Practical joke

Practical joke involving completely blocking someone's doorway with phone books

A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.[1][2] A person who performs a practical joke is called a "practical joker".[1] Other terms for practical jokes include gag, jape, or shenanigan.

Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks or hoaxes in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being talked into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes are generally lighthearted and without lasting impact; their purpose is to make the victim feel humbled or foolish, but not victimized or humiliated. In this fashion, most practical jokes are affectionate gestures of humour and designed to encourage laughter. However, practical jokes performed with cruelty can constitute bullying, whose intent is to harass or exclude rather than reinforce social bonds through ritual humbling.[3]

In Western culture, April Fools' Day is a day traditionally dedicated to conducting practical jokes.[4]

Description

A practical joke is "practical" because it consists of someone doing something physical, in contrast to a verbal or written joke. For example, the joker who is setting up and conducting the practical joke might hang a bucket of water above a doorway and rig the bucket using pulleys so when the door opens the bucket dumps the water. The joker would then wait for the victim to walk through the doorway and be drenched by the bucket of water. Objects can also be used in practical jokes, like fake vomit, chewing gum bugs, exploding cigars, stink bombs, costumes and whoopee cushions.

Practical jokes often occur inside offices, usually to surprise co-workers. Covering the computer accessories with Jell-O, wrapping the desk with Christmas paper or aluminium foil or filling it with balloons are just some examples of office pranks.[5] Practical jokes are also common occurrences during sleepovers, whereby teens will play pranks on their friends as they come into the home, enter a room or even as they sleep.[6]

American humorist H. Allen Smith wrote a 320-page book in 1953 called The Compleat Practical Joker (ISBN 0-688-03705-4) that contains numerous examples of practical jokes. The book became a best seller not only in the United States but also in Japan.[7] Moira Marsh has written an entire volume about practical jokes.[2] One of her findings is that in the USA they are more often done by males than females.

Famous examples

A practical joke recalled as his favorite by the playwright Charles MacArthur, concerns the American painter and bohemian character Waldo Peirce. While living in Paris in the 1920s, Peirce "made a gift of a very big turtle to the woman who was the concierge of his building". The woman doted on the turtle and lavished care on it. 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.[8] This was the storyline behind Esio Trot, by Roald Dahl.

A hack in progress in Lobby 7 at MIT
Shimer College students pushing a VW Beetle into a campus building

Modern and successful pranks often take advantage of the modernization of tools and techniques. In Canada, engineering students have a reputation for annual pranks; at the University of British Columbia these usually involve leaving a Volkswagen beetle in an unexpected location (such as suspended from the Golden Gate Bridge[9] and the Lions Gate Bridge[10]). A similar prank was undertaken by engineering students at Cambridge University, England, where an Austin 7 car was put on top of the Senate House building.[11] Pranks can also adapt to the political context of the era.[12] Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are particularly known for their "hacks".[13]

Not unlike the Stone Louse of Germany, in the American West the jackalope has become an institutionalized practical joke perennially perpetrated by ruralites (as a class) on tourists, most of whom have never heard of the decades-old myth.[14]

The 2003 TV movie Windy City Heat, consists of an elaborate practical joke on the film's star, Perry Caravallo, who is led to believe that he is starring in a faux action film, Windy City Heat, where the filming which is ostensibly for the film's DVD extras actually documents the long chain of pranks and jokes performed at Caravallo's expense.[15]

Movies

Films featuring practical jokes include:

Radio

Television programs

Genres: reality television (RT), comedy television program (CT), situation comedy (SC), comedy festival (CF)

Transfers

Americas

Europe

UK

Ireland

Finland

Ukraine

People

Some people have developed reputations as practical jokers in addition to other work; others have made pranking their primary work. Many practical jokers are comedians or entertainers, while others engage in pranks connected to social activism or to protest movements.

Fictional characters

See also

References

Look up prank in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pranks.
  1. 1 2 "Practical joke". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  2. 1 2 Marsh, Moira. 2015. Practically Joking. Logan: Utah State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87421-983-8
  3. ↑ Kádár, Dániel Z. (2013). Relational Rituals and Communication: Ritual Interaction in Groups. p. 156. ISBN 0230393055.
  4. ↑ "Japes of the great (book review of April is the cruellest month: The history and meaning of All Fools' Day)". The Economist. April 2, 1988. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  5. ↑ "Funny Office Pranks". Weirdomatic.com. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  6. ↑ "Funny Sleepover Pranks". Terrysblinds.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-11-02.
  7. ↑ Publishers Weekly. 209. 1976. p. 2:24 https://books.google.com/books?id=jAtFAQAAIAAJ. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ Fun Fare: a Treasury of Reader's Digest Wit and Humor. 1949. p. 36.
  9. ↑ Curiel, Jonathan. "Beetle Overboard! / VW hung off GG Bridge in prank", San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, 2001, accessed March 9, 2011
  10. ↑ Wood, Graeme. "UBC dean says punishment uncertain for botched Volkswagen Beetle stunt", The Vancouver Sun, February 5, 2009, accessed March 9, 2011
  11. ↑ From Hermes to bonsai kittens. What makes a jape great?, from The Economist, December 20, 2005. Discusses the origins and evolution of pranks.
  12. ↑ Priceless pranks, from The Economist, February 21, 2006. Lists famous and successful pranks throughout history.
  13. ↑ Kravets, David. "April 1, 1998: Disney to Buy MIT for $6.9 Billion" Wired, March 31, 2010, accessed March 10, 2011.
  14. ↑ Deutsch, James (2014). "Jackalope". In Levine, Timothy R. Encyclopedia of Deception. p. 555. ISBN 1483306895.
  15. ↑ Hyden, Steven (2013-11-12). "The Greatest Trick Comedy Ever Pulled". Grantland. Retrieved 2015-01-23.
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