisconsin student government – holding them hostage until campus police arrived.

Taking the student government hostage was only one of the outrageous pranks staged by the group to subvert normal campus life.

Ben Granby was the leader of the guerilla art group known as the Ten Fat Tigers – a prominent purveyor of mild chaos on campus in the late ’90s.

After spending years in the Middle East writing and doing humanitarian work with a non-profit, Granby is back in Madison and sat down with The Badger Herald to retell some of the highlights and stories behind the cacophony.

The Ten Fat Tigers started when Granby and a friend were talking about the Pail and Shovel Party, a prank group from the 1970s that is famous for building the giant Statute of Liberty on Lake Mendota and for sneaking thousands of pink flamingo yard decorations on to Bascom Hill.

From there, Granby said his next thought was, “Why don’t we take over student government?”

Early in the campaign trail, Granby and other members of the Ten Fat Tigers mock-crucified a student in Library Mall – the student Jesus even wore a crown of pencils.

Granby said he had the most name recognition by the time the elections for seats on the Associated Students of Madison student council came around and was the only one who was elected from the Ten Fat Tigers.

But being the solo member of the group on the governing body did not keep him from making an impression.

“I went [to student council] in [a] full rubber and leather outfit, and I had a dominatrix with me. At one point we had a request made that the whipping be stopped because it was distracting. I went as a priest and quoted from the Bible. I went as a 1980s rapper. One time I had someone come in and start washing my hair,” Granby said.

The next year, the Tigers were more visible and well-known on campus, and Granby started a tradition – an annual Jonestown Massacre Reenactment, complete with a table of Kool-Aid and Granby reading Jim Jones’ last soliloquy.

When the next ASM election rolled around, Granby and other Ten Fat Tigers went to a candidate forum where they did their best to disturb the peace.

One of Granby’s friends pretended to masturbate behind the podium while giving his speech, squirting a bag of yogurt out when he had finished. Another ripped off his shirt to present the budget – a pie graph painted onto him that read: “50 percent money for us, 50 percent beer for you.”

Granby spoke to the audience at the forum with blood capsules in his mouth.

“Those were our formal speeches,” Granby said.

Granby was reelected – this time with a paid position in the ASM office. During his second term on council, he made a few enemies not only on student council, but internationally.

“I started stealing letterhead and writing declarations of war to various countries on the letterhead pretending [ASM was] a sovereign state,” Granby said.

Burkina Faso, a small country in western Africa, was initially very upset, Granby said, but stopped writing back after they realized it was a joke.

Perhaps the “Golden Phallus” is the most well-known of the Ten Fat Tigers pranks. Granby and other members of the TFT built a golden dick, which they put on a platform and wheeled up to Bascom Hill.

They gave it to then-Chancellor David Ward for giving students “the shaft” with higher tuition.

At first, though, Granby admitted he did not know what the giant penis would be for, but then when tuition went up, thought that would be as good a cause as any.

Among the other pranks the Ten Fat Tigers carried out were a mock execution of the the Board of Regents – a stunt Granby said he received death threats for – and advocating a “Kate Moss diet plan,” which consisted of mostly cocaine.

“Randomness is always a positive thing,” Granby said.