Erie County Residents Fooled By Powerful Toilet Prank

Happy April fools day!

If you haven’t been to the office because of the pandemic, beware of pranksters who are waiting behind every cubicle. It may even happen at the house or with friends today.

But April Fools’ Day always brings back a memory of one of my favorite pranks that actually did very well in terms of success.
The key to a good prank, is keeping it harmless and making it so simple that they don’t even realize it is a prank. And also it is good to have someone who, normally, you can trust not to prank you to actually pull it off.

It was in the beginning of the 2000s when I was on a show with former WYRK radio star Dale Mussen. Dale was doing his newscast and included a story, once an hour, that Erie County Water Authority suggested residents put a cinder block or other heavy item on their toilet seat cover before they leave the house that morning. The idea was that the Water Authority was going to increase the pressure of the water at a certain time that morning and if toilets were not covered properly flooding would be possible in homeowners’ bathrooms! We heard from lots of concerned people who were wondering how heavy the brick should be? What time will the pressure be increased? And how long will the brick have to sit on the toilet? They were even Sam who had already made their way into work and thought they should turn around to protect their bathrooms at home.

We did run calls throughout the morning telling some that it was a joke and not to worry. But the best part about a prank is not to overdo it and only every once in a while add the fact that it is a joke or lead on the fact that it is April 1.

The truth is, when it comes to RADIO pranks these days you have to be very careful. Not only can a joke by taken the wrong way, you run the risk of looking like a fool yourself if it is not funny or it doesn’t make sense. In many cases, it is better to just let the day pass and not put the risk into the show. But that toilet prank was a classic day.