Kenneth Ma Gets Pranked in “Office of Practical Jokes”
Johnson Lee’s (李思捷) new comedy reality program for TVB, Office of Practical Jokes <玩嘢王>, is doing phenomenally well with Hong Kong television viewers. Having reached an average rating of 20 points last Saturday, the hilarious television show is also currently the number one most-viewed television program on TVB’s online streaming website, myTV, exceeding the popularity of period dramas Beauty at War <金枝慾孽貳> and Bullet Brain <神探高倫布>.
Hosted by Johnson Lee, Office of Practical Jokes is a hidden camera-practical reality series that features pranks on celebrities, which are set by Johnson and his team of “Johnson Soldiers”. The show debuted on Saturday, April 20, with the first episode featuring pranked celebrity victims Bob (林盛斌), Mag Lam (林欣彤), Alfred Hui (許廷鏗), and Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞).
The third episode, which featured Linda Chung (鍾嘉欣) pulling a prank on magician Louis Yan (甄澤權), received an overwhelmingly positive response from the audience, with most of them praising Linda’s ability to shed convincing tears on the spot.
In the upcoming fourth episode, which will be aired this Saturday, May 11, Johnson recruited the cast of Awfully Lawful<熟男有惑> – Roger Kwok (郭晉安), Raymond Cho (曹永廉), and Pal Sinn (單立文) – to prank their fellow TVB colleagues. Raymond was given the task to pull a prank on The Hippocratic Crush 2 < On Call 36小時II> costar, Kenneth Ma (馬國明).
Raymond pretended that he had lost money after gambling stocks and begged Kenneth to lend him $30,000 HKD to repay his debts. Kenneth did not question Raymond’s situation and immediately said yes. The prankster could not contain his laughter after Kenneth’s response and immediately told him that he has been pranked.
Kenneth accepted a brief interview with Face Magazine after the episode, saying, “Yes, I’ve been pranked! Raymond said he lost a lot of money and was afraid that his wife would find out, so he asked me to lend him some money. Since we are old friends, and he didn’t ask for much, of course I’d lend it to him!”
The Hippocratic Crush 2 star admitted defeat with laughter, and expressed that he did not mind the practical joke. “I’ve been friends with Raymond for a long time, and I have never heard of him talking about gambling stocks. I should have known. But he’s my friend, so I had to help him out no matter what!”
Like Kenneth, Sharon Chan (陳敏之) was also pranked in a similar fashion. In a phone interview with Face Magazine, the Friendly Fire <法網狙擊> star revealed that she had a good friend who asked her to borrow money, only to find out later that it was prank for Office of Practical Jokes. “A good friend called me and asked to borrow $60,000 HKD, so I said yes!” Sharon refused to disclose the identity of her friend, expressing that the producer of the show wants to keep the details secretive. However, she did reveal that her friend is a fellow TVB artist.
Kenneth’s The Hippocratic Crush 2 costars, Tavia Yeung (楊怡) and Him Law (羅仲謙), also reportedly got pranked. The widespread popularity of the show has gotten quite a few TVB artists to grow paranoid around Johnson.
Source: Face Magazine # 311
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
“Raymond pretended that he had lost money after gambling stocks and begged Kenneth to lend him $30,000 HKD to repay his debts. Kenneth did not question Raymond’s situation and immediately said yes. The prankster could not contain his laughter after Kenneth’s response and immediately told him that he has been pranked.”
What a great friend!! Kenneth’s good points just upped by a million.
A good friend would do that.
If a friend asked me, I would do that too. So why do YOU make a big deal out of it?
by the way, what I mean making a big deal out of it is:
“Kenneth’s good points just upped by a million.”
Because I won’t unless I know what is going on so very good for you to be so generous. Question is why YOU ARE making a big deal out of me making some deal out of it?
Are you a puppet?
Are you my puppet?
When you actually DO it, then we all can make a big deal.
Please have someone record you doing it so we can all see it. Until then its just all word. You probably don’t even got 60k to being with.
Isn’t what Kenneth Ma is doing all words either?
