Prank Call
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A prank call (also known as a crank call) is a
telephone call A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network A telephone network is a telecommunications network that connects telephones, which allows telephone calls between two or more parties, as well as newer features such as fax and interne ...
intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of
nuisance call Nuisance calls encompass any type of unwanted, unsolicited, telephone call. Common types of nuisance calls include prank calls, telemarketing calls, and silent calls. Obscene phone calls and other threatening calls are criminal acts in most jur ...
. It can be illegal under certain circumstances. Recordings of prank phone calls became a staple of the obscure and amusing
cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...
s traded among musicians,
sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...
s, and media traders in the United States from the late 1970s. Among the most famous and earliest recorded prank calls are the
Tube Bar prank calls The Tube Bar prank calls are a series of prank calls made in the mid-1970s to the Tube Bar in Jersey City, in which Jim Davidson and John Elmo would ask "Red," the proprietor of the bar, if they could speak to various non-existent customers. The g ...
tapes, which centered on Louis "Red" Deutsch. Comedian
Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
was an incorrigible phone prankster, and recordings of his hijinks, dating from the 1960s and possibly earlier, still circulate to this day. Very prominent people have fallen victim to prank callers, for example
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
, who was fooled by Canadian DJ
Pierre Brassard Pierre Brassard (born April 24, 1966) is a French-Canadian actor, comedian, television personality and radio broadcaster. He is associated with CKOI-FM in Montreal and known for his phone call hoaxes. Thinly disguised as a clowning television repo ...
posing as Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...
, asking her to record a speech in support of Canadian unity ahead of the 1995 Quebec referendum. Two other notable examples of prank calls were made by the Miami-based radio station Radio El Zol. In one, they telephoned Venezuelan president
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
, and spoke to him pretending to be Cuban president
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
. They later reversed the prank, calling Castro and pretending to be Chávez. Castro began swearing at the pranksters live on air after they revealed themselves.


Early examples

British physicist
R. V. Jones Reginald Victor Jones , FRSE, LLD (29 September 1911 – 17 December 1997) was a British physicist and scientific military intelligence expert who played an important role in the defence of Britain in by solving scientific and technical p ...
recorded two early examples of prank calls in his 1978 memoir ''Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945''. The first was by Carl Bosch, a physicist and refugee from Nazi Germany, who in about 1933 persuaded a newspaper journalist that he could see his actions through the telephone (rather than, as was the case, from the window of his laboratory through the window of the journalist's flat). The second was by Jones himself who, in about the same year at Oxford University, pretending to be a telephone engineer, convinced a chemistry research student that there was a fault with his telephone. The student was persuaded to do such things as sing loudly into the telephone, and hold it by the flex while standing first on one leg then on the other. He finally had to be physically restrained by one of Jones' colleagues (who was in on the joke) from lowering it into a bucket of water.


Anonymity

Prank callers can now be easily found through
caller ID Caller identification (Caller ID) is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call i ...
, so it is often asserted that since the 1990s, prank calls have been harder to accomplish and thus waning in popularity. Most telephone companies permit callers to withhold the identifying information from calls using a
vertical service code A vertical service code (VSC) is a sequence of digits and the signals star (*) and number sign (#) dialed on a telephone keypad or rotary dial to enable or disable certain telephone service features. Some vertical service codes require dialing of ...
that blocks the caller's ID (*67 in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, 141 in the UK), but potential victims may be reluctant to answer a call from an ID-blocked number.
Wiretapping Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...
by several governments have also made prank calls easier to trace. Callers can also call from
payphones A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...
in order to hide their identity, although this is becoming less common as pay phones began to phase out in the 2000s. The advent and advancements in digital switching technologies such as those found in SS7, unspoofable
ANI Ani ( hy, Անի; grc-gre, Ἄνιον, ''Ánion''; la, Abnicum; tr, Ani) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed border with Armenia. Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of the ...
, as well as outbound and inbound calls being logged at carrier exchange equipment, further complicate the pranksters will to remain anonymous while carrying out such activities. Another increasingly popular option is to use some form of
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
. With some VoIP services, the telephone number will simply not exist. These calls are extremely difficult to trace since they may pass through servers and routers operated by multiple corporations or entities in various countries. Although law enforcement agencies may theoretically be able to find where a
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
call originates from if they tried, in practice, the amount of time, effort, and resources required would be too significant to use on ordinary prank calls.


