I am not a very good practical joker (I'll tell you another time of my one good joke where I actually got a friend of mine to slip on a banana peel in the middle of our high school cafeteria - it actually works!) but can certainly appreciate the moxy of those who can. Here are a few of the best April Fool's jokes of all time, brought to you by The Museum of Hoaxes:
1. Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers
1995: Discover
Magazine reported that the highly respected wildlife biologist Dr.
Aprile Pazzo had found a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked
ice borer. These fascinating creatures had bony plates on their heads
that, fed by numerous blood vessels, could become burning hot, allowing
the animals to bore through ice at high speeds. They used this ability
to hunt penguins, melting the ice beneath the penguins and causing them
to sink downwards into the resulting slush where the hotheads consumed
them. After much research, Dr. Pazzo theorized that the hotheads might
have been responsible for the mysterious disappearance of noted
Antarctic explorer Philippe Poisson in 1837. "To the ice borers, he
would have looked like a penguin," the article quoted her as saying. Discover received more mail in response to this article than they had received for any other article in their history.
2. The Left-Handed Whopper
1998: Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today
announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed
Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans.
According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same
ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty,
etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit
of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a
follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a
hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the
new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many
others requested their own 'right handed' version."
3. Nixon for President
1992: National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation
program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running
for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything
wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were
audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners
responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls
expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show
did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a
practical joke. Nixon's voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little.
4. The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama
announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination
of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper
spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss
peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of
viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they
could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically
replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope
for the best."
