Some joke. A few inches to one side, and the man would have fallen the full 45 feet rather than 15 feet, and quite possibly have been killed as a result. Would it have been regarded as a ‘joke’ if a man had pushed his wife in such circumstances, and she’d fallen off the balcony, possibly leading to her death? I think not. The story:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/derren-browns-terror-theatre-plunge-073931415.html#yCgdDD8