April Fools (and failures)

April 1st was my maternal grandmother's birthday, and I assure you, Gloria was not a pulling pranks type of woman. I don't have many clear memories of my grandfather, but Grandma was a thoughtful, curious, no-nonsense, exceptionally organized individual. Opinionated, well-read, and well-traveled. But NOT particularly humorous as far as I recall. It's weird because my dad and his two brothers each have a keen sense of humor. Perhaps they inherited it from their dad?

These three goobers inherited a double dose of silly from their grownups

There's no good segue to humor from her, except to think perhaps she played the straight face while surrounded by lunacy? (As a mother of three sons I know a thing or two about hijinks and tomfoolery, although I usually played along and encouraged their goofiness.) One of the funniest shows on TV was Newhart, and Bob Newhart's stammering, deadpan delivery heightened the crazy antics of his employees and guests at his inn in Vermont.

One key to good humor is to avoid cruelty, which is why many pranks don't land as intended. As a senior class advisor, I saw two hilarious pranks. One landed well, the other didn't. The first involved twin brothers who climbed on the roof of the high school one morning. In full view of spectators, one shoved the other off the roof into the bushes below. It was shocking, but immediately clear they were pranking everyone when the body in the bushes was revealed to be a dummy. (These two fellas expressed a zany and wicked sense of humor all the time.) The second prank involved a student welding a car around the flagpole outside the school's main entrance. It was an astonishing sight to behold, to this day the identity of the culprits remain a secret, they were SO sly about covering their tracks. They even went to far as to pay cash for the car and scraped off the VIN, the previous owner who lived in another town could give investigator no lead. In both cases, school administrators refused to play along. The twins got in-school suspension instead of a class trip to Great America. The car got dismantled by the tech ed teacher and towed off-site before lunchtime.

I mean, I sort of understood why the first prank didn't land (lol--I still thought it was funny tho), but the second? Sheer genius. An administrator with a better sense of humor would've painted the car in school colors and attached some message about "Don't crash and burn before finals!" Maybe there's a reason people don't let me near the seat of power.

Anyway, I'm down for the pranking but it's got to be done in a spirit of FUN, not ever cruelty, and everyone's got to laugh, otherwise it's a FAIL.

I have more to say about the topic of humor, and if you're interested, you can catch me at the Lakefly Writers Conference in Oshkosh May 1-2. I'm presenting a humor writing workshop on May 2 at 1:30.

Spill it, reader. Favorite prank? Mine is always and forever THIS ONE!