4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2020
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
April Fools' pranks come and go, but one joke item that’s stood the test of time is the whoopee cushion. Today, we trace its history from ancient Rome to now. Where did it come from? Why is it funny? Will it stay popular? And if everyone knows its name, why does no one company get the credit for it?
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0:00.0 | Welcome to the New York Toy Fair, where people from around the country pack into a gigantic |
0:13.4 | convention center along the Hudson River to showcase their newest inventions. |
0:18.1 | This stuff is the cutting edge of toy innovation. |
0:20.2 | I mean, this is the super bowl of toys. |
0:23.1 | In the fake doggie do, you know, genre, as you say, we have one that you actually attach |
0:28.7 | to a tap of a pencil and we call it a genuine number two pencil. |
0:33.0 | So that's one of our better sellers. |
0:35.2 | This is Warren Berkowitz. |
0:36.6 | He works for a company called Forum Noveltees. |
0:39.2 | My mantra has always been, if you need it, we don't have it, selling products that people |
0:43.5 | want that don't need. |
0:45.5 | But, you know, we take our jokes pretty serious. |
0:49.9 | At this year's Toy Fair, his booth is decked out with prank and joke items. |
0:53.8 | They've got your classics, fake roaches, eyeglasses topped with fuzzy eyebrows. |
0:58.2 | But there's also something else in the air. |
1:00.5 | One of the items that we make is fartspray. |
1:02.4 | When we were trying to develop the just right smell, we went through a number of different |
1:06.9 | aromas. |
1:07.9 | You can also find an electronic fart machine, farts in a can, and a fart pin hanging alongside |
1:13.5 | that fartspray. |
1:14.9 | They know what sells. |
1:16.6 | And this particular category of joke never disappoints. |
... |
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