List of practical joke topics
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This is a list of practical joke topics (also known as a prank, gag, jape or shenanigan) which are mischievous tricks or
joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...
s played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from
confidence trick A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have ...
s or hoaxes in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes or pranks are generally lighthearted, reversible and non-permanent, and aim to make the victim feel foolish or victimised to a degree, but may also involve
cruelty Cruelty is the pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve ...
and become a form of bullying if performed without appropriate finesse.


Practical jokes


0–9

* 2004 Harvard–Yale prank


A

* Alhokm Baad Almozawla *
April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...
* List of April Fools' Day jokes


B

* Berners Street hoax * Bingo Shooting Device *
Black fax The term black fax refers to a prank fax transmission, consisting of one or more pages entirely filled with a uniform black tone. The sender's intention is generally to use up as much of the recipient's fax ink, toner, or thermal paper as possible ...


C

* Caltech–MIT rivalry * Candid Camera * Capping stunt * Josiah S. Carberry * Chewing gum bug *
Chinese finger trap A Chinese finger trap (also known as a Chinese finger puzzle, Chinese thumb cuff, Chinese handcuffs, and similar variants) is a gag toy used to play a practical joke on unsuspecting children and adults. The finger trap is a simple puzzle that ...
* Chinese fire drill * Confetti eggs/cascerones *
Culture jamming Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It att ...


D

* Devil's Night * Devious licks * Dribble glass * Dutch oven


E

*
Egging Egging is the act of throwing eggs at people or property. The eggs are usually raw, but can be hard-boiled or rotten. The egging of politicians is a well-known form of protest, and egging cars or houses can be done as a form of vandalism, with ...
*
Elbow grease Elbow grease or elbow oil in French is an idiom for manual labour and the process of working hard to accomplish an objective. It is a figure of speech for indicating that nothing other than one's own labour is required for a task, capable of bein ...
*
Email spoofing Email spoofing is the creation of email messages with a forged sender address. The term applies to email purporting to be from an address which is not actually the sender's; mail sent in reply to that address may bounce or be delivered to an unr ...
*
Exploding cigar An exploding cigar is a variety of cigar that explodes shortly after being lit. Such cigars are normally packed with a minute chemical explosive charge near the lighting end or with a non-chemical device that ruptures the cigar when exposed to ...


F

*
Fake denominations of United States currency Promotional fake United States currency is faux "currency" that makes no assertion of being legal tender. This money is often created by individuals as a way to promote practical jokes, or social statements. It is legal to print so long as it ma ...
*
Fake vomit Fake may refer to: * Deception, an act or a statement intended to deceive ** Charlatan, a person who practices deception to obtain money or other advantages ** Counterfeit, a reproduction of an item, intended to deceive ** Cover-up, an attempt to ...
* Father Pat Noise * Flagging


G

*
Gag name A gag name is a pseudonym intended to be humorous through its similarity to both a real name and a term or phrase that is funny, strange, or vulgar. The source of humor stems from the double meaning behind the phrase, although use of the name wit ...
*
Glitter bombing Glitter bombing is an act of protest in which activists throw glitter on people at public events.Vinciguerra, Thomas (August 27, 2011)Glittering Rage.''The New York Times'' Glitter bombers have frequently been motivated by, though not limited to, ...
*
Googly eyes Googly eyes, or wiggle eyes, are small plastic crafting items used to imitate eyeballs. Googly eyes traditionally are composed of a white plastic or card backing covered by a clear, hard-plastic shell, encapsulating a black plastic disk. The comb ...
* Golden rivet * Great Rose Bowl Hoax * Great Stork Derby *
Groucho glasses Groucho glasses, also known as nose glasses, the beaglepuss, or the GM 20/20s are a humorous novelty disguise which function as a caricature of the stage makeup used by the comedian Groucho Marx in his movies and vaudeville performances. They ...


H

*
Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are practical jokes and pranks meant to prominently demonstrate technical aptitude and cleverness, or to commemorate popular culture and historical topics. The pranks are anonymously installed a ...
* Harisen *
Henryk Batuta hoax The Henryk Batuta hoax was a hoax perpetrated on the Polish Wikipedia from November 2004 to February 2006, the main element of which was a biographical article about a nonexistent socialist revolutionary, Henryk Batuta. History The perpetrators o ...
* Hot foot


I

*
Indian burn An Indian burn, also known as a Chinese burn, is a pain-inducing prank, where the prankster grabs onto the victim's forearm or wrist, and starts turning the skin away from themselves with one hand, and with another hand towards themselves, causing ...
*
Itching powder Itching powder is a powder or powder-like substance that induces itching when applied onto human skin. This is usually done as a practical joke or prank to an unsuspecting victim. Description and uses The cause of the irritation can be mechanica ...


J

* Joy buzzer


K

* Kancho * Kick me -note *
Knock, Knock, Ginger Knock, knock, ginger (also known as ding, dong, ditch in the United States) is a prank or game dating back to 19th-century England, or possibly the earlier Cornish traditional holiday of Nickanan Night. The game is played by children in many c ...


