Now you see where I got it from...

Sometimes it is the puller of pranks who is pranked. By his mother. Seriously.

This email just arrived in my inbox. Assuming it is not a hoax (see below, re double secret probation reverse REVERSE pranks), it is brilliant. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

From: [Eric's Mom]
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 11:28 PM
Subject: No, you're punk'd

Eric,
I may have outpranked you. Guess who wrote the comment about the
pillowfight with "the Swedish tempur-pedic pillow"....."went home to take
two Tylenol...." It was ME. So, you're welcome and if being
your mother doesn't qualify to be included in your small circle of
friends.....then your blog has a wider audience. But, here's the cute
part.....I am not the Anonymous who replied to your reply. I have no idea
who that was!

Are you pissed or did you laugh?

Love,
Mom

This should go as a warning to bloggers everywhere: do not tell your mother about your blog or she will prank you.

The Most Brilliant Prank I Wish I Pulled

If I may speak seriously for a moment:
Remember flash mobs? From a couple years ago? Where an email would go out with instructions as to where and when to meet and a bunch of hipsters would congregate in some random public place, do something surreal and then disperse as quickly as they had arrived?

When I first read about it back in 2003, as a new NYC transplant, I thought it was a very clever concept, and meant to go do it sometime, but I never got around to it and besides, by the time I heard about it, the whole thing had become overrun with hipsters and I didn't want anything to do with it, because I was not cool enough.

It was a classic example of how hipsters in New York jump on stupid bandwagons without really caring about what they were getting into. For example, all of a sudden a couple years ago, everyone started liking bands that sounded like early XTC and Gang of Four (Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, etc). The Gang of Four album was reissued at just the right moment and everyone was all over it, but XTC continue to languish in nerdy obscurity. Which is probably for the better. But I digress...

The point is, what seemed like a mildly clever prank on unsuspecting normal types (random group of hipsters comes out of nowhere, does something surreal, then disappears!) was actually a giant reverse prank on all the hipsters!!

Bill Wasik, an editor at Harper's, started the whole thing as an experiment in the "deinviduation" phenomenon that can be seen so easily in the hipster community here. He now explains all:

The basic hypothesis behind the Mob Project was as follows: seeing how all culture in New York was demonstrably commingled with scenesterism, the appeal of concerts and plays and readings and gallery shows deriving less from the work itself than from the social opportunities the work might engender, it should theoretically be possible to create an art project consisting of pure scene—meaning the scene would be the entire point of the work, and indeed would itself constitute the work.

So far there is only part 1 of the article (link via Gawker).

Now, if this guy is not pulling a double secret probation REVERSE reverse prank by making all of this up (which would be far less funny than if he were in fact telling the truth and it was only a level 1 Reverse Prank), then he is truly a Genius Among Hilarious Pranksters. I should just hang my hat up now.
Also, this is why any band that wants to make it should probably move to Des Moines or something.

Nonpranks

Sometimes you are in a situation where it would be very easy to pull a mean spirited prank, but you resist the urge, and y'know what? You feel better. Just such a situation arose today:

Walking back from our local bagelry, we come up on three young-middle aged women (late 30's-early 40's) standing looking confused at the corner of 12th and Sixth Avenue of the Americas.
They stopped us and asked, "Excuse me, is this Greenwich Village?"

Now, if you were an prankster of less refined sensibilities, your next move would be to say: "Oh no, you're nowhere near there-- you're gonna want to get on the A train and take it all the way downtown till you get to the Kingston-Throop Avenue stop. That'll take you right into the heart of Greenwich Village."

But instead, I instructed them to walk down about nine blocks to Bleecker St. and also explained where Washington Square Park was, relative to where we were.

We started on our merry way feeling good about our civic mindedness but before we reach the corner, who walks by but a certain J. Nicholson-- no wait, that's too obvious-- it was Jack N. I turn to Jen to point this out and as I do, we both realize who would especially appreciate a celebrity sighting of this magnitude.

As we turn back to the three women, we see that one of them is excitedly tapping the other two, who were oblivious. We calmly went back and whispered, "And yes, that is Jack Nicholson." They got all giddy and immediately decided to temporarily abandon their Greenwich Village touring plans in order to stalk Jack Nicholson, as they followed him across Sixth Avenue.

Then, that guy walked by, I'm not sure who he is, but he does the Trendspotting segment on the Daily Show.*

All of this amounted to a great New York Moment, which did not need to be enhanced with a prank. Also, it had the added benefit of making us seem like seasoned New Yorkers who were unimpressed by walking amidst the stars of film and alternative comedy.



*Aw shit man, just kidding-- I was watching Demetri Martin when you were in diapers, son.

Great Scott!

I saw this prank done in a movie but I think it could work pretty well in real life.

