[sighs]Hey.
How was lunch?
Oh, well, your dad wanted to go
to the Chinese buffet.
It was all-you-can-eat,
and we took that as a challenge.
[chuckles]It was like the war.
I went into the jungle innocent and hopeful,
and I came out just looking for a bathroom.
And we blame you.
Hey, before I pulled in,
I asked, "Are we really doing this?"
And I got nods from you and you.
We all knew what we were getting into.
What's this?
Oh, that got delivered while you were out.
Ooh, let's see what we got.
[Adam and Andi scream]
[kids laugh]
KATE and TEDDY and EMME: April fools!
[laughs]You almost scared the all-you-can-eat out of me.
Hey, Dad started it.
Look what he did to us.
Yeah, this morning I hit 'em with the old sneaker snake.
Ah.But guys, listen,
I want to have a serious discussion with you
about this April Fools' stuff.
That's right.
I am so proud of you.
ANDI: What?
No, no, don't encourage that.
Oh, come on, it's just good, clean family fun.
We've been pranking each other for years.
Yeah, I taught your dad everything he knows.
Remember the time I sewed the legholes of your underwear shut?
[laughing]: Yeah.
I hopped around for 20 minutes and finally got one leg
through the flap hole in the front.[laughs]
How about the time you put the fake dog poop on my bed?
We didn't have the money for fake dog poop.
What?
Oh, you still got it.
He still got it. Ah.
DON: Having a little prank war
with the kids, huh?
Yeah, you're living the dream.
Ah, see? I'm not the only one who likes this stuff.
I go through this with you every year,
and I still don't understand why you like it.
Well, I don't know. It's fun.
You love fun. You're fun-loving.
You know, like Marcy used to be.
I was fun,
but then something made me tired.
Well, there's just got to be more of a reason
than just fun.
Look, not everything has a deeper meaning.
It's those books you read.
You got to get out of the self-help aisle
and come join the rest of us over by the comic books.
Last time I took you to a bookstore,
you laid on the floor like a five-year-old.
[laughs]
It was boring.
Look, I think the problem is you don't like pranks
because of that little thing with your sister.
That was not a little thing.[groans]
All right, when I was seven,
my sister told me that my room was haunted
by the ghost of a lady with a hook hand.
Oh.
She lost her wedding ring
'cause it kept sliding off the hook.
And she would sneak into my room every night
and search for it.
That's ridiculous.
Who would marry a lady with a hook hand?ANDI: Okay.
Anyway, then my sister would come in
while I was sleeping and open all the drawers,
just like a hook-handed ghost would do.
And that's why I used to wet the bed,
not because of some social issue, Mom.
Yeah, but that's because
your sister did it wrong.
You were too young for a scary prank.
No one's gonna laugh at that.
Well, you laughed the first time I told you.
But that... but that's because you told it funny.
You're a great storyteller.
You know, back when we were dating,
Don used to fake propose to me at dinner.
I'd get down on one knee at the table, and I'd say,
"Darling, will you spend the rest of...
these nachos with me?""These nachos with me?"
Mom, something's wrong with my mouth.
[gasps] Oh, my God.
April fools.April fools.
[Don, Teddy and Adam laugh]
Wait, what?
We got you.
That's joke shop toothpaste.
You were right, her face was funny.
I just thought your teeth were so surprised to see a toothbrush
that your mouth exploded.
That is a classic. Me and my dad got my mom with that one.
Oh, so this was your idea.
Hey, this is some beautiful,
intergenerational magic here.
How can you like The Lion King and not this?
Okay, don't talk about The Lion Kingto me,
because you, sir, are no Mufasa.
Okay?
Now, come on, let's go get you cleaned up.
I'll help.
I'm good at getting blood out of things.
Don always forgets how tall he is.
That's a shame, but it's not your fault
you got the one gal who wet her bed over pranks.
I think I can turn her around.
I don't know. Once a bed wetter, always a bed wetter.
No, she hasn't done that since she was a kid.
