Practically nothing is known about this film. Upon its arrival to the Filmmuseum, it was initially thought to be The Jester by Edison (1908). The company name Joker - Film appears on the film, seemingly as the production company.  A few small companies with this name existed in different countries in the silent era, which makes it impossible to attribute a country of origin to this film.

According to the logo on the main title card, the film was distributed in the Netherlands by Firma Van Duinen (V.D.). This company was among the early distribution companies, however, they are also known to have recycled earlier films from other companies; about a decade later than their original release date, often changing the titles and intertitles, thus creating a different version. So it could be that Narren-Grappen is a slightly modified version for re-release.

The vividly tinted nitrate print was donated to the Nederlands Filmmuseum in 1973 by the Lohoff family, together with almost forty other short films from the early silent era. Wilhelm Friedrich Lohoff was a travelling showman from Germany who moved to the North of the Netherlands around 1900. After 1922, his heirs, the Welte-Lohoff family went back to exploit the travelling cinema until the beginning of the Second World War. They showed their films in small villages in the northern regions of the country. It is conceivable that Narren-grappen was obtained at the restart of their cinema in the early twenties.

In 1971 the Welte family donated their travelling cinema to the Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem, an open air museum dedicated to Dutch daily life, customs and traditions.

The original music for this film was composed by Martin de Ruiter in 2009.