10 delightful practical jokes

[Video Link] Mostly harmless. (Via biotv)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi

These are delightful, of course so is his accent.

I’m doing the tomato sauce one soon.
- EH
  
  That was undoubtedly the meanest one to me.
  - http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers
    
    And the best.
  - http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
    
    Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s a stranger!
http://twitter.com/ErnestValdemar Ernest Valdemar

That “dog on a unicycle” YouTube trick is very popular. I’ve seen the same thing hundreds of times, under as many different titles. What fun!
kbryan44

”A ‘practical joker’ deserves applause for his wit according to its quality. Bastinado is about right. For exceptional wit one might grant keelhauling. But staking him out on an anthill should be reserved for the very wittiest.” – Robert A Heinlein
Rossi

The ketchup one is too cruel for my tastes. The rest are pretty good. The shirt thread is brilliant.
azzamckazza

GENIUS!
azzamckazza

GENIUS!
James Churchill

I was quite gratified to see the video from the same person doing a trick where he inverted a glass of water over his macbook pro. Afterwards there’s a blooper where he attempted the trick and completely saturated his laptop. Karmic revenge?
LogrusZed

I’m really surprised at how much I like most of these.
Brood-X

I tried the one with the ketchup a couple of times but it flopped. Finally, I accompanied it with a rag-time melody and then is was hysterical.
chgoliz

Umm, hasn’t this video been shown here before, a few months ago?
sweetcraspy

This is perfect internet video editing:

No overlong introduction, no transitions, no voice-over breaks, no messing up and redoing actions on camera.

They even fast-forward the video to keep the pace high without sacrificing any clarity. It contains exactly that is promised in the title with no cruft. I highly approve.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1606613036 Michael Manchester

Too bad the individual in the video is not credited. That’s Richard Wiseman, psychologist and magician. Here’s his Web site http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/
http://boardgamegeek.com/user/mcdrunk McDrunk

Instead of a ketchup packet, just use a ketchup squeeze bottle to fill up one end of the straw, flip the straw over and place it back in the drink, the first sip is a mouthful of ketchup.
- CLamb
  
  This will only work as a joke if your friend isn’t already drinking a cup full of ketchup. If that is so you have to use mustard instead.
  - travtastic
    
    I mix my ketchup and mustard like chocolate-vanilla ice cream from a machine. You’ll have to use relish.
    - http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi
      
      Relish and ketchup mustard taste delicious though. I think putting coca-cola your ketchup-mustard drink would be the best way to go.
      - travtastic
        
        Ew.
BombBlastLightingWaltz

ketchup gag works better in Shakes.