A-And one time on an airplane when I was tickling her.
Hmm. Yeah.
Look, all I'm saying is we all love pranks, right?
But Andi thinks she doesn't
because her sister screwed her up.
So I just need to find one that she thinks is funny,
and she'll see that she's wrong.
Yeah.
If there's one thing wives love,
it's being taught a lesson.
♪
Look, we got to think of a fun prank for Andi.
Something lighthearted to ease her in.
Hmm. She loves animals.
So throw a fish in the tub with her.
[knock at door]
Uh, no, thanks.
I think I'll stay married.
Joy, Rudy, what's going on?
I'm annoyed. And I was having a perfectly good day.
Which is rare.Rudy.
And what shows up
in my mailbox for the third month in a row?
Your redneck racecar magazine.Yeah.
You know,
I am so tired of walking over here.
Why don't you just change the address?
Joy, if I did that, we wouldn't have this.
Now, tell you what, honey, why don't you run home?
I'll stay here and yell at Adam.
Okay, but don't be afraid to get personal.
You can start with that shirt he's wearing.
That is the ugliest shirt I've ever seen
in my entire life!
She bought me the same shirt for Christmas.
So how long does she expect you to yell at me?
I can stretch it out about 15 minutes.
That is three beers if we focus. Come with me.
Come on.
Check out Adam's well-behaved kids.
There's a real Children of the Cornvibe, huh?
Okay, there's no vibe.
They just respect me as a parent.
Oh!
[kids laughing]
We got you, Dad.
Oh, you sure did.
I don't know if it's pride or the beer in my eye,
but I'm tearing up.
Hey, you taught us well.
That was pretty impressive.
I wonder how they knew which one would be your beer.
[kids laughing]
Okay, I see what they did.
[chuckles] Oh, here she comes.
Hey, kids, how about a snack?
[door opens]
Hey, honey.Hey.
I, uh, just made the kids some cereal.
[laughing]
See, I froze it.
Your children are disappointed and confused.
That's fun.
I'm sorry, Adam.
I-I want to love it, but I just don't.
Kind of like quinoa.
All right.
All right. Uh, here.
How about a cup of tea as a peace offering.
Huh? Yeah.Aw, that's sweet. Thank you.
[Adam and kids laugh]
Mommy got owned.
See, you thought you were getting tea,
but it's frozen, too.Yes.
Yes.
Yes, I get it.
You've been home all day
freezing things your family loves.
[laughs]
Uh, guys, I want to talk to Daddy for a minute.
I don't hate this.
Okay, maybe you're not appreciating
the thoughtfulness here.
See, I know that every time you come home from grocery shopping,
you make yourself tea.
And I also know
that you take the tea bag out before you drink it.
So if you think about it,
it's like a love letter.
Okay, Adam, I need you to understand
how I feel about this. Okay?
I hate pranks like...
you hate country western line dancing.
Ooh, I hate that so much.
I know, which is why we don't do it
even though I am never more alive
than when I'm dancing in a line
to a song about whiskey and mud flaps.
I love it, but I respect that you don't.
Then let's not talk about it.
I don't even like talking about it.
But if we're gonna do things
that the other person doesn't like,
then I don't have to respect that anymore.
I can go right upstairs
and snap you into your cowboy shirt.
You wouldn't.
Oh, I would. Yeah.
So please play another prank,
because I really want to go line dancing.
Geez, you play rough.
ADAM: Okay, come on, guys.
Grandpa will be here any minute
to take you to school.
Hey, Dad, you really got us good
with that cereal thing.[laughs]
Oh, yeah, we wanted to show you there were no hard feelings,
so we got you
this million-dollar lottery scratcher.
Good luck, Daddy.
Guys, come on. Huh?
You don't give someone who doesn't even do scratchers
a scratcher in the middle of a prank war.
I know this is one of those fake winners.
Huh? [clicks tongue]
Dang it. You're too good.
Well, I didn't want to say it, but I'm glad you did.
[door opens]
All right, let's go.
