Tag Archives: prank

Rite of Passage

Nationality: Irish, English
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Boston, MA
Primary Language: English

“Since it was our senior year we decided that we had to do a really memorable senior prank.  We knew that we could get in big trouble, but some of my friends were going to community college and didn’t care if they got caught.  So, we decided to prank the deans because we wanted to get revenge against them for all the detentions we had gotten over the past four years, and decided to glue the door to their office shut and trap them inside.  We picked a day when we knew the deans were going to be going through a lot of paper work and would be in the back of the office, and we had people stand guard to distract any teachers that might walk by.  Then, three people in the group wore sunglasses and put their hoods on (so they couldn’t be recognized) and really quietly opened the door and started putting glue around the entire frame.  Then they shut it and put more glue to seal the crack between the door and the wall.  We brought a blow dryer so we could try and make the glue dry faster, but we put it on a lower setting so it wouldn’t make so much noise.  Then we waited a couple hours for the deans to try to leave for the day, and when they tried to open the door it was completely stuck shut.  They had to call a repair company to come and saw the door off so they could get out!”

Analysis: Laura was one of many high school seniors that tried to play a senior prank before graduation.  It is a rite of passage traditionally done by seniors during their last days at school, and it is often a chance to one-up the seniors of the previous year. Many seniors are discouraged from playing a prank because they might be prevented from receiving their diploma or walking on graduation day if they are caught.  For Laura and her friends, however, the risk of getting caught was not as big because many in the group were going to community colleges that would not revoke their acceptances if the students got in trouble.

Usually senior pranks are aimed at teachers or at underclassmen and are a way for seniors to demonstrate their superiority as a graduating class.  Laura said that after the school found out about the prank, everyone said it was probably the best prank done in the history of the school.  She and her friends became small celebrities among the people that knew the identity of the pranksters.  Unfortunately, that news spread quickly and Laura said that within a few days she and her friends were called into the deans’ office.  They confessed but offered to pay for any damages.  Although the deans threatened to prevent them from participating in the graduation ceremony, Laura said she and her friends only had to help clean up the lockers at the end of the year.  She said that the risk of getting in trouble was worth it because they had such a legendary prank.

When I talked with Laura about the primary influences on her decision to participate in the senior prank, I thought that she would mention her two older brothers.  Both of them were involved in senior pranks, and it seemed likely that Laura would want to follow in their footsteps.  However, Laura said that she did not think about her brothers so much as the senior class that graduated before her.  She said that they their prank was pretty good so she wanted to try and top theirs.  This seems to show that rites of passage, such as a senior prank, are more connected to institutions they are associated with than with family members.  Regardless of whether her brothers would have done a senior prank, Laura knew she wanted to be involved because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.

The context in which the prank takes place also helps explain why it is such a significant event. For instance, on a normal day, pulling a prank may get a few laughs but is probably looked down upon by others as stupid and a waste of time.  However, in the context of the situation, the prank is not only accepted by the student body, but expected and looked forward to.  It is a rare occasion when the seniors are united together for the goal of common mischief before everyone leaves for college.  Thus, even though Laura was not known as a trouble-maker, the senior prank was a rite of passage worth getting in trouble for because the chance would not happen again.

The senior prank is a rite of passage that has become so popular that it has even had movies and television shows depicting it.  For instance, MTV ran a special countdown of the “Top Ten Best High School Senior Pranks” and conducted interviews with administrators and students from each school to hear their opinions of the success of the pranks.  Though the pranks ranged from the silly, (releasing 1000 bouncy balls down a flight of stairs), to the incredible, (using a crane to hide the principal’s car on the auditorium roof), almost all the students agreed that the senior prank was an essential part of graduating from high school, and was almost as important as receiving their diploma.  Despite the seemingly immature nature of a prank, the senior prank serves as a transition between the childish realm of high school and the more mature world of college.  Therefore, the senior prank is also one last time for the seniors to be foolish before it is no longer acceptable.

At my high school, my senior class was not unified enough to create a good senior prank.  A few different groups tried to prank the freshmen, but nothing was very successful.  The senior class before us did not do a good prank either, which may explain why our class was unable to perform very well.  It was disappointing because I have heard from friends at other schools about their senior pranks, and I feel like I missed out on a special part of the graduation experience.

