ABC's 'Prank Panel' offers creative solutions to those looking to give payback to someone else
Eric Andre, Gabourey Sidibe and Johnny Knoxville are the show's all-star 'Pranxperts.'
HOLLYWOOD -- The new unscripted reality show "The Prank Panel" is coming to ABC.
Each week, we'll see regular folks who are seeking a little revenge against people in their lives, all in good fun. But to get to play their pranks, they must first pitch their ideas to a panel of "Pranxperts:" Eric Andre, Gabourey Sidibe and Johnny Knoxville.
The all-star pranksters on "The Prank Panel" see their show as a sort of "Shark Tank" for pranks. People get the opportunity to pitch their most mischievous and outlandish ideas to the panel, who then decide whether or not they want to help execute the ruse.
Johnny Knoxville hopes everyone gets a kick out of one of their first efforts.
"I gotta say the first episode, the clown prank is one of the best pranks I've ever been involved with," he said. "This lady ... wants to prank her son, who's terrified of clowns. He's 18 and lives at home, and she was so hard on him during her pitch, hilariously so, that we decided to reverse prank her so we had to get him on board. Oh, I'm glad we did."
One person helping get this prank-fest together: producer Jimmy Kimmel.
"Oh, he's so important. I mean, he's been pranking people his whole life and he's great at it," said Knoxville. "So to have a mind like that on board is so helpful and he's got so many things going on, but he always had time for us. He was involved. So it's great having Jimmy on board."
In fact, it was Kimmel who recommended another prank panel member, actress Gabourey Sidibe.
"She brings a whole side to the show that Eric and I just don't have because [we] don't want to tell people their ideas aren't any good, and we've tried to tiptoe around that," said Knoxville. "But Gabby will just be bluntly honest with people, and she's so funny and smart."
And while Knoxville and fellow prankster Eric Andre had their own crazy fun backstage, they quickly learned they didn't play games with Gabby.
"No, we didn't. But because Gabby came to set each day she was holding. She had a stun gun and pepper spray," said Knoxville.
"The Prank Panel" airs Sunday nights at 8|7c on ABC.
