Am I the only one who feels sorry for the "marks" on prank shows?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’d hate to think that I completely lack a sense of humor, but after watching The Jamie Kennedy Experiment last night (hey, all the shows I usually watch are in re-runs), I remembered why I never watch these shows.

Because I always feel sorry for the people who are being “tricked”.

In last night’s show, I only watched one segment. It was one in which a man lured his mom, his dad, and his stepmom-to-be to a Las Vegas hotel for his “wedding”. The bride? Jamie Kennedy, of course.

The Episode.

The story was that “Katie”, the bride, had had a sex-change operation two years ago, and the guy’s mother was SO UPSET.

SO VERY UPSET.

When the “Speak now or forever hold your peace” part of the ceremony came, she jumped up, grabbed her son, and pulled him away from the altar and onto the elevator, crying and telling him that he was making a big mistake.

Regardless of whether or not I agree with her (I’ll admit that I gave kudos to the guy’s father for giving his blessing, albeit reluctantly and through a haze of 10 am cocktails), I felt sorry for her, because she was clearly losing it.

Of course, when the prank came to light, she lost it even more–she ripped off her shoes and threw them at Jamie Kennedy before collapsing, shaking, into the arms of her son.

I’m sorry, but that’s just mean.

Granted, I’m biased because I’ve never been a fan of “jokes” that involve pissing someone off (it makes me literally want to murder someone when they think it’s funny steal something of mine from under my nose and hide it from me; “Keep-Away” is another justification for homicide in my book), and who knows but what the mother may be an awful person who deserved a little bit of “revenge” for something, but I felt horrible for that woman! And I couldn’t help thinking that the son was horrible for setting her up like that, knowing that it would upset her a great deal.

Now, if he’d truly been in love with a woman who was born a man (or hell, another man), Mama would have had to suck it up as far as I’m concerned, but to torture her like that in the name of “humor” just completely rubbed me the wrong way.

So am I the only one who hates this crap?

2

I hate this kind of nonsense too. I see no humor in it. Seems to me if the “victim” doesn’t laugh, then it’s not funny - it’s just hateful.

I don’t bother watching shows like this. I don’t find “Crank Yankers” funny either. I don’t get the appeal.

3

Absolutely not. I’m always appalled that people find this stuff funny. I mean, most people that laugh at these shows would go absolutely monkey fec if they had this kind of juvenile shenanigans played on them. Just another indication that with age does not necessarily come wisdom, society-wise.

4

I don’t like it myself, and I vote with my remote control - I just don’t watch these things. Too many of these set-ups are too mean to be funny.

5

Ha.

Sounds hilarious.

Why didn’t someone quietly drown Jamie Kennedy at birth?

6

Me too.

I feel so very sorry for them, because the pranks are VERY mean spirited. It’s so far beyond the Candid Camera of old.

snif I guess I’m just so sensitive…

7

Eve, I actually thought about it (after I’d turned off the TV and decided to have a bath instead) from the POV of a transgendered person who might be watching the show, too.

Well, actually, I thought of how I would feel if the joke had been more along the lines of “Guess what Mom? I’m marrying a Negro! JUUUUUUUUUST kidding!”

Of course, THAT kind of “prank” would never fly these days, and I’m truly sorry (for more reasons than six) that this one, apparently, can.

8

I loathe such shows. Actually, I wasn’t that fond of Candid Camera, either. I mean, to put people in a position where their equanamity and dignity is sorely tested, all the while FILMING it to show to others later on? Seems too mean-spirited to me to be entertaining.

Then again, I am a pretty self-conscious person.

9

**I think someone did. Unfortunately it didn’t take and all we ended up with was a severely oxygen-deprived individual.

Enjoy,
Steven

10

Thank you, Auntie Em. I really try very hard to roll with the punches and have a good sense of humor—but I get very tired of being a Human Punch Line sometimes. Even The Simpsons have had two “ha ha! You’re dating asex change!” jokes lately.

11

Actually, this particular segment left no stones unturned in terms of human punchlines; as soon as the parents were introduced to the bride, a waitress came by and offered the three of them drinks, so then part of the “humor” ended up being “Look at the lushes downing tequila shots at 10 in the morning! My, aren’t they trashy!”

It was just an all around Extravaganza of Ill Humor and Bad Taste.

12

I think those kinds of shows can be funny; in fact, the one or two episodes I’ve seen of Jamie Kennedy were pretty entertaining. But when they pick on old people in grocery stores or something like that, I feel awful for them. Some poor old lady just wants to buy her food, and they make fun of her, for example. It’s embarrassing.

If the person deserves to be messed with, fine. Or if the person’s a celebrity (like “Punked”). But regular people who didn’t ask to be in the public eye shouldn’t be bothered with such nonsense.

13

I can’t stand these kinds of shows. I don’t find it funny at all. If, for some reason, I happen to see a show like this, I usually have to either leave the room, or make someone change the channel, because I get extremely uncomfortable, and imagine myself in the same situations. I don’t listen to the Jerky Boys either because I have been on the receiving end of those types of pranks, and it’s just not amusing. It’s juvenille, and a waste of my time.

14

Get out of my head, auntie em! Right now!

I was going to start this thread because I watched part of that show last night and was disgusted. Absolutely disgusted!

I’m not one of those people who gets offended for everyone and their mother but I was not laughing at that show last night.

Well, OK, I laughed at one part but so did the mother!

[sub]Do you hate me because I’m fat?[/sub]

15

I find this kind of stuff VERY mean-spirited and cruel. I kind of see it as humor by people too stupid to make up real jokes, for people too stupid to appreciate them. The outright nastiness of some of these shows really unnerves me. And I don’t even base that on watching - just look at how often they end up in court, being sued by a victim who didn’t find it so funny.

16

Am I missing something here? Doesn’t the victim have to give permission for his/her image to be used in the clip? Couldn’t these people just say no and they wouldn’t be able to run the segment hence making all the work they did for that day useless and a loss of money?

If that’s the case then I don’t feel to sorry for the victim. If they were really pissed they wouldn’t give the producers permission to air it.

17

I have never watched a single episode of either of these shows…

and now, I never will.

(I just thought the Jamie Kennedy show’s commercials were obnoxious - I didn’t know he was so mean.)

18

OK, but I’m taking the Love Potato with me. :wink:

19

I saw one on “The New Candid Camera” or something. The bride to be and her mother went to pick up her $10K bridal gown and there was black paint or something on it. This was two days before the wedding! The bride nearly collapsed and the mother went off like a mental case. This is not funny. This is not cute. Anyone who gets a kick out of this sort of thing is capable some pretty nasty shit. I equate these losers with people WHO WILL TICKLE YOU UNTIL YOU CRY OR PEE YOUR PANTS. They suck.

20

I’ve watched “Candid Camera” before, and while some of the pranks are admittedly pretty clever, instead of feeling amused I’m usually just sitting there thinking, “man, would I ever be PISSED if someone did that to me!” I can only imagine the clips they can’t show because some guy became physically violent or at least started making death threats against the ones involved or was just swearing excessively (they probably have to have security personnel standing by for things like this). I’m just waiting for the day some innocent person is made into a criminal because of some act played against him in which he responds violently. Of course it would already be on tape so the courts could use it as evidence.