A prank call (also known as a prank phone call or crank call) is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. 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. Among the most famous and earliest recorded prank calls are the Tube Bar prank calls tapes, which centered around Louis "Red" Deutsch. 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.
Even very prominent people have fallen victim to prank callers, as for example 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.[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 president Fidel Castro.[2] 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.[3] Radio El Zol was fined $4,000 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States for the second prank.
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Prank calls are generally done for the amusement of the pranksters (and their listening audiences). Some performers such as The Jerky Boys, Tom Mabe and Roy D. Mercer make a name for themselves producing albums of their recorded prank calls.
Sal and Richard, writers on the Howard Stern show, have made various prank calls to public access shows, talk radio, 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 disabled person with a severe speech impediment) and many other pranks.
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. Fonejacker, a show started on 5 April 2007 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.
The earliest known streaming prank call on the internet was posted by Michael Biggins, who is known by his prank caller / radio station host name "Blackout". It was broadcast in real audio 1.0 format (14.4 baud modem speed) in 1995. His was also the first interactive internet radio show primarily based on prank calls to broadcast live and take callers suggestions on pranks. The first world wide notability of a 'prank call site' being Blackout.com (Blackout's Box),[4] and the site remains online to this day.
The internet radio station [wPCR] PrankCall Radio (www.prankcallradio.net) is the largest web-site that still continuously broadcasts prank phone calls as they happen live on the internet. Since its creation by "DJ FooDStamP" in 1997, they have completed over 185,000 prank phone calls and broadcast them to over 5 million people worldwide.
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 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. Sites such as Stickam and Ustream allow hosts to carry out prank calls live to thousands of listeners, who can also chat and discuss on-goings in real-time. The use of social networking and the popularity of user generated content also allows these prank calls to spread and popularity to grow.
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 all the time.
Reaction videos and photo montages are also popular ways of sharing prank phone calls via video sharing websites such as YouTube.
Pranknet is an anonymous prank calling virtual community responsible for tens of thousands of dollars in damage to hotels and fast food restaurants. Posing as authority figures, such as fire alarm company representatives and hotel corporate managers, Pranknet participants called unsuspecting employees and customers in the United States via Skype and tricked them into damaging property, setting off fire sprinklers 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 group, who flaunted their anonymity, were outed during an investigation by The Smoking Gun.[5]
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. However, most telephone companies permit callers to withhold the identifying information from calls using a vertical service code such as *57 call trace, *67 that blocks the caller's ID or *69 that gives the last phone number calling in unless it is blocked by *67 (141 in the UK). Callers can also call from payphones in order to hide their identity. Another increasingly popular option is to use some form of VOIP. With some VOIP services, the telephone number will simply not exist.
Prank calls range from annoying hang-ups to false calls to emergency services or threats. Prank calls that waste the time of emergency services are a criminal offense in most countries and are considered telephone harassment in the US. Despite this, many still continue with the joke.
One such hoax call occurred in Perth, 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.[6] 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.
Tension was also caused in December 2005, when a commercially operated radio station in Spain (COPE - owned by a series of institutions affiliated with the Catholic Church) played a prank on Bolivian president-elect Evo Morales. The hoaxer pretended to be Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, congratulating Morales on his election[7] 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".[8] 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.
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. However, such penalties are rarely carried out.
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".
Prank calls frequently appear in many earlier episodes of The Simpsons, as Bart calls Moe's Tavern asking for people whose names are actually double entendres. Examples include "Mike Rotch" (my crotch), Bea O' Problem (B.O. problem), Al Coholic (Alcoholic) and "Amanda Hugginkiss" (a man to hug and kiss). Moe then asks his clientele if the person is present, embarrassing himself in the process. However, in the episode Flaming Moe's, Bart's prank call backfires when he calls up asking for "Hugh Jass", only for a man with the same name to answer.[9]
"Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Phony Calls" (a parody of "Waterfalls") deals with prank phone calls. Specifically, it talks about the "Is your refrigerator running?" gag and the "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" gag. It also incorporates one of Bart Simpson's prank phone calls.
A Cartoon Network series, Regular Show, had an episode that involved prank calling, it was called "Prank Callers" and aired on November 1, 2010. It involves Mordecai and Rigby pranking people via their phone.
Frank Neal Garrett died on 3 July 2011. He lived in Stilwell, Oklahoma and was an extremely famous prank call victim who became popular on YouTube and in the prank calling community. Prank calls involving his voice stirred controversy in Independence, Missouri and in Houston, Texas when pranksters edited Frank Garrett's voice to make threatening phone calls. Both instances were covered by Fox News.
During KWIN and B96 Chicago (in 7am), radio broadcasts a Carmen Prank Call will occur, where "Carmen" calls random people and annoys them to the point of them hanging up, irritated, once, and after a second call, twice.