Look up an eccentric inventor in the phone book. Then go to his house in the middle of the night and claim to have arrived there from the future in a time machine that he invented. When he doesn't believe you, display knowledge of an invention of his that will be used in the time machine (this prank takes some research but you could probably search using a website like www.google.com or something) (also, it's best if this inventor is actually attempting to invent a time machine). He might not realize that the information is commonly available and will therefore believe you and think that you really are a time traveller.
fin

This prank might not be funny, but it will make the inventor feel good about himself because he will think that his life's work was a success.

Pillowfight!!

Today, I went to this:
http://www.newmindspace.com/pillowfightnyc.php

It was a pillow fight in Union Square. Needless to say there were more digital cameras than pillows there, so naturally I pulled some pranks that really made people think. The pranks consisted of the following statements stated loudly and demonstratively:

"I can't wait to BLOG about this!!!"

"Oh man-- only in New York, am I right??? Come on!"

"Dude, these pictures are SO going on my FLICKR account!"

"I am totally putting this in my MYSPACE profile!!!"
fin

Needless to say, those hipsters' minds were BLOWN.

If you want to see photos of this nonsense, you really can go to flickr to see it.

http://flickr.com/photos/tags/pillowfight/

A great prank from a fellow 'blogger

"Tim" writes on his own delectable web-log about his adventures. I agree with him about Valentine although he should have sat in West. The poolplayer and rowboat are not remotely part of my college memories. But then he details a fantastic prank. First here is the link:
http://shaolinsuccor.blogspot.com/2006/02/valentine.html

But here's the "money" quote:

Anyway, here's a great "prank" as my bloggerati friend Eric would say. Go up to someone holding flowers, coyly ask them, "Excuse me, may I see your flowers?" Then, look disdainfully and say, "Oh, ugly." Then walk away. I can't believe a bitch said that to someone as I stood at a windy street corner in Lincoln Center. I would have retorted, "Thanks, you crabby sadsack. You just described yourself, inside and out. Ho snap! Ever seen a turtle get down? Ninja ninja rap! Maybe that's why you don't have any flowers of your own. Die Bart Die." Or something to that effect.

That's a really great prank and really great counter-prank! Hat-tip, Tim!

PS This is the first ericshilariouspranksdotcom post that contains a hyper-link that is a word, if you follow. As I continue to figure out how to use the buttons on this 'blogging machine, my 'blog will continue to wow with html-driven hilarity.

He blogs hard for the money...

This link will lead you to an interesting article if you click on it:
http://newyorkmetro.com/news/media/15967/index.html

It is an article about 'blogs and how it is becoming very difficult to become an A-list 'blog. It is a bit daunting, being a newcomer to the 'Blog-Atomosphere myself. One thing it said was that 'blogs should target a niche. Well, I've got that covered-- I write for fans of hilarious pranks. Done.

So now I just have to watch as my readership grows in leaps and bounds. If anyone wants to advertise, please say so in the comments. (Beauty School doesn't pay for itself.) I'm just like a regular journalist only I write my articles in my pajamas! (Thankfully I don't pull pranks in my pajamas-- although, hmmm...note to self, pull a prank in pajamas).

Not all pranks are Hilarious.

From time to time I will tell you about pranks that are not pulled by me. Sometimes other people's pranks are hilarious, but other times they are not. Here is an example of one that is not.

Just point your mouse over this internet link and click on it to be led to a prank with less than hilarious results.

Pranks don't have to make you laugh-- some say it's more important that they make you think-- but they should not make a child cry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn_-PUEauRg

Yeah, seriously, more like "A Million Little LIES!!!!"

Here is a prank that, as we say about some of God's commandments, is time bound. This means that it can only be done in the right time and place. And that time and place is this pop cultural moment.

I'll set it up. Sometimes you are in your favorite coffee shop (like Starbucks) and you see an attractive member of the opposite or same sex. You want to talk to them but you don't have anything to say.

Here's a hint: if they are reading a book, talk to them about the book! If you've read the book, great, but even if you haven't, you can still talk to them about it by looking at the cover.

For example, if they are reading a Harry Potter book, you can say, "Oh, I read that book-- my favorite part is where the kid with the glasses rides the broomstick" (or whatever crazy thing Harry's doing on the cover).

Or if it's The Da Vinci Code, you say, "Oh that book is great-- my favorite part is the part with the Mona Lisa." (This has the added bonus of showing that you appreciate the visual, as well as the literary arts. Chicks totally cream themselves for that kind of shit-- trust me).

And if it's the paperback edition of Catcher in the Rye, you could say, "Oh, that was my favorite book in high school! I like that part where it's a really really foggy day and/or it's a blizzard but either way you see a vivid rainbow in the upper left corner of the sky." (I think this book is really famous so it will make you seem very literary if you talk about it).

Anyway, the other day, I was paying a visit to my favorite java* vendor and there was an attractive member of the same or opposite sex there. I noticed that she was reading a book. And that book was "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. When faced with this situation in our post 1/08 world** there are several pranks that immediately present themselves.

I will outline them. The important thing with all of these pranks is that you must be completely sincere and not show even an ounce of sarcasm:

1)
You (casually): Hey, how is that book? I think my friend was reading it and said it was good. Is it worth picking up? I don't know much about it...

2)
You (heartfelt, passionate): Oh wow-- isn't that book amazing?? What an amazing story, right? I mean, to overcome all of that. I just don't know how he does it, y'know? It's just amazing...

3)
You (conspiratorially): Hey, I hear he made that whole book up-- No, seriously, I saw it on the Oprah Winfrey Show on ABC. It's all bullshit! [If you want to learn more about this television program, follow this internet hyperlink: http://www.oprah.com. -ed.]

4)
You (thinking to yourself, "this would make a great prank for my Pranks WeBlog"): ...

I won't tell you which option I chose, but suffice it to say,
fin



*FYI, java means coffee in Spanish.
**Who could forget where they were when the Tragic Events of January 8 unfolded? [If you don't remember just follow this internet hyper link: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0104061jamesfrey1.html -ed.]

More social commentary...

This prank is another one I pulled tihs weekend. This is how you do it:

Walk down any city street, but preferably a stuffy one, like Madison Avenue on a dark and rainy Saturday afternoon. Sing, in full belting voice (though still barely audible over the rain and traffic), Gustavo Santoalalla's "The Wings." You might not know this piece by name, but it is, in fact, the instrumental acoustic guitar theme from Focus Features' film, Brokeback Mountain.

This accomplishes several things:

-It is cathartic, especially if the music is stuck in your head.

-It reminds people that they should be tolerant of homosexuality.

-It is funny to try and belt out a song that is a languidly rolling acoustic guitar instrumental.

This relates nicely to another thought I had at around the same time I pulled this prank. I was in the Abercrombie and Fitch on Fifth Avenue, New York, USA. I found that this store was basically the locus of hell-- more or less the worst place I had ever been. But one thing that struck me amidst all of the identically dressed fraternity brothers with popped collars was how homoerotic all of the imagery in store was. Now I realize that this is something that everyone realized about a hundred years ago. But in this store, there is a large wall mural that is entirely comprised of muscular shirtless men climbing all over construction equipment.

I think fraternity life is interesting because a lot of aspects of it are similarly homoerotic. For example, in my fraternity, one of the initiation rituals (which I really shouldn't be publishing on the internet) was to have each of the pledges bend over with no pants on. Then the senior members of our fraternity would have anal sex with each pledge until they reached orgasm. At the time it seemed like harmless fun, but in retrospect, it seems like there was actually something homoerotic about it. But that was a far more innocent time.

I might erase this post soon so read it while it's still available.

Pranks don't just make you laugh-- they also make you think...

The letters have been pouring about my pranks and so I figured I'd explain-- these pranks aren't "ha ha funny" like what you might read about on the Saturday Night Live Pranks Blog.* They are meant to make you stop and question your assumptions about the world.

I will illustrate this with two pranks from last weekend. Some of my readers may have heard about this one already:

The Setup: Jen and I walk into the Coach store on fancy Madison Avenue. Jen informs the sales help at the front (there were three of them) that she was looking to purchase the pages for the Coach Planner. The planner is some sort of leather binder that has pages for the days of the year on which you can write down important appointments and such. It being the second month of the new year, she thought this a reasonable time to purchase the sheets for the next year. Her mother had been unable to purchase them in her home town which is somewhere far away and so Jen agreed to go to the fancy New York store to help her mother out. Basically she was obeying one of the ten commandments: Honor thy father and thy mother. Let's see what happened when she tried...

So when she tried, she was told that they were sold out at the store, but what was more, they were sold out online as well. That's just crazy because you are supposed to be able to buy just about anything online!

Now, keep in mind, the product in question is not some kind of special edition hand-made leather purse. It is sheets of paper to put into a planner. The woman informed us that people buy them earlier and earlier this year-- they release the refill sheets in August and they sell out in a few months and for some reason, they don't make others even though it is just a product that can be printed out.

Jen said, "So what you're saying is that my planner** is useless now."

The woman apologized but I could sense that Jen needed a pick me up, so I decided to play a little prank. Here's what went down.

Me (confidently): Well, that's okay-- y'know where we can get a planner? At Duane Reade*** around the corner, for about FIVE DOLLARS.
fin

One worker chuckled, because he understood my social comment about charging a lot of money for something that can be obtained for less money. The other looked like she was about to cry. Or at least to me she did.

**Special BONUS Prank**
Jen pulled this prank. Truth be told, it's still in the works. But I'll let you in on the plan:

Jen (indignant): I am going to write a strongly worded letter to their corporate headquarters.
fin

I'm not sure which prank is better-- mine has the value of immediacy but I think hers might ultimately be a little more subtle and clever.

Until next time...



*I just made that blog up but you know what I mean
** I believe that Jen did not feel it was worth explaining to these people that she was actually helping out her mother.
***This is a drug store chain in New York City.