Rémi Gaillard leaves a trail of befuddled witnesses and victims in his wake. [more inside]
posted by Dave Faris on Jun 24, 2008 - 43 comments

From the Improv Everywhere people comes the Urban Prankster blog to keep track of delightful shenanigans around the world.
posted by CunningLinguist on Jun 11, 2008 - 21 comments

AprilFoolsDayOnTheWeb brings you the most complete listing of April Fools' Day Jokes that Web Sites have run each year from 2004 all the way up to today. Also, the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time. Meanwhile, Google seems to be up to its old tricks...
posted by Effigy2000 on Mar 31, 2008 - 41 comments

"The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants." [Via Threat Level.]
posted by homunculus on Feb 28, 2008 - 67 comments

Never underestimate the power of simple office supplies. [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Jan 26, 2008 - 14 comments

Super funny money turning up on the world stage
Along with pranks going on in the gulf this week, some funny stuff going on with US Currency as well - Perhaps part of the explanation of the seemingly endless run on gold?
posted by specialk420 on Jan 13, 2008 - 52 comments

Melba Jackson has long been the terror of local Christian radio hosts and various sports programs. Her contributions have tickled many a listener, wondering exactly who this elderly woman from a rural area is, exactly. Turns out she isn't a she at all, but a very talented and shy young man by the name of Brother Russell. [more inside]
posted by Unicorn on the cob on Oct 16, 2007 - 26 comments

Phone Sex Pranks — "Below are prank calls I've made- to phone sex girls. Only thing is, I tell them I'm into some "weird" stuff. They're all 100% real and 100% expensive." He's Gil Ozeri of Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. The weird stuff he's into? Clowns, Jewish mother stereotypes, old-timey barbers and Clippy. Yes, Clippy of MS Word infamy. [nsfw, natch]
posted by Kattullus on May 28, 2007 - 57 comments

When Sports Fans Go Mad. Just in time for your NCAA Final Four weekend: a celebration of sports fans' best and worst pranks, taunts, and hijinks. This ain't no Brady Bunch episode. Some require the skills of a tattoo artist. Some are confusing. Some are about public humiliation. This one, however, really takes the cake.
posted by papoon on Mar 31, 2007 - 14 comments

A hefty chunk of Boston was paralyzed today in reaction to the discovery of numerous devices consisting of circuit boards attached to girders. The ones that have been found have been disabled. The subway is crippled; numerous lines have been shut down and been replaced by emergency bus service as authorities root out the remaining instances of what could be bombs! Here is a photo one of these nefarious devices in action.
posted by mkb on Jan 31, 2007 - 338 comments

Art of Bleeding: The first time Mr. Outerspace died, it was to serve the greater good of cleaning the Cacophony Society's gutters of useless hangers-on and lazybones. The second time, it seemed to serve no purpose at all. Some of us are hoping the third time will be the charm. You might not think you know his art, but you do. RIP Peter Geiberger, 1979-2006.
posted by Scram on Sep 22, 2006 - 4 comments

Loathe as I am to add to the centennial ubiquity of the late laureate, I can't help but wonder: who is the Betjemaniac prankster Mme de Harben? And why does she think that biographer AN Wilson is a shit?
posted by jack_mo on Aug 28, 2006 - 10 comments

Last call for Mr Al Kyder and Mr Terry Wrist...
posted by marvin on Aug 19, 2006 - 18 comments

Alan Abel is a self-described "professional hoaxer" active since 1959. His classic hoaxes include the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, the 1964 presidential campaign of Jewish housewife Yetta Bronstein, a topless string quartet (slightly NSFW), and the wedding of Idi Amin. He also released two mockumentaries long before Spinal Tap was a gleam in Christopher Guest's eye. Now Abel's daughter Jenny has released a documentary tribute to her father, Abel Raises Cain, which has some great You Tube clips, including 1970s talk show staple, Omar's School for Beggars. (some clips may be NSFW)
posted by jonp72 on Aug 14, 2006 - 15 comments

Payback is a B**** Someone played one too many practical jokes and/or pranks on some IT guys who had too much time on their hands. Impressive results ensue.
posted by FlamingBore on Aug 8, 2006 - 52 comments

Yes, it's another Snakes on a Plane promo but this one is different: it's fucking awesome. Drop in your friends name (hopefully it's semi-normal and they have it in the db), then fill out some info about your friend, then have it place a call to them. Watch friend freak out when Samuel L. Jackson calls them up and knows all sorts of shit about them. Trust me, it totally freaked me out when someone did it to me today.
posted by mathowie on Aug 2, 2006 - 114 comments

Pink Expenses is a fun little hack. Select from a list of racy services, get presented with a plausable looking receipt, then cut it out and submit it with your next corporate expense report. Hilarity ensues (or you get fired, which is still kind of funny).
posted by mathowie on Apr 6, 2006 - 22 comments

