Top 10 Famous And Powerful People Who Were Also Childish Pranksters

The rich, famous and powerful got that way by being committed, dedicated, and serious as all Hell. It’s hard to become a billionaire when you spend all your time putting potatoes in people’s exhaust pipes. But every now and again they’ll do something stupid, hilarious and, most importantly, awesome enough to make it onto a TopTenz list. Like this one, coincidentally enough.

10. The BBC Pranked the All Of Britain

The BBC is one of the most respected and oldest news sources in the world. Even in the States the BBC is one of the most trusted and non-biased news sources around. Which is why when they decide to prank people, it’s extra hilarious.

Back in the ’50s, the BBC decided to tell its viewers where spaghetti came from, so on April 1^st 1957, thousands of viewers tuned in to see a documentary on Swiss spaghetti tree harvesters. To make the show seem doubly legit, they presented the show completely seriously, even going as far as to hire their most famous presenter to narrate it.

But here comes the best part: not only were people fooled, they actually phoned up the BBC asking where they could get their own spaghetti tree from, even though the show made it very clear that the tree needed hot sunny weather to grow, and the people calling were in England, a place that gets less sun than an Amish person’s crotch.

9. President Clinton’s Aides Pranked The Hell Out Of President Bush’s

When President Bush succeeded President Clinton, it’s a little known fact that Clinton’s aides left the White House in such a state that it looked like a frat party of epic proportions and a tornado had torn through the White House. Along with breaking a whole bunch of stuff Bush’s crew had to fix, the aides also glued drawers shut and stole all the W keys from nearby computer keyboards, knowing that it would annoy the crap out of all the people sending emails on behalf of George W. Bush. This is all fairly standard stuff you’ expect from the people serving the guy who used to run the country.

The group also left “obscene voice-mail messages” that were sadly not released to the public and, to show off how unique, edgy and original they all were, they also put up pictures of George W. Bush as a chimp. Wow, with people like that on his payroll we may never know who was the better President, but we sure know which one partied harder.

8. Lyndon Johnson And His Pee Habits

President Lyndon B. Johnson was known for his tenacity, work ethic, and the fact he would constantly flip out his dong whenever he felt like it.

Feel free to read that last part again. And yet again, if you must.

That’s right, Lyndon Johnson had himself a habit of whipping out his member and spraying people with it. Okay, so pissing on someone isn’t exactly the best prank, but when you’re the leader of America no one is going to question you. Even if they’re a member of the damned Secret Service. Just to clarify, Johnson saw nothing wrong with pissing on (and off) the people literally tasked with saving his life. When the terrified servicemen asked the President what the Hell he was doing, Johnson simply turned around and said “It’s my prerogative, son” Which we’re going to come right out and say is like the worst catchphrase ever. He could have at least said “you’ve been Johnson’d.” That would have been cool.

7. Richard Branson, Lovable Billionaire

Richard Branson is what you’d get if Batman inherited his money when his parents were still alive: a guy with billions of dollars, a need to help people and a decided lack of psychopathic violence.

When Sir Richard looked out of his window, expecting to see the unmistakable shape of the London Eye as part of his beloved London skyline, he was a little disappointed to see that it hadn’t even been erected yet. Spying an opportunity for mischief, Branson quickly scrambled a blimp (remember, he’s a billionaire) and had a special message emblazened across it to mock the company tasked with erecting the structure.

So just imagine waking up in London, going to work and sitting in your office, and witnessing a blimp with the words “BA can’t get it up!!” written across the sides slowly gliding across the sky like a cloud made of middle fingers. That was the reality for thousands of Londoners a few years ago. To make it even better, Branson owns a company called “Virgin.” If there was ever a time we’ve been tempted to use the awful non-word “LOL,” this would be that time.

6. The Two Steves Of Apple

When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met several decades ago they bonded over two things: their love of computers and their love of dicking people around.

Jobs famously mocked up a poster for a non-existent Bring Your Pet To School Day, leading to dozens of kids bringing dogs and cats into class, much to the chagrin of a confused, and likely soon-to-be-very-drunken, teacher. He also once swapped around all the bike locks of his classmates since, even as a kid, Steve Jobs was a douche who hated people having nice things.

As teenagers, Steve and Steve went to the trouble of flipping off an entire graduating year by painting a giant middle finger onto a bedsheet, which they then rigged to be displayed as that year’s graduates walked past. They both later went on to flip off the entire world by releasing a new iPhone every year, while only offering 2-year contracts on them. Since old habits die hard.

5. Waldo Pierce And The Turtle

If you have no idea who Waldo Pierce is, you will after this entry. Just to clarify though, he was an eccentric American painter who really liked messing with people.

While living in a hotel, Waldo became good friends with the concierge, who was keen to impress the famous artist staying her hotel, went out of her way to make Waldo’s stay as nice as possible. Waldo, keen to repay this kindness, bought his concierge a pet turtle. Upon seeing how much she fell in love with tiny reptile turtle, Waldo decided that her happiness was annoying and that he was going to have some fun at her expense.

