A prank call, also known as a crank call, hoax call, phone call, phone scam or phony phone call is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. A practical joke or prank is a stunt or trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized usually for humor Basic principle A traditional landline telephone system also known as "plain old telephone service" (POTS, commonly handles both signaling and audio information As with all practical jokes, prank calls are generally done for humorous effect, though there is a thin line between humor and harassment. Humour or humor (see spelling differences) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke Laughter and provide Amusement Harassment refers to a wide spectrum of offensive behaviour The term commonly refers to behaviour intended to disturb or upset and when the term is used in a legal sense it refers Prank phone calls began to gain an America-wide following over a period of many years, as they gradually became a staple of the obscure and amusing cassette tapes traded amongst musicians, sound engineers, and media traders beginning in the late 1970s. The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a Magnetic tape sound A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a Sound' is Vibration transmitted through a Solid, Liquid, or Gas; particularly sound means those vibrations composed of Frequencies An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of Engineering. Among the most famous and earliest recorded prank calls are the Tube Bar prank calls tapes which centered around Louis "Red" Deutsch, and the Lucius Tate phone calls. The Tube Bar prank calls are arguably the most famous series of Prank calls ever recorded Louis "Red" Deutsch ( September 16, 1895 – September 11, 1983) was a heavyweight boxer and later the owner of the "Tube Comedian Jerry Lewis was an incorrigible phone prankster, and recordings of his hijinks, dating from the 1960s and possibly earlier, still circulate throughout the country to this day. Jerry Lewis (born March 16, 1926) is an American Comedian, award-winning actor producer writer and director best-known for his slapstick
Even very prominent people have fallen victim to prank callers, as for example Queen Elizabeth II, who was fooled by Canadian DJ Pierre Brassard posing as Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, asking her to record a speech in support of Canadian unity ahead of the 1995 Quebec referendum. For the ship see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Context States headed by Elizabeth II Pierre Brassard (born April 24, 1966) is a Québécois actor comedian television personality and radio broadcaster Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page This article is about the government position For other uses see Prime Minister (disambiguation. Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, (generally known as Jean Chrétien) (born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian politician who was the twentieth Prime Speech refers to the processes associated with the production and perception of Sounds used in Spoken language. The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second Referendum to ask voters in the Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should [1] Two other particularly famous examples of prank calls were made by the Miami-based radio station Radio El Zol. In one, they telephoned Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and spoke to him, pretending to be Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (ˈuɰo rafaˈel ˈtʃaβ̞es ˈfɾias (born July 28 1954 is the current President of Venezuela. The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13 1926 is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from December 1959 to December 1976 and then president until [2] They later repeated the prank, except that they called Castro and pretended to be Chávez. Radio El Zol was also fined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Contents |
Typically, prank calls are known for being outgoing phone calls to the victim; however, a method known as the reverse prank call is performed when the victim is actually the caller. As opposed to the hit-and-miss results of traditional prank calling, this style of prank call usually produces humorous results due to the fact that the caller actually believes what they are calling is real, further validated by the prankster answering the phone in a manner that confirms they've reached the right number. This tactic has also been performed by Fonejacker, who posted advertisements regarding a flat for sale, which lead victims to an automated "flat-line". Fonejacker is a BAFTA award-winning British comedy programme broadcast on Channel 4 featuring a series of Prank calls involving a number of different In the baited variety, the prankster would typically place an advertisement enticing the caller to call, as The Jerky Boys have done. The Jerky Boys are an influential American comedy duo from Queens New York, whose routine consisted of prank telephone calls and other related In the unbaited variety, pranks are performed as the calls happen by chance either from the victim dialing a misdialed number, such as people misdialing the number to a popular pizza delivery service, or from the victim attempting to telemarket or cold-call (as is the case with many of Jim Florentine's calls). Jim Florentine (August 18 1964 is best known for his characters "Special Ed" and "Bobby Fletcher" created for a series of