Political leaders

Sometimes, prank callers are able to connect with political leaders. In December 2005, a commercially operated radio station in Spain (
COPE The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A c ...
– owned by a series of institutions affiliated with the Catholic Church) played a prank on Bolivian president-elect
Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to co ...
. The hoaxster pretended to be Spanish Prime Minister
José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...
, congratulating Morales on his election and saying things like, "I imagine the only one not to have called you was George Bush. I've been here two years and he still hasn't called me". In an inversion of the typical pattern, in 2020 Russian opposition leader
Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, Russian opposition ...
used a prank call to convince an FSB agent to admit poisoning Navalny earlier that year.


Prank calls and the Internet

Ever since the opportunity has been available, there have been multiple internet radio stations dedicated to prank calls. Most of them feature a so-called "rotation" of prank calls, which is a constant broadcast of various prank calls submitted by the community, usually streamed from a SHOUTcast server host. Software such as
Ventrilo Ventrilo (or Vent for short) is a proprietary VoIP software that includes text chat. The Ventrilo client and server are both available as freeware for use with up to 8 people on the same server. Rented servers can maintain up to 400 people. T ...
has allowed prank calls to be carried out to a more private user-base, however, in real-time. The internet has allowed many people to share their own personal prank calls and develop into communities. Prank calls can be carried out in many ways; live or pre-recorded. Web platforms such as Prankcast.com allow show hosts like
Phone Losers of America The Phone Losers of America (PLA) is an internet prank call community founded in 1994 as a phone phreaking and hacking e-zine. Today the PLA hosts the popular prank call podcast the ''Snow Plow Show'' which it has hosted since 2012. History ...
to send live show alerts to their followers and broadcast prank calls live to their listeners, who can also chat with the host and discuss on-goings in real-time. The use of
social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...
and the popularity of
user generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
also allows these prank calls to spread and popularity to grow. A flaw of
Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark ...
and other social media sites is that it allows one to post
telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
numbers without a means of confirming they own the number. A common ruse to generate prank calls is to post someone's name and phone number in an enticing Craigslist post. If this is done in a location with a different
time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
than the victim, the victim may receive large number of phone calls at an inconvenient time. Craigslist, and many other sites, have a policy of not releasing the identity of the original poster without a
court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...
. In
Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
, one cannot file an anti-harassment order against an anonymous person, leading to a
catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chr ...
situation.


