‘How Do I Land’ Skywriting Prank Brought To You By Kurt Braunohler
By Anna Almendrala
The Huffington Post
May 15, 2013

It’s probably something a pilot should ask long before getting into the cockpit. But one professional skywriter traced the cheeky message above downtown Los Angeles on March 23 as part of an elaborate prank by comedian Kurt Braunohler.

Photo by Robyn Von Swank

If you blinked, you missed it — Braunohler wrote in a Tumblr post that the message lasted only about 20 minutes before disappearing. But the prank got a second wind on Monday when a photo of the message, taken by Robyn Von Swank, was uploaded to Reddit’s image hosting site Imgur. (more…)

From Huffington Post:

Corporate sniping takes a front row in this year’s tech-foolery…

GMAIL Blue:

From TechCrunch: The hits just keep coming for The Googs. Next stop on the April Fools Google Train? “Gmail Blue.” That should explain itself, but just in case, it took Google “six years to develop the technology” to turn Gmail blue. Google turns nine tomorrow, and it might as well just go for it.

A poke at Facebook? Who’s to say?

Bing goes Google:

From ZDNet: If you wander down over to Bing today, you’re surely in for a surprise. Microsoft is swiping a jibe at Google by changing how it looks if you search for “google” in the rival search engine. It’s still regular Bing under the surface, though. And just for extra heart-ripping measure, you can either “Search” or hit the soon-to-be infamous “I’m Feeling Confused” button instead.

More on what’s happening – check these links throughout the day for more:

April Fools’ Day Prank Products: From Self-inflating Whoopie Cushions To ‘I’m A Douche’ Coffee Mugs
by David Moye
The Huffington Post
March 31, 2013

For some people, April Fools’ Day is a day to say, “whoopie” — as in cushion.

Celebrated since medieval times, the humorous holiday is perfect for those people who want to get a rise out of friends, family — or even authoritarian figures who have tortured them the other 364 days of the year.

“It’s an excuse to vent frustrations, and be playful and harmless,” according to prank artist Joey Skaggs, whose specializes in fooling the media into printing outrageous stories.

One year, Skaggs convinced major New York newspapers that he’d created a “cathouse for dogs,” where pooches could get sexually gratified by a “savory” assortment of “hot bitches”; another time, he was a guest on Good Morning America, where he posed as the leader of a group of ex military commandos who were now helping dieters as the “Fat Squad,” a team that would physically restrain fat people, to keep them from breaking their diets. (more…)

Police say Mont. TV zombie hoax likely linked to others
Michael Beall, Great Falls (Mont.), Tribune
USA Today
February 13, 2013

Fake emergency alert warned of dead bodies walking the streets and attacking the living.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Zombies weren’t walking the streets here Monday, but a false alert that aired on two local TV stations went through the same channels on which true emergencies are aired, raising questions and concerns of how the hoax occurred.

The hoax reached around 10 stations in Montana, Michigan, California, Utah and New Mexico, said Greg MacDonald, the CEO of Montana Broadcasters Association.

The alert featured a scrolling warning for various Montana counties and a voice-over claimed there were “dead bodies rising from the grave and attacking the living” and urged people to use caution.

“Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous,” it said.

MacDonald said the FBI and the FCC are investigating the cases, and initial findings have officials believing the hoax originated somewhere overseas. (more…)

Pregnant Kate: Radio Station Faces Backlash
Sky News
December 8, 2012

The CEO of the radio station behind the Duchess of Cambridge hoax call says his DJs are “shattered” by the death of a nurse.11:09am UK, Saturday 08 December 2012

Video: Prank Radio Station Faces Backlash

Two DJs are being offered counselling after the nurse duped by their prank call to the Duchess of Cambridge’s hospital died in a suspected suicide.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found dead days after taking the hoax call and putting it through to a nurse on Kate’s ward, who divulged private information about her treatment.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge led tributes to the 46-year-old mother of two, saying they were “deeply saddened” by news of her death.

Flowers have also been left outside the hospital’s nurses’ block, just around the corner from the building where Kate was treated for acute morning sickness.

Major advertisers have dumped 2Day FM and presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian have been taken off air as the station faces a backlash over the disastrous stunt.
(more…)

From Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

The 12th Annual No Pants Subway Ride will take place on Sunday, January 13 in New York City. More info with the meeting point and start time will be posted to this site about one week in advance. For now, save the date. You can RSVP on Facebook.

Video from No Pants Subway Ride 2012

Once again we are encouraging folks in other cities around the world to stage their own No Pants Subway Rides on the same day. Regional organizers must fill out this registration form to have their event included. The week before the event we will publish a list of all participating cities along with links to Facebook events. Groups have staged the event on trolleys, light rails, and buses in the past, so don’t let a lack of subway system stop you! 59 cities participated last year. Check the list on this page to see if one happened in your city last year as preference will go to the prior year’s organizers.

If you are unfamiliar with this tradition, you can read the history here: The No Pants Subway Ride.

For our latest mission, we had 100 people camp out in front of a 99 cent store in Manhattan on Black Friday. Participants arrived early in the morning with tents, chairs, and sleeping bags, making it look like they had camped out overnight. When the store opened, the crowd rushed inside and made purchases, buying 99 cent items with glee. Actress Cody Lindquist posed as a local NBC news reporter and conducted interviews with confused and delighted store employees and passersby. Check out the photos and report here.

