A History of Fooling

In case you missed it, I spent a large portion of April 1st attempting to prank people. It is, after all, one of my very favorite holidays.

I am the Queen of April Fool's Day.

No, seriously. I am the Queen. Bow down, sailors.

I'm not really the "actions" sort of prankster. I won't put saran wrap on a toilet seat or fill your cubicle with packing peanuts. Although those pranks can be funny, most of them don't make the other person look like a fool at all. And frankly, they're usually just as much of a hassle to the people creating them as the people suffering from them.



I'm the other sort of prankster. The "convince you" sort. I will do my best to make you believe something that isn't true. And I'm pretty gosh darn good at it.

Now, I've said before that I'm a terrible liar, and I swear it's true. Being a good actor and a good liar have nothing to do with each other. But there are three things that help me lie.

1. Telling lies over the phone.
2. Telling lies in written phone.
3. Taking on a character.

Every good prank I've ever pulled involved one of those three. The "character" thing only works if I can do it in a way so that the people I'm attempting to trick don't realize that I'm acting strangely. It usually helps if I create a character in which giggling is built in, as the smiling is my "tell".

A few of my favorite foolings:

- A few minutes after midnight (the best time to pull a prank, as it hasn't registered in most people's minds that it's April Fool's Day), I called a boys dorm at Notre Dame (across the street from my college) where I had several friends. I acted hysterical and proceeded to tell them that our friend Mary had been arrested under suspicion of selling alcohol to minors out of her dorm room. I had another friend of mine next to me saying things in a worried tone in the background to make it sound more realistic. The guys were passing the phone back and forth, trying to get the whole story. I asked if they knew anything about Indiana state law, and if they knew where the police station was, and could they borrow a car from anyone at this time of night? Eventually, I yelled "APRIL FOOLS".

It worked so well that I called another dorm with the same prank. The guys from the second dorm actually found a junior who was willing to lend them a car. And then I told them it was all a lie. *cackle, cackle*.

- I called some friends around 1am whom I knew had really messed up television at the moment. I told them that terrorists had bombed Disney World. I then proceeded to tell them that it was on every television station that they couldn't get ("Try NBC. It's on ABC, too. Oh my gosh, it's even on The Weather Channel!"). They were sleep deprived enough to believe it for a little while.

- A well-orchestrated piece of gossip that was spread through a rehearsal for the musical "Cinderella". A couple of my friends had a bit of tension between them, and I convinced the two of them to use it to their advantage in the form of a prank. A guy friend of ours (the guy I dated for two years... but this is before I dated him) agreed to be a sort of pawn in the prank as well. I can't remember exactly what the rumor was, but it involved him making out with one or both of them at a club the night before... Anyway. We enlisted the help of a few other people who went with us to that club. In the end, the number of people in on the joke was probably greater than or equal to the number who fell for it.

- That prank above? They didn't know it, but I was really just using it as a diversion from a better prank. A handful of my friends knew I had a reputation for April Fools deception, so I convinced them that the rumor was my "big prank" of the year... Artful, was it not? I also created a "group prank" amongst the cast of "Cinderella". I e-mailed everyone to show up to rehearsal wearing flip-flops (it was strictly forbidden to wear open-toed shoes in the midst of set construction). And all my friends thought THAT was the diversion. Gosh, I'm good.

- The REAL prank. I have a messed up back. It's not nearly as bad now as it used to be, but in the past I have stopped people from hugging me because touching the wrong spot caused too much pain. Pretty much everyone knew about it. I was playing a Stepsister in Cinderella. The other Stepsister had recently recovered from a bad wrist injury. There was piece of blocking in which The Herald was trying to physically restrain the Stepsisters and Stepmother from grabbing the Prince and stopping him from reaching Cinderella. The other Stepsister was going over him, I was going under him on one side, and the Stepmother was going around the other side.


(The blocking in question. See that awkwardly positioned leg coming out of the purple dress? That's me. I was completely under my own control, with all my weight on my back foot. But I do look like I'm being held by the Herald, don't I?)

So I had this brilliant idea: What if we lost our balance? The only people in on it were the four of us involved, and the stage manager (because my dear friend Betsy would've called 911 in a heartbeat if she thought any of us had been injured). We choreographed it in a way that would cause no injury, but look the worst.

And then, during rehearsal, we fell. Hard. I don't know if anyone was paying attention to the other Stepsister's feigned wrist pain, but I was very aware of a circle crowding around me as I gave my most convincing portrayal of a broken doll that I could. I've felt back pain enough that I know EXACTLY what it feels like and how I move after it, so it wasn't hard to make it convincing. My face was scrunched in agony, my body was locked in an awkward pose, my breathing turned forced, and I began to whimper in a way that made it seem as though I were doing my best not to scream or cry.

The stage manager BOLTED up to the stage, knelt down beside me saying in a harsh, worried voice, "Honey, are you alright?"

"I'm... I'm fine."

"You are NOT fine."

"I'm fine..." I could hear people talking to each other, completely freaked out.

"Are you SURE?"

With that, I SPRUNG to my feet, dropping the act, and announced. "I'm sure. APRIL FOOLS!!!"

Oh, man. We pranked like 40 people at once. It was beautiful.

NOTE: The picture above was a reenactment that we did at photo call. The director actually REMOVED that chunk of blocking from the show after our prank revealed the "potential danger" of it. *sigh* And it was my FAVORITE bit of blocking. Oh well.


