Pranklopedia
Page 7
3 Let the paint dry completely. That could take three to four days.
Alternate method
You can skip the cup and just pour some paint on waxed paper and let it dry for a few days. Then peel it off and place it next to a half-full glass of milk.
PULL THE PRANK
1 When the paint is completely dry, carefully peel the spill and the cup off the waxed paper, using your fingernail to get it started.
2 Leave the fake spill (including the overturned cup) on the kitchen table or counter where someone will see it. Press down the edges of the spill if necessary.
3 Wait nearby so you can hear your victim’s reaction. For extra entertainment, run in, grab a sponge or paper towel, and hand it to your victim. See if you can get the person to try to clean up the fake spill.
the prank
Penn Jillette and his partner, Teller, are master magicians. They also excel at inventing pranks to do in public places, such as restaurants, airports, and movie theaters. They must have been bored while waiting for a movie to begin when they thought up this trick. It takes a little work to set up, but the reaction you get is guaranteed to be more entertaining than whatever movie you’re watching. (For another brilliant prank from this duo, see page 110.)
what you need
* A large tub or bag of popcorn
* A pen or pencil
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Buy a tub or bag of popcorn before the movie begins.
2 You need to tear a hole the size of your fist in the side of the tub or bag without your victim noticing. You can do it in the seat while waiting for the movie to start. Chat with your victim to keep him distracted from what you are doing. The hole should be just big enough for your fist to fit through, but no bigger.
* If you have a tub, hold it on your lap and use a pen or pencil to poke a hole through the side, close to the bottom. That will help you get the hole started. Then use your hand to finish tearing a hole.
* If you have a bag of popcorn, you won’t need a pen to get the hole started.
3 Once you have made the fist-size hole, stick one arm through it so your hand sticks up into the tub but is hidden by the popcorn. Having your arm in the hole will keep the popcorn from spilling out.
PULL THE PRANK
1 While watching the movie, use your free hand to eat some popcorn yourself. Then offer some to your victim.
2 When your victim sticks his hand in the tub, grab it with your hand that’s hidden in the popcorn. Hopefully you are at a scary movie and your victim’s scream won’t seem too out of place.
the prank
As you spend time developing your skills as a prankster, some grouch might tell you that pranks are a waste of time, that you should learn a practical skill like computer programming or knitting. “You can’t make a living doing pranks,” the curmudgeon might tell you. Actually, if you follow in the footsteps of two guys named Penn & Teller, you can. Besides performing magic shows for sold-out audiences, the devious duo has invented some of the best pranks ever. Most are pretty complicated to pull off. But this one just takes some practice. The trick is to use your armpit to crack a plastic cup while stretching your neck. When you get it right, your victim will think you just cracked your neck so hard you broke it. (For another Penn & Teller prank, see page 108.)
what you need
* A disposable cup made of hard plastic
what you do
THE SETUP
1 First, practice cracking the cup under your arm. Wear a loose, long-sleeved shirt so the cup won’t show. Place the cup under your armpit, outside your shirt. Let your arm hang down by your side in a natural position. Now squeeze your arm against your side until you hear the cup crack. Stop when you hear the loud cracking sound.
2 Once you get good at cracking the cup with your arm in a natural position, you’re ready to add the other half of the action: neck stretching. Slowly turn and tilt your head from side to side as if you’re trying to loosen your neck muscles. After you have turned your head a few times, turn it one last time like you’re giving your neck muscles one last really good stretch. As you do that, crack the hidden cup with your arm. You’ll probably need to practice this a few times to get the timing right, so it sounds like you just cracked something in your neck.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Approach your victim with the cup hidden under your arm. Rub the back of your neck with your free hand and say something like, “My neck has been killing me all day. I think I slept on it the wrong way. I feel like if I could crack it just the right way, it would feel better. But I just can’t seem to do it.”
2 Now start turning and tilting your head, and on the last big stretch, crack the cup and say, “Ahhh … that feels much better.” You’ll be rewarded with a look of horror!
the prank
This breakfast prank works best on someone who drinks orange juice every morning. Prepare the prank juice the night before, using your victim’s usual glass. Then set it on the table in the morning. It will wake up your victim much faster than coffee.
what you need
* A box of lemon gelatin mix (Jell-O or similar brand)
* Water
* A bowl
* A spoon
* Orange juice
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Ask an adult to help you with the first step of the gelatin-making process—the part where you add one cup of boiling water to the mix and stir. Once you have done this step, stop!
2 Instead of adding cold water to the gelatin mixture, add one cup of cold orange juice and stir.
3 Pour some of the mixture into the glass your victim normally uses for OJ. Put the glass in the refrigerator and leave it there until it is completely solid. You need at least four hours, but overnight works best.
