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Often a [[Real Life]] form of [[False Crucible]].
See [[Prank Call]] for the telephone equivalent.
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* Subverted as a part of an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i2k-xXob1c ad]: it begins as the normal "guy hiding in a mailbox and throwing peoples' letters out" gag, complete with canned laughter and several successfully fooled people, but after the expected results, a huge bald guy gets his letter spat out at him. He tries again a few times, but instead of just standing there with a baffled expression, he pulls out a gun and fires several times through the mail slot.▼
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Stay Tuned]]'' parodied this with [[Show Within a Show]] ''Sadistic Home Videos''.▼
* Inverted in ''[[The Gumball Rally]]''. The Dodge police cruiser team gets an [[Good Ol' Boy|Arizona state trooper]] to believe that they are filming a movie from a camera hidden on a far-away peak, and ask him to hold still for a face shot, as they make their getaway.▼
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Allen Funt's ''[[Candid Camera]]'' is pretty much the definer of the genre. It did both ordinary people and celebs. Its [[Catch Phrase]], "Smile, you're on [[Candid Camera]]," is well known around the world.
** ''Candid [[Candid Camera]]'' was the same show, with the same host, only Direct to Video and [[Hotter and Sexier|with]] [[Naked People Are Funny|nudity.]]
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** In ''[[The Cannonball Run]] II'', state troopers Don Knotts and Tim Conway pull over a speeding limousine; finding that it's being "driven" by a chimpanzee, they're convinced Allen Funt is hiding in the back somewhere and filming them for ''Candid Camera''.
** Allen Funt became so well known for this that when he once got on a plane that was hijacked and flown to Cuba, he was the only passenger who didn't spend the entire flight laughing hysterically, thinking that this was a Candid Camera gag.
* ''[[Noel's House Party]]'' with its "Gotcha" (originally "Gotcha Oscars" until the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences threatened legal action) feature on celebrities. Memorable ones include a football manager ending up doing the Christine Keeler pose and something involving "Custer's Last Hat Stand".
* ''[[Punk'd]]'' is an entire American series of this.
* ''[[Beadle's About]]'' involved ordinary people.
* Some of the things they did out of the studio with people in ''[[What Would You Do? (game show)||What Would You Do?]]''
* ''[[The Chaser's War on Everything]]'' also does both ordinary people and celebrities. The celebrity targets are often politicians, and the pranks are more satirical than most other shows - most famously, getting into the security zone around the APEC conference thinly disguised as a Canadian motorcade.
* [[Dick Clark]] and [[Ed McMahon]] played pranks on celebrities as part of ''[[TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes]]''.
▲* ''[[Stay Tuned]]'' parodied this with [[Show Within a Show]] ''Sadistic Home Videos''.
* ''[[The Adam and Joe Show]]'' included these as a regular feature of the show.
* An interesting British example is called ''[[Swag (TV series)|Swag]]'', where people who actually did something wrong were targeted instead of helpless, random members of the public (which, for some people, is considered quite cruel). Prop goods are left around and are filmed until someone attempts to steal them, at which point the thief is punished in an embarrassing fashion. One of their more popular skits is when they leave boxes of snacks at the back of a truck; someone tries their luck and hops inside to grab them, only for the door to slam behind them and the sides of the truck to fall off to reveal a cage. They are then driven around the street.
* ''[[Trigger Happy TV]]'' is a British show that sticks more to the traditional Candid Camera formula.
* ''[[Scare Tactics]]''. Like ''Candid Camera'', but innocent people are tricked into extremely frightening situations. There's been at least one lawsuit by a victim, but the show continues.
* Subverted in a ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' [http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode05.htm#9 sketch]. An interviewer puts an applicant through a bizarre series of tests, with other people watching. After the applicant gets angry he's told that all the positions had been filled weeks earlier.
* On the [[Discovery Kids]] channel, there's a version of ''Punk'd'' (with kids and animals) called ''[[Skunk'd TV]]''.▼
▲* Subverted as a part of an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i2k-xXob1c ad]: it begins as the normal "guy hiding in a mailbox and throwing peoples' letters out" gag, complete with canned laughter and several successfully fooled people, but after the expected results, a huge bald guy gets his letter spat out at him. He tries again a few times, but instead of just standing there with a baffled expression, he pulls out a gun and fires several times through the mail slot.
