Comments on: Ted Koppel crank called

Ted Koppel crank called

geekhorde — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 22:46:04 -0800

So I was watching the coverage of the Blackout on ABC, and Ted Koppel was doing his live coverage. He got a call from a "Bob Dobbs" who claimed to be some muckity muck with the subway transit authority. Then "Bob Dobbs" kept telling people to log on to thankyoufortakingmycall.com to get emergency instructions. It was pretty funny. Ted was pretty clueless that it was a prank but I guess someone in the control room eventually got a clue and cut the caller.

By: geekhorde

geekhorde — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 22:47:03 -0800

Did anyone else catch this?

By: wsg

wsg — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 22:51:08 -0800

I saw it.

By: geekhorde

geekhorde — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 23:01:24 -0800

Sorry. My bad.

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 23:04:28 -0800

I don't mind phone pranking in theory, but I demand a bit of wit instead of the loutish and thuddingly unfunny juvenalia of the Jerky Boys, Crank Yankers, or any of Howard Stern's crowd, etc. Anyone can pull the crap they do -- what's the challenge? They remind me of the third graders who knock on neighborhood doors, scurry off to hide in the bushes and convulse in laughter when someone ...drumroll... answers the door! (Duh.)

By: geekhorde

geekhorde — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 23:08:35 -0800

I just couldn't believe the audacity of it. And the fact that he had them convinced that he was a SOMEBODY. "I don't think you're listening to me Ted." I think that was my favorite part.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 14 Aug 2003 23:41:35 -0800

dammit dobbs, there you go again

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:02:02 -0800

Is it just me, or is there a vague resemblance between this guy and this guy?

By: jackspace

jackspace — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 00:58:53 -0800

Subvert the system that perverts the mind

By: nofundy

nofundy — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 04:31:53 -0800

I think I will order the tape. I've heard Leroy Mercer and he is funny as hell, the East Tennessee vocabulary and accent making it all the better.

By: angry modem

angry modem — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 05:05:22 -0800

Bob Dobbs.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 05:24:46 -0800

I don't get the reference to Mark Knopfler. A little help here?

By: ciderwoman

ciderwoman — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 05:37:59 -0800

Got to agree with RavinDave, there seemed to be precious little wit involved in most of these. A reasonable list of prank calls can be found here, but sadly the link to Vivtor Lewis Smith is broken. Smith and Chris Morris, while both often quite childish, do seem to have a more political agenda for their calls. His call to That's Life (a sickening lifestyle / consumer show from the 1980's) where Smith prtended to be a wheelchair bound tuba player showed just how low TV producers would go to get something interesting on air, and his call to a New York hotel to book a room for the Queen Mother ("Does the room have a porn channel?") are wonderful. Can't find a transcipt online but will continue looking. OK, maybe they're just childish.

By: jeremias

jeremias — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 05:44:04 -0800

Mistadobalina, Mr. Bob Dobalina, Mistadobalina

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 06:23:19 -0800

This was also happening on local NYC stations. Pretty juvenile.

By: devbrain

devbrain — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 06:36:56 -0800

Praise Bob!! (Hail Connie)

By: i_cola

i_cola — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 06:54:01 -0800

ciderwoman: For me Morris's best was ringing Piers Morgan (who was then editor of The Sun's 'Bizarre' gossip column) pretending to be both U2's manager & Bono. Morgan 'exclusived' the prank the next day. MP3 here, [via Virtual Arsepike II]

By: shoepal

shoepal — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 07:35:26 -0800

ZenMasterThis: There used to be a guy that would prank call people (late 80's early 90's) and he called himself Mark Knopfler. He wasn't the same Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits.

By: crazy finger

crazy finger — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 07:41:46 -0800

Bob Dobbs: not funny.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 08:14:30 -0800

Thanks. I am a fan of Mark Knopfler the guitarist; I won't go looking for a "Crank Calls" CD.

By: carter

carter — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 08:18:37 -0800

I kind of liked the sci-fi looping sounds and buzzing that signalled that Mr. Dobbs call was being 'dropped' ... I was wondering if this noise was used by ABC studios to deal with troublemakers.

By: John

John — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 08:33:08 -0800

bob is slack slack is bob all hail bob!

By: thanotopsis

thanotopsis — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 09:21:00 -0800

Anyone else notice that the claimed system for communicating with the subway riders and operators was a wireless and telepathic radio?

By: john1800

john1800 — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 09:27:59 -0800

i_cola, that Paul McGuiness & Bono call was great. "For all intents and purposes U2 have been a black dance band since the beginning."

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 10:39:15 -0800

Last night, I predicted that unless this was terrorists at work, Rush Limbaugh would find a way to blame this on liberals. And, as I'm typing this, I'll be damned if he isn't.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Fri, 15 Aug 2003 10:40:40 -0800

Praise Bob!! (Hail Connie) Drats, ya beat me to it. No slack there. ;)

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Sun, 17 Aug 2003 03:55:27 -0800

Of course, the potential outcome of this is that national news shows will be less likely to take calls. Very few news shows in the UK take live calls. In fact, I can't think of any off the top of my head. Shame, I love the pranks. And bravo for the Chris Morris reference, ciderwoman. Tons of Chris Morris stuff up at Cook'd and Bomb'd.