PULL THE PRANK
1 In the morning, put the glass of solid OJ on the table when your victim isn’t looking. Watch her freak out when she tries to take the first sip of the juice and it won’t budge from the bottom of the glass. If you’re drinking OJ too, you can say, “Weird. Mine is fine!”
Outdoor Art Pranks
Take a walking tour of outdoor paintings and sculptures with a sneaky sense of humor. These works of art aren’t meant to be pranks, but they trick you and make you laugh the way a prank does!
SHARK ATTACK!
A house in Oxford, England, looks like it was attacked by a flying shark, thanks to sculptor John Buckley. He created a 25-foot shark out of lightweight fiberglass in 1986, at the request of Bill Heine, who owned the house. Buckley took his inspiration from the sharks he had seen on a trip to the Red Sea in Egypt. They reminded him of missiles used in wartime. He decided to have his shark plunge through the roof like a missile. Scary stuff! Back then, people either loved it or hated it. These days the shark mostly makes people smile. In 2009 it was even nominated as an “Icon of England.”
John Buckley’s fish out of water.
TURNING ART ON ITS HEAD
Visitors walking for the first time past the statue of Charles La Trobe on the campus of La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, probably do a double take: La Trobe is balancing on his head, and the “stone” pedestal that should be supporting him is pointing straight up at the sky. Did some campus pranksters flip Mr. La Trobe over during the night? No. The “prankster” is sculptor Charles Robb, and he designed the sculpture upside down on purpose, using lightweight plastic and fiberglass painted to look like bronze.
When the statue was first installed in 2007, some people thought it was disrespectful toward La Trobe, who was the first governor of the Australian state of Victoria. But the artist explains that he was thinking about the role universities play in helping people see things in new ways, “turning ideas on their heads.” He certainly gave La Trobe a new view of the world.
WHEN SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING
German artist Edgar Müller and American artist John Pugh paint 3-D scenes on pavement. Called trompe l�
��oeil (that’s French for “trick of the eye”), this style of painting tricks your eye into thinking the scene is real. Müller created this Ice Age crevasse on a pier in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, in 2008. Watch your step!
Edgar Muller’s icy crevasse.
It looks like there is an ancient colonnade inside this “damaged” building in Los Gatos, California. In reality, it is all the work of John Pugh.
John Pugh’s ancient trick.
French designer Benoit Lemoine created tape with a zipper pattern on it. He puts it on objects like trees and streetlamps and suddenly, they look like they need to be zipped up.
Benoit Lemoine’s tree zipper.
Brazilian artists Anderson Augusto and Leonardo Delafuente transformed a manhole cover on a street in São Paulo, Brazil, into a giant watch.
Anderson Augusto and Leonardo Delafuente watch where they step.
Mark Jenkins makes sculptures of people out of packing tape. Then he dresses them and puts them in public places, doing unusual things like sticking their heads in walls.
Mark Jenkins’s hidden head.
the prank
Every year, noted prankster Joey Skaggs alerts the media that an April Fools’ Day parade will take place along Fifth Avenue in New York City. And every year, at least one reporter shows up looking for the big event. There’s only one problem: The parade doesn’t exist. Skaggs has duped CNN, USA Today, and many other media outlets into falling for the annual hoax. See if you can follow in his footsteps and convince your friends to show up for a parade in your town—it can be a parade in honor of April Fools’ Day or some other occasion you dream up.
what you need
* An official-looking email that you can forward to your friends
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Type up an email to your friends that includes a fake forwarded email from the coordinator of this year’s April Fools’ Day parade. You can use the example on page 118 or write your own. Make sure to personalize your email with a note from you before the “forwarded” part.
2 See how far you can take the prank by telling your friends that if they want to march in the parade, they should arrive wearing their underwear outside their pants. Or make up your own insane instructions.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Once you’ve put the finishing touches on your email, send it to a bunch of your friends.
2 You may have to think fast if they respond with questions. For instance, if they say they looked online for more information about the parade and didn’t find any, tell them it’s an invitation-only event, or that the organizer is not Web-savvy.
3 If you succeed in convincing some of your friends that the the event is real, make sure you show up at start of the “parade route” to witness their embarrassment in person.
sample email
Use this example or make up your own. If you use this one, fill in the date, time, town, and street names before you send it.
Hey guys,
Looks like there is going to be an April Fools’ Day parade this year. I’m definitely going. You should too! Check it out.
On [date] at [time], Thomas Skeeter
Dear Friends,
I am extremely pleased to announce that I am coordinating the first annual April Fools’ Day parade in [insert your town]. It is the purest celebration of creativity and hilarity that I can imagine. If you would like to join us for the procession, please assemble at the corner of [insert street name] and [insert intersecting street name] at [time] sharp. I encourage you to wear your most foolish attire.
I hope you’ll be able to join us!