Click here for more about Improv Everywhere

Submitted by Emerson Dameron. Editor’s note: This is reminiscent of Alan Abel’s 1990 Lottery Ticket Hoax.

Man Fools More Than 500,000 Facebook Users Pretending To Be Lottery Winner
by Justin Lafferty
allfacebook.com
November 30, 2012

As we learned earlier with the ubiquitous “In response to the new Facebook guidelines” posts, Facebook users will share just about anything — especially if they’ve got a shot at $1 million. Recently, a Facebook user named Nolan Daniels posted a photo of himself with the $587.5 million-winning Powerball ticket, with the caption, “Looks like I won’t be going to work EVER!!!! Share this photo and I will give a random person 1 million dollars!” More than 500,000 people have shared the photo. One problem, though: the ticket isn’t real.

Gawker pointed out that the numbers on the ticket would be in order, citing the Powerball FAQ:

The tickets print the white ball numbers (the first five numbers) in numerical order.

It’s plain to see that the numbers on Daniels’ faked ticket appear to read: 4, 22, 29, 23, 46, 5.

Other than that, the real winners have already come forward.

As seen on Phatman and Little Boy:

Romney says he’s not running for ‘Pastor in Chief,’ discusses prankster reputation

…The former Massachusetts governor also discussed his reputation as a prankster.

Romney has apologized in recent days for what he described as high school “hijinks” — after a Washington Post story claimed he had cut a fellow student’s hair while attending school decades ago. Romney, though, has said he doesn’t recall that specific incident and the family of the alleged victim, who has since died of cancer, has disputed the accuracy of the story.

In the CBN interview, Romney explained some of his more common pranks — like “short sheeting” a bed, which is when the sheets in a bed are folded improperly to make it impossible for the person in the bed to stretch out.

“We have in our family of course, a number of things that we do like pushing people out of a boat, short sheeting their bed, putting corn flakes in their bed, a lot of jokes and tricks that we play among ourselves,” Romney said.

The candidate said he once had a state trooper who short-sheeted his bed once — but explained how he returned the prank. (more…)

The bride wore a blindfold
by Alison Mutler
WindsorStar
September 4, 2012

‘Kidnapping’ ritual booms in Bucharest

AP: A white limousine screeches to a halt, and a bride, resplendent in frothy gown and veil, is hauled outside by her abductors.

It’s one of Romania’s more colourful customs: bride-napping.

And the tradition of snatching the bride from under the nose of groom and guests with the wedding party in full swing is getting bigger, brasher and an increasingly common sight in the Romanian capital, the Balkans’ undisputed party town.

Every Saturday night, brides from Bucharest and beyond are dragged away in a mock abduction by friends and driven to a top tourist spot where they are “held hostage” – all the while pouting, dancing and striking provocative poses for the cameras. (more…)

Montana Man Killed During Bigfoot Hoax
by Katie Kindelan with contributions from AP
ABCNews.go.com
August 28, 2012

A Montana man dressed in a Bigfoot costume in an apparent attempt to provoke reports of sightings of the mythical creature was killed when he was struck by two cars on a highway.

Randy Lee Tenley, 44, of Kalispell, in Northwest Montana, was standing in the right-hand lane of U.S. Highway 93 Sunday night when he was struck by a car, the Montana Highway Patrol said. A second car then hit him again as he lay in the road, authorities said.

“He had this Ghillie suit and was going to attempt to get the attention of passing motorist and, through I don’t know what means, make them feel like they saw Bigfoot or sasquatch,” Montana Highway Patrol Officer Jim Schneider told ABC affiliate KTMF.

Schneider told the local newspaper the Daily Inter Lake that authorities determined Tenley’s motive, posing as Bigfoot, after interviewing the man’s friends. Alcohol “may have been a factor,” in the incident, according to Schneider. (more…)

From Wil:

A presentation of JustForLaughsTV, the official Just For Laughs Gags YouTube channel:

Update from Joshua Darrah, July 16, 2012: The video below is a replacement for the original :30 video posted January 19, 2012. It’s now 6:24.

Submitted by Joshua Darrah January 19, 2012: Here’s a prank I pulled on my friends and family recently:

STEP 1: Secretly shave off your two year long hair.
STEP 2: Glue it into a wig.
STEP 3: pull it off to freak your friends. 40 of them.

I had been growing my hair for a couple of years, and wanted to go back to a shaved head, but I wanted to make it a surprise to my brother that i was suddenly shaving my head. I have NO IDEA where the idea came to me from, but i wondered if I would be able to cut off my long hair, keep it, then hot glue it into a wig. I would then wear that wig of my own hair (yes this is slightly serial killerish i know!) and while hanging with my brother, suddenly pull off my ‘hair’ and be shaved headed in a split second.

I told him I was filming a video project, that way I could film his reaction. And man it went down a treat! I then realised I could wear my wig to every visit with friends and family over the coming 2 months, I eventually pranked over 40 of my close friends and family. (more…)

Submitted by Trent Hales: Donkey Kong has kidnapped Princess Peach once again. This time in vegas! Can Mario and Luigi stop him?

Posted by Bangakang, filmed by Dave Tucker, Tyler White, Andy Rawlings, John Sherwood

Also check out:

Submitted by Trent Hales:

And, submitted by Emerson Dameron: “The reactions to this staged unearthing of a treasure chest are worth more than gold.”