I was thinking about April Fools jokes over the last couple of days, and I have to wonder if the exposure of shows like Punkd and other reality joke-based shows have negatively affected our ability or desire to do good April Fools stunts. I know that there have been televised practical jokes as long as there has been television (okay, for a long time, anyway – remember TVs Bloopers and Practical Jokes anyone?), but I feel like those sorts of shows were marginal and not extremely impactful on our national culture. I think a large part of it is that the current crop of shows use celebrities that we learn all about by reading People magazine every week (which Britney Spears seems to think is aces, but thats another rant altogether), so theyre much more readily-identifiable and story-worthy. You can talk about what happened on Punkd last night because everyone knows the players. You dont really recount scenes from Candid Camera to someone that missed the show.
Whatever. This is just a long rant to say that I dont have any good practical jokes, pranks or lies to tell today and Im not happy about it. I usually dont, I guess, but this year, I think Im going to side with Congress and blame it on the media. We need to regulate what jokes are allowed into our homes. Please! Do it for the children!
