It caused chaos for the network and its sponsors, who never figured out what everyone was so mad about. In 1960, after an NBC sponsor flew an executive out to the heartland to personally explain the situation to a man who wrote to them in outrage after seeing what he thought was an interracial couple on TV, satirist Paul Krassner instructed his readers to complain to NBC and its sponsors that they were offended by something that happened on a thoroughly bland April 1 episode of game show but not to specify what. As the news spread, everyone except Partridge was shocked to see him walking around town, very much alive. In a parody of Partridge’s predictions, Swift published his own prophecy that Partridge wasn’t long for this world and then, on April 1, published another report that he had indeed perished. One of the first truly famous April Fools’ Day pranks resulted from satirist Jonathan Swift’s feud with astrologer John Partridge, who he regarded as a dangerous quack. (National Portrait Gallery/Wikimedia Commons) Back then, you didn’t just get a push notification for news like that, so people who continued celebrating the new year on April 1 were mocked by the better-informed, ushering in a tradition of arbitrary superiority.
15 The First April Fools’ PrankĪpril Fools’ Day originates, along with a lot of other dumb things, with the Gregorian calendar, which changed the beginning of the year from April 1 to January 1. Over the years, various people, companies, and even government bodies have convinced people of everything from UFOs to the defiance of gravity. Nobody but the worst person you know actually likes April Fools’ Day, but between all the fake pregnancy and celebrity death announcements, there are occasionally some truly impressive hijinks.
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