Legal issues

Some prank calls are criminalized in many jurisdictions, for instance if the call involves calling the emergency services, while others may be protected as
freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
. For example, in the US, for a prank call to fall afoul of the Telecommunications Act, , the call must be done with the intent to "abuse, threaten, or harass". In Australia, the 2Day FM incident described below was alleged by the
Australian Communications and Media Authority The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Austr ...
to have violated Australian law, but on the grounds that the recorded call was publicly broadcast without the other party's consent. Rudimentary criminal 'pranks' may range from simple
telephone harassment Nuisance calls encompass any type of unwanted, unsolicited, telephone call. Common types of nuisance calls include prank calls, telemarketing calls, and silent calls. Obscene phone calls and other threatening calls are criminal acts in most jurisd ...
to
bomb threats A bomb threat or bomb scare is a threat, usually verbal or written, to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage, death, injuries, and/or incite fear, whether or not such a device actually exists. History Bomb threats ...
. One such hoax call occurred in
Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, Western Australia, on New Year's Eve 2002, when a drunk teenager called the new anti-terrorist hot line to report a bomb threat against the New Year's Eve fireworks celebrations. The threat was taken seriously, and the celebrations were about to be cancelled when police discovered that no such threat existed. The teenager was then arrested for the false report. More elaborate pranks rely on tricking the recipient into harmful behavior. An example of these was the 1996–2004 strip search phone call scam, in which a prankster posing as a police officer was able to cause store managers to
strip search A strip search is a practice of searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisk search, but by requiring the person to remove some or al ...
female employees. More recently, the
Pranknet Pranknet, also known as Prank University, was a Canadian-based anonymous prank calling virtual community that was involved in a string of malicious pranks and instances of telephone harassment, especially during 2009–2011. Their pranks were coo ...
virtual community A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual communi ...
has been credited for causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to many hotels and
fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...
s. Posing as authority figures, such as
fire alarm A fire alarm system warns people when smoke, fire, carbon monoxide or other fire-related or general notification emergency, emergencies are detected. These alarms may be activated automatically from smoke detectors and heat detectors or may also ...
company representatives and hotel corporate managers, Pranknet participants called unsuspecting employees and customers in the United States via
Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...
and tricked them into damaging property, setting off
fire sprinkler A fire sprinkler or sprinkler head is the component of a fire sprinkler system that discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a predetermined temperature has been exceeded. Fire sprinklers are extensively use ...
s and other humiliating acts such as disrobing. They also post fraudulent ads on Craigslist, and then shout racial epithets and make violent threats of rape and murder against the people who call them to respond to the ads. Pranknet members listen in real-time and discuss the progress together in a private
chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
. The group, who flaunted their anonymity, were outed when editors of ''
The Smoking Gun The Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources. Most o ...
'', posing as journalists, persuaded them to visit unique URLs. A series of prank calls by Joseph Sherer led to convictions and a twenty-year prison sentence for impersonating a physician, criminal endangerment, and
aggravated assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
. In one call, as described by the
Montana Supreme Court The Montana Supreme Court is the supreme court, highest court of the state court system in the U.S. state of Montana. It is established and its powers defined by Article VII of the 1972 Montana Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court wh ...
, "Sherer, impersonating a sympathetic and caring doctor, instructed the victim to cut off her nipple. The victim's obedient actions flowed directly from Sherer's instructions." Until his death in 2011, Oklahoma construction worker Frank Garrett was prank called and recorded countless times for his vitriolic reactions. The soundboard community that followed him caused at least three known incidents with the law: two in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, and a third in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
; both were for threats of violence against residents and the police with his name being used in the process. Both incidents were covered by local
FOX News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
stations. In 2012, Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse at King Edward VII hospital who was attending a pregnant
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...
, was deceived into transferring a prank call from
Mel Greig Mel Greig (born 19 September 1982) is an Australian radio and television personality. Career In 2011, she competed on the first season of '' The Amazing Race Australia'' with her sister Alana. In 2012, Greig began co-hosting the ''Hot30 Count ...
and
Mike Christian Michael Christian is an Australian radio presenter. Along with his co-host Mel Greig, he perpetrated a prank call to the hospital caring for Catherine, Princess of Wales, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge that contributed to the suicide of one ...
, the hosts of the ''
Hot30 Countdown The ''Hot30 Countdown'' was an Australian radio show hosted by Mike Christian (MC) and Mel Greig. It was broadcast on the Hit Network, Today Network from the studios of 2Day FM in Sydney, New South Wales to every States and territories of Aus ...
'' radio program broadcast on 2Day FM in Sydney, Australia, who were impersonating
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
and
Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
. The hoaxsters were able to ask the duty nurse questions about the duchess' health, making the answers public. Saldanha was later found dead in a suspected suicide. The incident and the following death received intense media coverage and triggered an investigation, but no charges were laid.


