- "Hey, I've got a little surprise for you!"
Jokey Smurf (original French name Schtroumpf Farceur) is one of the main characters of the Smurfs comic books, the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show, and the 2021 Smurfs cartoon show.
Character
For Jokey, every day is April Fool’s Day — and why shouldn’t it be? “Who doesn’t like a good joke?” is his motto. Like the class clown who is always on, Jokey is continually trying out gags and pratfalls: wearing silly masks, dropping fake spiders, short-sheeting beds. When they work, he’s the one laughing the loudest. And when the others aren’t howling, he thinks it’s because they have no sense of humor.
In Jokey's eyes, nothing is sacred and there's no inappropriate time for a good laugh. He does have quieter, serious moments, but they never last for long.
Jokey’s all-time favorite gag is a gift box that explodes in the recipient’s face. He can’t get enough of playing that trick. And even though the other Smurfs know what he’s up to, they still can’t avoid it. That infernal box always ends up in someone’s hands!
An endless source of sneaky ideas, Jokey is responsible for a lot of the troublemaking that takes place in Smurf village.
Personality
Comic Book/2021 TV Series Version
While the other Smurfs are generally portrayed to be mischievous, Jokey is always shown looking to stir up trouble, whereas the others stir it up without necessarily needing to.
Despite Jokey's love for playing pranks, he never likes it though when a practical joke is being played back on him. He has a sense of humor, although usually irreverent-natured in many instances such as "The Makeover", "Smurfy Secrets", "Say Smurf For The Camera!", and "Okey-Dokey!". He is perfectly aware of this, shown in "The Magic Pumpkin" where he calls his own pranks "annoying".
Although in the comics and 2021 TV series, he occasionally pulls other pranks, some of which require a large dose of patience and the curiosity of other Smurfs. Jokey's tricks have on occasion saved the Smurfs from Gargamel and Azrael, as well as other enemies.
In spite of his mischievous streak, he has been sympathetic on some occasions. In "Poet Slam", he helps Poet be able to rhyme again.
Jokey has a very scheming persona. In "Order Of Merit", he tricks Brainy into believing there is an "order of merit" he has to win to be like his idol, Papa Smurf. In "Lost Cat", he and Hefty use two attempts to drive Azrael out of the village, with one of these two attempts led by Jokey. He has also been able to trick Monkey in "Funny Mommy" and "Okey-Dokey!".
In the 2021 series, Jokey is sometimes impatient when it comes to entertainment, such as the annual snail race in "The Round Up" and Clumsy "flying" Handy's airplane in "Flying Ace".
1981 TV Series Version
While Jokey's personality is more-or-less similar to his comic book/2021 TV series counterpart at first glance, he is portrayed as more of a "morale booster" who shows less irreverence towards the other Smurfs (especially Papa Smurf) and he does not stir up as much trouble compared to his comic book/2021 TV series portrayal.
Yet, there are moments where he's asking for trouble. In "Romeo And Smurfette", Jokey keeps on interrupting Handy and Hefty's love songs for Smurfette by blowing his horn every time they're close to finishing. He did this until they threw him out of the village, in the same manner they throw out Brainy.
Unlike his comic book/2021 TV series counterpart, it is noticeable that this version Jokey has shown no qualms of giving explosive presents to Smurfette in several episodes of the 1981 TV series such as "Jokey's Medicine" and "Bewitched, Bothered, And Be-Smurfed".
Role In The Village
Jokey spends his day giving the other Smurfs his exploding gifts or planning any new pranks. Jokey is also a "Master of disguise", taking up roles like "Don Smurfo" and "The Masked Pie Smurfer".
With Poet, Jokey is a seller of the Daily Smurf in the 2021 series, as seen in "Fake News".
Interests
Jokey just loves to play around with people, no matter how much he irritates them. When you get a look in his house, there are stacks of his exploding gift boxes everywhere. Jokey is also interested in magic, with one of his idols being Malchior the Magnificent.
Curiosity smurfed the cat...
Jokey's pranks will get him in trouble at times, even with the other Smurfs.
