The first of April is the big dance for pranksters worldwide. In this month’s Fact Funhouse quiz, we test your knowledge of jokes and jesters throughout history. You’ll love it—no foolin’!
1. In 1957, the BBC aired a three-minute hoax news story that convinced hundreds of people that this foodstuff grew on trees.
a. String cheese
b. Spaghetti
c. Bagels
d. Cheerios
In 1965, the BBC was at it again, airing a faux interview with an inventor who claimed to have created what?
a. A self-cleaning chimney
b. “Smell-O-Vision,” sending scents through the TV screen
c. A courteous car horn that made the sound of a gentleman clearing his throat
d. A genetically modified potato that grew in a pre-mashed state
What traditional prank might you fall prey to in France on April 1?
a. Being slapped with a baguette soaked in chicken broth
b. Being served vinegar in a wine glass
c. Having a paper fish taped to your back
d. Having a sausage tied to your doorknob
In 1895, composer Richard Strauss wrote a work for a symphony orchestra about the legend of this roving European prankster.
a. The Mad Hatter
b. Beetlejuice
c. Till Eulenspiegel
d. Clopin Trouillefou
Burger King has a penchant for creating whopper-sized April fool pranks around its signature sandwich. Which of the following was NOT an actual Burger King prank?
a. Whopper-flavored toothpaste
b. The Chocolate Whopper
c. The Tofu Whopper
d. The Left-Handed Whopper
True or False: The earliest historical reference of April Fool’s Day dates to ancient Egypt and the prank of stuffing marsh mallow reeds with bitter herbs.
This TV sitcom celebrated April Fool’s Day by staging scenes with visual gaffes, Easter eggs and surprises. It also offered eagle-eyed viewers a chance to win a cash jackpot for spotting all the irregularities.
a. The Drew Carey Show
b. Seinfeld
c. Friends
d. Newhart
True or False: An April Fool’s Day feature added to Gmail by Google in 2016 turned disastrous when users sent emails by mistakenly clicking the wrong button.
The Portuguese equivalent of April Fool’s Day is celebrated the Sunday and Monday preceding Lent, when you may find yourself getting a faceful of this:
a. Ashes
b. Tomatoes
c. Flour
d. Paint
On April 1, 2015, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced it had developed this:
a. Paint pigments made from cake frosting
b. A life-size replica of Michelangelo’s David made entirely from Play-Doh
c. Installation of sophisticated mood detectors to record and analyze patrons’ reactions to displayed artworks
d. Scratch-and-sniff paintings
ANSWERS
- Pasta not being a common British staple in the mid-20th century, thousands of people bought the BBC’s tall tale that spaghetti was harvested from trees in southern Switzerland and was yielding a bumper crop following a mild winter and the eradication of the dreaded spaghetti weevil.
- “Smell-O-Vision” was a purported technology that allowed viewers to perceive aromas through their television screens. A demonstration was staged with chopped onions and a brewed pot of coffee, and droves of viewers called in to confirm that they had indeed smelled the aromas, some even claiming the onions made their eyes water.
- Beware walking the streets of Paris on April 1, as you might be discretely tagged with a paper fish on your back with the exclamation, “Poisson d’avril!” which translates literally as “April fish!”
- Till Eulenspiegel is the folk hero who travels throughout the Holy Roman Empire, exposing greed, vanity, and hypocrisy through witty (and often scatological) pranks on common folk and the nobility.
- As tempting as it sounds, the Tofu Whopper is the only item on this list that Burger King hasn’t seized upon in its April Fool’s campaigns.
- False. No one knows for certain when or where the pranksters’ holiday originated, but the earliest written reference appears to be in a 1561 poem by Flemish writer Eduard De Dene, which tells of a nobleman sending his servant on a series of fool’s errands on the first of April.
- Beloved prankster Drew Carey continues his April Fool’s tradition today as host of “The Price is Right.” During his sitcom days, his April Fool’s episodes featured a plethora of absurdities, including a scene where characters carry on a dialog without any regard whatsoever to the fact that snow is falling inside their office.
- True. Google introduced the “Mic Drop” button to Gmail on April 1, 2016. When users responded to an email thread by clicking an alternate send button, Gmail inserted an animation of a Minion character from the Despicable Me film series dropping a microphone. It then automatically archived the thread, giving the sender the last word. However, users easily confused the alternate button with the regular one, wreaking havoc on interpersonal communication and leading to a backlash of fury from offended recipients, rejected employment applicants, and some who claim to have been fired for being unprofessional. In the end, ‘twas Google who looked the fool.
- The Portuguese are fond of throwing flour at one another. Why? Well…why not?
- Although they all sound like plausible April Fool’s Day announcements, it was the concept of scratch-and-sniff paintings that the Met used to tease New York art patrons.
