December 16, 2007

Funday Sunday: "Prank Calls"



If you haven't heard of this guy, you should really check him out. Tom Mabe has found the solution on how to deal with those pesky telemarketers. This particular call is quite possibly the funniest prank call I've ever heard.

I used to love doing prank calls myself. Guess with age some sort of responsibility did find it's way into my consciousness, and I haven't done it in a while - that's why I'm no Tom Mabe myself.

One time, at 3AM, me and a bunch of other guys from school called up our teacher, waking her up (of course), asking her how to make waffles - that was fun. She became very upset, and swore to find out who we were... she never did, thank god ;)

We also called the parents of some kids in school, telling them we were the police and had their son's in custody for robbing a convenience store. Another one was in custody for disorderly conduct and we all had a good laugh. Hardly very sensitive of us... but a lot of fun indeed.

I will try to recite (a shortened version) the one call that I still remember the best:

"Uhm... Hello?", it's a very tired voice on the other end of the line.

"Is this the Johnson residence?"

"Yes..."

"Ok, ma'am. I'm very sorry to be waking you up at such a late hour, but I'm calling about your son."

"My son? Is he in some sort of trouble?"

"Unfortunately, yes. He is in custody for unruly and disorderly conduct. We picked him up downtown after reports of him running around naked and screaming. I'm afraid he's had a lot to drink."

"Oh, my God... When did this happen?"

"Hell, I don't know Ma'am... I was pretty drunk myself."

Then everybody started laughing, and we hung up the phone.

So, tell me about your own favorite prank calls. What evil deeds have you done that you wish to share with us?

By the way... are prank calls really a thing of the past? With caller ID and all, we really can't make those calls, because it is too easy for the victims to find out who we are. The good old random number picked out of the phone book just doesn't work any more.

Damn the caller ID!!!

23 comments:

g-man said...

That Tom Mabe thing was too damned funny. I wish I could pull stuff like that off. I have two classic ones, First when I was a kid (my sisters and I still laugh over this one) I called up some woman and asked if she knew where my mommy was, because Joey was stuck in the dryer and couldn't get out. (in retrospect a little mean to worry some woman, but we about pissed ourselves laughing)

Second was recently, I got one of those telemarketers wanting to sell me "protection" for my credit cards, you knw the call that starts with "Hi we're from your credit card company"

"which one I have several"

"It doesn't matter we can protect them all.

"Really Let me go get them then."

Where I come back to the phone periodically and see if they are still waiting, then go back to doing whatever it was I was doing when they called.

Karen said...

That was the funniest thing ever. I love listening to the phone pranks on the radio in the morining.

My friends and I once called a mother of a "friend" and told her that we had caught her son having "relations" with our son. The poor mother freaked out. High School girls are really evil.

Jay said...

That was hilarious!

Do you remember Roy D. Mercer?
http://www.roydmercer.com/

That was some funny stuff too.

Yeah, caller ID and computerized phone systems ruined the good old days of prank phone calls.

MrRyanO said...

You're right, caller ID ruined it for everyone! That used to be a blast making prank calls!!!

R.E.H. said...

G-Man: LOL! @ the dryer thing.

I had a telemarketer once too. Some sexy voice girl, who must've been new at her job. Clearly she was reading what to say straight out of a book, sounding like a school-kid forced to read out loud to the class.

I put the phone on speaker, set the receiver down and listened to her while I was looking at [porn] stuff on the internet. She went on for a long time, and then when she was finally done I started talking to her about what a bitch of a job she had (I briefly worked as a telemarketer once too). We talked a bit about that, and she never made me a sale... Still wish I'd asked her out, but I don't even know where she was from ;)

Karen: Oooh... that was really evil ;)

I wonder if his mother sat him down for The Talk when he got home...

Jay: Don't remember Roy D., but I checked out the website and had a listen.

Ass-whoppin'... hehe - yes, he was funny too!

RockDog: I know! Having listened to a lot the last couple of days (it's the theme right now for me), I've got a very strong desire to make a few of those myself... but, of course I can not on account of caller ID.

R.E.H. said...

I'd wanna do some funny prank calls, record them and post them here on my blog... wouldn't that be great?

Maybe I'll do a Tom Mabe next time a telemarketer calls...

Jay said...

lol you just *76 before you number to hide it?

lol but that tom mabe guy is a beast! i'm going to try that someday!