The main flaw in Jokey's character is his frankly terrible sense of tact, since he pulls pranks at the most inappropriate moments. For example, in the comic book version of the "Astro Smurf" adventure, when the whole village is working to get the rocket to the dead volcano, Jokey starts ranting about Astro Smurf, who was being kept asleep with a potion, about to wake up when the others race towards him with the potion. Jokey laughed in their faces for falling for it, which then prompted them to leave him with a black eye.
In "King Smurf", Jokey presents Hefty who has become the captain of the guard with one of his exploding gifts, prompting Hefty to arrest him and bring him towards King Smurf to face Justice. King Smurf took it all in good stride said it was a good joke and send Jokey along his way but before he went, Jokey gave King Smurf a present and was promptly thrown in jail after it exploded in King Smurf's face.
On one occasion with the Smurfs having discovered the Kaplowey Scroll and the said word that would make stuff disappear, Jokey thought he was being helpful in getting the other Smurfs to laugh again. However, the "surprise" prank he pulled on Grouchy made him so angry that it caused him to say the magic word in a fit of rage, with deadly results:
Papa: (Seeing what's about to happen) GROUCHY, NO!
Grouchy: KAPLOWEY! (Jokey vanishes)
Papa: JOKEY!
Grouchy: Oh no! I HATE... (In a sad tone, regretting what he just did) ...myself...
Fanatical being, that Handy Smurf...
Jokey has other hidden talents, such as ventriloquism, which he reveals as his act for a talent show in "Gargamel's Dummy". With much practice, he is able to convincingly imitate Gargamel's voice -- awing the other Smurfs -- as part of his planned comedy act... using a ventriloquist's dummy of Gargamel to make their sworn enemy look like a bumbling fool. When the real Gargamel casts on the dummy to bring it to life, and the dummy vandalizes the neighborhood, Jokey is blamed, leading him on an ultimately successful mission to clear his name before the dummy can use exploding boxes to destroy the village. The other Smurfs realize what really happened and apologize to Jokey, and his act ends up upstaging Brainy's "Amazing Brainy" act.
Karma can be a cruel teacher...
In the Marvel Comics' Smurfs limited series interpretation of "Monster Smurfs", Papa Smurf gets Jokey to stop playing his "surprise" pranks on his fellow Smurfs when he rigged one of them to turn some of his little Smurfs into monsters when opened. However, a little later on, Papa Smurf finds out that his little Smurfs are bored from the lack of pranks, so he allows Jokey to play them once again, proving that despite the fact that the pranks are so annoying, they are pretty much necessary in the life of the Smurfs.
Relationships With Others
While he has no known "Best Smurf Friend", Jokey does share good friendships with certain Smurfs, such as Poet.
Nobody is safe from Jokey's gifts, not even Baby Smurf (except in the 1980s cartoon show where he gave flowers), whom Jokey gifted a musical box which then exploded, causing Baby Smurf to laugh. As it went off, Jokey apologizes to Smurfette, telling her that he just couldn't help himself. He even gives his exploding boxes to Peewit or an unsuspecting monster.
One of the very few times Jokey meets his match is in "Soup A La Smurf" where he presents Bigmouth one of his exploding gifts. Bigmouth then flicks the package inside his mouth and proceeds to eat it, he swallows it and then it explodes prompting Bigmouth to say that while it was good, it also was a bit too spicy for his taste. Also, Slouchy wasn't fooled by Jokey's exploding presents. When receiving one, Slouchy asked straight away if it was one of Jokey's exploding presents, Jokey who was in stitches laughing at what was about to happen urged him to open it. Slouchy directed the present into Jokey's direction, making it explode in Jokey's own face and walking off. In the cartoon episode "Jokey's Shadow", his shadow came to life when Mother Nature's magic dust was sprinkled on it and caused trouble even with Jokey. He gives one of his exploding gifts for one of the Gingerbread Smurfs in the episode they appeared in; after it had exploded, he said, "What a joke, huh?" The gingerbread Smurf answers, "You call that a joke?", then throws a bucket of water at him and laughs at him while saying, "Now that's a joke!". In "Joke's On You", Vanity uses magical explosive powder to get back at Jokey for playing a prank on his birthday.
Baby Smurf
Jokey loves Baby Smurf, as shown in "Once In A Blue Moon" when Baby Smurf had to be returned and he became so upset that he said, "That's not funny, not funny at all," and lost interest in his jokes until Baby Smurf returned to make all the Smurfs happy again.
