Franklin Delano Roosevelt
HARRY S. TRUMAN
Harry S. Truman (president from 1945–1953) probably pulled more pranks in the White House than any other president. One of his efforts scared the pants off a reporter. Truman was planning a trip to South America. Several newspaper reporters were going with him. Often when people traveled to South America, they had to get painful shots to protect them from yellow fever. One of the reporters, Tony Vaccaro, was terrified of needles. He was overjoyed when he found out he didn’t have to get the shot. Then, suddenly, he was told that the president had decided he did need to get the shot. A terrified Vaccaro was dragged to the White House clinic. He was told to lie down on a couch, facing the wall, with his pants down. (Yellow fever shots were given in the rear end, not the arm.) Seconds later, Vaccaro heard the door open and a familiar voice said, “This won’t hurt you a bit, Tony.” He turned around to see President Truman holding a gigantic hypodermic needle, the kind used by veterinarians on horses. Vaccaro started to scream. Then he saw that the president was smiling, and realized it was all a joke.
Harry S. Truman
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson (president from 1963–1969) loved cars and kept a large collection of them at his Texas ranch. One of his most unusual cars was an Amphicar—it looked like a normal car, but it worked like a boat if you drove it into the water. Johnson realized this vehicle was perfect for pranking guests. He would invite his visitors to take a drive around the ranch with him in the blue convertible. When they got to a steep hill at the edge of a lake, Johnson would let the car pick up speed. Then he would start to yell, “The brakes don’t work! The brakes won’t hold! We’re going in!” As the car entered the lake, the passengers would panic—until they realized they were in an Amphicar. Instead of sinking, they were motoring across the lake. Later Johnson would tease his visitors for trying to save their own skins instead of the president.
All aboard! Lyndon B. Johnson takes some guests for a ride.
George H. W. Bush
Presidents shake a lot of hands, but only George H. W. Bush (president from 1989–1993) is known to have taken advantage of this excellent pranking opportunity. He sometimes hid a small metal disk known as a joy buzzer in his palm and surprised high-powered politicians with a vibrating handshake. He also spent his first day in the White House tricking everyone with a squirting calculator. Somehow, he found time to run the country, too.
George H. W. Bush
Barack Obama
Thousands of people got to hear a president make a prank phone call in 2009. Virginia governor Tim Kaine was nearing the end of his term. He was in the middle of hosting his last radio call-in show, called “Ask the Governor,” when a call came in from a man saying he was “Barry from D.C.” The man said he wanted to ask about traffic in Virginia. Kaine was poised to take the question when the caller said something much more interesting: He revealed that he wasn’t just any old Barry from D.C.—he was President Barack Obama (first elected president in 2008) from the White House. For a second, Kaine was speechless. Then he broke into laughter and was visibly moved. He later learned that the radio station had arranged the call as a humorous—and memorable—sendoff. It’s not every day that you get fooled by the nation’s Prankster-in-Chief.
Barack Obama
the prank
It’s always nice to find a quarter on the sidewalk—except when you can’t get it off the sidewalk, no matter how hard you try. This simple prank has a quick payoff, worth at least 25 cents.
what you need
* A quarter
* White glue (Elmer’s or a similar brand)
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Squeeze a little bit of glue onto the back of the quarter and spread it with your finger so the surface is evenly coated.
2 Place the quarter on the sidewalk or other pavement where you know your victim will see it. Press down hard for a minute until it sticks. Make sure it will have a few minutes to dry before your victim arrives.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Wait for your victim to walk up, see the coin, and say something like “Wow, this is my lucky day.”
2 When the person tries to pick up the coin and can’t, act really baffled. “Wow, I heard the earth’s gravitational pull is unusually strong this month. I bet that’s why it’s stuck.”
3 If you need your quarter back, you can use water to dissolve the glue.
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKs
V.I.P.
Funny Money
An anonymous prankster in Spain must have gotten tired of looking at the face of King Juan Carlos on his country’s euro coins. He used his impressive art skills to transform the royal face into the bald-headed king of cartoon comedy, Homer Simpson. The coin found its way to a candy store in the north of Spain, where the owner discovered it while counting up the day’s earnings. Thousands of fans of The Simpsons have offered to buy the kooky coin, but the store owner seems to want to keep Homer at home.
The work of a true (prank) artist.
the prank
Eating out at restaurants is usually fun. But it’s not always funny. You can fix that. See how long it takes your victim to realize that today’s specials are especially weird.
what you need
* “Today’s Specials” menu (print the download for this prank found here: workman.com/ebookdownloads)
* Scissors
* A paper clip
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Carefully cut out the list of specials that you’ve printed.
2 The next time you go to a restaurant, bring the list and a paper clip with you (hide them in your pocket or a bag).
PULL THE PRANK
1 Sit next to your chosen victim. As soon as the menus arrive, secretly attach the fake specials list to the front of your menu with the paper clip (or slip the list into the menu’s plastic sleeve).
2 When your victim isn’t looking, quickly switch your menu with hers. If you need to distract your victim, you can say something like, “Wow, can you believe what that lady over there is wearing?” and point to a far corner.
