Prank the Monkey:The ZUG Book of Pranks

by John Hargrave, Al Natanagara (Illustrator)

Overview

Making A Monkey Out Of "The Man"

• How does Bill Gates respond when you try to kiss him on the nipple?
• What are the consequences of sending in your tax return, filled out entirely in roman numerals?
• What happens when you wake up e-mail spammers with 4:00 a.m. phone calls?

Action-packed and stocked with laughs, Prank the Monkey follows the quest of one crusader of justice as he dishes out revenge on the world's biggest--and most deserving--targets. Superprankster John Hargrave goes after Wal-Mart, pompous celebrities, and the entire U.S. Senate in this outrageously funny book, exposing them for the chimps they really are--and shows you how to do the same.

This premiere volume features dozens of all-new pranks, more ambitious than any attempted to date, plus updated versions of the stunts that made ZUG famous.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806527802
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Sir John Hargrave, the “King of Dot-Comedy,” is the editor in chief of ZUG, the world’s oldest humor website. His comedy work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, and BusinessWeek. He has appeared on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MSNBC, Tech-TV, and the BBC. He is a frequent speaker at technology conferences and wacky morning radio shows across the nation.

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
Corporations
The Wal-Mart Prank     7
Signing My Life Away     18
Starbucking the System     30
Shirt-Changed     41
Fight the Power (Company)     50
Spammers
Good Morning, Vietspam     62
The VI@GRA Prank     70
Hot Rod     81
Chick Juice     93
Going Postal     109
Celebrities
The Celebrity Sincerity Test     122
I Kissed Bill Gates     146
The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller     156
Hurley-Whirler     176
Kutcher in the Lie     187
Government
Royal Pain in the Ass     208
Congress Is a Joke     221
The Untied Nations     240
Highway to Hell     255
The Boston Tax Party     263
Death
The John Hargrave Memorial Concert     278
Acknowledgments     303

What People are Saying About This

Drew Curtis

From FARK.com (updated every six to eight minutes):
Easily the funniest thing I've read in the last six to eight minutes.

Ze Frank

From the creator of zefrank.com:
The ultimate prankster, Hargrave sees the world through the eyes of a child. A child your mom kept you away from, but who you secretly wanted to be.

George Ouzounian

From the creator of The Best Page in the Universe:
Wickedly entertaining….It's hard to imagine anyone trumping this prankster for a very long time, if ever.

Jonathan Ames

From the author of Wake Up, Sir!:
The CIA and the FBI should get a hold of John Hargrave -- not to arrest him but to have him run things. He is some kind of mad, intrepid genius, a cross between a psychopath and a revolutionary. He's part Thomas Jefferson and part Dr. Evil (if Dr. Evil was a good guy). This is a fascinating, comedic book and beautifully written as well.

Maddox

From the author of The Alphabet of Manliness:
Sir John Hargrave has taken pranking to the next level...it's safe to say that I have become a blubbering fanboy.

Alan Abel

From a legendary prankster:
Devilishly creative….Sir John Hargrave's exploits have given "balls" a new meaning.

Interviews

The Most Dangerous Book Ever Written

In pulling off the high-stakes hoaxes in Prank the Monkey, I was arrested once, served cease-and-desist letters twice (one from Starbucks and one from Ashton Kutcher's attorneys), stopped by the police three times, and threatened with arrest by Buckingham Palace if I ever set foot into England.

I risked life and limb to make you laugh. Unlike other authors, who use their "imagination" to make up "fiction," I literally killed myself for this book (see the final chapter, where I faked my own death).

This is not a safe book. Barnes & Noble should be applauded for daring to sell this book to the public without requiring a permit or waiting period. You won't find this book in Wal-Mart -- largely because Chapter 1 starts with a massive prank against that very company.

Prank the Monkey is high-risk humor, a risky reminder that one person can still make a monkey out of The Man. Get your copy now, while it's still legal.

Sincerely,
Sir John Hargrave
Author, Prank the Monkey

An Interview with Sir John Hargrave

Of all the pranks in Prank the Monkey, which is your favorite?