Joke – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Blue Moon Café Joke

There’s this guy, okay, and he’s really stressed out, like really really stressed out, like imagine the most stressed out you’ve ever been in your whole life.  You, you have it, in your mind?  Think like that time a billion wrapped up in a nice ice cube of stressed outness.  So umm, allright, so, he decides he’s going to take a vacae, decides he’s going to go to the Bahamas and get all vacaed up and have a nice vacae, okay, vaca-tion.  So, he goes to his boss first, he’s like hey, boss-man, what’s up dog?! Listen, here’s the dealio, I’m going to take a vacae umm I don’t care what you think, so give me the days off.  And the boss is like okay, dude whatever, where are you going?  And the guys like, I’m going to the Bahamas!  And the boss is like oh, the Bahamas are great, but listen, whe..whe..when you’re in the Bahamas, the one thing you must never ever ever ever do is go to the Blue Moon Café.  Dun dun dun.  So he’s like okay whatever, whatever, he goes home to his wife, he’s like hey, wifey-baby what’s shakin’ bacon, listen, here’s the dealio, I’m going to take a vacae, without you, umm, I think I need some alone time, some me time.  The wife is like okay, umm, where you going to go, honey bunny?  And, and the guy’s like umm you know I was thinking I’m going to go to the Bahamas.  And his wife’s like oh, the Bahamas, it would be fun to go there, oh, but listen though, listen, honey, when you go there, you got to promise me something, and I mean it, you can’t go to the Blue Moon Café.  He’s like okay whatever.  So he goes to, he’s like, you know what, when I get back from the Bahamas, I’m gonna be like thin and tan, from eating like umm chipmunks there, I dunno, there’s a weird diet and stuff there, so umm I’m gonna need a new suit!  So he goes to his local tailor, Mr. Sketchypants, and he’s like hey, Mr. Sketchypants, listen I need a new suit.  And the tailor’s like ohh that’s good, what do you need a new suit for?  And umm, and he’s like uhh I need it cause I’m going to the Bahamas!  And the tailor’s like ohhh the Bahamas!  I love zee Bahamas, but listen dude, the one thing you must never ever do when you go to the Bahamas is go to the Blue Moon Café.  You can’t do it.  So uh, so he, so he’s like okay, whatever dude, all right you guys this is kinda freaky in the leaky, insane in the membrane, but okay.

So he gets on the plane, he’s flying over the deep blue sea, he’s watching the stewardess, do this, you know like the mask, and let the little fucker fend for himself kinda dealio, umm, and umm while, he’s in the plane, suddenly, every hotel in the Bahamas burns to the ground, like what are the fucking odds, like, what are the odds?  You are more likely to get hit by lightning forty-nine times in a row than for this to happen, it’s, it’s freaking unbelievable, okay.  So he gets out of the plane, get’s out of the plane and lets laid by a couple of natives, they put leis on him.  And uhh, he’s looking for a place to stay and there isn’t one because they’re all like smoldering ruins, looking like freaking place that was burnt, Hiroshima, Hiroshima was bombed, can I not, is it too soon to use that?  The Lincoln assassination only just recently became funny, okay, umm, I need to see this play like I need a hole in my head…okay, so, um so he’s looking for a place to stay, suddenly, he see’s like this red walkway and this like silver awning and a beam of light, like a big ol’ beam of light shines down from the clouds and you hear the angels going ahhhh, and you see the words Blue Moon Café.  So, umm, he’s like, you know what, doesn’t look that bad, I’ll stay here for a couple nights, see if like the room service sucks, I’ll just, you know, get up and bounce.  He stays there for two weeks, he loves it.  Imagine the best place you’ve ever stayed in your life.  What’s the best place you’ve ever stayed in your life?  Cabo (audience answer).  Really?  Cabo was nothing on the Blue Moon Café.  The Blue Moon Café was like twenty times Cabo, fifty-nine times Cabo.