Sincerely,
Thomas Skeeter
Coordinator, The April Fools’ Day Parade
Joey Skaggs:
Father of the April Fools’ Day Parade
Artist Joey Skaggs is probably the closest thing there is to a career prankster. He’s been duping the public for more than 40 years. Skaggs specializes in media hoaxes: He stages fake events that sound real and convinces TV and newspaper reporters to cover them. Every April Fools’ Day, he gets reporters to search for a nonexistent parade in New York City. In 1986, Skaggs announced he had invented a new weight-loss method called the Fat Squad. For $300 a day, you could hire a big, tough guy to follow you around day and night and use force, if necessary, to keep you from eating foods you shouldn’t. The media “ate” up the story. Major newspapers wrote about the Fat Squad, and Skaggs even appeared on Good Morning America with fake goons before someone realized it was all a big fat hoax.
Joey Skaggs posing as Joe Bones, proprietor of the Fat Squad.
the prank
Like most people, you probably think your pet is the sweetest, smartest, most superb animal in the world. Now you can prove it by displaying an official Presidential Pet Achievement Award. Your pet will puff up with pride when it hears the news.
what you need
* “Presidential Pet Achievement Award” (print the download for this prank found here: workman.com/ebookdownloads)
* Scissors
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Carefully cut out the “Presidential Pet Achievement Award” that you’ve printed.
2 Neatly print your pet’s name and your family’s last name in the two blank spaces provided.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Put the certificate in a place where friends and family will see it. Tell them only five pets receive the prestigious award each year!
the prank
Do you have a relative or friend who is constantly checking her phone for texts, Tweets, or Facebook updates? Pull this prank on someone who is obsessed with his or her phone and hates to miss a single communication. You’ll need lots of rubber bands, so save them up or buy a bunch at the store.
what you need
* About 20 to 30 rubber bands
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Find a time when you can get access to your victim’s phone without the person seeing.
2 Wrap the rubber bands around the phone until it’s completely covered.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Put the phone back where you found it and stick around to watch the show when the next call comes in. To speed things up, you can dial the victim’s number yoursef.
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKs
V.I.P.
A Phone Prank Fit for a Queen
When the Queen of England needed to set up the voicemail on her cell phone in 2007, she did the natural thing: She asked her tech-savvy grandsons, Harry and William, for help. The two princes also did the natural thing: They pranked their grandmother. Harry and William reportedly recorded an outgoing message on Queen Elizabeth’s phone that said: “Wassup! This is Liz. Sorry I’m away from the throne. For a hotline to Philip, press one. For Charles, press two. And for the corgis, press three.” (Philip is the queen’s husband, Charles is her son, and the corgis are her beloved dogs.)
At first the Queen did not find the joke funny. But then she relaxed and saw the humor—especially when she pictured important people hearing the message. The Queen’s secretary did not agree: He reportedly almost fell off his chair the first time his call was put through to the royal voicemail.
Presidential Pranks
A sense of humor isn’t required to become president, but it doesn’t hurt. Several U.S. presidents pulled impressive pranks when they were kids—and some saw no reason to stop once they made it to the White House.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
When it came to humor, Abraham Lincoln (president from 1860–1865) was more famous for telling funny stories than pulling pranks. But when he was a young man still living at home, he was a trickster. One of his best pranks took advantage of his height: He was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and got teased a lot about it—especially by his stepmother. The story goes that she would tell him he’d better keep his head clean or she’d have to scrub the ceiling. One day when his stepmother was away, Lincoln saw two boys pl
aying barefoot in the mud and got the idea for a prank. He brought the boys back to the house and held them upside down so their muddy feet could touch the ceiling. Then he had them “walk” across the ceiling, making a trail of brown footprints. The story goes that when his stepmother came home, she laughed so hard she couldn’t get mad at him. But she did make Lincoln repaint the ceiling.
Abraham Lincoln
CALVIN COOLIDGE
Calvin Coolidge (president from 1923–1929) got his nickname, Silent Cal, by keeping his mouth shut, so it makes sense that his White House pranks were usually wordless. Coolidge had a series of buttons on his desk that he used to summon his staff. He liked to press all the buttons at once and watch people come running from all directions. He also liked to slip out the front door of the White House, press the alarm button near the door, and then go back inside to watch the Secret Service men come running up the walk to find out what was wrong. Coolidge enjoyed this trick so much, he would do it several times in a row. One can only guess how the Secret Service guys felt about it.
Calvin Coolidge
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt (president from 1933–1945), known as FDR, was famous for his sense of humor and he loved to play practical jokes. He got started young, pranking the governesses who took care of him. One of his early tricks involved his governess’s chamber pot (a container people used to keep next to their beds in case they had to pee during the night). Young Franklin sneaked into his governess’s bedroom and put a few spoonfuls of effervescent powder in her chamber pot. Later that night, she used the chamber pot and the powder started to hiss and bubble. The governess woke up everyone in the household, upset that there was something wrong with her.