Urban Culture
Adam Trent’s top 5 April Fool’s Day pranks
The street magician proves you don’t need a saw or an assistant to pull off pure comedy gold.
2 min
Watch Adam Trent make a salt shaker disappear
Red Bull TV's Adam Trent makes a salt shaker vanish.
The holiday is finally upon us, that magical time of year, when anticipation runs high, and humour runs, well, usually quite low. We’re talking April Fool's Day, and for pumped-up practitioners of practical jokes it’s your Christmas, Hannukah, Halloween and Turkey Day, all rolled into one.
To get some ideas for solid pranks that don’t require a ton of props or prep, we turned to Adam Trent, magician and star of Red Bull TV’s upcoming series, The Road Trick.
After all, anyone who can apply a tattoo on your palm without you realising it, or quite literally make a person disappear – no trap doors on this concrete sidewalk, folks – before your eyes must know a thing or two about a good practical joke, right?
What makes a good April Fool's joke is a great set-up and then how willing you are to play it out.
1. Totaled mobile
One of Trent’s favourites that involves an old, broken mobile phone with a cracked screen. Remember that phone you cracked but never threw away? Now's its time for glory.
“If you don’t already have one, you can buy them online or at a phone-repair store for next to nothing,” Trent says. “Ask to borrow your friend’s phone. Secretly make the switch to the broken phone, and then toss that one back to your friend – clumsily – to be sure they drop it and think their phone is now broken.”
Bonus points if you manage to toss it from a bridge or into a pool. Good times!
2. Contact switcheroo
Again, 'borrow' your friend’s mobile, but be sure they unlock it if it has a passcode. Then, go into the contacts and change your name to that of your friend’s significant other.
Return the phone, wait a while and then start texting your victim from your own phone. Angry messages are fun, but sexy, come hither texts are even better.
“I did this to a friend,” says Trent, and he thought it was his girlfriend begging him to come over. He cleaned up, brushed his teeth, the whole thing.”
How far to play them is up to you – and your ability to not burst out laughing.
3. Tattoo you
This is the old, 'you’re not gonna believe this, but I got drunk and got a tattoo – on my face' gag. Requirements: A temporary tattoo, a prankee with a mobile phone with FaceTime or a videophone over which you’ll call to break the news – and the fortitude to keep a straight face while mum or dad break down and cry.
4. Hot coffee lap dance
This one is perfect for home or office. Just fill a mug with very hot water and let it sit for a minute or two. Pour out the water and steam will continue to briefly rise from the full-looking cup.
Deliver it to your unsuspecting victim, dropping it into their lap. Their adrenaline will be so fired up, they won’t even need caffeine after that.
5. Coin-op
A simple, foolproof classic that’ll keep on giving, long after the Day of Fools. Simply glue a coin to a busy pavement or stairway and prepare to rejoice over any unsuspecting picker-uppers’ embarrassment.