"The Celebrity Sincerity Test," where I pranked Charles Manson, is probably my favorite chapter in the book, and possibly my favorite thing I've ever written. It will be hard to top that one.

Has Manson contacted you again?

After the thank you note that I sent him in the book, he sent me back a four-page handwritten letter that was quite literally insane. It was just four pages of disturbing randomness. So I guess we're kind of pen pals now.

Did you get in trouble with any of your pranks?

I was arrested once, when a prank on the CVS drugstore chain went wrong. This is the story that opens the book, and it shows a few critical mistakes that I made early in my pranking career. I was dressed in jeans. I was a smartass to the police officer. Nowadays, I always wear a suit, and I cooperate with the police when they're called in.

In the book, the story of your arrest ends rather abruptly. What happened afterward?

We were taken to individual holding cells at the local jail, where they kept us until we posted bail. I remember some of the other prisoners were screaming obscenities at the cops, who would just point and laugh at them through the door. In jail, the cops have all the power, so they abuse it. I had a right to a phone call, but they kept ignoring me whenever I asked for it.

Afterward, they dropped the charges against my cameraman, but I had to hire a lawyer and spend a morning in court. They eventually threw my case out as well, but I did have to pay about $2,000 in legal fees, so I suppose I learned a lesson. I learned not to shop at CVS.

You make repeated references to Christianity in Prank the Monkey, and yet much of your behavior is decidedly un-Christian. How do you reconcile that?

At the end of the book, I make a reference to my favorite story about Jesus, the one where He drives the moneychangers out of the Temple. He just goes in and trashes the place. I see this as taking a stand against corporate greed, which is the theme of much of my work. I try to do it with humor rather than a whip, but maybe that's why I'm not the Messiah.

Are all the stories in Prank the Monkey true?

This question drives me up the wall, because I put so much time and effort into these pranks that it's very frustrating when people think I'm making it up. That's why I try to put in as much documentary evidence as I can.

So yes, I really do these things. I will sometimes take "storyteller's license" for the purposes of tightening the narrative. Pranking Ashton Kutcher, for instance, was an extremely complicated hoax that stretched over several months. If I detailed every conversation and letter, word for word, the book would be long, boring, and unfunny. Like one of Ashton Kutcher's movies.

Some of the pranks stretch over a period of years. How long did it take you to write Prank the Monkey?

The last chapter of the book -- where I faked my own death -- is actually the first to happen chronologically. That was about fifteen years ago. In a sense, the book is kind of a memoir, a chronicle of my greatest pranks, starting with being born on April Fool's Day and continuing through my now-infamous death.

You make reference to the Michael Jackson prank costing "thousands of dollars." How much did you spend on these pranks?

I actually spent my entire book advance on the pranks themselves. Let me explain the economics of being a first-time author: they suck. My advance was $5,000, which is pretty common unless you're Monica Lewinsky. My strategy was to write the best and funniest book I could, even if I wouldn't turn a profit on it. Ultimately I'm hoping that a great book will draw more readers to my Web site, which will lead to more great books. But you don't become an author to grow rich, unless of course you write a book called How to Grow Rich by Writing Books. Those are the only people that actually grow rich by writing books.

So how do you make a living as a professional prankster?

I have a day job as the Interactive Director at a large Boston ad agency. It's a great gig where I get to be creative and think up new ways of getting attention on the Internet. Which is what I do all day anyway, but there I do it for my clients instead of myself.

What's the next prank you're planning?

I will not rest until I have pranked the President of the United States. Stay tuned.

Editorial Reviews

At heart, we are all pranksters. But few of us are as adept at pranking as Sir John Hargrave, the keeper of the infinitely popular (300,000 visitors a month!) ZUG comedy web site. Hargrave's Prank the Monkey introduces you to some of his favorite capers, including the Wal-Mart Prank, Credit Card Prank, IRS Prank, Spamback Prank, Elizabeth Hurley Prank, and Viagra Prank. Unbridled vicarious enjoyment.