Prankster Teaches Tricks Of The Trade
MARCH 31, 2008
BOSTON (TNA) – Forget about teaching America’s youth the A-B-Cs and 1-2-3s. A comedian who hoodwinked the wholesome retailers of Wal-Mart into selling him porn is on a mission to tutor our nation’s future on how to pull pranks.
Sir John Hargrave, a humorist who dedicates his time to pranking “The Man” – entities that include government officials, business executives, corporations and celebrities – wants to spread his seed across America by way of a “Mischief Maker’s Manual” (Penguin), a children’s book due to hit shelves in February 2009.
Andrew Miller Sir John Hargrave says a good prank “deflates the pompous, rights a wrong, or brings down the powerful.'
The comedian says it won’t include stunts quite the level of his prank prowess, such as having a judge legally add the “Sir” to his name in the face of the British Cabinet Office, which turned down his knighthood application.
Instead, his book, which is geared toward 8- to 12-year-olds, will start them off with smaller-scale stunts, slowly introducing them to the world of pranking.
“You’ve gotta teach them about whoopee cushions first,” he says. “Once they’ve mastered those, you introduce them to the realm of real pranks.”
According to Hargrave, there’s a difference between a practical joke – plastic wrap on the toilet, a “Kick Me” sign on the back – and a prank, like posing as a 12-year-old terminally ill girl to test the sincerity that certain celebrities claim to have.
Hargrave did that by tricking several supposedly “sincere” celebrities by writing them and imprisoned serial killer Charles Manson up to three letters claiming he was a dying 12-year-old girl who wanted a response.
He admits that when Manson responded (as did Ronald McDonald, Bono, Jerry Lewis and Rosie O’Donnell), it made non-responders Oprah Winfrey, Sting, Steven Spielberg, Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Pamela Anderson look downright cruel to him by comparison.
In his first book, “Prank the Monkey” (Citadel), Hargrave writes that a prank “deflates the pompous, rights a wrong, or brings down the powerful (and the bigger the buffoon, the funnier the fall). A practical joke maintains the existing power structure. A prank turns it on its head.”
He certainly did that to Wal-Mart. Pissed off at the uber-retailer’s censorship of certain books and music, Hargrave made its people look like asses by getting them to sell him porn.
After Photoshop-ing some of the company’s price tags and creating fake ones, he slapped the counterfeits onto a bunch of skin magazines he brought into the store, then purchased them at the register. According to Hargrave, the cashier hardly blinked while scanning glossy copies of “Big Black Butt” and “Playgirl.”
The 38-year-old Hargrave claims that the very first prank he pulled was being born on April Fools’ Day.
“It’s very difficult to get your parents horny on the right day,” he said.
Hargrave’s first organized prank out of the womb came as a senior at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he staged his own death by way of a faux robbery-turned-fatal stabbing so he could have other people perform his senior recital for him, as a memorial.
"It’s such a weird dual existence. I’m the man during the day, and fighting against the man at night. I figure on the karma scorecard I’m coming out even."
“It seemed like a really good idea at the time,” he said.
Word got out that the death was a hoax, and the school’s administration enjoyed Hargrave’s “really good idea” so much it cancelled his senior recital performance and nearly expelled him.
But that didn’t rid him of his pranking bug. If anything, it increased his desire to get a humorous rise out of “The Man.” Since then, just by using Google and a cell phone, Hargrave has completed numerous pranks that have landed him appearances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Comedy Central and the BBC.
He also launched www.zug.com, a comedy Web site that includes funny articles, contests, rants and raves, and prank how-tos. (For those interested, “Zug” stands for “Zug is utterly great.”) Hargrave says the site pulls in a six-figure revenue, which helps him and his crew finance their projects.
“[Pranking is] my labor of love,” Hargrave said.
He says the most exciting part of pulling stunts isn’t the dumbfounded, frustrated or pissed-off looks on his victims’ faces once they realize they’ve been had, it’s the last few ticks on the clock pre-prank, just before he launches the operation.
“It’s like the moment before you get on a roller coaster – terrifying, exhilarating,” Hargrave said. “It’s my drug of choice.”
Andrew Miller One of Hargrave's favorite pranks was the time he wrote letters to several supposedly 'sincere' celebrities telling them and imprisoned serial killer Charles Manson he was a dying 12-year-old girl who wanted a response. When Manson responded, it made non-responders like Oprah Winfrey, Madonna and Sting look cruel by comparison.
His passion for gags is so intense that it once landed him and his cameraman in jail. It was during his early pranking days, when an attempted stunt testing anti-theft gates at a CVS drugstore was cut short because cops suspected them as shoplifters.
But since then, Hargrave has learned when it’s time to back off a stunt, like when he receives a threatening cease-and-desist letter from attorneys.
Hargrave says he has never pushed a stunt so far that it has led to a lawsuit. That could be because he has two young sons to care for, as well as a wife of 12 years who gives him a “yay” or “nay” when he pitches her possible pranks.
“She’s a great sounding board,” he said. “Of all the times she has said ‘No, that’s probably not wise,’ she was probably 95 percent right,” he said.
Hargrave, who works a day job as creative director for a Boston ad agency, fully admits that he’s a family man. In fact, he confesses that he’s very much “The Man” – a white-collar executive with a wife, kids and a mortgage – as he is the moonlighting wiseguy pulling pranks on his very type.
“It’s such a weird dual existence,” Hargrave says. “I’m the man during the day, and fighting against the man at night. I figure on the karma scorecard I’m coming out even.”
Hargrave says his dual existence has never brought him to prank himself. His friends have that covered – including one who posted a note invisible to Hargrave on zug.com asking people to order pizzas in the comedian’s name.
“I had a ton of food I had to pay for,” Hargrave said.
The trickster says he continues to watch his back, wondering who’s legit and who’s pulling his leg. In fact, he was curious to know whether a legitimate journalist was interviewing him for this story.
He can start by Googling me.
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