R.E.H. said...

Jay Cam: Really? I'm not 100% sure about that... if they get really upset, my information would just be a phonecall away still, right?

Guilty Secret said...

In UK you dial 141 before the number to withhold your number, or if you're calling from a mobile jut set it to withhold the number. Yay, your prankin' days are back! (Might need a long flight first...)

Unknown said...

You can hide your call from caller ID....I am not sure but I think Jay got it right.
Of course, some people, like us, prevent calls from unrecognized numbers or hidden numbers to be blocked...how's that for evil?
I remember vaguely my last prank calls involved vodka and kool-aid....now you see why it is a vague memory.

Tequila Mockingbird said...

i saw him do standup on comedy central; it was gold.

R.E.H. said...

Guilty Secret: I've come to understand you can hide your number from caller ID, just I'm not sure it wouldn't be real easy for someone to find out with a simple phonecall...

Sassy Lucy: Welcome!

Most prank calls do seem to have something to do with consuming alcoholic beverages... I wonder why that is? :)

Tequila Mockingbird: I checked some of his stand-up out as well. He is really funny doing that too!

Allison Horner said...

That was flippin hilarious! Thanks for sharing. I have never heard of him either.

Oh man, when I was a child, we girls did some silly prank calls & TPing peoples houses. I don't really remember most of the prank calls, but most of them where pretty stupid. i.e. looking up someone in the phonebook with the last name Whitehead and asking for Mr. Blackhead and when they said, no this is Mr/Mrs. Whitehead, we'd say, "Oh Sorry, got the wrong pimple!" We could never finish the call without bursting out laughing. How dumb is that?

Reminds me of Bart calling Moe on the Simpons. "Amanda? Amanda Hugankiss? I NEED a Amanda Hugankiss!" Always stupid & always makes me laugh.

Anonymous said...

Hilarious! But a good word for caller ID: much easier to dodge calls you don't want.

Samantha_K said...

I'm not very creative. I've never done a prank call in my life. Now call and hang ups? To my middle school crushes? Oh yeah.
Damn caller id, indeed.

R.E.H. said...

Alli: Yeah, most of my prank calls were stupid too, though. I used to enjoy calling some random number, and when they answered I would just scream at the top of my lungs into the phone and hang up... where's the fun in that? You don't even get to hear a reaction...

...well, we laughed anyway ;)

Odd Facts: That part of caller ID is good. Now, I don't have to answer when work is calling on my days off ;)

Samantha K: Call and hang-ups... yeah - I'm guilty of plenty of those too ;)

Jen said...

we used to call a bowling alley and ask if they had "10 pound balls?" When they said, "yes." We'd ask, "how do you keep your pants up?!" Then bust a laugh and hang up.

We were so not cool. so not cool.

Anonymous said...

What a great prank that clip was.

My best prank was recording my voice into a synthesizer and playing asinine statements at different pitches.

Ah, nothing like the sound of "Go fuck yourself" played repeatedly in D-flat Major.

Ammaro said...

oh man, back in the day we used to do all sorts of pranks... i think the worst one was calling mcdonalds in an indian accent and asking for like a big order for a party that we were going to pick up (like 50 happy meals and another 40 regular meals or soemthing), then calling back half an hour later when it was supposedly ready, complain that it came out to over $10, and scream over the phone and just say, ok, just cancel the bloody thing.

it doesnt sound so funny when i put it down. hmm...

Tequila Mockingbird said...

i love tom mabes pranking so much i want to take it behind the highschool gym and get it pregnant.

R.E.H. said...

Jen: Haha! I actually thought that one was funny ;)

Lightning Bug's Butt: Hehe - I think I might try that too some day. I'd use the computer... I'm gonna get those telemarketers some how!

Ammaro.com Welcome!

That sounds evil ;) A friend of mine used to enjoy ordering pizza delivery to some unknown people...

Tequila Mockingbird: I think the only biological solution to your desire is if you'd take his pranks behind the highschool and get yourself impregnated by it... doesn't quite work the other way around. ;)

Preposterous Ponderings: Isn't it? You should check out some of his other stuff...

Anonymous said...

I have to admit, that phone call was AWESOME!

R.E.H. said...

Cardiogirl: I think I've listened to it at least 20 times, and it still makes me laugh!