Punk'd

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Punk'd

Category: Variety Comedy Show

Created By: Ashton Kutcher

Star: Ashton Kutcher

Country of Origin: United States/Canada

Number of Episodes: 64

Original Channel: MTV

Original Run: April 15, 2003 to May 29, 2007

The show was 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.

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 tricked, 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 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 Denver Nuggets' Guard Allen Iverson into thinking he could not enter his own 30th birthday party because the 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 on the sets of movies, TV shows or music videos where his targets are working, as when he pranked Kanye West by convincing him that he could not shoot any footage for his music video for the song "Jesus Walks" on Sundays without a permit, or when he pranked rap artist The Game by convincing him that he could not leave his former studio because his crew had repaved its entrance, or pranked Daddy Yankee where he was slapped with a $463,000 fine by the FCC for swearing on live radio. Kutcher has also done holiday-themed pranks, as when he tricked Beyoncé Knowles into thinking she knocked over a 50-foot 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 the line, "You just got punk'd!", or by revealing a large sign or banner to that effect. Each half-hour episode usually features three pranks. 

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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 cast member pretending to interview celebrities at red carpet events, only to mock them instead. During the first season the show had then fifteen-year-old Ryan Pinkston 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 inane questions to the guests. 

Click here for a great Punk'd video clip 

 

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 Erika Christensen

Foreign Interviewer- Gothika Premiere Penélope Cruz Robert Downey Jr. James Lesure Kathleen Mackey Halle Berry

Foreign Interviewer- Entertainment Weekly Alicia Silverstone Maria Menounos Nicole Richie Dule Hill Rose McGowan Philip Bloch Taryn Manning Wilmer Valderrama 

 

Failed Pranks

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 (accomplice Jesse James walking with him) revealed himself, knowing the joke had failed. This was the only failed prank to actually make it on air. It aired on the Season 2 finale.

According to Kutcher himself, he failed to punk Neve Campbell twice[citation needed] until he finally succeeded on his third try in season 6.

In June 2005, Kutcher failed to "punk" Lil Jon. He was boarding a plane headed for Las Vegas, but Kutcher used actors to play customs agents to 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. Lil Jon is currently one of four celebrities to thwart an attempted "punking" by Kutcher. Later in an interview Lil Jon quipped, "You can't Punk the King of Crunk."

He also has failed to "punk" Nick Cannon, because, according to a quote by Cannon in People magazine, being a TV show producer himself, he "recognized the poor acting and hidden cameras".

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

In late 2003, it had been announced by MTV that Kutcher had decided not to continue production on the show. 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 theory was given more credence when the third season began airing on April 25, 2004.

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.

Tre Cool, drummer for pop-punk band Green Day, was supposedly Punk'd but denied broadcasting rights because the prank involved his son being kidnapped.

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.

New York Yankees third-baseman Alex Rodriguez refused to sign the release after his prank and asked Kutcher to destroy the tape. "It was a good idea. It was just bad timing," Rodríguez said later.

Kutcher has pranked most of his That '70s Show co-stars, including Danny Masterson, Wilmer Valderrama, Laura Prepon, and Mila Kunis, but not Topher Grace.

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 pranked 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.

Ashton Kutcher has said that the only people he will never Punk are his wife, Demi Moore, and his stepdaughters Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah. He has stated this is because he doesn't want them to ever doubt him in an emergency situation. 

 

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, 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. Apart from all this, MTV India has its own version of candid camera show called MTV Bakra which has been running successfully since 1999 and they haven't spared anyone - from celebs to common man. The show is hosted by MTV VJ Cyrus Broacha who himself appears in pranks. Some of the most notorious gags include a birthday girl being kidnapped,mistaken identities, Cyrus Broacha in various disguises like a barber, waiter, taxi driver etc. The show has also featured bollywood superstars like Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Vivek Oberoi etc. MTV Bakra is the most loved and hated show in Indian television industry, media and the general public. 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 Nick Lachey guest starred in another prank show called Faking the Video during the 11-month exile.

Ryan Dunn created another prankshow called Homewrecker, a show that mixes aspects of Punk'd and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Tony Hawk, Vivica A. Fox, and Tichina Arnold, who all appeared on Punk'd, later volunteered on another prank show Hi-Jinks on MTV's sister network Nick-at-Nite.

During the 2003 NFL Season, Monday Night Football aired a Punk'd-type program during its Halftime segment entitled You Got Sack'd.

