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Punk'd

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Punk'd is an American hidden camera practical joke television series on MTV, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher, which first aired in 2003. It bears a strong resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera, and to TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, which also featured pranks on celebrities. "Punk'd" refers to the act of having such a prank played on oneself, and the word also refers to the show's style of prank itself. New episodes of the show premiered on Sundays, which was changed to Mondays in the seventh season.

Punk'd
Punk'd logo
Created byAshton Kutcher
StarringAshton Kutcher
Country of originUnited States/ Canada
No. of episodes55[1]
Production
Running time30 min.
Original release
NetworkMTV
ReleaseApril 15, 2003 –
present

Format

The show begins with a description by Kutcher of which celebrity will be punk'd, what the celebrity's claim to fame is, why he feels the celebrity deserves to be punk'd, and what the setting of the joke will be, including the accomplices and the premise. As the show is usually set in Los Angeles, the pranks often take place in common locations such as parking lots, restaurants, hotel rooms and residences, though Kutcher will sometimes engineer the prank at a celebrity event at which the target is a prominent guest, as when he pranked actress Halle Berry by convincing her that fire codes prohibited her from entering the building at the premiere of her own film, Gothika, or when he pranked Philadelphia 76ers' Guard Allen Iverson by convincing him that he could not enter to his own 30th birthday party because the President's daughters and the Secret Service were inside the party. Kutcher will also sometimes use real-life current events as elements in his pranks, as when he pranked tennis player Andy Roddick, who was scheduled to appear on The Tonight Show, by convincing him that his automobile was trapped by the 2004-2005 Los Angeles mudslides. After the joke progresses to a point, usually with the celebrity having become angry or frustrated at the outrageousness of the situation, Kutcher or one of the actors will announce to the surprised victim that they just had a practical joke played on them. An episode will usually feature three pranks.

A frequent segment during the first season had the then fifteen-year-old Ryan Pinkston pretending to interview celebrities at red carpet events for a kids' show, only to mock them instead [2].

Road Trips

In Season 3, Ashton Kutcher and his crew went to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, at an event tied to the release of the film The Prince and Me, and pranked actress Julia Stiles.

In a road trip to Tony Hawk's hometown Carlsbad, California in Season 5, Hawk was pranked by his son Riley, who destroyed a park restroom with an M-80, injuring a bystander played by an actress.

In the Season 6, after football player Terrell Owens was suspended from the Philadelphia Eagles on November 19, 2005, Kutcher sent crew members to Moorestown, New Jersey, where Owens lived. The crew staged an auto accident and Owens saved elderly people from a bus that had turned over. Owens was already been punk'd once during the summer in Los Angeles under the same prank but Kutcher forgot to air the prank on season 5[3].

Failed Punks

  • Back in the season 1 finale, Britney Spears tried to punk Busta Rhymes but Kutcher strongly opposed her. Instead, Kutcher forced Spears to prank Jason Goldberg, the producer of this show, which she did.
  • In December 2003, Kutcher attempted to "punk" WWE wrestler Bill Goldberg by having him think a truck had run over his prized motorcycle, when really it was a replica, but the stunt went wrong when the truck clearly missed the bike. Goldberg quickly realized what was going on, and asked "Who do I have to kill?". Kutcher then revealed himself, as the joke had failed.
  • In June 2005, Kutcher failed to punk self-proclaimed "King of Crunk" Lil Jon. He was boarding a plane headed for Las Vegas, but Kutcher had actors playing customs agents tell him that he was actually headed for Ecuador. Lil Jon quickly identified members of the "customs agents" from previous episodes of the program, and asked for Kutcher to reveal himself.
  • According to Kutcher himself, he failed to punk Neve Campbell twice until he finally succeeded on his third try in season 6.
  • According to Nick Cannon in the March 3, 2006 People magazine, Ashton grew frustrated because he failed to fool Cannon about 4 times, with his last attempt involving a man pretending to be trapped in a gas station. Cannon saw through the joke because he noticed the cameras and was not convinced by the actor's performance.

Controversies

In late 2003, it was announced by MTV that Kutcher had decided not to continue production on Punk'd. Some commentators speculated that the announcement was a ploy designed to lower the guard of increasingly wary celebrities in an attempt at another season of pranks. This proved to be true when the third season began airing on April 25 2004. The television audience itself had been "punk'd".

Some controversies arose in seasons 3 and 4, when New York Yankees third-baseman Alex Rodriguez and Alias star Michael Vartan threatened to sue Kutcher if the pranks played on them were aired on MTV. According to the June 5, 2004 issue of Sports Illustrated and the June 7, 2004 People magazine, Rodriguez ordered Kutcher to destroy the tape of it, and he did, in order to avoid a court case. Vartan also threatened to sue Kutcher if the prank played on him, which involved a supposed emergency on the plane Vartan was on, was aired on MTV.

Also Brad Pitt has threatned to not prank his Oceans Eleven and Oceans Twelve co-star George Clooney as a friend. Pitt interviewed Kutcher for America's Interview magazine, and took oppoturnity to advise Kutcher to not go after Clooney. [4]

Influences

In addition to the obvious influences of past hidden camera prank shows such as Candid Camera and TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, Method Man, Redman and Matt Besser of the Upright Citizens Brigade had a hidden camera celebrity prank show on MTV called Stung in 2002, a full year before the introduction of Punk'd. Whether this was a direct influence on Punk'd is unclear.

Parodies and derivatives

Celebrities who have been "Punk'd"

Main article: List of celebrities who have been Punk'd

Celebrity accomplices

Template:Fnb Kutcher did not introduced him until Rhymefest was on the set of the video to give his input as he co-wrote the track, while fighting with Kutcher's crew members disguised as LAFC officers. Template:Fnb Her first name is misspelled as "Stephani."

References

  1. ^ MTV Overdrive Some pranks failed to make it to standard version made it to Overdrive version (Amber Tamblyn, Adam Brody)
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