10 Hilarious and Harmless Jokes (You Can Do All Year Long)

Change something in the environment so subtly that it subtly disrupts someone's routine without them immediately knowing why. Place the computer mouse on the other side of the keyboard, or turn all the books in the bookcase upside down with their backs to the wall. The other person makes a mistake on autopilot and has to reset his brain to understand what has happened.

In an everyday situation, calmly say, “This happened last year too.” Say it with complete conviction. There is a good chance that the other person will pause for a moment and seriously think about whether he has forgotten something. Not giving an explanation only makes the joke better.

Go and do something simple, visibly extremely prepared. Wear a helmet when taking out the trash. Gloves and checklist for making a sandwich. The more ordinary the action, the greater the contrast and the louder the laugh.

If someone mispronounces a word, do not correct him out loud. Write the correct word on a piece of paper and slowly slide it towards you. Silence is essential here. The moment of realization is awkward and funny at the same time.

Provide extremely detailed updates throughout the day on something completely unimportant. “I'm halfway through my apple now.” “Update: apple is gone.” Don't stop until someone asks why you are doing this. Then you have already passed.

Also a good joke, send an anonymous text message. Make the message confusing and innocent. Think: “It's resolved. You don't have to worry anymore.” Or: “They realize it, but it will be okay.” It is important that the message remains vague and leads nowhere. As soon as someone starts puzzling without getting an answer, humor arises instead of stress.

Explain with deadly serious arguments why a completely nonsensical conclusion is correct. For example, claim that Tuesday actually feels later in the week than Thursday because the “psychological climb to the weekend” really begins on Tuesday. The great thing is the moment of short circuit: people only laugh once they realize that they were actually trying to understand your point.

Swap two almost identical objects. Two mugs, two pens, two pillows. Not to annoy anyone, but to cause mild confusion. As soon as someone says “this feels different”, you know it works.

Make a comment or pun that only makes sense minutes later. Then immediately switch to a serious topic and don't respond to anything anymore. The moment when someone suddenly starts laughing out of nowhere, while everyone else has had their heads somewhere else for a long time, is worth its weight in gold.

Call everyone together or ask for absolute silence before an important announcement. Let the tension build with lots of weight and meaningful pauses. Then come up with something completely trivial, like announcing that you're running out of milk or that you've discovered a new color of paper clips. The enormous anticlimax does all the work; the other person's frustration immediately turns into laughter. These pranks work all year round, precisely because they are not dependent on a date, trend or audience. They rely on human behavior. And fortunately that never changes.