A Very Brief History of Pranking
No one knows who pulled the first prank, but chances are good it happened very early in human history. Some fun-loving cave guy probably greased the handle of his buddy’s club with boar fat before they set out hunting one day. It seems the urge to fake out your fellow hominid is part of the human genetic code.
Luckily, some pranks from history actually got written down. One of the earliest recorded pranks happened almost 1,800 years ago, around a.d. 219. The story goes that the teenage Roman emperor Elagabulus placed special deflatable leather pillows around a low dining table for his most pompous guests. By the end of the meal, his victims were sitting on the floor. About 1,300 years later, an English monk named Thomas Betson fooled his fellow friars by putting a live beetle inside a hollowed-out apple, causing the fruit to rock back and forth by itself. Fast-forward to 1810, when an Englishman named Theodore Hook pulled off one of the craziest pranks ever. Hook made a bet with a friend that he could turn any home into the most talked-about address in London. Hook had nearly every product and service available in the City of London delivered over the course of a single day to the home of a Mrs. Tottenham. First thing in the morning, a load of coal arrived, followed by deliveries of furniture, musical instruments, flowers, bread, fish, a wedding cake, and much more. Doctors, dentists, gardeners, undertakers, even the mayor of London were all sent to the woman’s house until there was a huge traffic jam on her street. Needless to say, he won the bet.
These are just a few highlights from the rich history of pranks. It’s up to you to keep this ancient tradition alive. So get pranking! You’ll be joining an elite club that includes Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ellen DeGeneres, and George Clooney. If you get really good, you may even qualify someday for inclusion in this book’s Prankster Hall of Fame!
CAUTION!
All the pranks contained herein have been tested on humans and they work. But naturally, you should exercise common sense and appropriate caution when doing them. The author and publisher are not responsible for any negative effects (including revenge pranks perpetrated on the user) that result from using this book.
FOUR THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS BOOK
1 The pranks in this book are organized alphabetically, like encyclopedia entries. That means you can use the book to teach little siblings the alphabet when you’re not busy pranking them.
2 Each prank in this book has a rating that tells you how much time and effort it takes:
3 You can do most of the pranks by yourself, but a few require help from an adult. Your adult should be more than happy to help out, because it means you won’t be pulling the prank on them! These are marked with this sign:
4 Most of the “Prankster Hall of Fame” entries described throughout the book are real. But a few are fakes. Can you spot them and avoid being the victim of a Pranklopedia prank?
HOW TO PULL THE PERFECT PRANK
1 PREPARE. Even very simple pranks work better if you think through what you are going to do before you approach your victim. For more complicated pranks, do a few test runs on a friend (or yourself) and adjust anything that isn’t quite working.
2 TELL A GOOD STORY. It takes some acting skills to be an effective prankster (which might explain why Brad Pitt and George Clooney are so good at it). Make sure any story you invent sounds believable, and deliver it in your natural voice. If you suddenly start using a lot of fancy words or if you sound rehearsed, your victim will know something is up.
3 KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE. This gets easier with practice. Throw yourself into the story you are telling so that you practically believe it yourself, and don’t think about the fact that you are about to prank your victim. If you still have trouble keeping a straight face, try this trick: Think about something serious before you get started (like the homework you’re not doing because you are so busy pranking people). Thinking about serious things will help you look serious and make it that much easier to fool people.
4 SPREAD YOUR PRANKS OUT. If you do every prank in this book in one week, people won’t fall for them—they’ll just run when they see you coming!
Your pranks will go over much better (and you will also be much less likely to be grounded until the end of time) if you follow these rules:
1 CHOOSE YOUR VICTIM CAREFULLY. Someone who has a sense of humor and can’t flunk you is a good general rule. Avoid school principals, police officers, or your mother on the day she has gotten a bad haircut and discovers the cat threw up all over the sofa.
2 PRANKS SHOULD BE FUNNY, NOT MEAN. It’s fine to stick a sign on someone’s back that says High-Five Me!, but don’t write it in red paint that will ruin their favorite T-shirt. If your friend is deathly afraid of Jell-O, don’t do any Jell-O pranks on him or her. (Try pudding pranks instead.)
3 AVOID DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, PEOPIE, AND PETS. That goes without saying, but we’re saying it anyway.
4 CLEAN UP ANY MESS. Fake vomit is hilarious; the mess you left in the kitchen sink while making the fake vomit is not! Any prank that’s particularly messy has this warning sign to the right.
BEWARE!
This prank may cause a mess. Be prepared to clean up!
WHEN GOOD PRANKS GO BAD
No matter how carefully you choose your victim, it’s bound to happen once or twice: Instead of laughing, and perhaps congratulating you, your victim gets angry. This is usually a sign that the person has no sense of humor, but do not mention that! It’s guaranteed to make things worse. Follow these tips instead:
1 If your victim doesn’t realize that you are the perpetrator, you can:
* Disappear for a while. Give your victim a chance to cool down—and hopefully forget the entire incident.
* Make a copy of the form on the next page and leave it where your victim will find it. Then disappear for a while.
2 If you get caught red-handed, try a simple but flattering apology: “Aw, I was just joking. I picked you because you have such an awesome sense of humor!”
Happy pranking!