All right, thanks for taking the kids to school.
Oh, you're my boy.
There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.
[chuckles] Nice try, Dad.
"Danger: gas leak." Boy.
If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black.
Well, I had to give it a shot.
I mean, we're the Burns family. We've been accusing each other
of gas leaks since the Pilgrims came over.
You've got
to get up pretty early to out-prank me.
All right, have a good day, kids.
[laughing]
You got to get up really early to out-prank me.
Seriously, I can't sleep past 4:00 a.m.
Old age-- that's God's prank.
Man, I was just at the bank,
and everyone was smiling at me.
I think people are getting nicer.
Well, no.
Try cutting out dairy. That worked for me.
Oh. Dad distracted me with the first sign
so I'd fall for this one.
Yesterday he put a bouillon cube in my shower head.
I tried to cover up the soup smell with cologne,
but I just smelled like a chicken going on a date.
So the old man got both of us.
You know, he can put all this together,
but he can't remember where he parked at the mall.
I know Andi said no more pranks, but we got to get him back.
I can help. I'm quite the mischievous prank artist myself.
I once switched my wife's lotion
from lavender to violet.
Get out. Yeah.
Had she noticed the difference,
it would have been pretty wild.
Sure. Yeah. You know,
Dad loves scratchers,
and my kids tried to give me a fake winner this morning.
Oh, that's good. He's got a bunch lying around.
We can slip the fake one into the pile and wait for the fun.Okay, great.
So after work, we'll grab it and then head over to his place.
This is so weird.
I remember leaving that lottery scratcher right here.
Hey, honey.Hey.
I have to tell you, it is really nice
to be in a prank-free house. Oh.
So thank you for respecting how I feel.
Ah.I'd thank you in a handsier way, but your brother's here.
I could turn around.
Oh, I'm not falling for that again.
Hey, uh, did you
by any chance see a lottery scratcher lying around?
Oh, yeah. I gave it to Joy.
What?
Yeah, well, I got her a card to apologize for your magazines,
and I... you know, I put it in as a token of good will.
I just dropped it in her mailbox.
That is so thoughtful.
Well, it just feels good to do good, you know?
Yeah.
Good. [laughs]
This is notgood. No.
The only reason that scratcher was here
was because I started a prank war.
If Andi finds out about this,
she'll be so mad, she'll make me put on chaps.
Okay. I don't need to hear how you guys work your stuff out.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
Andi just put it in Joy's mailbox, right?
Yeah.So all we got to do is get it out of the mailbox
before Joy sees it, and we're home free.
Now you're thinking.Yeah.
That means no yelling, no stupid line dancing.
I mean, if I'm dancing, I do my own thing.
I go where my hips lead me.
You know what I mean?
One for you, one for you, one for you, one for you.
All right, let's just get the scratcher out of the mailbox
before Joy finds it.
Is it in there?Yeah, yeah, I see it at the bottom.
All right, reach in.
I'd do it, but my hands are too big. You have dainty hands.
I don't have dainty hands.
I'm normal-sized. You're the one who looks like
he should be swatting airplanes out of the sky.
Okay, I feel the card, okay?
It's coming. It's coming.
And my hand's stuck. My hand's stuck!All right. All right.
Don't panic. We're two intelligent adults.
I have an idea.
What? Ow!
Ow!
Okay, that did not work.
Cross it off the list. Okay.
Let's just unbolt the whole thing, bring it to my house, and
we'll take it apart. Grab my Leatherman.
It's in my back pocket. I can't reach it. Well, no.
I'm not touching your butt. This is a family neighborhood.
Will you please?!
I got my hand stuck in a mailbox here. Right.
Don't flex it. You're making the pocket tight.
Just relax and let it happen.
[grunts]
What are you doing with mymailbox?
I figured, this way, if Joy sees hers is missing,
you can say there's a mailbox thief on the loose.
You know what? Don't freelance.
Aha! I got it. What?
Wait. This isn't Andi's thank you note.
It's a renewal card from my magazine.
