By Michelle Willson
F&E Editor
Pranks have been around for a long time. We all laugh at the misfortune of others. Especially when their misfortune is because of something we caused. There is one saying I think all pranksters should go by “Confuse don’t abuse.” I feel that pranks should not hurt, offend or cost the recipient money in any way. Pranks can be a fun way to waste time. It also keeps our friends on their toes, but to what extent?
According to historical accounts, one of the first pranks was by the teenage Roman Emperor Elagabalus. He placed deflatable leather pillows around a low table and seated his most pompous guests on them. During the course of the meal, his slaves let the air out of the cushions, leaving his guests seated on the hard floor.
The first documented prank phone call goes all the way back to 1884.
Undertakers were being summoned to houses and told to bring freezers, candles and coffins to houses, as they would normally do when someone died. However, in all the recorded cases the presumed corpses were very much alive. They then joined the undertakers to find the prank telephones.
You can also see pranks all over YouTube. Some videos are praised while others are ridiculed depending on what happens to the recipients of the pranks. Youtubers can make big bucks from their prank channels but you can lose popularity just as fast as you gained it.
One example of a bad prank is the parents who have been in the news lately for pranking their kids with invisible ink. It does not sound that bad until you see the effects of the parents screams. The kids are in tears and phycologist have come out against the video calling it psychological abuse.
By far, one of the funniest pranks I have ever seen is the rubber duck prank. James Veitch talks about the prank he plays on his roommates on the TBS talk show CONAN. It started out as a couple of rubber ducks that he would meticulously place around the bathroom. Soon the ducks start to grow in numbers until he had a whole army of ducks. His friend texts him and says that he could only keep one duck. Therefore, Veitch went out and got a giant blow up rubber duck and left it in the bathroom. To this day, it is still the funniest prank I have seen and no one was harmed in the making of it.
One of the leading pop culture pranksters that I think follows the rule well is Jim Halpert, Sells representative from the American series of The Office.
He has never caused his coworker Dwight Shrute harm, but he has put his stapler in Jell-O and moved his desk to the bathroom. Which are both hilarious but not harmful.
People do not have to get hurt to make a video or the situation funny. You can get laughs out of other peoples misfortune without it being harmful to them or their surroundings. So remember, if you do decide to prank people,
“Confuse, do not abuse” and everyone will be happy.