Have you ever wondered why we don't harvest milk from pigs? Or why the Amoco Corporation is always leaving all the lights on in their building in such an energy-inefficient fashion? What the hell is the Grimace anyway? What does Ruth Bader Ginsburg think of the legal problem of Siamese twins, when one is retarded and the other commits a felony? What are the qualifications of the buzzer-pressing "judge" on "$100,000 Pyramid"? Can you crash on the Sultan of Brunei's sofa when you're in town? For many years, Guy Petzall attempted to get answers to questions like these. Sometimes he succeeded.
posted by Gator on Apr 1, 2006 - 43 comments

Must-haves for your coffee table, lavatory reading, or just killing time on the subway: The Nutritional Benefits of Nose Picking; Perfecting the Art of Fart Projection (NEVER be blamed again!); How to Murder a Complete Stranger (and get away with it) [paging scarabic]. These and other eyebrow-raising books can be yours, assuming you already have a book that you can put these dustjackets on. FlapArt: The Alternative Book Cover.
posted by Gator on Mar 17, 2006 - 17 comments

What makes a prank great ? The Economist (of all places) is looking for the finest prank in history. I'd be happy just to hear your finest. "For the most impressively elaborate pranks, however, go to a university campus. Take thousands of bright young things with too much time on their hands, itching to achieve, amuse and misbehave, and splendid acts of delinquency will follow." See also: Shenanigans
posted by spock on Jan 8, 2006 - 53 comments

The mystery of Qwert Shmarble--solved! If you've ever wondered how stunningly useful items like Qwert Shmarble end up on Amazon, here's the inside story, from the former Amazon temp who wrote the user manual to the NM-156 Reciprocating Emu Press.
posted by yankeefog on Dec 5, 2005 - 16 comments

It's Friday. It's early. You beat your coworkers into the office. Now for some fun go load up the Office Poltergeist server onto their machines, note their IP address, and wait a few hours. Later today you can send text to their screen, send sounds, move their windows slightly, and open their CD tray. If you're careful, you can probably keep pranking someone for hours using this. [via MeFi Projects]
posted by mathowie on Nov 11, 2005 - 26 comments

We've discussed the Ashton Kutcher's voicemail problems, though many Mefites quickly caught on that it was fake. The media, it seems, wasn't so smart. The whole thing, it turns out, was an elaborate stunt created by the same guy who gave us The Credit Card Prank. It was the media and the people leaving the voicemails who ultimately got punk'd, but in the end, Ashton surrendered anyway. It's quite possible that by making this post I'm the most punk'd of all. I no longer know what's real and what's fake.
posted by bondcliff on Oct 11, 2005 - 35 comments

Panos - 105 Fake road signs by 47 artists world-wide. {site is flash. best way to see them all is go through "artists"}
posted by dobbs on Aug 23, 2005 - 23 comments

How to make friends with your IT department
posted by cbrody on Jun 21, 2005 - 20 comments

A lecutre musical (QT video) by Columbia University spontaneous performance artists PRANGSTGRÜP (warning: flash site). Lots of great stuff in their videos section.
posted by panoptican on Mar 31, 2005 - 15 comments

The Credit Card Prank Part 2 Not satisified with the results of an earlier experiment, John Hargave kicks it up a notch and tries to get someone, anyone, care about the signature on his credit card receipts.
posted by Robot Johnny on Mar 23, 2005 - 29 comments

McDonald's Bathroom Attendant. From the folks who brought you The MP3 Experiment, but this is funnier.
posted by DrJohnEvans on Feb 18, 2005 - 24 comments

Sometimes you steal the goat, sometimes you hack the game. But you know you've accomplished something when you get the fans to heckle themselves. [last link QT video]
posted by ..ooOOoo....ooOOoo.. on Nov 28, 2004 - 25 comments

Overqualified: A new letter every Tuesday
Joey Comeau wrote cover letter after cover letter, listing the same store bought traits in the same wording, day after day, hoping to find another job. And then one day he just snapped a little. He sat down to write a cover letter, and something entirely new came out. So he sent it anyway, but also publishes them on the web. (Or at least he used to.)
posted by anastasiav on Nov 27, 2004 - 19 comments

Prankishly pranky! With topics like "God hates mimes", "Porno for Bibles" and an "Insult Booth" these chaps have an idea and take it to its natural conclusion... storming the castle to kill the monster.
posted by holloway on Oct 28, 2004 - 2 comments

"Al Pieda" Targets Ann Coulter
Members of the notorious culinary terrorist group "Al Pieda" launched an attack on Ann Coulter while she was speaking at the University of Arizona. The report says some pie got on her face but attendants were able to wipe it off before she received any nutrional value from the pie.
Not to be confused with the notorious math group "Al Gebra", who would have probably thrown a slide rule at her.
posted by fenriq on Oct 25, 2004 - 26 comments

Let's Pie! Let's pie! Nincompoop guys! (or girls).
posted by Otis on Oct 22, 2004 - 2 comments

sniggle.net :: calls itself a 'Culture Jammer's Encyclopedia' -- its a fabulous compendium of forgeries, fakes, hoaxes, counterfeiting, spoofs, pseudoscience, and just plain weird stuff. Perfect fodder for killing time on a Friday afternoon.
posted by anastasiav on Apr 23, 2004 - 6 comments

