An office cubicle with all the contents covered in aluminum foil. Practical jokes are a common workplace activity.
One example of a practical joke is to completely block someone's doorway while he/she is in the room. A practical joke or prank is a stunt or trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized, usually for humor. The victim is called "the mark", "the target", and even "April Fool" if they were fooled on the day dedicated to pranks, April Fools' Day, which is held on the first day of April each year. Another day common for pranks and practical jokes is Halloween. The pranks are pulled by "the prankster", "practical joker", "gagman", or "jokester". Practical jokes are different from cons in that the victim finds out, or is let in on, the joke rather than being fooled non-jokingly to retrieve money or other valuables. Since pranks are made to make people feel foolish or victimized, there is an inherent strain of cruelty in most practical jokes. There is a thin line between practical jokes and hooliganism, bullying, vandalism, or sadism. Pranks can be pulled on a person or something that belongs to the person, like their house, pet, or mailbox, etc. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
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Aluminium foil (aluminum foil in North American English) is aluminium prepared in thin sheets (on the order of . ...
ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (849x2032, 308 KB) A practical joke involving completely blocking someones doorway with phone books File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (849x2032, 308 KB) A practical joke involving completely blocking someones doorway with phone books File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
April Fools Day and April Fools Day redirect here. ...
This article is about the holiday. ...
Scam and Confidence Man redirect here. ...
Look up cruelty in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Hooligan redirects here. ...
A very common image in many schools around the world. ...
Vandalism is the conspicuous defacement or destruction of a structure, a symbol or anything else that goes against the will of the owner/governing body. ...
Look up sadism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Practical jokes are usually done for amusement purposes, so when the perpetrator is discovered, they usually admit to it, as they are mostly done between friends and do not involve foul play. Although some practical jokes are pulled on enemies as a hatred remark or as some type of revenge.
The term "practical" refers to the fact that the joke consists of someone doing something (a practice), rather than a verbal or written joke. A practical joke can be caused by the victim falling for a prank, the victim stumbling into a prank, the prankster forcing a prank on the victim, the prankster causing others to do something to the victim, or even causing the victim to do something to others. Sometimes more than one mark is used.
Even practical jokers should be careful of "Fake Pranks" and "Reverse Pranks". A Fake Prank is where the mark is fooled into believing he is pulling a prank but is actually a victim. A Reverse Prank is when the intended victim becomes the prankster by turning the tables by either evading the prank and returning it or pulling a back-up prank of their own on their would-be pranksters.
The Trapezium of Xenophanes was cited by Aristotle as a notable compendium of practical jokes, but only a few fragments of this work have survived. Xenophanes of Colophon (Greek: Ξενοφάνης, 570 BC-480 BC) was a Greek philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic. ...
For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ...
The American humorist H. Allen Smith wrote a 320-page book in 1953 called The Compleat Practical Joker[1] that contains many examples of practical jokes. A typical one, recalled as his favorite by the playwright Charles MacArthur, concerns the American painter and bohemian character Waldo Peirce. Peirce was living in Paris in the 1920s and "made a gift of a very small turtle to the woman who was the concierge of his building". The woman doted on the turtle and lavished it with care and affection. A few days later Peirce substituted a somewhat larger turtle for the original one. This continued for some time, with larger and larger turtles being surreptitiously introduced into the woman's apartment. The concierge was beside herself with happiness and displayed her miraculous turtle to the entire neighborhood. Peirce then began to sneak in and replace the turtle with smaller and smaller ones, to her bewildered distress. This was the storyline behind Esio Trot, by Roald Dahl. H. Allen Smith was an American humorist whose books were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. ...
A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ...
Charles MacArthur (November 5, 1895 _ April 21, 1956) was an American playwright and screenwriter, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. ...
For other uses, see Bohemian (disambiguation). ...
Waldo Peirce (December 17, 1884 - March 8, 1970) was an American painter, born in Bangor, Maine. ...
This article is about the capital of France. ...
Concierge desk at the Mount Washington Hotel. ...
Cover of Esio Trot Esio Trot is a childrens book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. ...
Roald Dahl (IPA: ) (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a Welsh novelist, short story author and screenwriter of Norwegian parentage, famous as a writer for both children and adults. ...
Practical Jokes
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Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (April 2008) | There are different kinds of practical jokes. All pranks/practical jokes fall into one or a combination of these categories: - prank calls which involves telephone pranks, usually consisting of a gag name
- slapstick pranks where the victim gets hit with an object, sometimes causing pain
- embarrassment pranks which are made to embarrass the victim
- surprise pranks which are made to surprise the victim; even to frighten or startle them
- errand pranks where the victim is made to find or capture something imaginary
- gross-out pranks which are made to gross out the victim
- fake-out pranks where the victim is faked into thinking something is, was, or will be real or different
- annoyance pranks where the victim is being confused or irritated by something or someone unseen or unfindable
- aggravating pranks where the prank complicates or worsens a situation (not to be confused with annoyance pranks)
- trap pranks where the victim is pranked by a booby trap or similar setup
Some classic pranks include: A prank call, also known as a crank call or hoax call, is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. ...
