A prank is a playful, harmless, supposedly well-staged, entertaining and good-natured trick. Its common prey are the innocent and unsuspecting — often, the easily gullible.
With no excuse for loose ends, a prank should ideally be seamless and plausible.
Sadly, no such basic elements can be found in Ai Ai de Las Alas’ poorly scripted prank on the owner of a jewelry company whose Marikina showroom the ace comedienne visited.
The video opens with the Comedy Queen being ushered to the establishment’s upper floor. It then segues to Ai Ai looking through the glass-encased diamond pieces until she is welcomed by the ever-smiling owner, Charo Cordial herself.
As usual, a perfunctory trade of niceties ensues, as though they have known each other for far too long.
Fanhood gets the better of Charo, who turns into a showbiz host prying into her guest’s personal life. Ai Ai gamely rides along while marveling at a few jewelry pieces she tries on.
Charo then takes notice of Ai Ai’s stunning half-a-million-peso diamond-studded ring, without the latter even remembering who had given it to her.
“Ang mahal pala nito... itatago ko na lang (I never thought this was expensive. I better keep it for safety)!” Ai Ai tells Charo.
The scene shifts to a snappy flashback, as Ai Ai inveigles her way into the building.
A female employee in office uniform greets Ai Ai as she steps inside the lobby.
“Gusto kong makausap si Ms. Charo (I came here to see Ms. Charo),” Ai Ai says.
“Tungkol po saan, ma’am (About what, ma’am)?” the office personnel graciously asks.
Cut to Ai Ai coming face to face with Charo. She tells her about the purpose of her visit — not to buy even a tiny piece, but to borrow money from her.
What stuns Charo is the amount of loan that she needs to produce right away: to the tune of P4 million.
Charo turns to her staff to ask if they have enough funds, then asks Ai Ai why she needs that big amount of cold cash but can sense the comedienne’s annoyed stance.
“Pasensya na po sa tanong ko, Ms. Ai Ai, kasi hindi pa naman tayo ganoon magkakilala (My apologies for asking. We hardly know each other),” Charo explains.
This is exactly where Ai Ai throws a fit. With a raised voice, she faces Charo.
“Hindi mo ako kilala? Ako si Ai Ai. Saka may building ka, tapos wala kang cash! Akala ko ba, mayaman ka?! Ah, basta, pautangin mo ako ng P4 million, ibabalik ko sa ’yo in two days (You don’t know me? I’m Ai Ai! You own a building yet you don’t have cash? I thought you were rich?! Just lend me P4 million. I’ll pay you back)!” an incensed Ai Ai insists.
When the comedienne notices Charo nearly tearing up, Ai Ai declares: “It’s a prank!”
Do I honestly think that Charo thought Ai Ai came to Maddox for the loan? Sorry, even if Charo has this habit of misusing “double comparatives” — e.g., “more brighter,” “more better,” etc. — I don’t think she’s mindless enough to be convinced by Ai Ai’s prank script and poorly acted part, to top it all.
That prank part, if edited out, could have saved us viewers the ordeal of being treated to a piece of garbage.