Not all good friends would lend each other money, trust me… There are many that would not since they value money more than anything. Also, Kenneth is known to be really thrifty with his money as well so doing so really shows how much he values and trusts his friends, therefore, it is a big plus that he was willing to do so without hesitation.
This reminds me of Grace Wong readily lending money to her friend in need, making her almost homeless.
Aside, Grace being pranked in said show gave me a good impression of her. She seems like a really nice girl.
agree on Grace Wong’s impression as well.
She seemed like a sweet girl and genuine about her faith with God. 🙂 At first I thought she was a fake person using religion to establish a niche.
She was soo freaking adorable and cute in episode 3 of Practical Jokes…hahahhaa. Her facial expression when Johnson was singing the message that she got pranked was hilarious. I really like her…you can tell how genuine she is as a person. Very straight forward, not to mention very loyal to her religion 🙂
agree! kenneth is a great friend! don’t think many will be so generous to lend a friend 30k hkd!
@sel_fi_wu: Sharon did too, so how come no one here praises her for being a great friend too?
Upped by a million? That’s just extreme…I mean, isn’t that what a friend should do? They’re old friends and even good friends.
agreed upon. But Funn and Larry… ._.
Well, it’s good that you have so much faith in humanity, but selfishness and self-preservation does exist in this world. Even “good” friends may not turn out to be who you think they are.
(End of my pessimism for now.)
—————-
@Coco: You seem to have taken some issue with Funn and Larry. And bloody heck, not once has Larry even made a comment in this post.
Wrong post. my bad.
Actually, would “Office of Practical Jokes” be bold enough to broadcast pranks that would showcase unflattering sides of their artists? Such as artists erupting into curses when taken by surprise?
Maybe Kenneth Ma was chosen to be pranked because it was expected that he would lend Raymond money.
I remember watching a show with Famma and Siu Yee, who pulled a prank on JJ Jia. Summer Ha was the guest star who was invited to pull the prank on JJ and pretend that he was upset at her. She was asked to sing a song in Cantonese, buy coffee for him, and demonstrate on a hula hoop. Finally, she broke down in tears and said that Cantonese was not her strength and refused to comply with the crew’s demands, ready to walk off the set. They finally told her that it was a prank when she was ready to cry some more. I was taken aback by how easily she started crying and ready to give up although the demands were a bit senseless, the crew was not outright rude to her.
I think curses, etc is probably good for ratings but I suppose they may not broadcast those where hurtful words were said or those showing the stars in very unflattering light like for example, Kenneth saying no.
However such a show only work when they pick on stars they know they can pick on.
I never knew Kenneth is such good friends with Raymond Cho.
At least JJ Jia cried, which shows how much pressure she is under. Now imagine she pulls a diva attitude, arrogantly dismissing them. I think they all know she will cry instead of going nuclear so to speak.
Funn,
The reactions are a bit tame and predictable. With TVB so closely guarding their artists’ images, the pranks are only for a few chuckles and nothing unflattering would be revealed. Not even a few angry curse words to beeped out.
From weibo interactions, Raymond Cho seems to be well liked by his fellow colleagues.
Of course! I mean this is TVB, or even any reality show. I remember watching one with Hugh Jackman being punked. Now he is a nice guy and I remember something about him starting a fire accidentally that destroyed a house with some expensive paintings in it? Anyway his reaction was classic and funny. He looked like he knew he was in deep deep trouble! Anyway usually such persons are punked because you know they’re nice guys without much temper. They do choose their stars carefully.
Imagine if a star reacted very badly and this was broadcast for whatever reason. There will be a major lawsuit and the broadcast will require the star’s consent and I don’t think they can get it.
However for ordinary folks where I’ve seen some very negative reaction, that’s a different story.
Funn,
It would be more real if it were live pranks, such as live phone calls. But that would never happen. Edited episodes will always allow editing to be done to showcase the good side.
I would like to see the crew prank Francis Ng and Anthony Wong, known for their unminced remarks. Or a female star calling up Edison Chen and seeing if he would fall into the trap.
