Hollywood's king of the April Fool: George Clooney's funniest pranks

George Clooney

Think of George Clooney and several things immediately spring to mind: that he's handsome, debonair, charismatic and a crusader for human rights. But what's lesser-known about Gorgeous George is that he's also Hollywood's most incorrigible prankster, a big kid in a fiftysomething's body. From Matt Damon and Brad Pitt to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, many an A-lister has fallen foul of Clooney's oh-so-hilarious gags. 

Indeed, his Hail, Caesar! co-star Alden Ehrenreich once recalled how Clooney persuaded him, Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum and Josh Brolin to all turn their backs on the cameras at the film's LA premiere. "So we did it and George didn't," said Ehrenreich. "There's a great picture of George laughing at the camera with Josh and us looking like idiots." 

See what a riot he is. No matter that he's directed such political polemics as Good Night, and Good Luck, or starred in hard-hitting thrillers like Syriana, it seems that Clooney is never too self-important and sanctimonious for a good old-fashioned practical joke. Some have even been pretty funny. Here, then, are his best – or most annoying – ones.

Photographing his genitals – with other people’s cameras

Back in the Eighties, Clooney developed a proclivity for stealing friends' cameras and using it to take pictures of his nether-regions wearing glasses. "We called him Mr Face," he told Esquire. "You put sunglasses and a cigarette, and it actually looks like a person. I haven't done that in a long time. I think 1988 was my last Mr Face impersonation." Pop singer Pat Boone was among the victims. 

George Clooney
Credit: Rex

Impersonating the bowel movements of a severely constipated cat

In 1993, having divorced from Talia Balsam, Clooney moved in temporarily with his friend Richard Kind (the voice of Bing Bong in Pixar's Inside Out). Kind kept the cat's litter tray in the guest bedroom. Each day Clooney would empty the tray, leaving Kind to think that the cat was seriously constipated. For weeks Clooney remained silent – even when Kind took the cat to the vet. And then, finally, Clooney struck, leaving his own – considerably larger – faeces in the tray and blaming it on Kind's feline friend. 

Richard Kind and George Clooney
Richard Kind and George Clooney Credit: rex

Ruining his friends’ walls with some very ugly art

Three years later, Kind was in the firing line again, in what was a far more elaborate prank. It began when Clooney stumbled upon a hideous, giant painting that had been thrown away. Deciding to take it home, frame it, and sign it as his own, he proceeded to tell Kind that he'd taken up art classes. He continued this merry charade for six months or so, and then on Kind's 40th birthday, Clooney gave the monstrosity to his friend, telling him that he was really proud of it. Kind hung it in his living room for years without knowing the truth.  

George and Amal Clooney in 2016
George and Amal Clooney in 2016 Credit: Rex

Improving Brad Pitt’s car with hysterical bumper stickers

During the making of Ocean's Twelve, Brad Pitt sent out a memo to the Italian crew suggesting that Clooney insisted on being referred to by his character name, Danny Ocean, and that no one should make eye contact with him. As way of revenge, Clooney started putting bumper stickers on Pitt's car. "I'm gay and I vote," read the first one. The second one said, "Small Penis on Board."

George Clooney and Brad Pitt
George Clooney and Brad Pitt Credit: AFP

Faking Brad and Angelina’s wedding

The next year, in 2005, Clooney duped the paparazzi by pretending to host the wedding of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. "You would never go to Lake Como in February," he told The Today Show. "It's sort of rainy. You certainly wouldn't have an outdoor wedding. But once the story started, and all these people started showing up – and I mean hundreds and hundreds of press people outside the house, including people from all the entertainment shows. I called and ordered high-top tables and had them put out on the front lawn because helicopters are flying over. It went on for two weeks – people thinking there was going to be a wedding."

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and George Clooney in 2012
Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and George Clooney in 2012 Credit: Credit: MARIO ANZUONI  


Starting some dangerous ‘Rumers’

It takes a brave man to mess with Bruce Willis – especially when it involves the Die Hard star's then 18-year-old daughter. But nothing stands between Clooney and a good practical joke. The year was 2006 and both Clooney and Willis were at a party for Scott Caan's photo exhibit. Ever the opportunist, Clooney wandered over to Willis and proceeded to tell him that many of the middle-aged men there were hitting on his daughter Rumer. As Clooney pointed out the men one by one, Willis grew understandably more incensed. The joke imploded, however, when Rumer fluffed her lines. "Dad, George told me to tell you that – uh, I forget his name – was talking to me," she reportedly said.

Rumer Willis and Demi Moore
Rumer Willis and Demi Moore Credit: Rex

Out-drinking Jerry Weintraub

While flying to Los Angeles, Clooney and his partner in crime Pitt challenged Ocean's Eleven producer Jerry Weintraub to a vodka-drinking contest. Clooney and Pitt, the sly devils, were drinking water, however. Soon Weintraub passed out, and the pair filled his underwear with M&Ms.

George Clooney, Jerry Weintraub and Matt Damon in 2009
George Clooney, Jerry Weintraub and Matt Damon in 2009 Credit: 2009

Making Matt Damon feel fat

After Matt Damon told a reporter that The Descendants star was definitely gay, Clooney exacted cruel, but hilarious, retribution. The prank, which had a distinct hint of Roald Dahl's The Twits, took place around the time Clooney was directing the historical caper Monuments Men. Damon, who was staying at Clooney's Italian villa, was trying to slim down for a role. Knowing this, Clooney had the wardrobe girl take Damon's trousers in an eighth of an inch every few days. "He was then just eating a grape and saying, ‘I don’t understand why I’m getting fatter,’" Clooney recalled on The Graham Norton Show. "I did that for about three weeks.”

monuments men

Offering Meryl Streep some acting tips – courtesy of Brad Pitt

"I sent Meryl Streep a letter from [Pitt] with a whole stack of dialect coach CDs saying that they may help her for her role in the Iron Lady," Clooney admitted to Graham Norton. "I have sent letters to lots and lots of people from Brad and I don’t tell either of them what I have done for a year or two and they are like, ‘Are you kidding me?’"

The Iron Lady
The Iron Lady

Writing "complaint" letters to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Remember when Amy Poehler and Tina Fey teased Clooney about his film Gravity while presenting the Golden Globes ("It's a story of how George Clooney would rather float away in space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age")? Well, Clooney got his own back by sending Fey and Poehler a letter as Matt Damon (on Matt Damon's letterhead) that said, "Look, it sounds hypocritical because I laughed at the jokes about George and Leo, but you know, that’s sort of what people think about them. But when you called me a garbage man, it just seemed like low hanging fruit, it just seemed like an easy joke. And you know, I don’t want an apology, I don’t want anything else, I just want you to know that my kid now calls me the garbage man.”

As Damon later revealed on The Late Show with Letterman, he was completely unaware of his role in the prank until he received two giant fruit baskets from Fey and Poehler along with two letters, the first of which was an "apology". The second, however, called Clooney out. It read: "If your note is part of some George Clooney prank, as I very strongly suspect it is, you A-list amateurs are going to have to step it the f--- up. We are not some easily confused starlets here. We are grown-ass, professional comedians."

 

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