Um, okay so, he gets home, he flies back home, he first goes to his boss and he’s like hey boss-man, look I’m all tan, I’m wearing the little conch shells around my neck and I’m back!  The boss is like oh dude, they do the little handshake thingy, and then he’s like um hey dude, how was the Bahamas?  And the guy was like oh you know the Bahamas were great but you know what’s weird is I stayed at the Blue Moon Café and it wasn’t that bad.  And the boss was like WHAT?!  You stayed at the Blue Moon Café!?  You’re fired!  And he throws him, like throws him out of the office, like physically, like he throws him.  So um the guys like [whimper], his hair’s all messed up and weird, so he he he goes home to his wife and he’s like wifey-baby I’m back but I just got fired cause I went to the Blue Moon Café.  His wife was like what, you went to the Blue Moon Café, I’m divorcing you!  She had the papers, she makes him sign them, right there.  She burns all his clothes, including the ones on his body.  He’s now wandering the streets naked, wifeless, jobless, burnt, very burnt so he’s like [distressed noise].  So he goes to see his tailor, to get the suit that he ordered before.  He’s like tailor, please, Mr. Sketchypants, please give me the suit because I went to the Blue Moon Café and everyone’s mad at me.  And the tailor’s like what, you went to the Blue Moon freaking Café, what the bloody hell is wrong with you?!  Um, and he rips up the suit and is like I’m charging you for that too!  And throws him out of the thing.

So um now he’s like wandering the streets a broken wreck of a shell of a horrible cadaver of a man and um he uh decides to seek enlightenment, ding.  So he goes to his local priest, Father Billy Bob.  He’s like, forgive me father, for I have sinned, but I don’t know what I did wrong, and the father’s like uhh all right all right.  He’s like I don’t know what I did wrong, I went to the Blue Moon Café, everyone’s mad at me, what did I do wrong?  And the priest’s is like, if I were not, a man of God, I would Kevorkian your ass right on this spot and uh and he excommunicates him the guy, like throws some holy water on him and throws him out of the room.  He goes through a Jewish rabbi, a Hindu guy, and uh he’s searching for someone who will tell him the answer to this age old question why is everyone mad at him for going to the Blue Moon Café?

So finally, he hears tales of this one monk on top of Mount Kilimanfufu, and the monk will tell him the answer to any question he has in the universe.  This is just a well known fact, this monk is like ask Jeeves, only like times a billion.  So, he climbs up, like it takes him ten days and three hours and twenty-nine minutes and two seconds, and he gets to the top and he kneels down before the monk, he’s like please God, I’m gonna kill myself if you don’t tell me what’s wrong with the Blue Moon Café, his voice is all kinda cracking and weird.  So the monks like okay, I’ll tell you, but first I have to purify my soul for what I’m about to impart upon you.  So they row out in the middle of this big lake, this big lake, um, beautiful blue waters, limpid, like a baby’s eyes and um and and and and the monk prays for ten hours and finally, he stands up in the boat and he says the reason why everyone is mad at you for going to the Blue Moon Café is—and suddenly, this huge wave comes and knocks the monk overboard, and the moral of the story is don’t stand up in boats.

The informant likes to tell this joke as entertainment when people are bored.  It takes about a full ten minutes to perform and is packed full of crazy hand gestures and movement.  It has become a full blown performance for the informant.  She says people typically have an angry and annoyed reaction to the punch line of the joke.

I have included a video recording of this joke with my release forms.  I like this joke because it plays off of audience anticipation.  The performer tells the joke, as if she were dangling a carrot in front of our faces, we just want to know why the Blue Moon Café is so horrible a place to have gone to, but we never find out.  We continue to listen to the joke because of human curiosity.  I also enjoy the terminology used in the joke, “what’s up dawg, or dealio” for example.  This added terminology is probably one form of variation in the joke, as these greetings are often used in modern days with younger crowds.  Groups of people with different communication or greeting styles would probably change the joke to match their group.  I also find the reference to Ask Jeeves interesting; it assumes that we have knowledge of websites and shows modern pop culture’s influence on our folklore.

Practical Joke – USA

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Scarsdale, NY
Performance Date: April 22, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Practical Joke—USA

“During the first day of practice on the varsity Ice Hockey team at Scarsdale High School, the seniors stole all of the freshman equipment (during a team meeting) and hid it in a closet at the rink.  When the freshman saw that their gear was gone, the upperclassmen acted clueless and suggested that it was stolen.  Finally, right before practice began, the seniors brought the equipment back and everyone found the whole ordeal hilarious.”
I first learned about this practice joke when it was performed on me during my first practice, freshman year.  Unfortunately for me, everyone had me and the other 3 freshman on the team convinced to the point that we were all extremely upset that our equipment had been stolen.  The practical joke was believable because the four of us had all put our equipment in the same locker room, right next to the entrance of the rink.  The rink is located in a somewhat dangerous and crime ridden section of town, and it was therefore believable that someone might have come in quickly and stole our stuff without being seen.  Furthermore for us freshman, it was our first practice on a varsity team and all of us were nervous, not knowing what to expect.  We had been warned that the first practice would be physically difficult, but there were all kind of stories that went around about freshman getting abused during their first varsity practice.  Fortunately, that was not the case.  But the upperclassmen certainly scared us all.