L

* Lace card *
Latex mask A rubber mask is a mask made of rubber. Typically, these are made of latex or silicone rubber and designed to be pulled over the head as a form of theatrical makeup or disguise. The theatrical makeup used by Michael Crawford when he played the ...
*
List of frivolous political parties A frivolous party or a joke party is a political party which has been created for the purposes of entertainment or political satire. Such a party may or may not have a serious point behind its activities. This is a list of frivolous political par ...
* List of Google April Fools' Day jokes * List of Google Easter eggs


M

*
Milkshaking Milkshaking is the act of throwing milkshakes and other drinks at targets as a means of political protest in a manner similar to egging or pieing. The target of a milkshaking is splashed or splattered with a milkshake that is thrown from a cup ...
*
Mischief Night Mischief Night is an informal holiday on which children, teenagers and adults (both young and old) engage in jokes, pranks, vandalism and/or parties. It is known by a variety of names including Devil's Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Moving Ni ...
*
Mooning Mooning is the act of displaying one's bare buttocks by removing clothing, e.g., by lowering the backside of one's trousers and underpants, usually bending over, and also potentially exposing the genitals. Mooning is used in the English-speaki ...
* Muck-up day


N

*
No soap radio "No soap radio" is a form of practical joke and an example of surreal comedy. The joke is a prank whereby the punch line has no relation to the body of the joke; but participants in the prank pretend otherwise. The effect is to either trick someo ...
* Non-human electoral candidates * Noogie


P

* Pantsing *
Panty raid A panty raid was an American 1950s and early 1960s college prank in which large groups of male students attempted to invade the living quarters of female students and steal their panties (undergarments) as the trophies of a successful raid. The ...
* Penny under the sink * Phoenix Five (prank) *
Pieing Pieing or a pie attack is the act of throwing a pie at a person. In pieing, the goal is usually to humiliate the victim while avoiding actual injury. For this reason the pie is traditionally of the cream variety without a top crust, and is rarely ...
* List of people who have been pied * Pigasus (politics) * Plate lifter *
Practical joke device A practical joke device is a prop or toy intended to confuse, frighten, or amuse individuals as a prank. Often, these objects are harmless facsimiles of disgusting or terrifying objects, such as vomit or spilled nail polish. In other instances, t ...
*
Prank call A prank call (also known as a crank call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call. It can be illegal under certain circumstances. Recordings of prank pho ...
* Pranknet * Pull my finger *
Punk'd ''Punk'd'' is an American hidden camera– practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003. It was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, with Kutcher serving as producer and host. It bears a resemblance to both t ...
*
Pythagorean cup A Pythagorean cup (also known as a Pythagoras cup, Greedy Cup, Cup of Justice or Tantalus cup) is a practical joke device in a form of a drinking cup, credited to Pythagoras of Samos. When it is filled beyond a certain point, a siphoning effect ...


Q

* ¡Qué Locura!


R

*
Rickrolling Rickrolling or a Rickroll is an internet meme involving the unexpected appearance of the music video for the 1987 song "Never Gonna Give You Up", performed by the English singer Rick Astley. The video has over 1 billion views on YouTube. The m ...
* Rutgers–Princeton Cannon War


S

* Saluting trap *
Senior prank A senior prank, also known as muck-up day in Australia and the United Kingdom, is a type of organized prank by the senior class of a school, college, or university. They are often carried out at or near the end of the academic year and are part o ...
* Shaft passer * Shanghai Fugu Agreement * Shocking gum * Shoe-lacing * Skyhook (cable) * Snake nut can *
Sneezing powder Sneezing powder is a group of powders or powder-like substances that induce sneezing when someone is exposed to them. This is usually done as a practical joke or prank to an unsuspecting victim. Sneezing powders containing ''Veratrum album'' alkal ...
* Snipe hunt * Spaghetti Tree Hoax * Spit ball shooting * Stink bomb *
Student prank A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...
*
Streaking Streaking is the act of running, often naked, through a public area for publicity, as a prank, a dare, or a form of protest. Streaking is often associated with sporting events, but can occur in more secluded areas. Streakers are often pursued b ...
* Swirly


T

*
Taro Tsujimoto Taro Tsujimoto (Japanese katakana: ツジモト タロウ; hiragana: つじもと たろう; kanji: 辻本太郎) is the name of a fictitious ice hockey player who was "selected" by the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres as the 183rd overa ...
hoax *
The Jerky Boys The Jerky Boys are an American comedy act from Queens, New York City, New York, whose routine consists of prank telephone calls and other related skits. The duo was founded in 1989 by childhood friends Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed. After Ahme ...
*
Toilet papering Toilet papering (also called TP-ing, house wrapping, yard rolling, or simply rolling) is the act of covering an object, such as a tree, house, or another structure with toilet paper. This is typically done by throwing numerous toilet paper rolls ...
* Towel snap * Travelling gnome prank * Trick candles *
Tube Bar prank calls The Tube Bar prank calls are a series of prank calls made in the mid-1970s to the Tube Bar in Jersey City, in which Jim Davidson and John Elmo would ask "Red," the proprietor of the bar, if they could speak to various non-existent customers. The g ...
*
Tickling Tickling is the act of touching a part of a body in a way that causes involuntary twitching movements or laughter. The word evolved from the Middle English ''tikelen'', perhaps frequentative of ''ticken'', to touch lightly. In 1897, psycholo ...


U

* Kazuo Uzuki


V

* Valentine Phantom


W

* Wedgie * Wet willy * Who Gets the Last Laugh? (TV series) *
Whoopee cushion A whoopee (or whoopie) cushion is a practical joke device involving flatulence humour, which produces a noise resembling human flatulence. It has also been referred to as a farting bag, pooting cushion, windy blaster and Razzberry Cushion. Histo ...
* Windy City Heat


X

*
X-ray specs X-ray specs or X-ray glasses are an American novelty item, purported to allow users to see through or into solid objects. In reality, the spectacles merely create an optical illusion; no X-rays are involved. The current paper version is sold und ...


See also

* Hoax * List of slapstick comedy topics *
Novelty item A novelty item or simply novelty is an object which is specifically designed to serve no practical purpose, and is sold for its uniqueness, humor, or simply as something new (hence "novelty", or newness). The term also applies to practical items wi ...
*
Pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
* Slapstick *
Surreal humour Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Portrayals of surrea ...
*
Visual gag In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretatio ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Practical joke topics *list Entertainment lists Humor-related lists
Practical jokes A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...
Jokes