LAUGH
Joe Dombrowski, “Mr. D” is an elementary school teacher and standup comedian. He’s also the king of teacher pranks. A video of him administering a fake spelling test went viral in 2017, landing him a spot on the couch of The Ellen Show. He recently posted footage on TikTok of him convincing a class full of kindergartners he’s a mermaid. And it is hilarious! Here’s the original video:
Teacher pranks: mermaid edition
“I have to tell you some news. I am (dramatic pause)…a mermaid,” Mr. D announced seriously. The class erupted in chatter and one child yelled out a shocked, “What?!”
“No, I’m not a person,” Mr. D explained. “Go ahead and ask me some questions. I’ll prove it to you.”
Here are the kids’ wholesome and adorable questions, followed by Mr. D’s answers.
“Why do you have legs?”
“Because right now I’m in my human form. You can switch. I’m not going to do it now. Why would I do it now? There’s no water for me to be inside. Sometimes I’ll just sit in the tub and let my fins come out.”
“Just go in the sink.”
“I could go in the sink, but there’s one problem. I’m too big.”
“Do you see jellyfish?”
“Oh, I see jellyfish all the time! Sometimes I have to do my mermaid hair in the water so I’ll take a jellyfish and rub the bottom of it through my hair like hair gel. It makes my hair nice with a lot of volume and body. Very mer.”
In part two of the video, Mr. D deepened the story. “When I was born, I had a tail. And then what happened is my mom sold her voice so that we could both have legs. But we couldn’t talk. It was like a whole thing.”
“What’s your mom’s name?”
“My mom’s name is Ariel.” Because, of course, it is.
“Do you have a lot of coins?”
“Yes, I have a ton of coins. I have a whole treasure chest at the bottom of the ocean. It’s amazing.” Then one little savage yelled out, “I’m going to steal your coins.” to which Mr. D responded, “Okay, that’s actually a little insulting to mer people.”
Mr. D then put his legs out in front of him while sitting on a desk and asked the class, “If I wasn’t a mermaid, could I do this?” while moving his legs in front of him like a mermaid tail. Most of the kindergarteners exclaimed, “NO!” and “WHOA!” totally convinced their teacher was an actual mermaid. “See? I told you!” Mr. D gloated.
“Raise your hand if you agree and believe I’m a mermaid,” he asked the class. Eleven students raised their hands. Next, he asked, “Okay, who believes I’m not a mermaid?” Three students raised their hands.
“See? So that proves that I’m a mermaid.”
Viewers responses
The comments on the two Tiktok posts are almost as entertaining as the actual videos.
- “In 10 years one of them is going to make a Tiktok about how their teacher tried to convince them he was a mermaid.” Mr. D chimed in that he “can’t wait.”
- Some commenters suggested his story would make a fun children’s book.
- People warned him kids would splash him with water to try to see if his fins would emerge. Mr. D responded, “It’s already happened.”
- One commenter said their parents insisted they be moved to a different third-grade class for the exact same reason. Apparently, Mr. D isn’t the first mermaid teacher and some parents aren’t okay with it!
- Others questioned his story. “I’m sorry, but this is completely bogus. Real merpeople don’t use hair gel underwater to get extra body. It’s not needed. Currents, duh!” Mr. D said, “Speak for yourself! Every time I perch myself up on the boulder it’s slammed with paparazzi! Not trying to look a mess on TMZ!”
- Not everyone thought it was cute or funny. Some made comments like, “I feel teachers should only tell the truth.” To which Mr. D reiterated, “Yeah, but I was telling the truth.”
Have you pulled off any teacher pranks? Tag Bored Teachers on social media to let us know.