Popular culture

Two early and famous prank phone calls are the "refrigerator" gag and the " Prince Albert" gag. The first involves calling a target to ask "is your refrigerator running?" When the responder says "yes," the prankster replies "Well, you'd better go catch it!" The second requires calling a commercial establishment to ask if they have "Prince Albert in a can." If the reply is yes, the prankster responses with "Then you'd better let the poor guy out!" The origin of both of these jokes is unknown, although it is theorized they may have been adapted from
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
routines rather than any single real-life incident. They have since been repeated in multiple outlets, though less for their comedic value than to convey the idea of a "prank phone call."
Bart Simpson Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' ...
's prank calls to
Moe's Tavern Springfield is the primary fictional setting of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' and related media. It is an average-sized, fictional city within an indeterminate state in the United States. The fictional city's geography, surroundi ...
are a running joke in early seasons of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'', as Bart would call Moe asking for people whose names are actually double entendres. Examples include "Mike Rotch" (my crotch), "Bea O'Problem" ( B.O. problem) and "Al Coholic" (alcoholic). Moe would then announce the call to the bar patrons in a way that would cause himself embarrassment ("I'm lookin' for Amanda Hugginkiss .e. a man to hug and kiss). Occasionally Bart's prank would backfire when a person with such an unusual name happened to be present, as in the episode "
Flaming Moe's "Flaming Moe's" is the tenth episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 21, 1991. In the episode, Homer tells Moe Szyslak about the ...
" when Bart asks for "Hugh Jass" (huge ass), only for a man with the same name to answer. In another episode, "
Donnie Fatso "Donnie Fatso" is the ninth episode in the twenty-second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 12, 2010. The plot revolves around an FBI agent, who he ...
", criminal ringleader Fat Tony calls to ask for his business partner, "Yuri Nator" (urinator). Believing this to be another prank call, Moe tells him off, resulting in Moe being targeted by Fat Tony's thugs.
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...
's song "Phony Calls" (a parody of "
Waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
" by
TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...
, featured on his 1996 album ''
Bad Hair Day ''Bad Hair Day'' is the ninth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on March 12, 1996. It was also Yankovic's last studio album for the Scotti Brothers label before it was purchased by Volcano Records in 1999 and his final studio album ...
'') deals with prank phone calls; the song directly references both the "refrigerator" and the "Prince Albert" gags. In John Carpenter's horror thriller, ''
Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
'', a group of friends tease one another with prank calls as a Halloween trick. During one such prank, Lynda is strangled by Michael Myers while in the midst of a phone call with Laurie. Laurie, assuming it is another friend making a prank call, hangs up on Lynda's cries of distress. Some performers such as
The Jerky Boys The Jerky Boys are an American comedy act from Queens, New York City, New York, whose routine consists of prank telephone calls and other related skits. The duo was founded in 1989 by childhood friends Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed. After Ahme ...
,
Tom Mabe Tom Mabe is an American comedian, YouTuber, prankster, and jingle writer. Career Mabe, based in Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, achieved notability with his prank responses to telemarketing calls. Upon receiving an unsolicited call, M ...
and Roy D. Mercer, made a name for themselves producing albums of their recorded prank calls. Sal "the Stockbroker" Governale and
Richard Christy Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer and radio personality, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on ''The Howard Stern ...
, writers on ''
The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...
'', have made various prank calls to public access shows,
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
, radio stations, and normal people at home. They also have a fictional radio show called the "Jack and Rod show" where they call a major celebrity for an interview and prank them with sound effects or fake guests such as Cousin Brucie (where Howard imitates a famous radio host while using an exaggerated version of his signature speech patterns) and many other pranks. The television show ''
Crank Yankers ''Crank Yankers'' is an American adult puppet television show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison. It features actual crank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, while re-enacted onscreen by puppets for a visu ...
'' is a series of real-life prank calls made by celebrities and re-enacted on-screen by
puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
s for a humorous effect. ''
Fonejacker ''Fonejacker'' is a British comedy programme broadcast on E4 featuring a series of prank calls involving a number of different characters performed by British Iranian television actor Kayvan Novak. It first appeared in May 2006 and became a fu ...
'', a show started on April 5, 2007 on E4, stars
Kayvan Novak Kayvan Novak ( fa, کیوان نواک; born 23 November 1977) is a British actor and comedian.Kadivar, DariuSyriana breaks Iranian stereotypes, ''Persian Mirror''. Retrieved 3 August 2007. He co-created and starred in the comedy series ''Fone ...
performing prank calls to the general public and being shown with animated pictures in a
Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
style with their mouths moving and live recordings as the victim receives the call. Beginning in early 2011,
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
organized a prank calling of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, home to the popular television show ''
Pawn Stars ''Pawn Stars'' is an American reality television series shown on History and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24 ...
''. The callers would repeatedly ask the employees if they sold ''
Battletoads ''Battletoads'' is a video game media franchise by Rare that began with the original beat 'em up game '' Battletoads'' in 1991. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions, Rash, Zitz, and Pimple, the series was created to ...
'', a video game for the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
notorious for its difficulty. This call led Rick Harrison, owner of the store, to repeatedly swear and yell at the prank callers, who recorded this and uploaded it to
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. This originated several other similar videos of pranksters dialing random establishments and asking about ''Battletoads''. ''Battletoads'' developer Rare has acknowledged the prank via an achievement named "Do You Have Battletoads?" in their 2015 game compilation '' Rare Replay''.