In May, 2006, O.J. Simpson released a candid camera show for pay-per-view and DVD called Juiced. One of the pranks showed Simpson trying to sell a white Ford Bronco like the one he made famous in the slow speed chase in 1994.[12]

In March 2008, E! premiered another Kutcher show, Pop Fiction, in which celebrities fabricate stories and situations in order to fool the paparazzi and tabloids. 

 

Parodies and references

On his sketch comedy show, Chapelle's Show, Dave Chappelle parodied Punk'd, Ashton Kutcher, and The Jamie Kennedy Experiment in a skit that he called Zapped. He also used a poem on Def Poetry Jam, titled Fuck Ashton Kutcher.

The That's So Raven episode "Skunk'd" is a parody of Punk'd. In 2003, the first victim of the show, Justin Timberlake, spoofed Kutcher and Punk'd, when he hosted Saturday Night Live.

During the National Hockey League season, the Los Angeles Kings broadcast on Fox Sports West produced a handful of segments called Puck'd featuring practical jokes on various Kings players. The segments were created for pre-game and between-period entertainment. Luc Robitaille, who was retired from the NHL after the season, played the role of Kutcher. Puck'd made a return in the season.

Stephen Colbert parodied the show in his well-known segment on The Daily Show, This Week In God, introducing a new fake program called Baptiz'd.

In the television comedy Will and Grace, Jack McFarland, an executive of a gay television network, invents Pink'd, the gay equivalent of Punk'd, in episode It's A Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad World. The first person to be "pink'd" is title character Will Truman.

In the 2005 Martin Lawrence comedy Rebound, junior high school school principal Megan Mullally asks if she's being punk'd when disgraced college basketball coach Roy McCormick (Lawrence) is suggested to coach her school's junior varsity team.

In an episode of the sketch comedy show MADtv, Will Sasso, impersonating Kenny Rogers, did his own version of Punk'd. The jokes involved Kenny botching his pranks and, forgetting what to do next, would simply kick the celebrity in the groin. Targets included Clay Aiken (played by Ron Pederson).

In the Family Guy episode "I Take Thee Quagmire", Peter remembers that one time he pranked Kutcher by throwing an axe at him and saying, "You've just been Tomahawk'd! That's my show, Tomahawk'd."

In the movie Just Friends, ditzy pop singer Samantha James (played by Anna Faris) had microwaved a plastic tub containing food and aluminum foil while traveling on an airplane accompanied by music producer Chris Brander (played by Ryan Reynolds). The aluminum foil caught fire, and the plane was forced to land. When Samantha gets angry about the plane landing, she calls her father and starts to complain. In a ditzy moment, Samantha forgets completely that it is her fault the plane has landed, and states suddenly, "Oh, my God! Am I being punk'd!? (Laughs) Ashton!? Ashton!?" 

 

The film High School Musical refers to Punk'd in one scene with Lucas Grabeel and his on-screen sister Ashley Tisdale. When Grabeel's character, Ryan, finds out that Troy and Gabriella (Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens) have made it into the callbacks, he says, "Maybe we're being Punk'd...maybe we're being filmed right now! Maybe we'll get to meet Ashton!" Ashley Tisdale and fellow co-star Zac Efron have since been Punk'd.

In 2006, novelist Todd Brendan Fahey created the term funderbunked, indicative of a particularly vengeful and retaliatory strain of the phenomenon.

In an episode of The Adventures of Chico and Guapo, the two title characters decide to come up with a prank show called "You've been Guapo-sized", in order to become stars in the next Punk'd.

On his sketch comedy show Mind of Mencia, Carlos Mencia parodied both Punk'd and Dateline NBCs "To Catch a Predator" feature in a sketch called "Dateline Punk'd."

The Ronnie Johns Half Hour parodied Punk'd on a sketch, instead naming it Pope'd

In the episode of Hannah Montana "Grandma Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Favorites", the Queen of England remarks after Hannah's rather speedy rendition of "The Other Side of Me", "Have we just been punk'd?"

In the video game Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, when the main character Adell attacks Axel, before the battle Axel asks the question, "Hey, am I on 'Screw'd'?" in obvious reference to "Punk'd".

In the film Epic Movie, after Edward, played by Kal Penn, is kicked by the White Bitch, played by Jennifer Coolidge, David Lehre, along with a camera crew, enters the scene dressed like Ashton Kutcher and annoyingly tells Edward again and again that he has been "Punk'd" (exaggerating how Ashton reacts to the celebrities he has punk'd), until eventually Edward knocks him out in annoyance. Lehre did a Punk'd parody himself for his own studio, Vendetta.