Ha! Try to punk Russell Crowe! In this case, try to punk Liza Wang or Anthony Wong!
“It would be more real if it were live pranks, such as live phone calls. But that would never happen. ”
There were live phone calls during a particular talk show, can’t remember which ones BUT yes true, talk shows are broadcast later and so up for editing. But like I said usually those being set up for such pranks are usually the ones believed to be nice ones.
Try Madonna!!
Jayne: Talking of live phone scams, do you listen to NY 95.5 WPLJ with Scott and Todd in the morning? They play this most ridiculous phone scams and their victims actually fell for them.
Clamine,
I listen to KTU 103.5 and they also have a phone prank program. It’s pretty outrageous how angry people get on the phone. The rage just erupts so quickly over nothing really….
There was a cute phone prank between Raymond Lam and Linda Chung (ofcourse linda fell for it) over the radio back when they were doing moonlight resonance. She was so hilariously adorable/innocent!
Google/Youtube it!
Dr. M: Personally I think Linda knew about that phone prank beforehand.
Good question! Personally, I would not appreciate being pranked for the general public entertainment just so they can laugh at my expense. TVB should pay those pranked some monetary compensation, esp. Bob.
Even if TVB wanted to air something less tamed, doesn’t mean the artist would allow it. It damages their reputation and TVB would be facing lawsuits for airing such pranks without the artist’s permission. The show is meant to be lighthearted fun at the artist’s expense, not some kind of personal vendettas against artists to show them at their worst.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to reveal anything before the episodes even air … T_T I mean as much as the viewers would like to know to satisfy their anticipation and curiosity of what are installed for them, it wouldnt be much fun and entertainment knowing what the pranks are going to be about…
But anyway-I think phone call pranks aren’t that daring..even asking to lend money- who knows if the artists’ who are supposedly being pranked are actually in on the joke too. I enjoy watching physical pranks, if anyone knows what i mean lol
Enjoying the show so far! Looking forward to more 🙂
kenneth is a sweetheart 🙂
Secret caller asking Sharon for money -> Joel chan. Jk jk but that would be funny.
Kenneth is such a lovely man. Anyone would want him as a friend, son, boyfriend…
As a friend: yes.
as a son: that wouldnt happen.
as a boyfriend: nope xD
Goodness, Linda Chung’s acting is so convincing, so good!!
omg I envy Linda Chung & Janet so much! xP
Although this has show, “is doing phenomenally well with Hong Kong television viewers,” I wonder if it will last long because I think after these 4 episodes, people may actually become more paranoid and aware of Johnson’s pranks. xD
Jokes are good, as long as it’s not done overboard. So far, it’s actually fun, but if Linda was actually the victim, I don’t think it’s that good. (not because it’s Linda, but her I mean her position.)
Support Johnson <3<3<3
finally a real entertainment variety show. love it!
Sharon Chan was willing to lend $200k HKD, how come she doesn’t get good press like Kenneth did? I mean, Kenneth was obviously a great friend but I think Sharon was even better. She readily agreed, and only worried if there was anything wrong with Roger!
@Cherry
“A good friend called me and asked to borrow $60,000 HKD, so I said yes!” [..]Tavia Yeung (楊怡) and Him Law (羅仲謙), also reportedly got pranked.
60,000 or 200,000?
After watching the episode it is obvious to me that the above reporter had no prior knowledge about the episode so he/she just wrote whatever details tvb CHOSE TO IMPART as evinced by the erroneous report of Sharon’s actual loan amount of 200,000 HKD, and that Tavia and Him were ‘reportedly’ being pranked too. Other artists who were just as generous as KM, some even more so, got no mention at all,for the very reason that TVB wants to promote KM’s good guy image thru the press. For me, the episode would have been more suspenseful without that big spoiler on KM.
So as not to spoil it for those who did not watch the episode, to find out what other actors were just as generous as KM with their money, some even more so, goto
http://hyn5-hyn5.blogspot.com/2013/05/asking-artistes-to-lend-money-office-of.html