A gag name is a false name used to elicit humor through its simultaneous resemblance to a real name on the one hand, and to a term or phrase that is funny, strange, or vulgar on the other hand. ...
- Atomic Sit Up - The victim is told they can't do a sit up while someone creates resistance using a blindfold. After a few tries of proving everyone wrong, the victim finds their face smacking into someone's butt, usually bare. The blindfold can be quickly taken away to force their efforts into the butt or just let them hit while blindfolded. The person who is putting their butt in the victim's face also has the choice to fart or not.
- Wooden Spoon Head Knock - Two people place a spoon in their mouth (handle side) and take turns bending over and allowing the other person to hit them with the spoon on the back of the head. Whoever hits the hardest is the winner. One of the players, unknown to the victim, has help, and when their victim bends over, the helper uses his own spoon in hand to hit the victim. This can be repeated if the helper stands beside the victim acting as a simple spectator and hits from behind.
- Forehead Coin to Funnel - You place a funnel in your pants and a coin on your forehead. You show the victim how it's done by allowing the coin to fall into the funnel. When they try it, you pour liquid down the funnel.
- Bucket of Water on Door - A bucket of water is placed on the top of a partly opened door. When the victim opens the door, the bucket falls, splashing them wet. Alternation: Eggs can be alternated for a bucket of water.
- Snipe Hunt or "Fool's Errand" - The victim is told to fetch an imaginary object or being with believable words, sometimes it includes doing ridiculous things to retrieve it (e.g. "Go get the key to the parking lot." [There's no such thing as a key for a parking lot.]). Sometimes the imaginary object is made real when a random object is handed to the victim (e.g. "Excuse me, I was told to get the key to the parking lot." The victim is handed a 50 lb. vise. "Now take that to Marty and he'll show you what to do with it"; and thus, the victim carries around a 50 lb. tool wondering what to do with it and is given the runaround).
- Sleep Pranking - You take advantage of a sleeping person or persons by cutting/shaving their hair or eyebrows, marking on their face with a marker or make-up, sticking their hand in lukewarm water to make them urinate, putting shaving cream in their hand and tickling their nose so they pie themselves, etc.
Other classic pranks can include a practical joke device: Fools Errand redirects here. ...
Bench vise A vise (American and Canadian English) or vice (British English) is a mechanical screw apparatus used for holding or clamping a work piece to allow work to be performed on it using other tools, such as saws, planes, drills, mills, screwdrivers, sandpaper, In general, vises have a fixed...
A practical joke device is a manufactured prop or toy intended to confuse, frighten, or amuse individuals as a prank. ...
A joy buzzer is a practical joke device that consists of a coiled spring inside a disc worn in the palm of the hand. ...
A prop comic holding a rubber chicken in sweatpants (as in the simile looser than a rubber chicken in sweatpants). The rubber chicken is a popular sight gag and slapstick comedy prop, sometimes used by comics to hit people. ...
Chattery Teeth is a childrens wind-up toy. ...
Fake vomit Fake vomit is a flat green plastic disc with indentations and protrutions designed to look like mucus or vomit. ...
Example of flatulence humour Flatulence humor refers to any type of joke, practical joke device, or other humor related to flatulence. ...
Some Resources
Television Shows Balls of Steel is a Channel 4 comedy series hosted by Mark Dolan, where his special guests perform stunts, holding their nerve during hidden camera set-ups in the presence of celebrities or the British public. ...
Beadles About was a British television programme hosted by Jeremy Beadle, where members of the public became victims of practical jokes behind hidden cameras. ...
Alternate use: Boiling Point, English title of Kitano Takeshis film 3-4X Jūgatsu; Boiling Point (TV series) The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which it can change state from a liquid to a gas throughout the bulk of the liquid. ...
Buzzkill was a hidden camera reality show created in 1995 for the MTV network. ...
Candid Camera is a long-running television series, created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947. ...
Crank Yankers is a United States TV show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison that features actual prank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests which are re-enacted onscreen by puppets. ...
Ed, Edd n Eddy is a Canadian/American animated television series created by Danny Antonucci and produced by a. ...
Fonejacker is a Channel 4 comedy programme featuring a series of prank calls, originally broadcast in May 2006. ...
Game For A Laugh was a popular British TV light entertainment show between 1981 and 1985, made by London Weekend Television. ...
Girls Behaving Badly is an American reality comedy television show that is produced by Cable channel the Oh! Network, also known as Oxygen Network, and is also syndicated to television stations across the United States via Sony Pictures Television. ...