This practical joke occurs virtually every year from what we were told.  While nobody knows exactly which senior class started it, the tradition is kept alive year after year.  This is a great example of folklore because it supports Von Gennup’s theory, which recognizes the importance of practical jokes as a right of passage (Lecture 2/7/08).  He noted that practical jokes were usually present during the liminal period of someone’s life; a life transition like a marriage or initiation to a team or society.  The rational behind this is that you know that you are a member of this “group” when you know the practical jokes that have been played on everyone else.  Just as Von Gennup theorized, the practical joke that was played on myself and the other freshman came during our liminal period, when we were in the process of becoming members of the team.  After the joke was played on us, we now expect it and are “part of the team.”

Contemporary Legend – University of Southern California

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Manhattan Beach, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2008
Primary Language: English

There are a few legends behind why every year Tommy Trojan get wound in duct tape. I come from a family that has had a few generations go through USC and I have heard a few different reasons why Tommy is dressed in duct tape during the UCLA vs. USC football game week. I originally heard from my dad that UCLA had a few students who got a helicopter and tried to dump blue and gold paint on Tommy, but because of the rotor wash and their bad aim, they were unable to get Tommy with the paint. The other story I heard was that they tired to use cow manure, and instead got a lot of it in the helicopter because of the rotor wash. I think I even heard a variation where the helicopter crashed, but I find that hard to believe.

The fact is that this legend has become very much a part of folklore on the campus of USC. Every year the Trojan Knights camp out in front of Tommy to make sure that nothing happens to him. Also, every year he is wrapped up in duct tape. These two fact keep this legend going. The other reason that they legend is still popular is the fact that we would like to think that we are that much better than people from UCLA, and that these stupid plans and actions are signs of our superiority. The thing is I also know a few people who go to UCLA.

The way their story goes, they succeed in getting Tommy with either the paint, the manure, and in one case both, and that it was because of this success that Tommy is wrapped in duct tape every year. At USC we like to think we are taking precautions from keep this from ever working even though UCLA has failed on numerous occasions to try to do something to Tommy.

Another important fact is that the legend is popular to both people at USC, and UCLA, but probably not even know in other school that do not play either school in sports. This means that they legends around Tommy and the duct tape are continued and popular among a small group of people who go to either school.

Practical Joke

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 1, 2008
Primary Language: English

Practical Joke

April Fools

The picture above is what Kianni Courtade did to Michael Mesa’s room for an April Fools prank.  April Fools is a day of making pranks and practical jokes.  Kianni first learned that April 1st was a day to play jokes for a classmate when she was in elementary school.  The joke she played on Michael on April 1, 2008 was not the first time Kianni pulled an April Fools Day joke.

Originally, Kianni wanted to prank someone else, but that person did not seem to be leaving his/her room and since she did not want to waste the supplies she had already purchased, she decided to pull the prank on Michael instead.  Kianni had a friend put tape on the door so the door would not lock when it was closed.  She was surprised that Michael did not notice the tape.  After Michael left, Kianni saran wrapped Michael’s chair, desk, pillows, bed, and dresser.  She placed flower stickers on the walls and strategically placed alarm clocks with different alarm times around the room.  She used pink streamers and put a musical device in one of his drawers so that when he opened his drawer, the music would play.  In addition, Kianni also hid some of Michael’s things.  Michael was shocked when he returned to his room, and later on, Kianni apologized to Michael, who remained a fair sport.

April Fools Day demonstrates how the American culture is one that enjoys pranks and humor, especially at the expense of another person.  The American people enjoy harmless fun.  It is entertaining that Kianni chose pink streamers and flower stickers, which are considered feminine, to put into a male’s room.  The majority of men does not like to own anything feminine, especially anything that makes their room have any hints of feminism; therefore, the prank was funny to spectators, while it was probably embarrassingly funny for Michael to have pink streamers and flower sticks in his room.  The purpose of a practical joke is to make it difficult for the person who the prank was pulled on.  The saran wrap made it extremely difficult for Michael to use anything in his room.  It probably frustrated him that some his possessions had been misplaced.  Having music play when he opened his drawer and having alarm clocks ringing at different odd times must have annoyed Michael.  Practical jokes are supposed to be harmless but also embarrass, frustrate, and annoy the victim, and Kianni was successful.