After his concierge would leave each morning for her daily errands, Waldo started systematically swapping her turtle for one that was ever so slightly large; this continued until the original tiny turtle was the size of a melon. Thrilled with how well her pet was flourishing under her care, the lady boasted about town about the radical turtle-raising powers she clearly possessed. Which is when Waldo initiated phase two of his plan, and started sneaking into her house to replace the turtle with a smaller one.

The lady almost lost her mind with worry before Pierce finally decided to tell her truth: the hilarious, hilarious truth. Presumably before he alerted her to the fact he’d bought her another 40 turtles of varying size as a present for being such a good sport.

4. Lyndon Johnson And His Amphicar

The Amphicar was a German amphibious vehicle designed to cater to the huge market of people who enjoyed both driving on the highway and awkwardly reversing into lakes. Though the idea never caught on, the car did enjoy a number of big name owners; none were bigger, in both name and stature, than Lyndon Johnson. Yes, he gets two spots on this list, mainly because he’s too big to fit into just one.

It’s noted that President Johnson loved his Amphicar. However, since virtually no one in America had no idea what an Amphicar was, Johnson liked to alert them to his car’s amphibious abilities in the most hilarious way possible. Namely, he drove directly towards a lake while screaming that the brakes had broken. Sorry Clinton, we’ve found the real party President. You’re still cool, you’re just not driving-into-a-lake-while-screaming-bloody-murder cool.

3. Dane Cook, Jimmy Kimmel, And Johnny Knoxville All Teamed Up To Prank One Guy

Let’s face it; the last time Dane Cook was ever linked with something funny, it was us making fun of him on this very website. We had to include this for pure scale though, because we couldn’t help but admire a prank 11 years in the making.

The prank’s victim was a struggling actor called Perry Caravello, who was told by Jimmy Kimmel that he’d been asked to be the star of a new movie called Windy City Heat. Keen to grab his dream by the balls, Caravello happily went along with this. Little did he know he wasn’t going to be the star of his own film; he was actually just setting himself up to be laughed and mocked by his friend as his dream was slowly crushed. Hilarious!

Under the guise of filming Heat, Caravello was more than willing to put up with being thrown into dumpsters, harassed, and forced to eat disgusting mixtures that gave him violent diarrhea. He was also perfectly okay with being coaxed by Johnny Knoxville into sticking his genitals into a mousetrap, all under the pretense that doing so would make him millions of dollars.

However, Caravello didn’t become a millionaire, and actually wasn’t even told that the whole thing was a prank until two years later. At this point, he had to sue the makers of the film (you know, his friends) for the money they’d made purely at his expense. But hey, we’ll bet ruining a guys life and crushing his sense of self-worth was totally that 6.8 stars on IMDB, right guys?

2. Brad Pitt, Hollywood Prankster

Brad Pitt is well-known for pranking his fellow stars and actors, because when you have a face that looks like it was carved by angels you can get away with pretty much anything. We suspect that the only reason Brad hasn’t killed anyone is because he’s worried not enough people would find it funny enough to constitute getting his suit dirty.

One of Brad’s more famous pranks was the time he decided to annoy the Hell out George Clooney. Now, Clooney is famously one of the easiest people to talk to in Hollywood. He’s reportedly not only incredibly nice, but is always willing to talk to and hang out with the crew. So when filming Oceans 11, Pitt sent the crew a letter “from George,” asking them to not make eye contact with him and only refer to him by his character’s name, knowing that Clooney would make it his mission to get to know them all.

The story goes that for weeks the crew predictably followed the request to the letter, absolutely refusing to make eye contact with George who, keen to be be a nice guy, repeatedly tried making small talk with them only to rebuffed time and time again. Eventually, he cornered a terrified crew member and asked him what was up. When the crew member mentioned the letter he’d sent, Clooney smiled to himself because he knew he’d been had. But he also knew he’d get revenge fast …

1. George Clooney, The ORIGINAL Hollywood Prankster

Like Brad Pitt, Clooney loves pranking his fellow actors. However, unlike Pitt, Clooney has been doing it for years.

For example, in retaliation for the prank listed above, Clooney reportedly stuck a bumper sticker to Pitt’s car saying “I’m gay and I vote” then, for good measure, stuck on another saying “Small penis on board.” Pitt didn’t notice for like 4 days; whenever a whole bunch of people would honk at him, he’d just wave back, thinking they were only waving because he was Brad Pitt.

But by far the piece de resistance of Clooney’s pranking career was the time he spent weeks carefully sneaking all the poop out of his friend’s cat litter tray, leading his friend to think his cat was massively constipated. Then, out of nowhere, Clooney crimped out a human-sized turd into the box.

This is the image we’d like to leave you with: the world’s most handsome man squatting over a kitty sandbox, chuckling to himself like an ass as he slowly pinched a loaf. You’re welcome.

To find more from Karl, he’s heading up Fun Facts For The Day, a new section of TopTenz where you can find bite-size nuggets of awesome information. 

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