See also

*
Bomb threat A bomb threat or bomb scare is a threat, usually verbal or written, to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage, death, injuries, and/or incite fear, whether or not such a device actually exists. History Bomb threat ...
*
Caller ID spoofing Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station. This can lead to a caller ID Caller identificati ...
*
Email spoofing Email spoofing is the creation of email messages with a forged sender address. The term applies to email purporting to be from an address which is not actually the sender's; mail sent in reply to that address may bounce or be delivered to an unr ...
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Fonejacker ''Fonejacker'' is a British comedy programme broadcast on E4 featuring a series of prank calls involving a number of different characters performed by British Iranian television actor Kayvan Novak. It first appeared in May 2006 and became a fu ...
* Great Phone Calls Featuring Neil Hamburger *
List of practical joke topics This is a list of practical joke topics (also known as a prank, gag, jape or shenanigan) which are mischievous tricks or jokes played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort. Pr ...
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Longmont Potion Castle Longmont Potion Castle (born 1972) is a musician and experimental prankster who has been active in Colorado, Los Angeles, and Seattle since 1986. Details about his personal life are scarce, and his real name is unknown to the public. Over the y ...
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Malicious Caller Identification Malicious caller identification, introduced in 1992 as Call Trace, is activated by Vertical service code Star codes *57, and is an upcharge fee subscription service offered by telephone company providers which, when dialed immediately after a ma ...
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Obscene phone call An obscene phone call is an unsolicited telephone call where a person uses foul or sexual language to interact with someone who may be known to them or who may be a complete stranger. Making obscene telephone calls for sexual arousal or other sex ...
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Phone Losers of America The Phone Losers of America (PLA) is an internet prank call community founded in 1994 as a phone phreaking and hacking e-zine. Today the PLA hosts the popular prank call podcast the ''Snow Plow Show'' which it has hosted since 2012. History ...
* Phone scam *
Scam baiting Scam baiting (or scambaiting) is a form of internet vigilantism primarily used towards advance-fee fraud, IRS impersonation scam, technical support scams, pension scams, and consumer financial fraud. Scambaiters pose as potential victims to was ...
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Soundboard (computer program) A soundboard is a computer program, Web application, or device, formerly created in Adobe Flash, that catalogues and plays many audio clips. Soundboards are self-contained, requiring no outside media player. In recent years soundboards have been ...
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The Jerky Boys The Jerky Boys are an American comedy act from Queens, New York City, New York, whose routine consists of prank telephone calls and other related skits. The duo was founded in 1989 by childhood friends Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed. After Ahme ...
* The Masked Avengers' prank on Sarah Palin *
Text roulette Text roulette or SMS roulette is a game played chiefly by schoolchildren, in which they compose a text message on their mobile phone then send it to one of their contacts or a made-up number at random. Popular use BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Scott M ...
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Touch-Tone Terrorists Touch-Tone Terrorists is a series of CDs featuring prank phone calls, released from 1998 to 2015. About The Touch-Tone Terrorists are actually one man, Pete Dzoghi, who also goes by the name RePete. He purchased a series of 1-800 numbers, inclu ...
* Tube Bar *Performers **
Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...
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Guido Hatzis Guido Hatzis is a Greek-Australian comic character created by Australian comedians Tony Moclair and Julian Schiller and voiced by Moclair. Guido appeared originally on Schiller and Moclair's radio program "Crud" on the Australian Radio Network ...
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Dr. Tangalanga Julio Victorio De Rissio (10 November 1916 – 26 December 2013), better known by the stage name of Dr. Tangalanga, was a popular Argentine comedian known for his humorous prank phone calls to unsuspecting recipients. Career Born in the Bal ...
(Julio Victorio De Rissio)


References


External links

* {{Comedy footer Comedy Crimes Practical jokes Telephone crimes Telephony in popular culture