In the September 25, 2006 and February 19, 2007 editions of LAMB!, a Michigan-area magazine, the art news column featured an editorial on the "Ashton Kutcher of the art world", in which the world-famous Leonardo da Vinci's American Horse, a 24-foot high bronze horse at internationally renowned Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, fell victim to a sculpture punk called Paletta Grande ("Big Shovel"). 

 

On the TV show Reba the titular character pranks her son on Halloween, later saying, "You got Reba'd!"

On Nick Cannon's MTV show, Wild 'N' Out, several jokes have been made at the expense of both Ashton Kutcher and Punk'd, including one skit which makes fun of what is perceived as the show's terrible acting, predictable pranks, uncreatively hidden cameras, and prosaic humor.

On the sitcom Drake and Josh, after their house has been robbed, the father asks if he has been punk'd.

Season 3 of Entourage features an episode titled "Gotcha" that revolves around the premise of Pauly Shore hosting a Punk'd derivative named Gotcha! with the catchphrase, "You got Got!"

In the House episode "The Jerk", Dr. Foreman accuses Dr. House of canceling his job interview at another hospital. House suggests it might have been Ashton Kutcher.

On an episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart referenced the show when he said, "Tonight's guest is former President Bill Clinton, unless I'm being punk'd."

On the Australian TV show The Shak, an episode parodied Punk'd with the derivative tagline "You've been Shak'd".

In the 2006 film Black Christmas, Kyle says that the girls are getting punk'd after the threatening phone calls.

In a sketch on The Late Show with David Letterman, staff member Biff Henderson goes around town doing random pranks to people, saying, "You Got Biff'D".[citation needed]

In the 2007 film Knocked Up, when Katherine Heigl's character's interview with actor James Franco begins to veer into oddity, he says, "If this is one of those fucking joke shows then I'm not into it." 

 

The web cartoon site Liquid Generation produced a flash animation called Decepticon'd which was hosted by the fictional character Starscream. This animation first appeared close to the release of the 2007 film Transformers.

On the show Summer Heights High, Jonah pretends to be hit by a car by his teacher, then gets up and says, "Miss you got Punk'd". Comedian Chris Rock poked fun at Punk'd during MTV's 2003 Video Music Awards, remarking that African-Americans would never be Punk'd, hypothesizing that rapper DMX would respond to such a prank with violence, saying, "You've been stabbed!"

In the 200th episode of Stargate SG-1, Cameron Mitchell sarcastically exclaims that he's "being Punk'd" after the other members of SG-1 briefly joke that Jack O'Neill fathered Mitchell during the team's adventures in the Season 2 episode, "1969". In an episode of Ben 10, Rojo exclaimed at one point "We've been Punk'd!".

In the 2004 film Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!, Tad Hamilton's manager and agent convince him to open his motel room door by shouting, "Come on, you're not gonna get Punk'd."

In a first season episode of Viva La Bam, Bam Margera's uncle threatens to contact Ashton Kutcher and punk Bam. The porno series Spunk'd is based on, and is clearly a reference to Punk'd. 

 
Pranks not aired

Name of Prankee Intended Season: Notes

Al Shearer 1 The prank was never seen on MTV but was released on The Complete First Season: DVD

Alex Rodriguez 3 First celebrity to deny Punk'd broadcasting rights, although he was amused by the show's concept. (See above)

Black Eyed Peas 3 Claimed in an interview that they were pranked. They noticed the 'cops' apparently featured in the prank weren't real and got into a fight because they suspected the fake police not of being Punk'd staff, but criminals.[16]

Juliette Lewis 4 MTV forgot to air her on Season 4.

Michael Vartan 4 Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights. (See above)

Pamela Anderson ? Denied Punk'd broadcasting rights (See above)

Jojo (singer) ? Denied broadcasting rights for fear of offending younger fans with her swearing.

International versions

An Icelandic version of the show, Tekinn, hosted by Auðunn Blöndal, premiered on channel Sirkus in fall 2006.

A Norwegian version, Bøff aired on BTV Triplet in spring 2007.

A Hong Kong version, Whatever Things!" was hosted by Edison Chen, in which he pranked famous Asian artists like Vanness Wu. 

 

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