No Soap Radio - Execution

Execution

The setup involves at least two conspirators and a target, or "victim". One of the two conspirators, the "joke teller", will catch the attention of the target and announce his intention of telling a joke, perhaps stating that it would be particularly to the victim's taste (e.g., "You're gonna love this one...").

The punchline of the joke is known to the conspirators beforehand, traditionally the phrase, "No soap, radio." After the joke teller delivers the punchline, the co-conspirators immediately laugh uproariously, treating the story and the nonsensical punchline as though it were, in fact, a proper joke. In reality however, there is intentionally no humor in the content and punchline.

The purpose of the prank is to make the victim of the punchline have one of two responses:

• False understanding - when the victim acts as if the joke is humorous, when in fact the victim does not understand the joke at all.
• Negative understanding - when the victim expresses confusion about what the joke means and feels left out (e.g., "I don't get it"). The conspirators are now prepared to mock the victim for the victim's "inability to get it". Because of pressure to conform, the victim may switch to false understanding (pretending comprehension of the incomprehensible) after receiving facetious derision from the conspirators. Normally after some time of negative understanding, the prank is revealed in full to the victim.