Practical joke: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Joke - phone books in doorway.jpg|thumb|right|150px|One example of a practical joke is to completely block someone's doorway while he/she is in the room.]] |
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A '''practical joke''' or '''prank''' is a situation set up usually to produce what the perpetrator imagines to be a humorous outcome at the expense of the target. Practical jokes are distinct from [[slapstick comedy]] or knockabout, in which the goal is to make physical events appear miscalculated, inept, or stupid. The term ''practical'' refers to the fact that the joke consists of someone doing something (a 'practice'), rather than a word joke. |
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Since the set-up or deception is generally eventually revealed to the victim, the butt of the joke is thereby made to feel foolish or victimized. Therefore there is an inherent strain of [[cruelty]] in most practical jokes. There is no clean-cut boundary between practical jokes and [[hooliganism]], [[vandalism]], or [[sadism]]. |
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Well-known practical jokers include the illustrator [[Hugh Troy]] and the publicist [[Jim Moran (publicist)|Jim Moran]]. |
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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. |
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The American humorist [[H. Allen Smith]] wrote a 320-page book in 1953 called ''The Compleat Practical Joker''<ref>http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/4abcc0dbdb6d7ac1.html</ref> that contains many examples of practical jokes. A typical one, recalled as his favorite by the [[playwright]] [[Charles MacArthur]], concerns the American painter and [[Bohemianism|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]]. |
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==Types of practical jokes== |
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PLEASE READ BEFORE ADDING A JOKE: |
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This section is intended to cover types (or categories) of jokes, not specific jokes. A list of all possible jokes would be impossibly long. |
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* False signaling, such as a "kick me" note stuck on someone's back, an 'automatic door' sign on a normal swinging door, or dropping an empty carton on someone's foot after pretending it is heavy. |
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* Removing someone's clothing so that it exposes a private body part or their undergarments, particularly in public. ''See [[Sharking]]''. |
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* Surprise disruption, employing (for example) trip-wires, [[whoopee cushion]]s or other [[practical joke device]]s, peanut butter on the inside of a car door handle, punctured ketchup packets under the toilet seat, a three-legged [[lectern]] for a public speaker, defecating in the toilet's holding tank, or putting a bucket full of cold water above a door. |
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* Visual deception; such as [[water balloon|water-filled balloons]], plastic wrap on a toilet seat(from [[Captain Underpants]], '[[School prank#Short sheeting|apple-pie beds]]' which have had the top blanket artfully folded back so the victim cannot get all the way in (also known as "short-sheeting"), loosening the tops of salt shakers, causing its entire contents to spill on one's meal, fake flowers in the lapel which squirt water, rubber fruit, and guns which unfurl a flag saying 'bang'. |
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* [[Fool's errand]]s such as sending someone to buy striped paint, water-proof towels, left-handed wrenches or screwdrivers, elbow grease, patina (for antique collectors),or read-only CD blanks (see also: [[snipe hunt]]). |
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* [[Hoax]] stories or situations perpetrated on or by the [[mass media|media]] such as fabricated UFO landings and fake celebrity interviews involving rude or ludicrous questions (see also: [[culture jamming]]). |
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* Spontaneous impersonations, such as taking an order for takeaway food from someone who has actually dialed a wrong number. |
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* Verbal and typographical pranks, such as printing a block of text so that the first letters of every line spell out an irreverent message (see also [[Acrostic]]), or teaching someone a purportedly useful phrase in another language which transpires to be an insult (such as "(Tú) eres una vaca", which means "You are a cow" in [[Spanish language|Spanish]].) |
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*Internet Jokes - Fooling to be thought playing a game, and midway through the game be interrupted by a scary or obscene animation or photograph. |
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*Practical jokes are features of various kinds of holidays, such as [[April Fool's Day]], [[Halloween]], the Day of the [[Holy Innocents]] (in Spanish-speaking cultures). They also feature in various rites of passage, such as [[stag night]]s. |
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*Physical pranks, such as sticking a sleeping person's hand in warm water so that they wet the bed, or putting shaving cream or whipped cream on a sleeping person's hand and tickling their face—the object being to cause them to essentially [[pieing|pie themselves]]. |
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*[[Gross out]] pranks, such as "[[cup-a-soup]]"ing someone by shoving a fart in their face or placing dog poop in their coffee. The aforementioned Tank Prank is also a popular gross out joke. |
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*The [[burning-paper-bag-of-excrement joke]], which involves filling a brown paper bag with excrement, placing it on the doorstep of the house of the victim, setting the bag on fire, ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door, and then running away. The theory then goes that the excited party--who answers the door and then sees the burning paper bag, will stomp on the bag to extinguish the flames, thereby coating the victim's foot with the contents of the bag. The humor purportedly arises particularly intensely when the victim answers the door while in bare feet. This joke is only known to be effective against those individuals of comparable ignorance to the joke perpetrator, since clear-thinking individuals would simply seek to extinguish the flames by an alternate method such as dousing the flames or using a fire extinguisher. |
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==Other== |
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A literary figure wrote a story about a man who lowered himself from the side of building in order to startle a colleague. The rope snapped and he plunged to his death, an ending the author characterized as "the perfect practical joke". |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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==See also== |
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*[[Computer prank]] |
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*[[Dreadnought hoax]] |
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*[[:Category:Practical jokes]] |
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=== Related television shows=== |
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*''[[Balls of Steel (TV series)]]'' |
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*''[[Buzzkill]]'' |
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*''[[Punk'd]]'' |
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*''[[Just For Laughs Gags]]'' |
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*''[[Prank Patrol]]'' |
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*''[[Candid Camera]]'' |
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*''[[Hi-Jinks]]'' |
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*''[[Jackass]]'' |
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*''[[TV Bloopers And Practical Jokes]]'' |
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*''[[The Jamie Kennedy Experiment]]'' |
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=== Related radio shows === |
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*''[[The Phil Hendrie Show]]'' |
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== External links == |
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*[http://www.funnypracticaljokes.com Practical Joke Site] collection of practical jokes and pranks |
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*[http://www.zug.com The oldest comedy site on the web] collection of funny real pranks |
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*[http://easypranks.blogspot.com Easy Pranks]Learn how to do Easy pranks |
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