The Happy Telephone

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The early versions of the #2 & #3 cassettes.

The Happy Telephone is the collective name of a group of DIY released prank phone calls which were recorded during the late 1980's and early 1990's and compiled on a series of comedy cassettes that were sold at first locally around the Knoxville, Tennessee area. It is mentioned on one of the tapes their sole inspiration was the Tube Bar prank calls and Louis "Red" Deutsch. The character Moe Szyslak and his bar on The Simpsons is based solely on Red and his bar.

The HAPPY TELEPHONE tapes existed in various forms from the 1980's single 60 minute cassette originally titled "The Dialing Delenquents" to the double 90 minute tapes that were last widely released in 1991. The #2 tape was very briefly distribuited by Mordam Records in 1992, and later the same year, the #3 tape was released by independent record label Black Label Records, but was quickly withdrawn because it was discovered the tape contained copyrighted music and artwork that was used without permission. Subsequent versions had the music and Simpsons-inspired artwork removed. One of the songs was a very rare pre-Licensed to Ill Beastie Boys track called "Cooky Puss", which was about prank phone calls. To add to the mystery, the double cassette version was labeled "#2 & #3", with no #1 available. It was never explained why the original 1980's version ceased to exist when #2 was created with new material ADDED to the calls that made up the original tape! The high quality DIY 2 tape sets were popular sellers at legendary indie record store RAVEN RECORDS in Knoxville during the 1991 release. A small batch of 60 minute 'best of' tapes were sold by special request during shows at legendary Knoxville concert punk rock / alternative venues PLANET EARTH and THE ORPHEUS. Planet Earth quietly faded away and The Orpheus was shut down after GG Allin's legendary performance in 1993. There were also a few early "#1" copies circulated at legendary Atlanta Venue THE METROPLEX. Over the years, multi generational (copy of a copy of a copy) copies of the tape continued to circulate among underground fans, most of them copied on cheap 'boombox' stereos of the day, resulting in near-unlistenable sound quality.

Years before The Jerky Boys established prank calls as a legitimate comedic platform, Not even Lee Roy Mercer, Mr. "I'll whup yer ass" over at Eddie's auto parts was nearly as prolithic as these 'dialing delenquents'.

What set these pranksters apart from the famous phone pranksters of today is the fact the majority of the callers on The Happy Telephone tapes are young people in their early teens, which was why the group was referred to as "The Dialing Delenquents". The calls were all real and nothing was staged. Another element of surprise is the fact at least 3 of the pranksters are young women, and at least 2 or 3 calls were boys who did a pretty good job of pretending to be old ladies.

Here is an overview of just a few of the characters:

Bob Marley: The use of this famous name is an obvious, yet appropriate rip off from the Ghostbusters utility work scene.

A young white professional who calls from "Lakeshore Utilities" (Lakeshore is an infamous mental hospital in Knoxville) to inform a resident many miles from there a gas leak in the area poses danger and the best tool in existence to test her house for gas leaks is a cigarette lighter.

Buck: A stereotypical 'dirty old man' who lived in the basement of his mothers house.

At least 3 different callers call buck and 'have their way' whith him.

Jason: A slacker 14 year old kid who's home is called twice. The first time is an "elderly" neighbor calling at 2 am to inform Jason's Dad just how good his Son is in bed.

Al Coholic: One of the oldest prank call names out there. They got the tables turned on them when they called an adult entertainment establishment and Mr. Coholic was there.

It is rumored the Scene on The Simpsons where Bart calls Moe's tavern asking for Hugh Jass, who is there and takes the call, is based on this call.

Connie Lingus and Phil Latio: A Happy couple. A tall redhead and a short guy who looks like Danny DiVito.

Mike and Donna: What happens when a prankster calls up A new husband asking to speak to his wife, and tells him WHY!.

Rocky Top: A convenience store and deli on the UT campus whose employees are more than glad to talk to the callers about anything rather than have to work.

Some of the calls have been talked about and played on Howard Stern and Mancow's radio shows.