The X-Entertainment Blog!

01/17/2005: The Gags & Pranks Extravaganza!

Gotta admit, I didn’t think I’d finish this on time. On the boardwalk of Atlantic City, and the same shop where I found that finagled Pokemon Pasta down below, I found….this. It’s a beautiful buffet of old gags, pranks and novelties — everything from fake puke to squirting pens…all the stuff we used to order from Johnson Smith and Brad’s Fun Shop. I can’t tell you how tickled I was to come across this stuff. Article features a look at a sixteen different, including such classics as the “bug in an ice cube,” and of course, “snap snots.” Yum. Enjoy.

Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

Discussion Thread: 81 comments

1 2 Next »

Ah, I love gags and pranks as much as I love taffy… and I’m a man who loves his taffy

Ghosted by Chilipeppers @ 01/17/2005 6:13 PM EST

Just wanted to note…today is Betty "Rose Nyland" White’s birthday.

Ghosted by Garrison @ 01/17/2005 6:21 PM EST

Awesome article.

Ghosted by Travis @ 01/17/2005 6:31 PM EST

I’ve never ever seen so many gags/pranks together in one place. Ok, granted I’m not usually on the lookout for them, but – wow.

No, my feet don’t smell like mustard.

Ghosted by Ryane @ 01/17/2005 6:35 PM EST

I had to post because this is the highest i’ve ever had the chance to

Ghosted by Justin @ 01/17/2005 6:39 PM EST

wow…nice work. I’ve never seen such as gross things of that fake beer (pukes)

By the way, in you Fake Water Worms paragraph, there’s a typo:

"I cannot it spaghetti cause of it."

You mean eat, right?

Ghosted by Warx @ 01/17/2005 6:42 PM EST

Fixed, thanks.

Ghosted by Matt @ 01/17/2005 6:45 PM EST

Nice article, where was the soap that turns stuff black? Thought that was pretty much a classic. And yeah i’ve eaten those joke sweets before just because there was nothing better to eat.

Ghosted by Gorm @ 01/17/2005 6:55 PM EST

I loved those toothpicks…we had em here for 20 cents a pack when I was a kid…but we could buy em at the corner store with the gummy candies…nothing like chewing fire-sticks (ok not fire or even fire-like) to make u feel cool as a kid

Ghosted by MetalRaven @ 01/17/2005 7:25 PM EST

Ugh. My sisters probably tried to get me to fall for at least half of this stuff. They loved to get a rise out of me. Sometimes I’d take the bait, sometimes I’d look at them funny and walk away, sometimes I’d go screaming to Mom that the girls were picking on me again. They sold many of these in the wonderful 99 cent store in Cape May that is now yet another T-shirt shop.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 01/17/2005 8:06 PM EST

There’s a store in Sacramento called Evangeline’s which sells this kind of crap, along with all sorts of bizarre stuff. I happen to have Fish-Tasting Candy and that super-spicy gum. I’ve also seen all those others, and will most likely get around to picking them up one of these days. Most of this stuff is made by a company called loftus, which makes all sorts of gag items, including those ruber chickens that you see. Yep, if you see one, chances are it was made by Loftus.

Ghosted by Nate @ 01/17/2005 8:11 PM EST

I lied. There are probably several other companies that make this kind of stuff. But at Evangeline’s, it’s typically from Loftus.

Ghosted by Nate @ 01/17/2005 8:15 PM EST

Great article! Sadly, there are people out there somewhere whom have fallen for one of these pranks. Taking a quote from the famous Garfield The Cat….they should be drug out into the street and shot.

Ghosted by Ryan @ 01/17/2005 8:22 PM EST

I had a squirting pen… squirted one foot at most. Friggin’ think was more fragile than a glass ornament. Only cool thing was it came with disappearing ink. It was about the time that the "Gotcha!" craze was in full swing. I remember that disappearing ink for those water pistols was foul-smelling.

And one final thought: I remember getting a whoopie cushion once. Still had the same picture of the lady sitting on the cushion. Looked like it was from the thirties… literally. It was hard to make out the image. The plate they used to print the image on the cushion must have been ancient.

Ghosted by AlphaCentaurian @ 01/17/2005 8:23 PM EST

The article reminds me of all the times I tried to give someone a gum wrapper with alas no gum. I think I wrecked it by the redness of my face and a choking/trying not to laugh sound.

Ghosted by Allyson @ 01/17/2005 8:49 PM EST

I laughed quite a bit at this article. I love the last sentences of each one, those are great gems of afterthought. I couldn’t let out a big belly laugh of appreciation, though, because of this whole "I’m at work at a credit union call center" thing…

Ghosted by kristina @ 01/17/2005 8:50 PM EST

Haha. My sister and I had the bug in an ice cube one when we were younger, we managed to freak my mother out with it several times before she finally threw it out on us.

