It's almost that time again: April Fool's is nearly upon us! What will you do to your hapless victims this year? (I personally am not a fan of April Fool's Day jokes and think it's a pretty pointless holiday. Ya'll can have your fun, just keep it away from me. Maybe the people I know just took the holiday as an opportunity to delight in being cruel.)
After Redditor chihiro_yoru asked the online community, "What's the most successful April Fool's Day joke that you know of?" people shared their stories. Some of them definitely enjoy playing the long game.
"In San Diego..."
In San Diego, CA back in 1993 a radio station announced that the space shuttle would be making an emergency landing at the local municipal airport. Too bad there wasn't even a shuttle in orbit, yet thousands showed up.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-02-mn-18176-story.html
Okay, this is pretty good.
But it undoubtedly pissed some people off, no?
"They brought in the chief engineer..."
Back when color TV was new and still experimental the one and only channel on Swedish TV (owned and operated by the state) pulled a fantastic April fools prank.
They brought in the chief engineer behind the government broadcasting services (who was well known and highly respected) and had him hold a short lecture about color TV which was complete and utter bs but sounded credible to the uneducated. Part of this lecture said that stretching a fine mesh over the TV screen combined with a special broadcast signal could bend the light from the screen in such a way as to make a regular black & white TV display colors.
They then explained that they'd experimented with various household items which could be used for a fine mesh and said that nylon pantyhose cut up and stretched over the screen produced the best result. They then announced that they'd be broadcasting a special experimental color signal later that evening and encouraged the viewers at home to help with the experiment by cutting up pantyhose and stretching them over their TV screens.
An hour later half of the Swedish population had cut up pantyhose, stretched them over their TV screens, and sat watching black&white footage of "colorful" flowers, pretending that they were seeing a color broadcast only to be told that they'd been pranked.
"When he came to the U.S..."
My grandpa was from Turkey and his family didn't keep birth records. When he came to the US, they made him pick a birthday. It was April first so he told them that today was his birthday. For 50 years, that's what we thought his birthday actually was. 2 years before he died, he revealed that his birthday was in august. He laughed for 45 minutes that he lied to us for 50 years.
THE LONG GAME.
What did I tell you?
"When I was a kid..."
When I was a kid, my mom made the same breakfasts each day of the week. So, pancakes on Sunday, cheese toast on Monday, etc. Well, one year when I was eight or nine, April Fool's fell on Tuesday, but she made English muffins and eggs, and I thought it was Wednesday all day.
So did this person...
...have two days of the same breakfast in a row?
Bravo, mom.
"They got hundreds of complaints..."
A notable one from my childhood was when Capital Radio (a hugely popular station in London) began the 08:00 news with "Good morning, it's Friday the 1st April...". April Fools Day actually fell on a Saturday that year and hundreds of people heard the broadcast and rushed into work and/or took their kids to school thinking they'd mixed the days up. They got hundreds of complaints over this and by all accounts were severely told off by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, but by god did it cause some laughs.
"Once..."
Once, in 1974 in Alaska, there were columns of smoke coming from the volcano thought to be dormant, so they sent a coast guard helicopter up there and discovered a ton of burning tires and an April Fool's message written in the snow. This is the full story I'm just paraphrasing.
Okay, that's pretty brilliant.
Pretty crazy and kinda sadistic, but brilliant.
"He substituted..."
My 7-year-old son made cinnamon toast for his mom. He substituted chili powder for cinnamon. She being the good mom ate the whole thing not realizing it was April 1.
"Watched my grandpa get angry..."
Taped a piece of small paper on the bottom of the computer mouse. Watched my grandpa get angry at said mouse and when I told him he laughed and said that was good. Meanwhile, the Saran Wrap in the doorway was successful on me because I'm groggy in the morning so I ran into it on my way to the bathroom.
"When Taco Bell..."
When Taco Bell took out full-page ads announcing they bought the Liberty Bell.
"In 1950..."
In 1950 a major Norwegian newspaper published an article that said that the national liquor store (the only place we can buy liquor in Norway) had ran out of bottles. But everyone who brought their own bucket could buy up to 5 liters of tax-free wine. They did this joke several times over the years and it worked every time.
In 1987 another newspaper published that a liquor store in Bergen was about to give away 10.000 liters of confiscated smuggled wine. But everyone who wanted in on it had to bring their own container. The morning after hundreds of people were lined up with jugs and buckets outside the store.
In 1976 the astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC radio that Pluto would pass by Jupiter in a way that would make Earth's gravity decrease momentarily. If you jumped at exactly 09:47 in the morning you would experience a weird floating sensation. They got hundreds of calls from people who apparently had felt a weird floatiness. A woman called in and said that she and her friends had floated up from their chairs.
In 2008 Terry Jones from Monty Python had made a short documentary about a penguin colony in Antarctica that had learned how to fly. They flew thousands of miles every year to spend the winter in the tropical rain forests of South America. The video went viral all over the world.
These were pretty fun to learn about.
But I hate to say it... still not a fan of April Fool's Day jokes. I'm such a Debbie Downer, aren't I?
Have some of your own stories to share? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments section below.
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