Hi-Jinks is a show on Nick At Nite about pranks on children, often featuring guest appearances by celebrities. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
The Jamie Kennedy Experiment is a half-hour-long American television show on the WB Network. ...
Joe Millionaire was an American reality television show broadcast on Fox beginning in January 2003. ...
A gag on Just For Laughs Gags Gags redirects here. ...
Naked Camera is an Irish hidden camera comedy show that began airing on RTÉ in 2005. ...
The Office is an Emmy Award-winning American television comedy that debuted on NBC as a midseason replacement on March 24, 2005. ...
Gemini nominated Prank Patrol is a childrens television series currently airing on Discovery Kids Canada & YTV (Canadian TV channel). ...
Punkd is an American hidden camera practical joke television series on MTV, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher, which first aired in 2003. ...
Rad Girls was a television show on the network Fuse TV. The shows format is essentially a female version of MTVs Jackass with three hardcore female performers: Ramona Cash, Munchie, and Darling Clementine, doing a variety of stunts that include nudity, pubic hair, urine and poop. ...
Room 401 is a television series on MTV, executive produced by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. ...
For the political strategy, see Tactical politics Scare Tactics is a reality show on the Sci-Fi Channel which began airing April 2003. ...
The Tom Green Show is a North American television show which first aired in September 1994[1] on Rogers Television 22, a community channel in Ottawa, Ontario until 1996, and was later picked up by the Comedy Network in 1997. ...
Trigger Happy TV is a British hidden camera television show, created, produced by and starring Dom Joly, originally aired on the British television channel Channel 4. ...
Ed McMahon, center, and Dick Clark, right, host a 1980s episode of Bloopers. ...
Whats with Andy? is a Canadian animated series that debuted in September 2001. ...
Movies April Fools Day is a 1986 horror/comedy film released by Paramount Pictures. ...
Porkys is a comedy film about the escapades of teenagers at the fictional Angel Beach high school in Florida in 1954. ...
Radio Shows/Personalities This article is about the radio show hosted by Howard Stern. ...
This article needs cleanup. ...
An official t-shirt. ...
The comedian Rickey Smiley is a Montgomery, Alabama born comedian that is most famous for his prank phone calls. ...
Roy Dam Mercer (also known as R.D. Mercer or R.D. By God Mercer) is a fictional character voiced by Brent Douglas on radio station KMOD in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ...
Customer Service Crackpots album cover The Touch-Tone Terrorists is the name of a group of fictional characters used in a series of prank phone calls which are recorded and compiled on a series of comedy CDs. ...
Books - Cubicle Warfare: 101 Office Traps and Pranks by John Austin (ISBN-13: 978-0061438868)
- The Compleat Practical Joker by H. Allen Smith (ISBN-13: 978-0899669311)
- The Practical Joker's Handbook by Tim Nyberg (ISBN-13: 978-0740741982)
- Prank University: The Ultimate Guide to College's Greatest Tradition by John Austin (ISBN-13: 978-0307338433)
- Prank the Monkey: The ZUG Book of Pranks by Sir John Hargrave (ISBN-13: 978-0806527802)
- The Complete Book of Outrageous and Atrocious Practical Jokes by Justin Geste (ISBN-13: 978-0385230445)
Famous Practical Jokers
Real People Hugh Troy Junior (1906 - 1964) was a US painter who is more famous for his pranks. ...
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, writer and producer. ...
Jim Moran (born January 1, 1908) was an imaginative publicist who was active in the 1940s and 1950s as a press agent for various clients: film studios, manufacturers and retailers. ...
Christopher Ashton Kutcher (born February 7, 1978) is an American actor and producer best known for playing Michael Kelso in the television series That 70s Show. ...
For other persons named Tom Green, see Tom Green (disambiguation). ...
Fictional Characters The Prankster and Superman, from the cover of Action Comics #95. ...
Colleges/Universities “MIT†redirects here. ...
Prank Stores Online
Links with Pranks
See also A school prank is a prank pulled at school by a student or group of students, usually on another student or even a teacher. ...
A computer prank is a prank related to either the software or the hardware of computers. ...
A school prank is a prank pulled at school by a student, usually on another student. ...
Fools Errand redirects here. ...
A prank call, also known as a crank call, hoax call, phony call, or phony phone call is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. ...
A gag name is a false name used to elicit humor through its simultaneous resemblance to a real name on the one hand, and to a term or phrase that is funny, strange, or vulgar on the other hand. ...
April Fools Day and April Fools Day redirect here. ...
The Dreadnought Hoaxers in Abyssinian regalia; Virginia Woolf is the bearded figure on the far left The Dreadnought Hoax was a practical joke pulled by Horace de Vere Cole in 1910. ...
References - ^ The compleat practical joker [WorldCat.org]
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