Bored Panda reached out to London-based comedy writer and all-around humor expert Ariane to get her opinion on pranks and humor in family contexts. She was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. She believes that pranks need to be funny and harmless, with an important emphasis on the ‘harmless’ part.

“For me, a good prank is funny and believable but harmless with little or no risk to the person being pranked,” she told Bored Panda. “For instance, when my daughter was five, I put her toy dog on a tea stain on the bed and pretended it had done a wee! I personally don’t like pranks where anyone gets hurt or upset, but maybe I’m just a bit soft.”

We were interested to know how much potential pranksters should take into account other people’s feelings before setting their humor loose on the world. After all, far from everyone is a fan of pranks (though they might love a good laugh, just in a slightly different form!)

“I’m generally very conscious of people’s wishes and feelings. For instance, if I knew that someone was arachnophobic (had a spider phobia) there’s no way I’d give them a wrapped gift box with a big spider in!” comedy expert Ariane gave us her personal preference.

“My daughter wanted to prank her stepmum with a fake rat as her stepmum has a phobia of them, but I managed to persuade her not to,” she opened up to Bored Panda.

As for some advice on staying fun-loving, full of humor, and silly as we grow up, Ariane suggested having kids. “Kids are hilarious and very silly so it’s hard to become boring when they’re in the house,” she exclaimed. It’s hard to argue with her: if things were different, this article wouldn’t exist.

“My daughter and I love pranking each other. I remember the time she took some brown plasticine and molded it into a convincing poo shape, then asked me why there was a poo on the floor! We make each other laugh all the time,” Ariane shared a bit more about the humor dynamic with her daughter.

During a previous interview, comedian Ariane explained to Bored Panda that courage plays a vital role in comedy, whether we’re talking about making people laugh during a stand-up night on stage or elsewhere. “The more courageous you are, the more you'll shed your inhibitions and the greater the chance that you'll say something shocking and funny."

Ariane pointed out that comedy can’t exist without the element of surprise. It’s absolutely “essential.” We also have to be aware of the fact that most comedy, from jokes to epics comebacks, has “an edge or a hint of cruelty” to it. “If you're timid and careful, then you're probably not going to want to offend people with comebacks and will be polite rather than witty," she told Bored Panda.

Anonymity helps a lot when it comes to feeling safer, braver, and freer. We’re more likely to state our real opinions and our jokes will be less censored if we know that our identities and careers aren’t on the line. However, there is a problem that many people are aware of. Anonymity also breeds bullying and empowers some individuals to be hateful towards others.

"We feel freer to say things we wouldn't say in real life, but that also means we're more likely to be hurtful. I think the same is true of being on stage for comics—when we're holding the mic we feel free to dispense with niceties," Ariane explained the relationship between comedy and honesty.

Jokes are a lot of fun, but we do tend to find them more amusing if they don’t come at our expense. If you ever find yourself being poked fun at or heckled, it’s time to whip out some oven-baked roasts and powerful comebacks to launch some humor back. “I think the most important thing with comebacks is speed. Even if the joke isn't a total zinger, people will be impressed by your quickfire response," comedian Ariane said earlier.

“It needs to be very fast, well-timed, and take people by surprise as well as being clever, witty, and immediately understandable,” she said what a good comeback needs to get everyone laughing. “You don't want to give them [the audience] the chance to reject you—you've got to get in there first with a funny insult!"