Not sure you’ll choose the perfect holiday gifts for your loved ones? It hardly matters when you use one of these goofy satirical packages.

“Hilarious Prank Gift Boxes Printed With Items of Questionable Taste That Hide the Real Gift Inside”
by Lori Dorn
Laughing Squid
December 4, 2018

Prank-O, a Minneapolis-based comedy company, has a hilarious line of fake gift boxes known as Prank Packs. These gift boxes are printed with items of questionable taste while hiding the real presents inside. Such absurd items include a Plant Urinal, a “Crib Dribbler”, “My First Fire”, “Bathe and Brew”, “Tech Neck”, “Tweet Printer” and “Sizzl Bacon Scented Dryer Sheets”, just to name a few. Read more.

Because we could use something light-hearted…

“Laughter really IS the best medicine! Photos reveal the hilarious – and occasionally inappropriate – pranks that doctors pull on their patients”
by Martha Cliff
Daily Mail
May 4, 2017

Let’s face it, no one enjoys a visit to the doctors – however these GPs are determined to add some humour to their practice.

A collection of images compiled by BoredPanda has revealed the hilarious and sometimes wildly inappropriate gags pulled by medical professionals.

One sign pointed out to those complaining about waiting that they were the lucky ones as their condition doesn’t warrant them in danger enough to be seen first.

Another endearing photo sees a young girl playing a game of Operation with her nurse ahead of a serious operation.

So whether you deem these photos amusing or unprofessional – they were sure to ease the nerves of the patients. Read more.

Someone filmed a fake human sacrifice at CERN laboratory
by Amar Toor
August 19, 2016

Officials at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have launched an internal investigation after someone filmed a fake human sacrifice ritual at its Geneva headquarters, home to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In the video, posted online this week, a group of people wearing dark robes stand in front of a Hindu statue before “stabbing” a woman, purportedly as some sort of ritual. It was filmed from afar, and the person who shot it pretended to freak out and ran away after the stabbing.

A CERN spokesperson tells the AFP that the prank video was shot without permission on its Geneva campus, and that the people who orchestrated it had badge access to the site. The spokesperson did not identify the people responsible for it, describing the investigation as an “internal matter.” Read the rest of the story here.

Gadgetary advances be damned, phone pranks endure in both old- and new-school iterations and seem to be intertwined with the human drive to communicate.

The Atlantic publishes a thinkpiece on the history and uncertain future of the artform.

“Do People Still Make Prank Phone Calls?”
By Julie Beck
The Atlantic
April 1, 2016

Only a rube or possibly an alien would pick up an unknown phone call, hear the question “Is your refrigerator running?” and answer in the affirmative. And so only the luckiest of amateur mischief-makers would get the satisfaction of getting to drop the “Well, you better go catch it!” before cackling away into the sunset.

And yet, amazingly, this doesn”™t seem to be the oldest trick in the book when it comes to telephone pranks. In her 1976 paper “Telephone Pranks: A Thriving Pastime,” Trudier Harris reports that people “over 50 years old” remembered the old refrigerator gag, which, if they pulled it as teens, means it could”™ve been around in the 1930s or earlier.

But other corny jokes were also around before the “˜30s, according to another paper, ones like:

“This is May.”
“May who?”
“May-onnaise.”

Most middle-class families had home phones by the 1920s or so, according to Claude Fischer, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. And in the early days of the residential telephone, it was taken very seriously, as a tool for serious business, and so “children could trick unsuspecting adults fairly easily,” writes Marilyn Jorgensen in her paper “A Social-Interactional Analysis of Phone Pranks.” Read more.

“Sweden’s Giant Snow Penis Was Erased, So This Man Created an Even Bigger One”
by Ed Mazza
Huffington Post
January 22, 2016

The giant snow penis cannot be stopped.

Emilian Sava, one of the workers who had to clear a giant snow penis from a park in Sweden, felt so guilty about the act of phallic vandalism that he erected his own giant snow schlong, according to The Local.

And in what may be the world’s greatest display of penis envy, the new snow penis is much more massive than the old one.

The original penis was carved into the snow over a frozen moat in Kungsparken (King’s Park) in the city of Gothenburg. It quickly aroused complaints from members of the community. Read more.

April Fools’ day is upon us and the Internet is awash with well-funded corporate pranks, with Google once again leading the pack. For example, check out Google reversed at http://com.google. And, the Google Japan Panda product launch here. Or, you can play Pac-Man on your very own street at http://maps.google.com.

And, oh… Google says Australia is moving north

Beyond the all-seeing, all-knowing world of Google, there’s much, much more funny stuff all of which will be updated throughout the day on The Telegraph’s Best Spoofs and Pranks in Pictures; LifeHacker’s April Fools’ Day 2015 Spoilers: All The Fake Stories And Pranks Revealed; and Gamespot’s Video Game Joke Roundup.

From Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere

No Pants Subway Ride 2014

On Sunday, January 12th, 2014 tens of thousands of people took off their pants on subways in over 60 cities in over 25 countries around the world. The above photo is from Beijing. In New York, our 13th Annual No Pants Subway Ride had over 4,000 participants, spread out over seven meeting points and eleven subway lines.

Watch the video

For more photos and information, visit here.

More about Improv Everywhere here.

Ken Tarr Launches a Hoax Campaign on an Industry Immune to Shame
by Graham Rayman
Village Voice
June 5 2013

Reality TV Insurgent

The packed midtown television studio of The Bill Cunningham Show was pimped out in the fake wood paneling and industrial gray paint of a Jersey office park. On its stage sat a geeky white guy, his hair moussed in a dated faux-hawk. He was furious.

He called himself K.T., claiming to be a prince of the Gypsies, which entitled him to certain extracurricular liberties when it came to romance. His essential theory: He could cheat on his girlfriend, Cynthia, as much as he wished. Cynthia, on the other hand, should be strictly bound to Victorian rules.

Then came the twist: K.T. had recently discovered that the wealthy Cynthia was cheating on him with his boss. Now all three sat onstage, prepared for the cathartic confrontation that only reality talk show hosts like Cunningham could provide.

“I cheat on her but she can’t cheat on me,” K.T. announced in a Southern accent of mysterious origin. “I am a Magyar Gypsy and leader of my caravan. All Gypsy men are allowed to cheat, as long as they are honest about it.”

The crowd booed lustily. Cunningham, a man of alarmingly hawk-like features, perched at the edge of his leatherish chair like an eager child watching a car accident.

Despite his fury, K.T. admitted that he was only using Cynthia for her money.

At that, she jumped from her chair, reached down her blouse, ripped a gel pad from her bra, and shook it at the audience. “If I was so rich,” she bellowed, “why would I be wearing one of these? I’d have my boobs done!”

The audience gasped. Cunningham had once again lived up to his show’s motto: “Real stories, real emotion, real drama. It’s daytime talk for real.”

Or maybe not. (more…)

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:

‘Ben Hurt’: Portland bike warriors smash and crash
by Nigel Duara & Terrence Petty
Newsday/AP
February 21, 2012

Portland, Ore. — Looking like punk gladiators, teams of young adults on junk bikes pulling chariots made of junk parts frenetically chased each other around a makeshift arena, slamming each other and swinging away with foam clubs.

Spectators tossed beer cans, flour and smoke grenades. Firecrackers popped and obscenities flew during the battle, called the “Ben Hurt Chariot Wars.”

And then, toward sundown, the grown-ups arrived. Seven police cars pulled up and told all 400 or so people they had to leave because they were trespassing on railroad property. They complied. But the contest was over anyway.

Victors had already emerged: Jon Penfold and his teammate Nick Schlabach. Falls, collisions and smashed wheels eliminated the other teams. Penfold’s and Schlabach’s chariot, armored with a bubble-shaped metallic cage, was the last one still able to maneuver.

“You attack, and then run. Attack, and then run,” said Penfold, 29. “It’s a war of attrition.”

Asked later on how he felt after winning, the 26-year-old Schlabach said: “I wanted to puke.”

Read the rest of this article here.

CNN anchor interviews prank caller live
by ninemsn staff
news.ninemsn.com.au
November 29, 2011

A red-faced CNN anchor was fooled on live television by a prank caller impersonating a US student who had been arrested in Cairo.

The prankster phoned the studio on November 27 pretending to be Gregory Porter, a real 19-year-old student from Philadelphia who was arrested while participating in protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and then released.

Anchor Fredricka Whitfield appeared completely fooled by the caller, who sounded legitimate at first.

He said returning to the US was like “an early Christmas present”.

But the exchange came to a bizarre end when Ms Whitfield asked the caller what he had been doing the night he was arrested.

The man claimed he was “just down there looking” at the protest when the group was “grabbed by police”.

He then thanked his lawyer, his mother, the US embassy in Cairo, the North shore Animal League and Baba Booey’s monkey nuts. (more…)

Lots of hilarious stunts yesterday… Follow the links and have some fun.

Pull a Prank — There’s an App for That, Phoenix New Times

Playmobil(tm) Apple Store Playset, thanks Chris

Ikea Invents State-Of-The-Art Doggie High Chair, from BestWeekEver.tv

More links: (more…)

Submitted by Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

The Mp3 Experiment Seven

For our latest mission, over 3,000 participants downloaded an MP3 file and pressed play simultaneously in retail stores in Midtown Manhattan.

Created by: Charlie Todd & Tyler Walker
Co-produced and Edited by: Keith Haskel
Music by: Tyler Walker

For more information and photos, visit Improv Everywhere
See more links about Improv Everywhere on The Art of the Prank blog

From Gigafide of http://www.tinkernut.com/: