Faison gets the last laugh

By Rick Bentley

Fresno Bee

FRESNO, Calif.

Donald Faison lives in a constant state of fear.

The former “Scrubs” star and host of the new TBS hidden-camera comedy, “Who Gets the Last Laugh?,” worries that he’s about to get pranked.

“I will leave in the morning, and my wife will ask me what I’m going to do and I’ll say that I will probably get punk’d. I had to go back to do some re-shoots for ‘Kick-Ass 2’ on April 1, and I was certain it was going to be a big joke,” Faison says. “I try to stay on the alert at all times, because anyone can fall victim.”

His punk’d paranoia began in 2005 when Faison produced the episode of “MTV’s Punk’d” where his “Scrubs” co-star Zach Braff was made to believe kids had painted graffiti on his new car. Braff’s explosion on camera ended up as one of the biggest in the reality show’s history.

“Punk’d” was produced by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, the same team behind “Who Gets the Last Laugh?,” and through that connection, Faison landed the hosting job.

The show premieres at 10 tonight.

Each week on “Who Gets the Last Laugh?” three comedians create elaborate practical jokes.

The audience votes on which one is the funniest, and that celebrity wins money for his or her charity.

Among the comedians who will appear are Andy Dick, Tom Green, D.L. Hughley, Chris Kattan, Bam Margera, Bill Bellamy, Charlie Murphy, Cheri Oteri, Alan Thicke, Nicole Sullivan, Kunal Nayyar and Finesse Mitchell.

Faison’s fear of being caught on camera isn’t totally based on the hidden-camera shows. “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence was a big practical joker and targeted Faison.

“He put a license plate on my car that said ‘TV DOC.’ Luckily, I saw it when I walked out to get into my car. Then he did it to Zach, who drove around with the fake license plate for a week,” Faison says.

The new hosting job goes along with Faison’s continued work in movies and on his TV Land series “The Exes.”

Production on the third season of the comedy about three divorced men living together has just started.