Madame de Stael once said, “Wit consists in seeing the resemblance between things which differ, and the difference between things which are alike,” but we’re not quite sure where that puts the audience members of Friday’s Core77 “Design, Wit, and the Creative Act” confab, which, as we told you yesterday evening, featured a Tobias Wong stand-in. Thoughtful and funny as he gained confidence in his ability to pull off the prank, the would-be Wong (at right) deadpanned a presentation about Wong’s work and participated in a 90-minute panel discussion as the designer.

Alas, few people in the audience seemed to get the joke. Those that did were recognizable by their wide grins and appreciation of the black McDonald’s coffee stirs set out by Core77 at the refreshment break, dead ringers for the coke spoons that Wong designed with Ken Courtney.