With a beige box device, one can actually tap into a phone line and intercept calls. This article refers to beige box Phone phreaking devices For information about beige boxes in personal computing see Beige box This method of reverse pranking or phreaking is probably the most effective (and most illegal) as it does not require wrong numbers or advertisements. Phreaking is a Slang term coined to describe the activity of a Subculture of people who study experiment with or explore telecommunication systems like equipment
Prank calls are generally done for the amusement of the pranksters themselves. Many pranksters record the calls to share the joke with an audience. Some performers such as The Jerky Boys make a name for themselves producing albums of their recorded prank calls. The Jerky Boys are an influential American comedy duo from Queens New York, whose routine consisted of prank telephone calls and other related
The television show Crank Yankers is a series of real-life prank calls made by celebrities and re-enacted on-screen by puppets for a humorous effect. A television program (US television programme (UK or television show (U Crank Yankers is a United States TV show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison that features actual A puppet is a representational figure manipulated by a Puppeteer. Fonejacker, a show started on the 5th of April 2007 in the UK on E4, stars Kayvan Novak performing prank calls to the general public and being shown with animated pictures in a Monty Python style with their mouths moving and live recordings as the victim receives the call. Fonejacker is a BAFTA award-winning British comedy programme broadcast on Channel 4 featuring a series of Prank calls involving a number of different Kayvan Novak ( born November 23 1978, Cricklewood, North London) is a British Television Actor. Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) is the collective name of the six creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British Television
During the early years of The Simpsons, a popular recurring gag involved Bart making prank calls to Moe's Tavern, inspired by the Tube Bar prank calls. The running gag is an often amusing Joke or reference that appears repeatedly throughout a work or series of works Description Dark and described by Dr Hibbert 's daughter as smelling "like tinkle " the inside of the bar is dank and spare The Tube Bar prank calls are arguably the most famous series of Prank calls ever recorded The calls usually followed a set pattern: Bart would ask for a person, Moe would shout loudly for the person Bart asked for, and Moe would catch on only after the bar (usually) erupts in uproarious laughter, also threatening violent revenge upon catching the perpetrator.
Moe never seemed to realize that it was Bart who made the call. Once Bart even told Moe that he made prank calls and Moe still did not catch on: Bart: "Well I make prank phone calls. " Moe (in a happy voice one uses when talking to children): "Good for you. "
"People" whom Bart has asked for include:
One backfire on this formula was a call to "Hugh Jass" (huge ass), as there turned out to be a person in the bar named Hugh Jass. [10]
Another backfire was when Homer was running the bar and didn't know how to carry out the prank when Bart asked for Ollie Tabooger (I'll eat a booger). A third was a time where Mr. Burns called Moe's by mistake while looking for Smithers, and was threatened by Moe who thought it was a prank call. Charles Montgomery Burns, also referred to as Mr Burns is a recurring Fictional character and Antagonist in the animated television series Waylon Smithers Jr is a recurring Fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Finally, in a flashback scene to Homer and Marge's youth, Marge tries to call Homer (whom she believes goes by the name "Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar" because of his shyness), only to get Moe to threaten her when she asks for his name. After hanging up, Moe mutters "And that's the origin of that!" In the second "Treehouse of Horror", Bart, cast in the role of the boy with mystic powers, makes a prank call to Moe's where Moe tells the barflies "I'm a stupid moron with an ugly face and a big butt and my butt smells and I like to kiss my own butt!"
"Weird Al" Yankovic's parody song "Phony Calls" (a parody of "Waterfalls" by TLC) is entirely about the dangers of prank calls. Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (ˈjæŋkəvɪk born October 23 1959 is a Grammy Award winning American singer Musician, actor satirist Bad Hair Day is the ninth Album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1996 TLC was a Grammy Award -winning American Contemporary R&B, hip hop and pop group consisting of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins It includes an audio clip from The Simpsons (from the "Mike Rotch" call).
A prank call leads to Fry's delivery of a pizza to a cryogenic lab, which sets the whole series in motion. The name used is I. C. Wiener. [13] Fry also adopts a dog after receiving a prank call asking for a pizza to be delivered to a Seymour Asses ("see more asses"). Fry then names the dog Seymour following the prank call.
Many prankers have created Shockwave Flash-based 'soundboards', featuring sound bites of dialogue from well-known television and movie personalities, such as Mr. Rogers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Dr. Phil. A soundboard prank call is a type of Prank call that uses a soundboard. Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger ( German ˌaɐnɔlt aloʏs ˈʃvaɐtsənɛɡɐ born July 30 1947 is an Austrian American Bodybuilder, Actor They will call a business and see how whoever answers reacts to odd comments of a seemingly incoherent individual.
Ever since the opportunity has been available, there have been 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. SHOUTcast is a server for Streaming media developed by Nullsoft.
