George Clooney recalls his greatest pranks as he clowns around in new photo shoot

By Jade Watkins
Updated: 17:59 EDT, 7 February 2012

He is famed as the class clown, the perennial prankster who has played countless jokes on his friends and co-stars for years.

So George Clooney's latest shoot for LA Times Magazine can only be described as fitting.

The 50-year-old actor, who is nominated for the Best Actor at the Oscar's this month, is seen dressed similar to a clown in a beaten down suit complete with patches, a wilted flower in his button hole and a tattered black top hat.

The class clown: Best Actor nominee George Clooney gets a makeunder in a photo shoot with LA Times magazine as the extent of his pranks are revealed

The Descendant star's skin is made to look dirty with the help of stage make-up and he has an adorable puppy dog 'I didn't do it' expression in his eyes.

With a little help from his friends, an accompanying interview recalls the extent of some of Clooney's now infamous practical jokes, which have often gone down on set.

They start with the smallest of gags to premeditated hoaxes which the Oscar winner possibly could have planned for years.

No hard feelings man: Clooney jokes around with his fellow Best Actor nominees Jean Jujardin and Brad Pitt at the Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills yesterday

Clooney's Idles of March co-star Evan Rachel Wood tells LA Times Magazine that recently she came under fire.

She explains how the cheeky star secretly filmed her after persuading her to not only sing, but also dance to Justin Bieber's hit song Baby.

After thinking that she had just thoroughly entertained her audience, Clooney approached her simply telling her, 'Enjoy the DVD', before walking off.

'George has a big heart,' she told the magazine. 'He wants people to have fun and be happy. He’ll do anything for his friends.'

Life's a laugh: George and Brad were in typically cheerful moods at the luncheon

Like Wood, Ryan Gosling was also a target on the set of last year's American political thriller.

Whilst directing Gosling, Clooney purposely wet the hunky actor's trousers in the crotch area in order to draw even more attention to the already female favourite.

'It was pretty funny,' Wood told the magazine.

As imagined, Clooney's Ocean's franchise films were the perfect playground for the actor's pranks.

But the film's producer and Clooney's longtime friend Jerry Weintraub said one day things went a little too far.

'I had a gold silk shirt... a very expensive gold silk shirt... Clooney hated,'  Weintraub explains to the magazine.

Wake me when it's time to smile: The Artist star Jean gets affectionate with George as they assemble for the nominees photo

'Once at the Bellagio when we were doing Ocean’s, I was having drinks with the guys, and Clooney sneaked into my closet and stole the shirt.

'That September, for my birthday, I received a big box wrapped with ribbon and in it was my gold shirt. On the back, Clooney had drawn a picture in black marker of a giant penis, and he’d had everyone who participated in a charity golf tournament for prostate cancer in Las Vegas sign it, too.

'There were 30 signature...Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Wayne Gretzky...'

'So I opened the box and jumped in my golf cart and drove over to his office...

'Clooney was on the phone to Steven Soderbergh, and there were people in his office. I walked in, took a golf club and broke up the place... smashing lamps, throwing a bicycle through the window, tossing scripts around.

Targets: Both of George's Idles Of March co-stars Ryan Gosling and Evan Rachel Wood have been targets of Clooney's practical jokes

'Clooney was curled up on the floor, screaming to Soderbergh, "He’s gone nuts, he’s gonna kill us all."

'Now, I was just kidding, and Clooney knew it. But then the head of the club came off and flew across the room, just missing him. We looked at each other and figured it had gone far enough.'

Suited and booted: George looked handsome in a charcoal suit for the event

But that isn't close to extent of the extraordinary lengths Clooney has gone to to get a rise out of his mates.

The actor tells the LA Times Magazine that his infamous kitty litter trick will always be the cream of the crop.

'Google my name and ‘kitty litter,’ and you’ll get your answer,' he says.

What he is referring to is the crass joke he played on close friend Richard Kind, who Clooney moved in with following his divorce from his ex-wife, Talia Balsam.

Being ever the dutiful housemate, Clooney began to pick up after his friend's pet cat, whose litter box was situated in the guest bathroom.

After several weeks, his pal grew more and more confused as to why his cat had not yet relieved himself and decided to take him to the vet.

Clooney remained silent and continued to pick up the matter, whilst his housemate continued to voice his concerns about his constipated cat.

It was then when Clooney relieved himself in the litter, passing the matter off to his friend as the cat's.

While those around him may either love or hate his humour, when it comes to his own taste in jokes, Clooney tells the magazine he's not all that fussed.

'Humor is humor,' he says. 'W.C. Fields sitting next to a kid, George Bernard Shaw writing telegrams to Churchill... they all make me laugh.'

But he says it's important not to hurt people's feelings at the same time.

'Humor only gets me in trouble when I forget that any joke I make will be heard by a lot of people and can be hurtful to someone if I’m not careful,' he says.

'I’m just screwing around...but you realize as you get home that it’s something that would hurt someone’s feelings, and maybe it’s not needed. You have to consider that a little more.

Yesterday the perennial prankster struggled to keep a straight face during yesterday's Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills.

The actor was pictured laughing and larking about during the photocall for this year's nominees.

Clooney got the giggles while posing for a picture with his fellow Best Actors, Moneyball star and his BFF Brad Pitt, The Artist star Jean Jujardin, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's Gary Oldman and A Better Life star Damien Bichir.

Lady love: George and his girlfriend Stacy Keibler at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards

Clooney and Pitt, also well known for tormenting their Ocean's Eleven co-stars with their love of practical jokes, found it hard to stop laughing long enough to smile for their class photo.

The Descendants star got the giggles while greeting Jean Dujardin, and his cheerful mood soon rubbed off on The Artist star.

Jean was spotted taking a cat nap on an amused George's shoulder as they waited for over 150 luncheon attendees to assemble for a group picture.