In the spirit of April Fools' Day, we thought it appropriate to provide Urlesque readers with an abbreviated history chronicling some of the finest moments in web-friendly pranking. You can't look far on these here Hypertubez without coming across some scheming, tech-friendly nerd rubbing his palms together and flashing a suspicious grin. You see, the Internet breeds tomfoolery, and today is the day in which we celebrate!

Break out your silly hats, court jesters! Here are the best of practical jokes caught on video and spread via the world wide web.

• In what has become an international phenomenon, Improv Everywhere's No Pants Subway Ride started as an inside joke in 2002. Actor Charlie Todd called upon friends to follow his detailed plan, which messed with New York City subway passengers when, on one Sunday afternoon, ladies and gentlemen continued to nonchalantly board train cars, sans pants, one stop after another. Seven years strong, the tradition continues and seems to only get more popular year after year.

• BuzzFeed's Original Gangsta (and founder of something called The Huffington Post???) Jonah Peretti has made mincemeat of the Web, essentially being one of the first people to ever really figure out how to make this whole superhighway a road on which we all cruise ...a playground. One of his earliest projects was The Rejection Line, in which he (and his sister Chelsea) got singles to hand out the same phone number to unwanted admirers. Led to an outgoing voice mail message that provided an "official rejection," many hearts were broken, but meme culture (albeit, offline -- but it was 2002, you guys!) was never the same.

• Former Vice Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin was made for Web 2.0, as were her running mate, John McCain, and our very own President Obama, who was so popular online that he was everything from your new bicycle to your flavor of cupcake. But it was when a radio DJs in Quebec managed to get a hold of Palin on the phone that he set the 'Net aflame. Posing as French President Nicholas Sarzoky, the duo pranked the Alaska governor big time, not necessarily altering her political prowess (if anything, they only proved what half of America seemed to already know), but helping her maintain a likely-unwanted position as an online punching bag.

• One wouldn't necessarily peg the guys behind humor site College Humor, whose audience tends to revel in boobs and beer, to be the most erudite of fellows. So the series of videos chronicling large-scale ongoing prank war between the site's front page editor Streeter Seidell and one of its writer/actors Amir Blumenfeld basically speak for themselves: they're webtastic, they're hilarious, and they reek of manboy giddiness. (And just because these dudes spend a lot of time focused on beer and boobs doesn't mean they can't scheme up some especially brilliant pranks).

• Well, if we're going to define "pranks on the web," it is inevitable that we return to Improv Everywhere. Charlie Todd has essentially invented his own social phenomenon, a meeting of guerilla performance art and improvisational comedy that quite truly toys with the public sphere on a level so direct that it forces complete strangers -- often minding their own business -- to question their own lucidity. From a sporadic musical inside a food court to their turning blue collared shirts and khakis into a store manager's nightmare, Improv Everywhere owns The Prank. Stopping time in the middle of one of the world's busiest travel hubs? That's nothing. We give you Improv Everywhere's "Frozen Grand Central."