The King Of The Hollywood Pranksters: George Clooney's 10 Best Practical Jokes

He may soon have to relinquish his title of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor, but George Clooney will always be the king of the pranksters. Clooney’s pranks are legendary in Hollywood and many famous faces have fallen victim to his more mischievous side. We've complied a list of our 10 favourite Clooney prank stories as a little reminder for everyone to watch their backs when George is around.

1. Who knows when Clooney played his first prank, but he certainly started young. His first prank on record happened when he was an employee of a Kentucky shoe store. A former co-worker once told the Kentucky Monthly Magazine that young George would draw a smiley face and put his initials on every pair of shoes he sold.

2. Little known fact, Steven Spielberg was one of the producers on 'ER', but he didn't have much to do with the show’s day to day running. What he did like to do was send the cast Christmas gifts. Clooney and Noah Wyle learnt that Spielberg had given the cast of Always Mazda Miatas as a wrap gift year earlier. When the actors received cell phones from Steven as their Christmas gift, Clooney convinced Wyle that they should write thank-you notes that read, "Dear Steven, Thank you for the Miata cell phone." So, Wyle did. Clooney, however, did not and Spielberg never sent Wyle a Christmas gift again.

1. Clooney’s friend, producer Jerry Weintraub, has been the victim of many famous Clooney pranks. On one occasion Clooney decided to steal Weintraub’s favourite gold silk shirt, which the actor hated. Once Clooney had the shirt he drew a giant penis on it and got everyone participating at a charity golf tournament to sign it. Clooney then returned the now defaced shirt to Weintraub as a birthday gift. Weintraub got his revenge on Clooney when he stormed into his office swinging a golf club, Clooney knew his friend was just joking, but when the head of the club flew off and nearly hit George, they both realised they'd perhaps gone too far.

2. Another time Weintraub fell victim to Clooney was on a flight to LA when the actor and pal Brad Pitt challenged Weintraub to a vodka-drinking contest. The catch was, Clooney and Pitt, were drinking water and when Weintraub passed out, they filled his underwear with M&Ms.

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1. While directing Ryan Gosling in Ides of March, Clooney would slowly spray the actor’s crotch with a water bottle when giving him instructions.

2. Some of Clooney’s pranks go on for years, literally, one such example involves actor Richard Kind. Clooney saw a horrible painting discarded on the street one day and decided to take it home and sign it. He then spent the next year convincing Kind he’d been taking art classes. On Kind’s 40th birthday Clooney presented him with the painting as a gift, saying it was his first work he’d been really proud of. Kind hung the painting in his home for two years before realising he’d been had.

Watch Clooney and Matt Damon in The Monuments Men trailer

1. During ER’s first season Julianna Margulies made her debut ‘Tonight Show ‘ appearance. She decided to ask co-star Clooney for some advice on what to talk about. Clooney gave her an an anecdote that supposedly happened to his mother, involving a doctor's office and the line "I’m not a gynaecologist, I’m a podiatrist.” Margulies decided to tell the story, but what she didn't know was that Clooney had convinced Kelly Preston years earlier to tell the same story. A few years later when the former co-stars were booked to appear on 'The Tonight Show 'together Clooney had producers cut together footage of Preston and Margulies telling the story. However at the last minute George decided against showing it, fearing it would embarrass Margulies too much.

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1. George really does go to some effort to pull off his pranks. On the set of The Monuments Men, Matt Damon was trying to loose weight, so good friend George decided to have a tailor take in Damon’s trousers an eighth of an inch every few days. A very confused Damon was left unable to figure out why he was still gaining weight.

2. Not all of Clooney’s pranks are successful, however. At this year’s Golden Globes hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler joked that Clooney would, "rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age”, the comediennes also jokingly referred to Matt Damon as a garbage man. Clooney’s plan for revenge was to order stationary custom made for Damon and send the comediennes a letter from Matt saying how upset he was about that joke and that his kid now calls him, '‘the garbage man.” Tina and Amy responded by sending Matt two gigantic fruit baskets. The first one came with a note saying they were both really sorry but thought Matt could take a joke, while the second note read, , “If by chance you didn't send us that letter and it was from George Clooney, please let him know that you’ve got to get up a little earlier in the day to fool a couple of girls like this. We’re grown-ass comedians.” George might have been foiled this time but he has promised that the follow up ‘“will be brutal.”

1. Now for Clooney’s favourite prank of them all. Back in the early 90s George temporarily moved in with Richard Kind who owned a cat and kept his litter box was in the bathroom. Each day Clooney would empty the litter box without telling Kind who began to worry that his cat was constipated. Kind even took his cat to the vet, but Clooney kept up the rouse for weeks, until one morning Kind got a very big surprise in the little box. Let’s just say Clooney had used the litter box for his own business that morning.