Thursday, April 1, 2010

Paging Seymour Butz...


In honor of April Fool's Day, here is another survey. What is the greatest prank you have ever seen and/or pulled off? Despite my appreciation for almost all humor, I have always been pretty uninventive when it comes to pranks, and I'm a little jealous of people with that ability. The first problem is that I am a horrible liar, and I think pranking is kind of ancillary to that. My brother Vance has no such limitations, however, and when he was a missionary in Korea, he had one companion in particular whose bed he would sew shut and whose personal items he would glue/tape to the chimney, just for amusement. I am a big fan of anything that doesn't do any real damage, so hearing about dumb, easily done things like that always makes me smile. I also recently watched a few minutes of VH1's Greatest Pranks Ever, and although some of them crossed the line, most were so well-staged and elaborate that even the most austere man (or woman) can appreciate them on some level. Here are a few of my favorites, in descending order:

5. Charles Barkley reading from a TNT teleprompter and calling himself a dumbass.

4. A college-age girl getting into a cab whose driver runs over a guy and then drives off, culminating in the victim hobbling over and pulling the driver out for a beating.

3. Fat junior high-ish kid setting up a beer stand and being mostly unharrassed by adults, even getting some college kids try to place an order and eventually having an old super-uptight lady tell him off and earning a comparison to Hitler.

2. Elijah Wood almost breaking down in tears when a cop interrogates him after he throws a can with a put-out cigarette into a trash bin and then it explodes on Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd.

1. A very elaborate joke on the show Scare Tactics being played on a girl working at an urgent care facility where a man brings his wife in to give birth, and it quickly escalates to a priest showing up, Satan's very creepy baby being born and committing murder fresh out of the womb, and the girl refusing to worship him. Really, it has to be seen to be fully appreciated. It was voted #1 on VH1's list and for good reason.

Anyway, I now give the floor to you. Be sure to invite your friends!

2 comments:

  1. I suck at the whole practical joke thing; so unimaginative am I...but if someone gives me an idea, I can make it happen...

    2 years ago, I awoke on April Fool's Day to an empty fridge and freezer (compliments of Lisa). I thought it was hilarious. Besides, Lisa bought us breakfast.

    Before I tell you how I got her back, let me give you some background: where I live, there is a silly thing called Second Chance Prom towards the end of April; it's exactly what it sounds like...Prom for the aged. It's put on by a local radio station. The month or so preceding April Fools Day, there was a fella in our singles branch who was somewhat pursuing Lisa. He was awkward and young (and he looked even younger). Lisa was trying to figure out a polite way to say "No" to his next attempt at asking her out.

    So...I asked her out to Second Chance Prom in behalf of this little fella; I got a big old box of Goldfish crackers, put it in a fish bowl, and gave her a note that said "Of all the fish in the deep blue sea, will you go to second chance prom with me?" (I had a male co-worker hand-write the note for me.) Then there were instructions: To know who I am, find my name on the fish inside! (Yeah, I spelled his name, letter for letter, on the back of some of the goldfish.) After work, I ran the joke upstairs to a neighbor to have him deliver it, so that I would be seen at home by Lisa while the drop-off was made.

    Her reaction was better than expected: for crying out loud, it was APRIL FOOLS DAY and she had been pulling pranks all day long! But she took the bait...Brooke and I helped her figure out who asked her out, and then Lisa went for a run to clear her head.

    While she was gone, I wrote "April Fool!" on the back of the paper. Also while she was gone, our friend Jamie came over; I let her in on the little joke and showed her the "April Fool!" and we all had a good laugh.

    Enter Lisa: she had resolved to call this poor schmoe when she got back from her run. She just couldn't make herself go on another date with him, especially not some dumb dance. She was describing the events to Jamie, carrying on and such, showing her the note and everything...

    Anyway, it turns out that JAMIE had to show Lisa the "April Fool!" on the back of the paper before Lisa made that phone call...

    This is all.

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  2. I am not a prankster either, but I did tell Jon I was pregnant a few months after we were married on April Fools Day. We were both set to graduate from USU that May, but Jon was applying for grad school, and I was planning to teach full-time to put him through school. We didn't want kids for at least 4 more years.

    I called him at work (where he manned the front desk at the Sci Tech library) and pretended to cry and panic; he totally swallowed it! I let him think it all day, and when I finally got home from waitressing at Angie's that night, I instantly remembered the prank when I saw him greet me with a look of somber concern! I giggled and confessed the joke, and as I recall, he wasn't amused. But he was relieved!

    I guess the joke was on me though, because two and a half years later, our first pregnancy really DID turn out to be unplanned! And I DID freak out!!!

    And now I'm gonna try to go back to bed, as my alarm will be blaring in 6 short hours. Hopefully this walk down memory lane has cured my insomnia! Thanks Aaron!

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