Oh. That means Joy already has the scratcher.
[sighs] I told you this wouldn't work.
You never said that.
Now I got to go in there and come clean with Andi
before Joy thinks she won a million dollars.
Come on. Let me do the talking.
Bringing the mailbox, right?No! No!
Put that down.
Andi. Oh, oh, oh.
Oh, good. Everyone's here.
Adam, we're rich!
Great. I'm so happy for you, I need to be alone. Come on, Don.
Wait. No. Wait, wait, wait. Honey,
you are not gonna believe this.
Okay, you know that scratcher I gave Joy?
Never heard of it. This is all new to me.
I don't know about Adam, though.
We won a million bucks!
Yeah. I bought a boat.
It's so big, it's got a little boat attached to it.
And I...
I quit my job.
I said all kinds of things to my boss.
Religious, I got a little racial.
I burned bridges!
Oh. Oh, that's good to hear.
Can I... can I talk to you for a second?
What's going on?
Joy and Rudy won a million dollars!
[overlapping chatter]
This is gonna change our life.
We can move out of this crappy neighborhood.
RUDY: Yeah.
Yeah, somebody stole our mailbox.
And since you gave us this scratcher,
we want to give you $100,000 of it.
What?! [gasps]
$100,000? We're millionaires!
Uh, Andi, I need to talk to you.
I-I-I... I really need to talk to you right now.
Oh.
So, about this mailbox thief-- I was at the movies all day.
What's going on?Joy's scratcher is a fake.
What?! Shh!
Talking loud defeats the whole purpose of coming over here!
Joy's scratcher was a prank. You got to help me.
This will devastate Joy and Rudy, and it's all your fault.
Why should I help you?
Because if Joy kills me,
you're gonna have to raise our children by yourself,
and that will be exhausting!
Adam. Well, okay.
You were right, okay? I screwed up.
I should have listened to you. Pranks aren't fun.
But if you please help me out here, I will never do one again.
Good. Okay.
Because April fools. [laughs]
ALL: April fools!
This was all a prank? You pranked me?
And me.
I-I think?
I don't really know what's going on.
So I knew
you couldn't quit on your own,
so I had the kids bring you the scratcher.
Which we knew you wouldn't fall for.
And because you never put anything
in the actual garbage can,
I knew you'd leave it lying around.
So we told Mom where you left it.
And then I grabbed it, and told you that I gave it to Joy.
See, I used all the things that I know about you, so,
if you think about it...
...it's like a love letter.
[laughs, mutters]
Okay, this is the last of it. Fake toothpaste.
Oh. Bug in the ice cube. [laughing]: Oh.
Aw. And this one hurts-- snakes in a can.
Oh.
Hey, well, I'm proud of you,
but I still don't get why you like this stuff so much.
And don't say it's because it's fun.
Look, it's just a thing I always loved doing with my dad.
Most of the time if he was talking to me,
he was mad about something,
but when we were doing pranks, we were laughing.
And when he'd put pudding in my baseball glove,
yeah, it was funny, but it also meant
that he knew I liked baseball.
And pudding.
Yeah, I was husky for a while. Mm.
So in a way, it's how he told you that he loved you.
[gasps]
I knew it was deep! Ha!
The self-help aisle is making a comeback!
All right, all right. Nobody likes a touchdown dance.
Well, I know that you love me and the kids
because you say it all the time, okay?
So please don't show it with pranks anymore.
All right, you got it. It's all in the trash now.
Okay, good. All right, well, I'm gonna make us a cup of tea...
Mm. ...now that I know it's safe again.
[laughs]
I f... I forgot about that one.
[laughing]: I put a rubber band on the sprayer.
I'll just go find my cowboy hat.
Adam, we're gonna be late. Come on!
[laughter]
I did that. I dressed him.
You look like Roy Rogers' wife.[laughter]
You told me nobody would be here.
Huh. I guess I do like pranks.
Come on, let's go.
Just relax and let it happen.
Captioning sponsored by CBS
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org