I've had a couple of other good pranks in the past, but I'll refrain from sharing them in case I should need to reuse them in the future.

Anyway. I really only celebrate April Fool's Day every two or three years. Why? Because if people remember that I'm good at it, then they'll come to expect it.

I actually wasn't planning to celebrate this year, but I did. Oh, how I did...

- Within the first 15 minutes of being at work, I convinced one coworker that another one had gotten engaged.

- On a high from my first prank, I decided that I'd do this year after all. So I changed my facebook status to saying something about having "second thoughts" about grad school (and periodically made it more severe, to things like "Might not go to grad school. No, I don't want to talk about it". At the end of the day it said something like "Definitely not going to grad school. Long, upsetting story"). I wrote something similar on Twitter. Then I posted here about it.

Then, just to make sure that Brian was pranked (because I never know how often he reads my blog), I sent him the following email:

I don't think I'm going to go to grad school in the fall. Don't worry, I'll probably still go at some point. Hopefully they'll allow me to defer for a couple of years. But I really need to save money right now, and the whole process of moving, buying a car... it's too expensive. Plus, I should be getting a raise soon, so I might as well get that money for a year or two... But it hit me that in three years I'll be a broke, starving artist. And by waiting for grad school, I can take steps to prevent that.

I hope you're not too disappointed in me. Just know that I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I really think it's for the best.

On the upside, now you'll be able to visit me in Chicago after all. :)

~A~


I started getting messages and wall posts on facebook from concerned parties (including two people connected with the program). I got some responses on my blog, although most people seemed to realize it wasn't for real (thanks to my favorite whistle-blower, Heidi). But I never heard back from Brian.

I called him around 7pm.

Brian: Hello?
Angela: Hi Bri!
Brian: Hi.
Angela: Did you get my e-mail?
Brian:...Yes.
Angela: Did you realize it was an April Fool's joke?
*pause*
Brian: Not until just now. I hate you.

Apparently, no one successfully fooled him all day except for me. :)

- When my boss came in to work, I asked to speak to her alone. I then put on my best "happy, excited, giggly girl" face, and told her that I was quitting in three weeks. I would be moving to Nebraska to live with Brian until grad school started. My boss tried to talk me into staying in Chicago. She was completely shocked by the news, and asked, "What does your mother think?" (My boss and my mother have met a couple of times). I told her that I wasn't planning to tell my parents. "But what will happen when they call you?" I told her that they'd call my cell phone, and therefore it didn't matter whether I was in Chicago or Nebraska. At one point I tried to get up from the chair (and was going to tell her the truth), but she tapped my arm and said, "Sit back down! We're not done!" All in all, I think it was close to ten minutes of straight-up lies. When I finally said, "Oh, by the way... April Fools", her cubicle was surrounded by gasps (from a couple of eavesdroppers who had also been deceived), applause, and laughter (from the people who had figured out what I was doing).

DISCLAIMER: Do NOT attempt to prank your boss unless you know they'll laugh about it. My boss has a pretty good sense of humor, which is why I went for it.

- Since that prank worked so well on my boss, I sent the following e-mail to my parents.

I think I'm going to leave [my job] at the end of April/beginning of May, and then go stay with Brian for a couple of months until grad school. I figure, he and I aren't going to see much of each other for the next few years, so we might as well do it now while there's time. I already talked it over with [my boss]. She's not thrilled that I'll be leaving so soon, but she understands. I'll be starting the paperwork later today.

~A~

My mother sent an email back saying "last you told us, you were just going to visit for a weekend". I wrote a response announcing that it was a prank, but she didn't read her email. Then the text messages started, asking when I got lunch, when we could talk, and what was wrong with me. I sent her a text explaining that it was a joke. I called her on my break, and she expressed her embarrassment at falling for my trickery. She pointed out that I had sent the email to my dad's HOME email address, and that he wouldn't get it until that evening. I encouraged her to join me in the prank and call him to tell him. She said that she wouldn't, because it was "too mean."

Later that night, I got an email from my dad that said, and I quote, "This email upsets me a great deal." I wrote back that it was a prank. He wasn't upset. According to my mom, he's more upset at HER for not warning him even though she knew. HA! He said that if he had realized it was a prank, he would've written back "that I had given up my job and we would come stay in Nebraska for a while." I love my dad.

- Brian and I changed our facebook relationship status to "Engaged" for the last several hours of the day. I wonder how many people even noticed...? I bet by that point they had all caught on to the fact that farce was running rampant in the world and were susceptible to no forms of gullibility. Still, it was worth a shot.



Surprisingly, there was very little backlash against my tomfoolery. My boss vowed to "get me back"... But all she did was turn everything that I had tacked to my cubicle wall upside down. I sorta liked it, so I've left everything that way for the time being.

(Even my coat was turned upside down. Now THAT'S attention to detail.)


One of my coworkers took the ball out of my mouse while I was at lunch, but I quickly realized what had happened. And then I got a call from the Security Desk saying I had a confidential letter to pick up. I knew IMMEDIATELY that it was a prank, but no one would confess to it. Sure enough, after having to go through the ordeal of signing for the envelope, it contained a printed page that said "HA HA! Happy April Fool's Day!". My boss and coworkers all deny doing it. Oh well.

So, anyway. In two years on April Fool's Day, make sure you're no where near me. And if you are, be prepared.


May you be as convincing as you need to be.

~A~