Oobah: Scams for a Better Tomorrow trailer targets the world’s biggest systems on HBO Max – Filmmaker and professional provocateur Oobah Butler is turning elaborate deception into a tool for exposing powerful institutions in a new five-part HBO Original docu-comedy.
Oobah: Scams for a Better Tomorrow will premiere in Australia on Monday 23 November 2026, exclusively on HBO Max. The series comes from A24, Abso Lutely Productions and Central.
For Australian viewers, the format promises more than a collection of viral stunts. Each scheme gives Butler a way into an industry that would normally keep outsiders at a distance. The result combines comedy with an investigation of how online reputation, branding and invented authority can influence the real world.
Oobah Butler targets wine, wellness and royalty
Butler sets his sights on some of the world’s biggest industries and most powerful institutions. His targets include the worlds of wine, wellness and royalty, with further sectors explored across the five episodes.
To gain access, he creates increasingly audacious schemes. He games online review systems, adopts invented personas and launches fake companies supported by entirely fabricated histories.
However, the deception is presented as a means rather than the final joke. The series asks what those systems reveal when a determined outsider learns how to imitate their language, credentials and signals of legitimacy.
The approach follows Butler’s previous headline-making experiments. He became widely known for creating a fake restaurant that rose to the top of London’s online rankings, despite the venue not operating as a conventional restaurant. His other work includes The Great Amazon Heist and Vice’s Life Hacks.
Watch the Oobah: Scams for a Better Tomorrow trailer
A docu-comedy built around elaborate infiltration
The official trailer shows Butler moving between characters, companies and situations as his experiments grow in scale. Instead of observing institutions from the outside, he attempts to enter them using the same forms of presentation that help established players gain trust.
That makes the series both an entertainment format and a test of modern gatekeeping. If a persuasive backstory, strong reviews and professional-looking branding can open doors, Butler wants to know what happens after those doors have opened.
The tone remains deliberately subversive, funny and irreverent. At the same time, the programme uses each prank to question whether hacking an unfair or easily manipulated system can expose a route towards something better.
Who made the HBO Original series?
The concept was created by Oobah Butler, who also serves as an executive producer. Daniel Lucchesi directs the five-episode series and is among its executive producers.
Dave Kneebone and Janel Kranking executive produce for Abso Lutely Productions. Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie executive produce for Central.
A24, Tristan Cross, Adam Schwartz, Richie Doyle and Conor Hannon are also executive producers. Together, the production team has built the series around Butler’s ability to turn invented identities and manufactured credibility into a way of testing real institutions.
OOBAH: SCAMS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW – PREMIERES MONDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2026, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO MAX.
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