3 Once you’ve made the switch, go back to studying your menu and wait for your victim to notice the unusual specials. If the person comments about the dishes being strange, say, “You should order one so we can all try it!”
VERY IMPORTANT PRANKS
V.I.P.
The Left-Handed Burger
A fast-food restaurant pulled a fast one on April Fools’ Day 1998. Burger King ran a full-page ad in USA Today announcing the introduction of a Left-Handed Whopper, a burger designed just for left-handed people. The ad explained that even the special sauce had been “rotated 180 degrees.” Thousands of people went to Burger King to order the new burger, not realizing it was a King-size joke.
the prank
One of the best things about eating at a Chinese restaurant is opening the fortune cookie at the end of the meal and finding out what your future holds. You can make this experience even better by messing with the messages.
what you need
* Fortune cookie messages (print the downloads for this prank found here: workman.com/ebookdownloads)
* Scissors
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Carefully cut out the fortunes that you’ve printed and put them in your pocket the next time you go to a Chinese restaurant.
PULL THE PRANK
1 When the fortune cookies arrive, sneak a fake fortune out of your pocket. Here are a couple of ways you can use it—or you can come up with your own ideas:
* Open your own cookie and say, “Wow! You guys are not going to believe what mine says!” Then pass the fake fortune around the table.
* Ask someone if you can open his or her cookie. (Offer to let the person have your cookie so they don’t get suspicious.) Hide a fake fortune in the palm of your hand. As you open your victim’s cookie, switch the real fortune for the fake one. Read it
silently to yourself, and then say, “Um, you got a kind of weird one” and hand it to your victim.
the prank
Long, hot showers are good for relaxing and forgetting your troubles—until you reach for the shampoo and can’t get it to come out of the bottle. This prank is guaranteed to put an abrupt end to any joyful singing that’s coming from the shower.
what you need
* A bottle of shampoo or conditioner with a top that screws on and a little spout that you pull up or press down to open
* Plastic wrap
* Scissors
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Carefully cut a small piece of plastic wrap, just a little bigger than the bottle opening (about an inch and a half across).
2 Unscrew the cap on the bottle of shampoo. Place the piece of plastic wrap over the bottle opening. Carefully screw the cap back on.
3 Test the prank. Open the spout and try squeezing some shampoo onto your hand. Nothing should come out. If shampoo does come out, you may need to use a bigger piece of plastic wrap.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Leave the shampoo bottle in the usual place in the shower and wait for someone to try washing his or her hair.
2 If your family keeps multiple bottles of shampoo and conditioner in the shower, rig every single bottle for an even better effect.
the pranks
Your hardworking nose and sinuses produce about a quart of snot every day! That may sound disgusting, but the slimy stuff actually does a very important job: Mucus in your nose traps germs and dust you breathe in, preventing the stuff from getting into your lungs, where it could cause an infection. Fake snot, on the other hand, has only one purpose: gross pranks. And it’s snot hard to make.
what you need
* Measuring cups
* Water
* A small bowl
* A tablespoon
* Unflavored gelatin (look for it in the baking section of your supermarket)
* A fork
* Corn syrup (also in the baking section)
* Paper towels
* Red food coloring
* A few strands of cooked spaghetti
#54 Basic Snot: what you do
THE SETUP
1 Ask an adult to help you boil some water and pour ½ cup of it into the bowl.
2 Carefully sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of gelatin so it evenly covers the whole surface.
3 Let the gelatin soften for a few minutes. Then use a fork to gently push any undissolved gelatin into the water so it gets soaked, and stir the mixture with the fork.
4 Stir in ¼ cup corn syrup.
5 Let the mixture thicken for about 1 hour. The longer you wait, the more solid it will become. It’s up to you how runny you want your snot to be. If it gets too thick, you can add water, a little bit at a time, to make it runnier.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Put a big gob of the fake snot in a paper towel and hold it in your hand with the snot hidden.
2 When your victim is nearby, sneeze loudly into the paper towel and then pretend to blow your nose into it. You can make a good nose-blowing sound by voicing the letter K in the back of your throat. (Practice this beforehand.)
3 After “blowing” your nose for a long time, stop and look into the open paper towel and act horrified. You can say, “Eww! Look how much snot I just blew out.” Show the huge blob of mucus to your victim and enjoy the reaction of disgust.
4 You can also try leaving a glob of fake snot in the sink or next to a box of tissues in the bathroom, or putting some on your face and pretending you don’t realize it’s there. Or invent your own uses.
#55 Bloody Snot: what you do
THE SETUP
1 Follow the basic snot recipe on page 137. Add 3 drops of red food coloring, and you’ll have bloody snot.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Follow steps 1 through 3 of “Pull the Prank” from page 137 for regular fake snot.
2 When you get to step 3, you can scream when you look inside the paper towel. Then tell your victim that your doctor warned you not to blow your nose too hard or your brains might start coming out of your nose. Or say that you have a spider living in your nostril and it keeps giving you a bloody nose.
