As appeared in the Albuquerque Journal 02/28/09
Over time things come and go. Time marches on and sometimes doesn’t take with it all the wonderful things an era has to offer. Drive-in theaters are all but extinct save for a handful scattered across the country that are hanging on for nostalgia’s sake. Traditional Sunday chicken dinners at grandma’s are probably not with grandma anymore and the chicken may now be nachos and hot dogs from the snack bar at the movie theater; so much for tradition. And thanks to cell phones and caller ID, one of the secret pastimes of children everywhere is practically as obsolete as the rotary phone: The prank phone call.
Has anyone come to this realization that our children will not know the anxiety, excitement and exhilaration of dialing an unsuspecting neighbor and asking them if their refrigerator is running? Or calling the local drug store and asking if they have Prince Albert in a can? Or the corner market asking if they have fresh eggs? “If they get too fresh, smack ‘em! Ha, ha, ha, ha.”
I guess I shouldn’t say prank phone calling is gone completely; it has just been elevated to a new level. In pop culture, the prank call is generally done for the amusement of the pranksters themselves. And since kids nowadays have better things to do like play virtual tennis on their Wiis or non-stop texting to their friends, the art of the prank phone call has grown up with the ones who learned it as a child. These professional prank callers actually record their calls to share with their friends and post online for the amusement of all to hear. Performers and sometimes celebrities will compile their antics and produce albums to showcase their work. Their mothers must be so proud.
Prank phone calls are a favorite among comedians on morning radio shows and late night TV. There was even a television show called Crank Yankers on the Comedy Channel, a series of real-life prank calls made by celebrities and re-enacted on-screen by puppets for a humorous effect.
Even the long running animated series The Simpsons had a recurring gag involving Bart making prank calls to a local tavern. The calls usually followed a set pattern: Bart would ask for a person, the owner would shout loudly for that person and the bar would erupt in uproarious laughter. Why? Because of names like Seymour Butts, Ima Wiener, Maya Normusbutt and Al Kahalic.
Caller ID has seemed to curtail the traditional prank phone call, but all is not lost. My stealthy daughter recently informed me that all one has to do is dial “star 67” before the number you are calling and your number appears on the called ID as “private.”
Out of the old tradition, something called a reverse crank call was born. That is when a telemarketer calls your house, usually when you have just sat down to dinner, and proceeds to try and get you to buy their sales pitch and a time share in Boca. Turning the tables on them, people now reverse the crank and proceed to put the telemarketers on the spot by asking them unnerving questions and tie them up on the line as long as possible. A passive aggressive form of revenge no doubt.
The crank call sure has come a long way from the innocent days of fresh eggs and tobacco in a can. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a refrigerator I have to go catch.
Quote of the Week:
“Bart: Is Al there?
Moe: Al?
Bart: Yeah, Al. Last name Kahalic?
Moe: Hold on, I'll check. Phone call for Al... Al Coholic. Is there an Al Coholic here?
(The guys in the pub cheer.)
Moe: Wait a minute...” – The Simpsons
Over time things come and go. Time marches on and sometimes doesn’t take with it all the wonderful things an era has to offer. Drive-in theaters are all but extinct save for a handful scattered across the country that are hanging on for nostalgia’s sake. Traditional Sunday chicken dinners at grandma’s are probably not with grandma anymore and the chicken may now be nachos and hot dogs from the snack bar at the movie theater; so much for tradition. And thanks to cell phones and caller ID, one of the secret pastimes of children everywhere is practically as obsolete as the rotary phone: The prank phone call.
Has anyone come to this realization that our children will not know the anxiety, excitement and exhilaration of dialing an unsuspecting neighbor and asking them if their refrigerator is running? Or calling the local drug store and asking if they have Prince Albert in a can? Or the corner market asking if they have fresh eggs? “If they get too fresh, smack ‘em! Ha, ha, ha, ha.”
I guess I shouldn’t say prank phone calling is gone completely; it has just been elevated to a new level. In pop culture, the prank call is generally done for the amusement of the pranksters themselves. And since kids nowadays have better things to do like play virtual tennis on their Wiis or non-stop texting to their friends, the art of the prank phone call has grown up with the ones who learned it as a child. These professional prank callers actually record their calls to share with their friends and post online for the amusement of all to hear. Performers and sometimes celebrities will compile their antics and produce albums to showcase their work. Their mothers must be so proud.
Prank phone calls are a favorite among comedians on morning radio shows and late night TV. There was even a television show called Crank Yankers on the Comedy Channel, a series of real-life prank calls made by celebrities and re-enacted on-screen by puppets for a humorous effect.
Even the long running animated series The Simpsons had a recurring gag involving Bart making prank calls to a local tavern. The calls usually followed a set pattern: Bart would ask for a person, the owner would shout loudly for that person and the bar would erupt in uproarious laughter. Why? Because of names like Seymour Butts, Ima Wiener, Maya Normusbutt and Al Kahalic.
Caller ID has seemed to curtail the traditional prank phone call, but all is not lost. My stealthy daughter recently informed me that all one has to do is dial “star 67” before the number you are calling and your number appears on the called ID as “private.”
Out of the old tradition, something called a reverse crank call was born. That is when a telemarketer calls your house, usually when you have just sat down to dinner, and proceeds to try and get you to buy their sales pitch and a time share in Boca. Turning the tables on them, people now reverse the crank and proceed to put the telemarketers on the spot by asking them unnerving questions and tie them up on the line as long as possible. A passive aggressive form of revenge no doubt.
The crank call sure has come a long way from the innocent days of fresh eggs and tobacco in a can. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a refrigerator I have to go catch.
Quote of the Week:
“Bart: Is Al there?
Moe: Al?
Bart: Yeah, Al. Last name Kahalic?
Moe: Hold on, I'll check. Phone call for Al... Al Coholic. Is there an Al Coholic here?
(The guys in the pub cheer.)
Moe: Wait a minute...” – The Simpsons
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