Love it or hate it, April Fools' Day is upon us. Some people love a day devoted to making mischief and thinking up elaborate, expensive, and time-consuming pranks. These days, they have to film them, of course, in the hopes of getting laughs and maybe going a little viral. Other folks have to grit their teeth to get through the day, just hoping nobody tries to mess with them and that they don't discover that the sugar in their coffee was actually salt.
Just like regular people, some celebs go all in on April Fools' Day and others don't pay it any attention. While we'd secretly love to believe that the always iconic Meryl Streep is out causing mayhem on the day devoted to shenanigans, she's way too classy to be on this list.
Instead we've got the 15 most epic celebrity April Fools' Day pranks from comedians, late-night talk show hosts (so many late-night talk show hosts, because apparently they love a prank), and one or two people we wouldn't have expected. Most of these are pranks only a celeb could pull off, but we've got at least one option we might be able to try at home this year, so read on for some prank inspiration.
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Katie Couric Pranks James Corden
Oooh, Katie Couric got James Corden good with this April Fools' Day prank from 2019. She was supposed to be coming on stage for a sit-down interview with James, but got a stuntwoman to be her decoy and take a scary-looking fall down the steps in her place. Short, simple, and totally effective in giving the TV host one good minute of "have I killed Katie Couric?" anxiety.
Michael Strahan Shocks 'Gap Nation'
On the other side of the TV schedule from James Corden is morning host Michael Strahan, who is famous for his gap-toothed smile. In 2022, he made it look like he'd had the gap filled, much to the dismay of the members of "Gap Nation" — the fans of his gap! He ended up having to do an interview with Ellen DeGeneres to assure people he hadn't messed with his famous smile.
Andrew Lloyd Webber Goes to the Dogs
Andrew Lloyd Weber is famous for his musical Cats, which ran on Broadway for an astonishing 18 years and made more than $1.3 billion. How could he ever top that? Well, in 2022 he tried to convince fans that he was about to launch a new musical called Dogs. We admire that his commitment to the prank included writing a whole song about it!
Guy Fieri Retires
On April Fools' Day in 2022, celebrity chef Guy Fieri basically announced that he was giving up his position as mayor of Flavortown and retiring from his hit show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. But he couldn't fool us; we know he's not the kind of guy who can give up his pursuit of the perfect burger!
North West's Dark Prank
Yikes — we're not sure about this one! In 2020, North West apparently tried to prank her dad, Kayne West, by getting mom Kim Kardashian to lie down in the bathroom and covering her and the room with ketchup. She then made her little brother Saint fake cry and claim that Kim was dead. We suspect after the trauma of Kim's Paris robbery that this might have hit a little too close to home for Ye.
Justin Bieber's Insensitive Prank
This one wasn't epic, but the reaction to it was. Every year, it seems like someone has to do a whole fake pregnancy prank on April Fools' Day, and it is so tired and really insensitive to people struggling with infertility. Justin Bieber tried it in 2019 and got tons of backlash and ended up having to issue a public apology.
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Maisie Williams Totally Commits
Even though we knew it was a prank, this one from Maisie Williams still totally got us. In this interview, which took place around the start of the last season of Game of Thrones, Maisie pretended to accidentally reveal a major spoiler for the show. She's such a good actress that we totally bought it when we saw the tears in her eyes. She fully sold this one.
Tom Brady Makes a Joke
We don't usually think of Tom Brady as an especially funny guy, but the NFL quarterback made an effort in 2015 when he posted this picture of himself on Facebook and said that "Jordan's crossover is no joke," referring to the fact that he'd recently been on vacation and played a friendly game of hoops with NBA legend Michael Jordan. A for effort, Tom, even though it didn't trick too many fans.
Tom Felton Makes Fan Fic Dreams Come True
There is a lot of Harry Potter fan fiction out there, and a surprising amount centers around Harry and enemy Draco Malfoy (played perfectly by Tom Felton) becoming way more than friends after Hogwarts. In 2015, Tom made all those horny fan fic fans dreams come true with his prank that he and costar Daniel Radcliffe were in love. What a magical couple they would have been!
James Corden Makes David Beckham Ugly
It seems like it would be impossible to make David Beckham look unattractive, but James Corden managed to do it via a very unfortunate-looking statue. James spent months having a statue made with a huge chin and an awful lot of junk in its trunk to trick David, who clearly was trying really hard not to visibly hate it on sight. So funny!
Chip Gaines Sells Some Property
TV home renovator Chip Gaines loves to deal with real estate, so it makes sense that he'd put a fake "for sale" sign on the iconic Magnolia complex that he and his wife Joanna own, as an April Fools' joke. We can't help but wonder what the going rate is these days for a massive grain elevator in Waco, Texas.
A Peloton Couple Prank
Ben Alldis and Leanne Hainsby are two of Peloton's most popular instructors and just happen to be a couple off the bike. Ben set up this simple but effective prank in 2021, soon after the couple moved into (and furnished) their dream home. All it took was some tape, a permanent marker, and an expensive table to get sweet Leanne to drop an F-bomb.
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Kelly Ripa Gets Ryan Seacrest Where It Hurts
Nobody would accuse Ryan Seacrest of not caring about his appearance, which makes Kelly Ripa's 2022 on-air prank perfect! Using a filter and a fake tool called the "eye bro," she made him think she'd taken his eyebrows clean off — and he was worried there for a minute.
Rihanna's Rude Awakening
Jimmy Kimmel is famous for his pranks. We absolutely hate his Halloween pranks where he gets parents to trick their kids into thinking they ate all their candy (so mean!). So it was fun to see him on the receiving end of a prank in 2016 when Rihanna crashed his room in the middle of the night to throw money and pillows at him while singing "B—- Better Have My Money."
Kevin Hart Burns Nick Cannon
OK, we are cheating a little on this one, because it wasn't technically an April Fools' Day prank. But Kevin Hart and Nick Cannon have had an ongoing prank war that is pretty darn epic. It includes this moment when Kevin hung a billboard with Nick's phone number and advertising free advice on fatherhood from the reproductively diligent Nick.
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