#56 Worm in the Nose: what you do
THE SETUP
1 Make basic snot using the recipe on page 137.
2 Put a piece of cooked spaghetti in a blob of fake snot. Leave one end of the noodle sticking out slightly.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Place the blob of snot in your left hand (you can put it inside a paper towel if you want).
2 When your victim is nearby, sneeze and then pretend to blow your nose as described on page 137. But hold both hands together as you blow.
3 While “blowing,” grab the end of the noodle with your right hand, place it inside your nostril, and press the fingers of your right hand against the outside of your nose to hold the noodle in place. Keep your nose close to the blob so your victim cannot see you position the noodle.
4 With your right hand holding your nose, slowly raise your head. The noodle will gradually get pulled out of the blob. You should watch it in horror and then scream and say something like, “Oh my God, there’s a worm in my nose! Help!”
the prank
Russia sent the first dog into orxbit in 1957, and since then, men, women, cats, monkeys, and even spiders have gone into space. Kids, however, have been left out of the action—until now. Convince your friends and family that the United States is preparing to send the first child into space, and the lucky junior astronaut just might be you!
what you need
* “First Child In Space Acceptance Letter” (print the download for this prank found here: workman.com/ebookdownloads)
* Scissors
what you do
THE SETUP
1 Carefully cut out the “First Child In Space Acceptance Letter” that you’ve printed.
PULL THE PRANK
1 You can pull this prank on friends, siblings, or your parents. Start by asking if they have heard about the First Child In Space program. When they say no, tell them that you learned about it from your science teacher and it’s really cool.
2 Then say, with a hint of pride in your voice, “I already sent in my application, and guess what? I got through the first round and now they’re going to interview me!” Then show them the “official” letter and fact sheet.
* If you’re pranking friends or siblings, tell them they better hurry up and apply if they want a chance at this outof-this-world opportunity.
* If you’re pranking your parents, say you need their permission to continue your application. If they balk, explain that it’s a great learning opportunity, not to mention that you will be famous for the rest of your life.
Sports Pranks
Professional athletes are lucky: They get to play games for a living. But they are also under a lot of pressure. That might explain why they pull so many pranks—it helps lighten things up. Here are eight winning sports pranks. It’s no accident that four of them involve baseball. Baseball players are definitely the champs when it comes to pranks.
HE TOOK EVERYONE FOR A RIDE
At the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, Missouri, American marathon runner Fred Lorz started getting muscle cramps. He managed to run nine miles before giving up and jumping into a race official’s car. He rode the next 11 miles. Then, as a joke, he got out and ran the rest of the way, entering the stadium and crossing the finish line before anyone else. The crowd cheered like crazy, not realizing it was a prank. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s daughter even placed an honorary wreath on his head before Lorz admitted he’d pulled a fast one. He went on to win the Boston Marathon the following year—without hitching a ride.
A BAD TRADE
Pitcher Brett Myers deserves a Most Valuable Prankster award for the perfect stunt he pulled on teammate Kyle Kendrick when they were both playing for the Philadelphia Phillies. One day in 2008, the
manager of the Phillies (who was in on the prank) called Kendrick into his office and told him that he was being traded to a Japanese team for a player named Kobayashi. Myers arranged for a local TV news team to be there to film the announcement—and Kendrick’s shocked reaction. The poor guy was so stunned he couldn’t speak for most of the news conference. He apparently forgot that American and Japanese teams never trade players. Myers went to incredible lengths to pull off the hoax, getting the local TV station involved and even having Kendrick sign fake trade papers. Luckily, Kendrick learned it was all a prank before boarding a plane to Japan.
SOMETHING FISHY
Moe Drabowsky was a good pitcher, but he’s remembered more for his pranks than for his game. He loved to hide snakes—both fake and real—in other players’ lockers. He would also use the phone in the bullpen, where pitchers warm up, to order Chinese food during a game. In 1969 Drabowsky and a couple of his Baltimore Orioles teammates, Eddie Watt and Pete Richert, snuck into the opposing team’s bullpen, slipped four live goldfish into the water cooler, and scurried out. The fish seemed unbothered, but the bullpen manager was furious. Either he had no sense of humor—or he was very thirsty.
FLAMING UNDIES
Before the Summer Olympic Games begin, runners carry a torch from Greece, where the ancient Games started, to the host country. In 1956 the torch had a difficult journey to Melbourne, Australia. It got drenched in torrential rains and went out several times. At one point, it was so hot that the runners nearly collapsed. But nothing beats what happened when the torch arrived in the city of Sydney, Australia. A champion runner named Harry Dillon was scheduled to carry the torch into the city and present it to the mayor, Pat Hills. About 30,000 people lined the streets, waiting for Dillon to arrive. At last, a runner came sprinting into the city. The crowd cheered as he made his way to the mayor and handed over the torch. The mayor prepared to start his speech when someone whispered in his ear, “That’s not the torch.” The mayor looked down and realized that the “torch” he was holding was a wooden chair leg with a can on top. Inside the can was a pair of underwear soaked in kerosene to make it burn like the Olympic flame.
Pranklopedia Page 8