Punk'd was an American hidden camera practical joke television series on MTV, produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher, which first aired in 2003. It bears a strong resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show Candid Camera, and to TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes, which also featured pranks on celebrities. Being "Punk'd" refers to having such a prank played on oneself, and to "punk someone" refers to making someone else the victim of the show's style of prank itself.

The series finale aired on MTV on May 29, 2007. The series culminated in early June with the Punk'd Awards.

Candid Camera format

The show begins with a description by Kutcher of which celebrity will be punk'd, why he feels the celebrity deserves to be punk'd, and what the setting of the joke will be, including the premise and the accomplices. As the show is usually set in Los Angeles, the pranks often take place in common locations such as parking lots, restaurants, hotel rooms, or residences. Occasionally, Kutcher will engineer the prank at a celebrity event at which the target is a prominent guest, as when he led actress Halle Berry to believe she had been barred entry to the premiere of her film, Gothika, because the number of the people in the theater exceeded the fire code, or when he pranked Detroit Pistons' Guard Allen Iverson into thinking he could not enter his own 30th birthday party because the President's daughters and Secret Service men were inside. Kutcher will also sometimes use real-life current events as elements in his pranks, as when he pranked tennis player Andy Roddick, who was scheduled to appear on The Tonight Show, by convincing him that his automobile was trapped by the Los Angeles mudslides. Kutcher sometimes sets his pranks on the sets of movies, TV shows or music videos where his targets are working, as when he pranked Kanye West by convincing him that he could not shoot any footage for his music video for the song "Jesus Walks" on Sundays without a permit, or when he pranked rap artist The Game by convincing him that he could not leave his former studio because his crew had repaved its entrance, or pranked Daddy Yankee where he was slapped with a $463,000 fine by the FCC for swearing on live radio. Kutcher has also done holiday-themed pranks, as when he punked Beyoncé Knowles into thinking she knocked over a Christmas Tree, or when he pranked Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz into thinking he derailed a train at a Christmas festival. After the joke progresses to a point, usually with the celebrity having become angry or frustrated at the outrageousness of the situation, Kutcher or one of the actors will announce to the surprised victim that they just had a practical joke played on them, usually with the line, "You just got punk'd!", or by revealing a large sign or banner to that effect. Each half-hour episode usually features three pranks.

Road trips

In Season 3, Ashton Kutcher and his crew went to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., at an event tied to the release of the film The Prince and Me, and pranked actress Julia Stiles.