Good pranks have been a part of web video from the start, and if they're good enough, they sometimes even have global appeal (See: this). But 2011 is shaping up positively for some prank comedians. France's Rémi Gaillard is one of YouTube's most popular prank artists and is the most subscribed comedian in that country. His channel, nqtv, has seen video views rise throughout 2010 and into 2011, as indicated on the chart below:


(adjusted to highlight growth)

Martin's teaser (above) for the follow-up to his Mario Cart prank, has already drawn over half a million views.

Though he may not pull the same big numbers as Gaillard, one prankster in the United States who's a sharp increase in views January is YouTube sketch comedian Jack Vale. Vale, whose hidden cam videos had consisted mostly of toilet-humor gags, has recently posted several pranks focusing on wordplay and confusion of random strangers, many of which have been spread around pop culture web sites. Here's the graph of his video views: