Beware! If you mess with the wrong person, tell them to “Hold!” moment, they could enlist Johnny Knoxville, Eric Andre and Gabourey Sidibe to get back at you! That’s the trio’s mission on their new ABC show, “The Prank Panel.” And no one is safe – not even the artists themselves.
The concept of the show is simple: people come up to the panel and pull a prank they want to pull on someone close to them who pulled the prank on them in the first place. In other words, big time retaliation. The panel then picks one and does all the very dirty work.
After the show’s producer, Jimmy Kimmel, pulled the group together, André set his sights on pranking Sidibe. But he was screwing with the wrong person.
“You tried to get me with those worms, but the worms have no effect on you. How did it work out for you, Eric?” She laughed when everyone sat down with TheWrap.”It didn’t work out well, did it? How much work did you do to get those giant giant – what are they? – hissing cockroaches.
“It was a strange amount of work and the amount of blood, sweat and tears I put into that request,” Andre laughed. “I was campaigning for bugs. Oh. And then they didn’t work. Unfortunately.”
So what would like scare them all out? Very interested to know Knoxville.
“Go ahead Eric! You and Gabby go!” The “Jackass” co-creator pushed, hoping they would spill.
“I do not know whether now is the time to answer to Mr. Knoxville. He is not the man you want to tell about your phobias or pet peeves,” Andre replied. “You don’t want to give her a laundry list.”
The three stars below tell us how they got involved, whose significant others were pulled into the mix, and a prank that may have resulted in the unexpected appearance of Firearms.
(This transcript was condensed for clarity and space.)
TheWrap: I saw the first few episodes and it’s really, really funny. First of all, how did all three of you create this nonsense together?
johnny knoxvilleJimmy Kimmel approached me during the pandemic with this idea, and I thought it was a really great idea. He goes, “We’re gonna sit on that in a while,” because, you know, about the pandemic. And then when we were up and running, he suggested Gabby as well, and I said, “That’s a good idea.” Eric, how did you get involved? I mean, we all wanted you, but how did you get into this?
Eric Andre: Me? Jimmy called me. (Laugh). don’t you remember?
Knoxville: I had a stroke.
Andre:Yeah, I did Kimmel’s show and right when my interview ended, he went, “Hey, me and Knoxville have to call you. We have a show in mind,” and then you guys gave me the buzz. . That was March last year. Yes. Showbiz is slow biz.
Gabourey Sidibe: I think I was shooting a film in Canada in August and I pranked my husband to make him believe that I was being arrested by the Canadian police. … And literally the next day I got an email about this show, and I think we started shooting in September. … I took the show because I was like, “Oh, maybe this is a sign, that I’ll randomly prank my husband for no reason.” And then I was like, look at the universe.
Gabby, you better seek retribution from your husband.
sidibe: one of the authors [on “The Prank Panel”] Tried to be best friends with him to make fun of me. ah-huh but that author doesn’t know that I really set His Above. When I first came in, they said, “Maybe we’ll have a joke with your husband.” And I was like, “My husband’s a master at pranks, so you better join him in pranks.” Me, (Laughs) The day my husband came over and he immediately befriended her and tried to do the same. But I did it because I know my husband will protect me. I thought it would keep me safe – and they never made fun of me again.
Knoxville: Very good. Well, if there’s a season 2…
Some of the jokes you pulled were very serious I noticed. I like the fact that people are coming to you and saying, “I have this idea,” and then you get to choose which one you’re going to do.
Knoxville: Yes. And we’ll be working on that for a long time. Sometimes we’ll write a brand new joke, but the good thing is we go down hard on these guys because they were really hard on someone else. He has pranked his mother, brother, sister. So they have this coming. And their brothers, sisters, etcetera, are working with us to make sure they get it as good as they got. maybe a little More As much as they got
And I heard Johnny and Eric tried to pull a joke on you, Gabe.
sidibe: You tried to get me with those worms, but the worms have no effect on you. How did it work for you, Eric? (Laughs) It didn’t work out well. How much work did you do to get those giant giant – what are they? Hissing cockroaches.
Andre: It was a strange amount of work and the amount of blood, sweat and tears I put into that request. … I was, like, campaigning for insects. Oh. And then they didn’t work. (Laughs) Unfortunately.
sidibe: I am not afraid of insects. My cats love insects and I want to get some of them.
Andre: Yes. They were like, um, soothing to you in a sense. (Laughs) It’s too bad when a joke doesn’t work. It’s rough. It can be fun in a different way.
Knoxville: Your despair here made it a lot funnier. (laughs)
If someone plays a joke on you guys, what would make you angry?
Knoxville: Hey, go ahead Eric! You and Gabby go!
Andre: I don’t know if now is the time to answer that to Mr. Knoxville. He’s not the guy you want to tell about your phobias or pet peeves. (Laughs) You don’t want to give him a laundry list.
Knoxville: When meeting new artists, I’ll ask something like, “So what are you guys scared of?” And they hadn’t gone through it before, so they could easily tell me everything.
Has a joke gone wrong this season?
Knoxville: With pranks, it mostly goes wrong and you’re just constantly trying to get it back on track. But that’s what makes it exciting.
Andre: If that’s what you’re thinking, “Life Goes Wrong” is just what you want for a joke. But if you’re talking about a joke fail, there was a place where it was believed to be a haunted house. … That was great. That was unbelievable. There was a woman who had a 22 caliber gun. (Laughs) He didn’t believe any of the jokes, thank God. But if she did, she was packing heat.
“The Prank Panel” is produced by KIMMELOT and ITV America. Executive producers include Matt Silverstein and Dave Jesser, Jimmy Kimmel and Scott Lonker for Camelot, Johnny Knoxville and Eric Andre for ITV America, and Jordana Hochman, Bernie Schaefer and Vin Rubino.
“The Prank Panel” will air a special preview on ABC on Wednesday, May 24 and will return with new episodes in its regular time slot beginning Sunday, July 9.