* ''[[Videomatch]]''/''Showmatch'' was this before focusing entirely on "Bailando por un Sueño", and now it's back to doing this.▼
▲* On the Discovery Kids channel, there's a version of Punk'd (with kids and animals) called Skunk'd TV.
* ''[[Creature Comforts]]'' (both versions) was a weird sort of '''Candid Camera Prank''' in that the victims knew it was happening - they were told at the time that they were being recorded for a TV show. Where the prank comes in was that neither character designers nor animators ever met the people being recorded. They wanted them to base appearance and performance on voice alone, so they were isolated from the process of recording so they wouldn't get any preconceived notions before setting to work. So there was an even chance you'd either be surprised to find out just how owlish you were, or offended that someone equated you with a gorilla. Thank God for anonymity, eh fellas?▼
** It's doubtful that they weren't told that they would be rendered in [[Claymation]], but it might be a surprise to find out exactly how.▼
▲* ''Videomatch''/''Showmatch'' was this before focusing entirely on "Bailando por un Sueño", and now it's back to doing this.
* ''[[The Jamie Kennedy Experiment]]''.
* ''[[Scrubs]]'' used this in an [[Imagine Spot]] on one occasion - after guiding a couple through a difficult and important medical decision, JD wishes that life were more like his favourite TV shows - cue the unconscious wife sitting up and saying 'you're on candid camera' and JD and Cox pointing cameras out, including one guy with a big shoulder-mounted camera hiding under the bed...
* ''[[The Daily Show]]'' parodied these shows (and ''Punk'd'' specifically) at the end of a "This Week in God" segment, with a fake advertisement for a show called ''Baptiz'd''. Instead of an elaborate prank, the action involved [[Stephen Colbert]] throwing a paper cup of water into a coworker's face, then cracking up, showing him the "hidden cameras" (which can't be that hidden since they're just standing in the hallway by a water cooler), and informing him that he "just got ''Baptiz'd''!" (Next week: ''Circumcis'd''!)
* ''[[Just For Laughs Gags]]'' is a Canadian version of these. Because there's pretty much no dialogue at all (overdubbing with music), it's often shown during flights.
* Done in several Disney shows including ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]'' and ''[[Hannah Montana]]'', both with a ''Punk'd''-esque show called 'Gotcha'
* ''[[Improv Everywhere]]'' does it just for the amusement of the participants, bystanders and readers of their website.
* A ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch with [[Christopher Walken]] had such a show, ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130924210843/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/02/02mpranksters.phtml Pranksters]''. It starts with a guy pranking his rat-hating sister... and goes into a man who pranks a workmate who kept using his parking space [[Disproportionate Retribution|by killing him with a tire iron]].
* ''[[What Would You Do?]]'' is a variation of this, in that it's a hidden camera show not done for comedy purposes; instead, it's more along the lines of a sociological/morality experiment.
* Several of the
▲* Inverted in ''[[The Gumball Rally]]''. The Dodge police cruiser team gets an [[Good Ol' Boy|Arizona state trooper]] to believe that they are filming a movie from a camera hidden on a far-away peak, and ask him to hold still for a face shot, as they make their getaway.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
▲* ''[[Creature Comforts]]'' (both versions) was a weird sort of '''Candid Camera Prank''' in that the victims knew it was happening - they were told at the time that they were being recorded for a TV show. Where the prank comes in was that neither character designers nor animators ever met the people being recorded. They wanted them to base appearance and performance on voice alone, so they were isolated from the process of recording so they wouldn't get any preconceived notions before setting to work. So there was an even chance you'd either be surprised to find out just how owlish you were, or offended that someone equated you with a gorilla. Thank God for anonymity, eh fellas?
▲** It's doubtful that they weren't told that they would be rendered in [[Claymation]], but it might be a surprise to find out exactly how.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Live-Action TV Tropes]]
[[Category:Practical Joke]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Pranking This Index]]
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