--- title: Anderson Cooper Pranked on Show: Video description: His CNN coworkers are sick of the smelly candle on his desk canonical: https://time.com/3580912/anderson-cooper-ridiculist-prank-by-staff/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-12T16:10:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:14:34.055Z og:title: Watch Anderson Cooper Get Totally Punk'd on His Show og:description: His CNN coworkers are sick of the smelly candle on his desk og:url: https://time.com/3580912/anderson-cooper-ridiculist-prank-by-staff/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Anderson Cooper Get Totally Punk'd on His Show twitter:description: His CNN coworkers are sick of the smelly candle on his desk twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Anderson Cooper Get Pranked by His Staff  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Nov 12, 2014 4:10 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Nov 12, 2014 4:10 PM UTC On _Anderson Cooper 360_, the “RidicuList” segment is a time to poke fun at absurd news stories of the week. Last night, the show’s staff made it all about a foul-smelling scented candle on Anderson Cooper’s desk. He claims he had no idea they felt that way until he was reading their list of grievances off of the teleprompter, which says the candle smells like “Mario Batali’s Crocs” and “a garden gnome’s underwear drawer.” Looks like [Festivus](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/23/happy-festivus-9-people-who-went-viral-for-airing-their-grievances-in-2013/) came early this year for the CNN host. **WATCH:** [Anderson Cooper Thought Seth Meyers Was Gay](http://time.com/28522/late-night-highlight-anderson-cooper-thought-seth-meyers-was-gay/) **MORE:** [Anderson Cooper Gets ‘Sunburned Eyeballs,’ Goes Temporarily Blind](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/04/anderson-cooper-gets-sunburned-eyeballs-goes-temporarily-blind/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3580912/anderson-cooper-ridiculist-prank-by-staff/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3580912/anderson-cooper-ridiculist-prank-by-staff/"},"headline":"Watch Anderson Cooper Get Pranked by His Staff","datePublished":"2014-11-12T16:10:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:14:34.055Z","description":"The airing of grievances on live TV was like an early Festivus present","url":"https://time.com/3580912/anderson-cooper-ridiculist-prank-by-staff/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3580912/anderson-cooper-ridiculist-prank-by-staff/","name":"Watch Anderson Cooper Get Pranked by His Staff"}}]}] ```