Smurfette
Jokey likes Smurfette to a great extent, as shown in "Don Smurfo" where he dressed up as Smurfette's favorite book character because he was sorry that he made her feel bad at the start of the episode. He is sometimes shown to give her real gifts other than exploding boxes.
Brainy Smurf
The Smurf that always gets on Jokey's nerves, no matter what, is Brainy. When he had once attempted to give a gift for Smurfette, Brainy will usually come in and either stop him or smash the gift in "The Smurfette". Whenever Brainy tries to stop him, Jokey will give him the gift instead, and it always ends with it blowing up (or doing some other kind of prank) in Brainy's face. He regularly tricks him, even without joke boxes in episodes such as "Order Of Merit" and "Monkey See, Monkey Do".
However, in spite of his pranking of Brainy, he cares about him deep down. In "A Smurfy Christmas", he is able to get back Brainy's gift from Gargamel and later, Brainy gives him a hug.
Handy Smurf
Jokey found Handy to be an extremely fanatical being when it came to doing repairs on other Smurfs' houses which prompted him to pull a prank which backfired and left him homeless. Handy is often annoyed by Jokey's jokes, as he feels they waste his time. He is one of the few Smurfs to consistently catch onto Jokey's pranks.
Poet Smurf
Poet is another Smurf seen with Jokey in the 2021 cartoon episodes such as "Funny Mommy" and "Fake News". In these, Poet gets annoyed with him but later in both episodes, he considers him as a friend. In "Poet Slam", Jokey helps Poet be able to poet again.
Papa Smurf
Papa Smurf loves Jokey just as much as any other Smurf. However, he will occasionally take issue with his constant jokes. In "Monkey See, Monkey Do", he scolds him and Dimwitty for replacing the Monkey that was supposed to be delivered to Gargamel and replacing it with Brainy.
In "Joke's On You", he and Vanity save Papa Smurf from flying into the moon from the Mini-Jokeys' rocket.
In the "The Smurf Menace" adventure, Jokey foiled a plan of Papa Smurf to escape from the Duplicate Smurf village by posing as Gray Smurfs by making a funny remark to a gray Smurf, blowing their cover. When being led away in shackles, Papa Smurf looked very angry at Jokey who remarked "I'm so sorry Papa Smurf, but the urge just was stronger than me.".
Hefty Smurf
Hefty and Jokey are known to be friends, though Hefty is frequently annoyed from his pranking behavior. In "A Smurfy Christmas", he briefly attempted to beat up Jokey for deliberately mixing up the Christmas letters.
However, Jokey helps Hefty attempt win Smurfette's love in "Gargamel Goes Gaga" and in "Smurf The Other Cheek", Hefty goes to Jokey for help with his spotted nose.
Dimwitty Smurf
Jokey and Dimwitty are seen together in "Monkey See, Monkey Do", where it is revealed, they share a love of pranks. They befriend Monkey, who they keep in the village, even when they are told to send him in a box so a stork could take him to Gargamel's, while Brainy ends up getting forcefully disguised as a monkey.
However, Dimwitty was bothered by Jokey's jokes while taking care of his egg in "Bringing Up Smurfy" and is annoyed when Jokey plays a prank on him in "Smurf-Fu".
Vanity Smurf
In the 2021 cartoon, Jokey has frequently been seen with Vanity. In "Joke's On You", Vanity is annoyed from Jokey's pranks and decides to use magical explosive powder from Papa Smurf's laboratory. Later, he and Jokey save Papa Smurf from the Mini-Jokeys. They also interact in their Pluff version in "The Pluffs!". In "Smurfboards", they appear together again as they smurfboard around the village.
Grouchy Smurf
Jokey was seen prominently with Grouchy in "Okey-Dokey!" where Jokey uses a potion to make Grouchy say "okey-dokey!" to everything. Grouchy seems to consider him as his friend, something that Grouchy says towards the end of the episode.
Clumsy Smurf
Jokey can be seen with Clumsy on some occasions. In "The Smurfs' Little Circus" comic from "Gargamel Makes Peace" and in "I'm Off To The Circus!", Jokey helps Clumsy by being his partner for the circus.