Ghosted by Jeeto @ 01/17/2005 9:27 PM EST

I put some fake dog poop on my desk and some of my students (incredibly) still asked if it was real. How can I teach them history when they can’t distinguish rubber from feces?????
No child left behind (except the restroom?)

Ghosted by manimal789 @ 01/17/2005 9:46 PM EST

To the joy of my enemies, I never got the hand to any kind of water squirting device. I seem to be doomed to use it facing the wrong way.

After becoming the laughstock already in 4th grade I decided not to use pranks that included water or any other liquid so I was exiled to the horrible and tastelessly boring world of rubber which is pretty lame no matter how good the cockroach is.

Ghosted by melonian @ 01/17/2005 10:54 PM EST

What the hell…keep the christmas lights up all year!!

Ghosted by A Dude @ 01/17/2005 11:58 PM EST

I remember reading all those on a list of pranks in the back of a magazine. They had x-ray specs that blatantly appealed to the perv in us. The picture for it actually showed a guy simultaneously looking through his hand and a girls dress. I also remember seeing an ad for a personnal hovercraft. I recall being immediatly fascinated with the idea of my own hovercraft that I could ride on water and land while being powered by a vacuum motor. I wonder if anybody actually bought one of those.

Ghosted by Ed @ 01/18/2005 1:21 AM EST

Hey, Ed- The actual Hoverboard used in Back to the Future II and III was auctioned off after the movies were finished, and it made the list of top 15 highest grossing movie auctioned products. I guess you missed your chance on it, but somebody out there DOES buy hovercrafts.

Great Article, Matt! I always wondered what half of those things really did, and now I know!

Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 01/18/2005 1:39 AM EST

The fake beer says "choking hazard".

Ghosted by Max Jenius @ 01/18/2005 2:06 AM EST

I just found that my spicy gum is made by the Lotte Confectionary Company in Seoul, Korea. I’m wondering if they have any conection with that Lottemint Squirt Gum.

Ghosted by Nate @ 01/18/2005 2:21 AM EST

Hey, the wrapper on my hot gum says "Be Always Happy With Excellent Taste and Flavor." I guess I’ll be always happy with excellent humor once I can actually get some dumbfuck to fall for this trick.

Ghosted by Nate @ 01/18/2005 2:25 AM EST

Man, this brings back the memories! But who sits up waiting to post at 2:00am EST? At least this is 9:26 CAT, central African time, so I can be at work and post like a normal human (as if).

Anyone else love reading those Casper comix pages with all the wonderful stuff to buy? Not that we could get it, due to the sanctions in sunny SA, but imagining it’s always better than getting it and finding out it’s crap. Those worms remind me of those "little zoo" pills you put in water and got tiny foam animals – giraffes, elephants, leopards, dogs and horses. Odd combination, but hey. They were little foam animals that grew out of pills! Whooooo! :%

Ghosted by eminentfreak rides horses badly @ 01/18/2005 2:30 AM EST

Is that a real bug? It looks like it, and I would guess that it is probably toxic and more dangerous than putting bleech ice cubs in your drink

Ghosted by gaz @ 01/18/2005 8:10 AM EST

Matt…

Awesome article. I love the holiday articles, but its always nice to come back to your roots..I have one question though:
Where are the rattlesnake eggs?? Those things are the classic suckiest gag in the world.

Ghosted by Goody @ 01/18/2005 9:02 AM EST

Ed and Muppet Baby,

I can’t believe I am telling this story but who cares. In 3rd grade, me and a buddy were going to buy one of those hovercrafts, fly across the Atlantic (making approriate stops at islands of course) and go to Scotland to find (you ready?) the Loch Ness Monster.
This is why I am glad we are having a girl. Little boys are pretty stupid.
P.S. Mrs. Manimal is in early labor so I guess today is the day. (in Mr. Burns’ voice) Excellent.

Ghosted by manimal789 @ 01/18/2005 9:52 AM EST

Goody — no rattle eggs were present, but I included them in the logo for the article if you look close.

And for the person who mentioned it, I remember buying black soap there, but for some reason it wasn’t on us when we got home.

Stolen soap.

Ghosted by Matt @ 01/18/2005 11:10 AM EST

Great He-Man News!

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2749

Ghosted by Joe in OH @ 01/18/2005 11:16 AM EST

When I was really young, I bought my first boyfriend some gag stuff,for V day I believe. I remember him using the blood capsules on the teacher(pretending to puke out blood) but I dont think she fell for it. HA Im such a geek!… he gave me bazooka joe gum and a tape of The Offspring that he stole from his brother!