Regularly-updated listing of today's April Fools jokes on the web. Add 'em if you've got 'em.
posted by Fourmyle on Apr 1, 2004 - 16 comments

Top 100 April Fools Hoaxes of all time. Also, April Fools on the Net - a history of newsgroup April Fools posts.
posted by badstone on Apr 1, 2004 - 3 comments

Punk the National Review - a potentially-petty exercise in journalistic credibility. The National Review has recently engaged in printing anonymous e-mails from readers who "used to know" the Democratic candidates and just happen to have damaging stories about them. Blogger Ted Barlow is offering a $10 Amazon gift certificate to anyone who can get their anonymous story published. "If you possess an email address and an eye-opening story, you've passed the rigorous fact-checking that has made National Review and the Penthouse Forum world-famous."
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Feb 3, 2004 - 26 comments

Pictures of the tin-foil apartment - a New Year's Eve prank taken to the nth degree...
posted by skechada on Jan 14, 2004 - 27 comments

The Cybersexual Adventures of J-Dogg
J-Dogg: Oh yeah, aight. Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat.
BritneySpears27: Oh, I like to play dress up.
J-Dogg: Me too baby.
BritneySpears27: I kiss you softly on your chest.
J-Dogg: I cast Lvl. 3 Eroticism. You turn into a real beautiful woman.
BritneySpears27: Hey...
J-Dogg: I meditate to regain my mana, before casting Lvl. 8 Cock of the Infinite.
(via Harpers)
posted by Ljubljana on Sep 16, 2003 - 30 comments

A prankster turns himself into the RIAA:
JH: Hello. I just downloaded some illegal MP3s and my friend told me that the RAII is going to sue everyone who downloads music. What should I do?
RIAA: Hold on just a sec.
posted by Inkslinger on Sep 15, 2003 - 25 comments

Honey, phone's for you....it's the Barbi Twins! Almost-celebrities will talk to you or a loved one on the phone for $1 a second (30 sec. increments). So, so awesome, I don't know where to start. I'm just glad Epstein from Welcome Back Kotter is available!
posted by stupidsexyFlanders on Aug 1, 2003 - 42 comments

The Love Rug. Most wired hipsters have heard of smart mobs by now. A group of social pranksters have embraced this idea, and set off a couple of "inexplicable smart mob" gatherings in Manhattan. This looks like a lot of fun to me. Or maybe I just need to get out more. Hmmm....
posted by majcher on Jun 18, 2003 - 13 comments

Anybody know the origin of April Fool's day? We already have a post about the greatest hoaxes of all time, but doesn't anybody know WHY we hoax and trick? I won't tell you why here....but I find it funny, what with the current jingoism and all, that it comes from France...after you digest that first link, read more at urbanlegends.com.
posted by taumeson on Apr 1, 2003 - 8 comments

As a brief distraction from all the death and destruction, let's head over to the museum of hoaxes, where we'll find the top 100 April Fool's day pranks of all time. Good luck with your own respective hoaxing.
posted by jonz on Mar 31, 2003 - 5 comments

With the weighty world events, many of us are in dire need of a little levity. A double dose of comedienne Wanda Sykes and her prank calls might just do the trick...here are two audio clips -- Conjugal Visits and Tow Yard Complaint -- both are quite amusing, but not certainly NSFW. More info on Wanda. courtesy of Davezilla.
posted by madamjujujive on Feb 15, 2003 - 16 comments

Dow Chemical takes over a parody site Long time reader, first time poster... So what's the lesson learned here? If you make a parody, don't register your domain with a faked name?
posted by mhh5 on Dec 29, 2002 - 18 comments

When you take a good storyteller with keys to much of campus, a desire to get into everyplace else, and a need to bring about change through "constructive vandalism" and then wait for the statute of limitations to pass, you wind up with the published stories of Stealth Force Beta. Those folks who never had fun in college didn't get isolated in the middle of the desert with a bunch of nerds.
posted by ewagoner on Nov 26, 2002 - 6 comments

Another awful D.J. prank.... not even a prank, just plain cruelty: calling Darryl Kile's widow on-air and asking if she has a date to Thursday night's playoff game. Funny, eh?
posted by adrober on Oct 5, 2002 - 22 comments

You did what on an MRI machine?? [pdf]. Also included is the transcript of one of the 'participants' in this experiment.
(Friday fun - possibly NSFW)
posted by patrickje on Aug 9, 2002 - 20 comments

Pranks as an art form. Read about some of the exploits of pranksters Boyd Rice, Jeffrey Valance, Monte Cazazza, and especially Joey Skaggs Skaggs' classic pranks include The "Walk Right" campaign, the Bad Guys Talent Agency and the Campaign to rename the Gypsy Moth. Lots more in this book.a
posted by interrobang on Aug 6, 2002 - 13 comments