Practical Jokes

As a child, my parents would hate the morning of April the 1st. I'd always do a practical joke on them, and they knew it. I think probably the most memorable was my father's rantings as I had put cling film over the toilet seat. My chemistry teacher did one of the best I've ever come across one April fools day. He had told us we were doing an experiment on sodium chloride the following day, so could we bring in some salt from home because the school had run out(!). Tomorrow arrived, and he told us the truth. He'd got the lab assistant to bring in a casserole dish, the first years to bring in some beef chunks, the second years to bring in mixed veg, and the third years to bring in a packet stew mix. Yup, you'd guessed it. He was making a casserole.

Well, getting older, I'm more mature now. I don't do a practical joke unless it's going to work, and I think others should do the same. Candid Camera, was the original and the best TV practical joke show. The problem was it would rely on peoples psyche, and would only work in the country it was being shown. I used to like some of the jokes done in Beadle's About, but you could see some people were really upset by what was happening. Nowadays, things are a lot more civilised in the world of TV practical jokes. In recent years we have seen the rise on a Saturday evening of a programme called "Just for Laughs." It has all the logo and everything to do with the comedy festival of the same name, but none of the content. The nice thing is, each and every joke is done without verbalisation. You don't need some bloke telling you what's going on, and you don't need to hear what's being said to each other to appreciate when it's going well. I have tried to find my personal favourite joke on the programme, a young gorgeous blonde checkout assistant flirting big time with the male customers, but to no avail. In the meantime, I found this. It's simple enough. Behind the checkout is a large screen with the security camera image looking at the customer. Crossfaded into the image is a previously shot bit of footage of the Grim Reaper, so the jokee (is that a word?) thinks they're about to die. The poor woman halfway through is terrified. I shouldn't laugh, but it's funny.

Enjoy.