Jokey can be occasionally annoyed by Clumsy's clumsiness in episodes such as "Sir Hefty".
Leaf
Jokey is implied to like the nature fairy Leaf, as he gives her a large flower and smiles in a lovesick way in "Manners Matter". In "Happy Smurfs Fools Day!", she encourages him to celebrate Smurfs' Fools Day. Jokey later takes this advice and uses fireworks. Jokey subsequently uses this gift on Gargamel.
In The Movies
The Smurfs (2011)
Jokey appears in the early part of the 2011 Smurfs movie as Clumsy stumbles his way through the village, sliding his way across a table and then through Jokey's house before coming to a complete stop, saying, "Who's clumsy now?" Jokey presents Clumsy with a lame joke and then offers him one of his "surprises", but Clumsy refuses it as he says that he is late for the rehearsal of the Blue Moon Festival dance. The "surprise" ends up exploding on Jokey, but he just manages to laugh it off. Later in the movie, he is mentioned by Brainy as one of the Smurfs he misses. He lastly is shown with the other Smurfs fighting against Gargamel in New York City.
The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol
Jokey appears in The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol as the Smurf who tricks Grouchy into thinking that Papa Smurf has finally given him a hang glider for a Christmas present, only for the present to turn out to be one of his exploding "surprises".
The Smurfs 2
Jokey also appears as a supporting character in The Smurfs 2, substituting an exploding gift card which Brainy fell for when he opened it.
Smurfs: The Lost Village
Jokey appears as a minor character in Smurfs: The Lost Village. He is seen pranking Gullible at the beginning and then seen pranking Nosey in the ending of the film.
Smurf Videogames
The Smurfs: The TeleTransport Smurf
Jokey is one of the playable characters in the PC game The TeleTransport Smurf.
Smurf Racer
Jokey is a playable racer in Smurf Racer with a vehicle themed after his surprise boxes.
Smurfs' Village
In the app game Smurfs' Village, Jokey's hut in the main village costs 25 smurfberries.
The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf
Jokey appears as a character in this game, though he is not playable. Brainy saves him while he was in the forest to find Agua Magnifica, the first of the ingredients to stop the Vileaf.
Smurfs Kart
Jokey is one of the twelve playable characters in Smurfs Kart. His special power is to send explosive gifts to his opponents to make them lose time.
Appearances
Trivia
- His birthday is on Halloween (Oct. 31) and shares a birthday with Gargamel ("All Hallows' Eve").
- He, Handy, Dreamy, Smurfette, Sassette, Papa Smurf, Clockwork, and Grouchy are the only Smurfs to celebrate their birthdays in an episode of the 1980s series.
- Jokey has apparently been using his joke boxes since his thirteenth birthday ("Cover Story").
- He is allergic to pink paint ("Calling Dr. Smurf").
- Jokey "smurfs" in Farmer's field as an innuendo ("Smurfy Secrets").
- He is a self-taught ventriloquist ("Gargamel's Dummy").
- He appears to be skilled in archery (In "The Masked Pie Smurfer", he shot one arrow per Smurf's door, each time hitting the exact center).
- In the live-action movies, Jokey is voiced by Paul Reubens, best known for playing Pee-Wee Herman. In Smurfs: The Lost Village, he is voiced by well-known comedian Gabriel Iglesias.
- When the animated series was made, Peyo was against the Smurfs having personalized, distinguishing looks, but allowed them in most cases. In the case of Jokey Smurf, he was opposed to having him wearing a Harpo Marx-like wig and a spinning bowtie, so he kept his normal Smurf looks.
- He, Papa Smurf, Grandpa Smurf, Baby Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy, Clumsy, Hefty, Handy, Greedy, Grouchy, Lazy, Vanity, Painter, Wild, Sassette, Snappy, and Smoogle are the only characters who time traveled during Season 9 with the Time Scrolls.
- Despite being one of the main characters, he appears in only three episodes of Season 8.
- Jokey has his name in five episode titles which are "Jokey's Medicine", "Jokey's Shadow", "Jokey's Funny Bone", "Jokey's Cloak", and "Jokey's Joke Book".