Length of Shower: If I told you would you even believe me? --Today is April Fools Day! The one day a year you can make up radical stories, pull pranks, or just cover your mistakes by simply yelling those three little words, "April Fools Day!" The rest of the year you have to cover by three very different words with a much heavier meaning; that's right, "I'm Sorry Honey." But there are some people who are just bad at April Fool's Day shenanigans and so today I will share one of my best pranks while also pointing out the keys to pulling off a good yet harmless joke on April 1st.
Key #1: Choosing your Pawn. You must choose the right person or group of people to target. You never want to try something on the wrong authority figure or boss. You want to choose someone who likes you already or even loves you and therefore they will forgive you rather than fire you when you reveal the truth. Police officers-Bad Choice Brothers/Sisters-Good Choice. In the instance of my greatest prank it was my sister and I pulling the leg of my mother. While she is an authority figure, mothers will forgive you anything:)
Key #2: Believability, or making your joke or story believable. You don't want to tell someone that you totaled your car and are calling them from the hospital with several broken bones and a punctured lung. See, that is just too much. It is better to go smaller and a bit more general. A simple "I was hit on my way to work this morning" is a much better start to the story. Your victim will probably let his/her imagination run away with them and think it's bad enough anyway. Then, rather than being at the hospital you simply state that you "think" your alright and that the pain in your neck "should go away by lunch time." See, here again you are only implying that you had whiplash but trust me that your target will fill it all in and in no time be freaking out that you should get yourself to the hospital. In the case of my sister and I's prank we didn't act like we shattered the large 5'X5' window in our living room of the house we grew up in, we just acted like we cracked it in several places.
Key #3: Set up. This can be the most important of all aspects when it comes to a good April Fool's prank. Sometimes set up can take days and other times minutes, but the point is that you have to set it up and think about things before you try to just "pull one over" on someone. The good news is that you don't have to work for a special effects house in Hollywood to have a good set up. Sometimes simple things can go a long way. As mentioned above, let your mark's imagination do some of the work. In the case of my sister and I with the large cracked window it really began 3 months before when I snatched a couple strands of tinsel from the Christmas decorations. See, I had read somewhere that tinsel taped to a window makes it look cracked. And when my sis and I taped it to our rather large window, it DID look cracked. Now again, be smart. We didn't just tape it to the middle of the window, we taped the strands of silver tinsel from the edge to make it more believable.
Key #4: The Delivery. The Delivery is right up there with the set up as far as importance. Keeping a straight face is so crucial because the smallest grin or laugh can give everything away and tip off your mark that you are playing them. Also, if you can somehow come around to telling them as opposed to walking straight over to them and yapping your story. Just drop a little seed and let them inquire or start asking questions. If you can get that to happen, you are golden because they think it is all coming from them so how can this story not be true. In the case of my 9 year old self and my sister our delivery was perfect. We sat on the couch in front of the large not-so-cracked window and began to quietly whisper and argue as if we were fighting but didn't want our mother, who was upstairs, to know. My mother fell for it hook, line and sinker. She yelled, "what's going on? Who doesn't want to tell me what?" That's when she came down the stairs. All my sister and I had to do was point at the window and when my mother made her way over the yelling began before she got halfway across the room.
Yes, it was brilliant! Best and most prepared April Fool's prank I've ever done. It was masterful. Kudos to my sister also for her part in all of it.
Key #5: The Payoff. The final key is the reward to yourself for performing the other four elements to perfection. This is the point when you get to reveal that the whole thing was a hoax and you can start laughing. Now the point here is timing and in each instance the timing is different, so you will have to feel this out on your own. You can't reveal the truth too early or you won't get your fun and your pawn won't get deep enough into the story. You have to get them into it deep enough so that later they can't say, "I totally knew you were lieing the whole time." No, you need them to be committed enough so they can't say that, but also not so committed that they cause themselves serious harm. You don't want to actually cause a heart attack, but you do want to raise their blood pressure a little bit. Anyway, when you feel the timing is right in that perfect place, you say, "April Fool's Day!" There is always a small pause and brief silence before they realize what just happened. This moment can be magical so let it happen. You get to enjoy watching them put it all together in their mind and at the same time wallow in the inner joy of the successful prank pulled. Then you both get to laugh about it and recall bits and pieces for the next few days.
I wish all of you a very happy and successful April Fool's Day!
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