Punk'd is an American hidden camera practical joke television series that aired on MTV in 2003 and was produced and is hosted by Ashton Kutcher. 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. Being "Punk'd" refers to having such a prank played on oneself, and to "punk someone" refers to making someone else the victim of the show's style of prank itself.
The series finale aired on MTV on May 29, 2007. The series culminated in early June with the Punk'd Awards.
Formats
Candid Camera format
The show begins with a description by Kutcher of which celebrity will be punk'd, why he feels the celebrity deserves to be punk'd, and what the setting of the joke will be, including the premise and the accomplices. As the show is usually set in Los Angeles, the pranks often take place in common locations such as parking lots, restaurants, hotel rooms, or residences. Occasionally, Kutcher will engineer the prank at a celebrity event at which the target is a prominent guest, as when he led actress Halle Berry to believe she had been barred entry to the premiere of her film, Gothika , because the number of the people in the theater exceeded the fire code, or when he pranked NBA star Allen Iverson into thinking he could not enter his own 30th birthday party because the former president's daughters and Secret Service men were inside. 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 Los Angeles mudslides. Kutcher sometimes sets his pranks where his targets work, such as on the sets of movies, TV shows, and music videos. As one example, Kutcher pranked The Rock, who was filming Be Cool , by convincing him that his trailer was destroyed. As another example, Kutcher pranked Kanye West by convincing him that he could not shoot his music video for "Jesus Walks" on Sundays without a permit. Kutcher has also done holiday-themed pranks, as when he punked Beyoncé Knowles into thinking she knocked over a 50-foot (15 m) Christmas Tree, or when he pranked Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz into thinking he derailed a train at a Christmas festival. 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, usually with use of the catch phrase, "You just got punk'd!", or by revealing a large sign or banner to that effect. Each half-hour episode usually features three pranks.
Road trips
In Season 3, Ashton Kutcher and his crew went to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., at an event tied to the release of the film The Prince and Me , and pranked actress Julia Stiles.
In a season 5 road trip to Tony Hawk's hometown Carlsbad, California, Hawk was pranked by son Riley, who destroyed a park restroom with an M-80, supposedly injuring a bystander played by an actress.
In Season 6, Kutcher sent crew members to Moorestown, New Jersey, the town of residence of football player Terrell Owens, in order to prank him there. The crew staged an auto accident in which Owens, believing it to be real, attempted to assist elderly men from an overturned bus.
Red carpet format
A frequent segment during the first two seasons was a Punk'd cast member pretending to interview celebrities at red carpet events, only to mock them instead. This segment closely copies what originated on The Howard Stern Show in the 1980s, when Stern and his writers began sending interns (most notably Stuttering John Melendez) to ask celebrities embarrassing questions on the red carpet. During the first season the show had then fifteen-year-old Ryan Pinkston (though on the show they claim he was only eight) do the interviewing, where he would pretend to be a reporter from a kid's show who would then hurl insults at the celebrities. During Season 2, the producers then chose a foreign interviewer accompanied by her interpreter who would then ask insane questions to the guests.
The following is a list of stars interviewed on the red carpet in all 4 segments.
Ryan Pinkston- VH1 Big in 2002 Awards
- Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson
- Ray Liotta
- Christina Aguilera
- Denise Richards
- Tori Amos
- Christina Applegate
- Eddie Griffin
- Pierce Brosnan
- Johnathon Schaech
- Lifehouse
Ryan Pinkston- Diesel Party
- Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd
- Lacey Chabert
- Pauly Shore
- Wilmer Valderrama
- Brett Scallions
- Christina Della Rose
- Jon Abrahams
- Eric Balfour
- Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama
Foreign Interviewer- Entertainment Weekly
- Alicia Silverstone
- Maria Menounos
- Nicole Richie
- Dulé Hill
- Rose McGowan
- Philip Bloch
- Taryn Manning
- Wilmer Valderrama
Foreign Interviewer- Gothika Premiere
- Penélope Cruz
- Robert Downey Jr.
- James Lesure
- Kathleen Mackey
- Halle Berry
Failed punks
- In December 2003, Kutcher attempted to "punk" then-WWE wrestler Bill Goldberg by having a truck run over an exact replica of his prized motorcycle, but the stunt went wrong when the truck clearly missed the bike. When the bike spontaneously exploded without any visible reason Goldberg realized what was going on, and asked, "Who do I get to kill first?" as Kutcher revealed himself, knowing the joke had failed. It aired on the Season 2 finale.
- In June 2005, Kutcher's unsuccessful attempt to prank musician Lil Jon resulted in the musician telling Kutcher, "You can't Punk the King of Crunk."
- Kutcher has claimed that he himself is "unpunkable." In the first season, his crew attempted to punk him using Britney Spears, but Kutcher discovered the plot and convinced Spears to help him turn the tables on his own crew.
Controversy and conflict
- On The Late Show with David Letterman , Kutcher mentioned punking David Spade in one of the show's first episodes. However, Spade refused to sign the release papers. The same prank was then used on Seth Green for the same episode.
- Alias star Michael Vartan reportedly refused to sign the release after being pranked by Kutcher, preventing the prank from airing. However, Vartan denies ever being pranked, and claims that the story was completely false.
- American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth filed for divorce from her husband Joe Reitman, a year after her appearance on the show. She was reportedly furious over his involvement in the prank, which involved leading Elizabeth to believe that they had been filmed on a celebrity porn tape.
- Pamela Anderson also denies ever being fooled by the attempted prank on her, which involved convincing her that a porn movie was being shot in her back garden, explaining that she realized it was a prank when she confronted a nude model on the premises.
- During his interview of Kutcher for Interview , actor Brad Pitt advised Kutcher not to prank his Ocean's Eleven co-star George Clooney, a notorious expert prankster himself. Pitt told Kutcher, "Don't do it. Don't ever go near it. Clooney will kill you and everything you love. I know it's tempting, but don't do it."
- Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has stated that she does not wish to be Punk'd, and is so paranoid that she often assumes she is being Punk'd whenever any suspicious or out of the ordinary mishap occurs, as when, for example, a valet gives her the wrong car when leaving a restaurant, which Kutcher's crew members did to Simon Cowell during the Season 5 Premiere.
- Scrubs star Zach Braff was involved in a prank with teenagers vandalizing his car, Braff was so furious that he proceeded to, in his own words, "almost beat up a five year old".
Pranks not aired
Influences
In addition to the obvious influences of past hidden camera prank shows such as Candid Camera and TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes , Scherzi a parte , and the "Jamie Kennedy Experiment", 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. In an issue of the hip hop magazine S.M.A.C.K. DVD Vol. 9, an interviewer asks Redman about the similarities between Stung and Punk'd , and the rapper replies, "Fuck you, Ashton Kutcher!", to the delight of the audience, who begin to chant the phrase.
Parodies and derivatives
Shows derived from Punk'd
- Singers Michelle Branch, JC Chasez and Season 1 Punk'd Nick Lachey guest starred in another prank show called Faking the Video during the 11-month Punk'd exile.
- Ryan Dunn created another prankshow called Homewrecker , a show that mixes aspects of Punk'd and Ex
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