Although prank call communities are still relatively small-scale compared to FM stations that feature live pranks, it is a growing community on the internet today and many new communities are developing. See also Frequency modulation, FM band FM broadcasting is a broadcast Technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that
Prank calls are now easily traced through Caller ID, so it is often asserted that prank calls since the 1990s have been harder to accomplish. For the protein involved in the synthesis of Major histocompatibility complex II see CLIP (protein. However, most telephone companies permit callers to withhold the identifying information from calls using a vertical service code such as *67. In North American Telephony, a vertical service code or VSC is a special code dialed prior to a Telephone number that engages some type of special Callers can also call from payphones in order to hide their identity.
Sometimes the joke can be taken too far, especially if the prankster succeeds in making his victim believe the scenario is real. Prank call comedian Jim Florentine (who mainly takes incoming calls from telemarketers and turns the tables by performing pranks on them) has had the police called on him on more than one occasion for taking his jokes too far. Jim Florentine (August 18 1964 is best known for his characters "Special Ed" and "Bobby Fletcher" created for a series of Telemarketing is a method of Direct marketing in which a Salesperson solicits to prospective Customers to buy products or services, Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force During one call, Florentine tells an insurance agent that, rather than pay to keep an elderly woman alive, he is going to go to the hospital and smother her with a pillow. Agency is an area of Commercial law dealing with a Contractual or Quasi-contractual Tripartite set of relationships when an Agent A hospital is an institution for Health care providing treatment by specialised staff and equipment and often but not always providing for [14] After the call, the agent called 9-1-1 and gave them Florentine's number and the address on file, and the police arrived at his home with guns drawn. 911 (usually pronounced "nine-one-one" is the Emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan (NANP However, when the police arrived at the scene and discovered it was actually a prank, the officer asked, "Don't you think you're a little old for this?"[15]
Prank calls range from annoying hang-ups to false calls to emergency services or bomb threats. Emergency services are organizations which ensure Public safety by addressing different emergencies Prank calls that waste the time of emergency services are a criminal offense in most countries and is considered telephone harassment in the US. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment
One such hoax call occurred in Perth, Australia, on New Year's Eve 2002, when a drunken teenager called the new anti-terrorist hotline to report a bomb threat against the New Year's Eve fireworks celebration. Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Year's Eve is on December 31, the final day of the Gregorian year and the day before New Year's Day. [16] The threat was taken seriously, and the celebrations were about to be canceled when police discovered that no such threat existed. The teen was then arrested for the false report.
Tension was also caused in December 2005, when a Catholic Church-owned radio station in Spain (COPE) played a prank on Bolivian president-elect Evo Morales. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. COPE ( Cadena de Ondas Populares de España, roughly translated as People's Radiowaves of Spain Network) is a private commercial Spanish Radio The Republic of Bolivia (República de Bolivia) named after Simón Bolívar, is a Landlocked country in central South America. Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26 1959 in Orinoca, Oruro) popularly known as Evo (ˈeβo is the President of Bolivia since The hoaxer pretended to be Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, congratulating Morales on his election[17] and saying things like, "I imagine the only one not to have called you was George Bush. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (born 4 August 1960 better known by his maternal surname Zapatero (literally "shoemaker" in Spanish is the current I've been here two years and he still hasn't called me". [18] The Bolivian government protested to Spain, and the real Zapatero called Morales and apologized. The Spanish government in turn summoned the papal nuncio in protest. Nuncio is an ecclesiastical Diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word Nuntius, meaning "envoy
In the United States, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 makes some prank calls a felony with penalties of up to two years in prison, and possible fines (depending on severity). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States Telecommunications law in nearly 62 years amending the Communications Act of In Common law legal systems a felony is a serious Crime, often contrasted with a Misdemeanor. However, such penalties are rarely carried out. As an example, the Chicago shock jock Erich "Mancow" Muller, after being criticized for the extensive use of prank calls on his radio show, broadcasted the sarcastic remark: "Reality check for you people: Chicago's the murder capital of America. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Shock Jock was an Australian television comedy series broadcast on TV1. Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller (born June 21, 1966 in Kansas City Missouri) is an American radio and television personality The police don't care if you get a prank call. "
Moreover, to make a prank call that falls afoul of the Telecommunications Act, , the call must be done with the intent to "annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass". Title 47 of the United States Code outlines the role of telegraphy in the United States Code. Arguably then, if the intent of the call is to amuse, confuse, or simply to engage the call's recipient, there is no violation of the Telecommunications Act.
|