Ghosted by IHAQ @ 01/18/2005 11:38 AM EST

The real trick to the tricks is: patience. Look for an opening, and spring it on them. Many a pratical joke has been scuppered by rushing up and trying too hard to force a mark to go for the gimmick. My own favorite gags are/were cigarette loads and the snapping gum. The exploding loads found their way into my oldest sister’s pack on several occasions, and once was sprung on a friend’s brother who was always bumming smokes. I don’t smoke, so no one would suspect I was the one providing the little exploders new homes in other folks coffin nails. The snapping gum was great, I actually managed to wind the spring a little tighter, put a couple of real sticks of gum in there, and got a football player to scream like a girl with it. He thought it was hilarious afterward, and borrowed it to pull on his buds. He returned it, too! Good times.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 01/18/2005 11:42 AM EST

I think the metal doohdad in the "exploding matches" is supposed to take a plastic cap – the type you put in a toy gun.

Ghosted by Will Tingle @ 01/18/2005 12:31 PM EST

Not this version — it’s more like a shitty mousetrap.

Ghosted by Matt @ 01/18/2005 12:33 PM EST

I actually bought some electric buzzer style fake gum from an amusement park. Even though all my buddies knew what would happen we would often endure the pain for a good laugh. I suppose some little boys never stop being stupid.

Ghosted by Ed @ 01/18/2005 1:09 PM EST

Did anyone notice that in the picture of the squirt gum, it says "Pratical Joke", and not "Practical Joke"?

Ghosted by g w @ 01/18/2005 1:46 PM EST

Jokes rule! Know what else rules? Wrestling! Hey Matt, did you know you get a shout in the new Death of WCW book from R.D Reynolds?! Are you going to do a book report on it and splice it with some of your patented humour? Please?!

Ghosted by Monkey Boy @ 01/18/2005 2:14 PM EST

"I hate worms. I love fake puke"
That should be the new slogan for this site.. or not.

Moving on. They used to sell the Cinamon Toothpicks as candy in the corner store by my school. Kids would run around all day with toothpicks projecting from their mouths like cigarettes. Maybe the store thought they had their own massive practical joke going on but we loved ‘em, numb lips and all!

Ahh nostalgia.. you’ve done it again Matt!

Ghosted by Cyanyde @ 01/18/2005 2:18 PM EST

aside: I betcha "Gangstaz" buy the fake bullet holes to look um, you know.. Gangsta-ish!

Ghosted by Cyanyde @ 01/18/2005 2:22 PM EST

No, I didn’t know that! God, RD is such an awesome guy. I’ll have to send him an e-mail.

Ghosted by Matt @ 01/18/2005 2:28 PM EST

Yeah, I’ll scan the page if you want, but you should still buy the book!

Ghosted by Monkey Boy @ 01/18/2005 2:31 PM EST

I will, but if you could scan the page and e-mail it to me, it’d be most appreciated. Thanks!

Ghosted by Matt @ 01/18/2005 2:37 PM EST

Hopefully it should be in your inbox now!

Ghosted by Monkey Boy @ 01/18/2005 3:25 PM EST

I was walking around Boston the other day and discovered that our city is home to the longest-running joke store in the US! It’s absolutely packed with stuff, and a sign on the door says "Yes! We have gorilla suits!"

Can it get any better than that?

Ghosted by VeganMike @ 01/18/2005 3:42 PM EST

Whoever created "fake puke" is a genius.. or not.

Ghosted by Review the World @ 01/18/2005 4:13 PM EST

Hilarious article… I always loved the bug in the ice. Also used to use cigarette loads esp during parties when those who were bumming were drunk…

BTW the "updates" page aka the blog page says "Christmas Season, 2004!" in the title bar. Just thought you’d like to know.

Pax

Ghosted by Soj @ 01/18/2005 4:29 PM EST

VeganMike: http://www.jacksjokes.com/

Joe in OH, we should try to get Entertainment Rights to have Matt do a commentary on one of the goofier He-Man episodes. enquiries@entertainmentrights.com

Ghosted by ME @ 01/18/2005 4:56 PM EST

Matt, your e-mail, matt@x-entertainment.com is bouncing my emails to you….is there somewhere else i can send you the scan of the page?

Ghosted by Monkey Boy @ 01/18/2005 5:15 PM EST

The worm drawing in the Instant Worms package looks like how I always imagined a tapeworm would look. Ew. Esp after reading The Worm Within: http://www.fray.com/drugs/worm/

Hey, maybe you could use the fishing line/roach to attach to the bottom of a real cookie. Just kind stuff the end of the line into the bottom of the cookie, and then hide it in a plate of like cookies. I bet you’d scare someone, since anything black shooting out of a pile of edibles is always scary and gross.

I’d hate to see what cocaine abused nose that fake snot would fit into. Ouch.

Good luck today, manimal. Don’t faint. Make sure you stick around for the whole thing, in case she needs someone to scream at. Oh, and tell her, don’t be a hero, take any pain killers offered. The experience is so much nicer shen you don’t have all of that nasty pain to deal w/.

Hey, Erik, when is the next u/s again?

Ghosted by trajeal @ 01/18/2005 7:27 PM EST

1 2 Next »

Add A New Comment!

This entry was posted on Monday, January 17th, 2005 at 5:56 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.