It looks like the comedian behind the "Dumb Starbucks" parody coffee shop has been exposed... just in time for the health department to shut it down for good!

It turns out, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that the supposed "exercise in parody marketing" was really just one big publicity stunt for comedian Nathan Fielder (I know... WHO?) and his new show on Comedy Central, Nathan for You.

This has to be the most over-the-top publicity stunt for a show ever -- short of a snuff film (which we are NOT condoning!), we can't think of anything more outrageous. The "Dumb Starbucks" line became a Twitter trending topic, got a lot of financial analysts to wonder if it was possible for "parody marketing" to be a viable alternative in a faltering economy, and even drew the ire of the higher-ups at Starbucks. "While we appreciate the humor, they cannot use our name, which is a protected trademark," Laurel Harper, a spokeswoman for Seattle-based Starbucks Corp., said in an email.

Even other celebrities -- such as Rainn Wilson and Dan Harmon -- joined in on the social media buzz, posting photos in front of the "Dumb Starbucks" on their social media websites.

Of course, once Wilson and Harmon joined the social media fray, some eagle-eyed reporter at Gawker was able to observe that, if Wilson and Harmon were involved in some type of promotion, that there had to be a "dumb television show" not far behind it. (He called it!)

Fortunately for all involved, the "Dumb Starbucks" coffee was given away for free, rather than for a price, because that could have led to some real legal trouble down the line.

Not long after Nathan Fielder made the announcement that he was behind the "Dumb Starbucks" parody, according to Buzzfeed, the Los Angeles Health Department shut down the coffee shop "for violation of California Health Code." (Some things, you just don't even want to know...)

Check out Nathan explaining the concept behind "Dumb Starbucks" below: