A GRAVE JOKE ON UNDERTAKERS — Some malicious wag at Providence, R.I. has been playing a grave practical joke on the undertakers there, by summoning them over the telephone to bring freezers, candlesticks and coffin for persons alleged to be dead. In each case the denouement was highly farcical, and the reputed corpses are now hunting in a lively manner for that telephonist.
Paul Collins uncovers
the birth of the prank call.
[more inside]
posted by Horace Rumpole
on Nov 6, 2011 -
28 comments
Belgium's telecoms companies have a reputation for customer care that is only slightly better than the Gestapo's. Because of divisions among the linguistic areas, monopolies and a disinterest in oversight, the phone and internet companies are notorious for outstandingly poor customer service.
Everyone has a tale to tell. In my case, I had a deal with one company and when my neighbour got connected with a rival firm, instead of putting in a new cable, they literally cut through mine and attached him. They then refused to reconnect me, on the grounds that I was not a customer of theirs.
After five weeks of getting nowhere, I had to pay another company to install a new cable.
Recently a
Flemish TV show fought back for all of us. SLYT. A fine and elaborate prank that needs to be watched to the end.
Yes it is a SLYT but for anyone who has ever had to deal with Belgian telecoms or internet companies, this is entirely justified payback.
posted by quarsan
on Jan 21, 2011 -
32 comments
In August, Google added a feature to Gmail that lets you
make phone calls — for free, if you live in the US or Canada and you're calling someone in the US or Canada. When you make a call, your number shows up as 760-705-8888. Judging by the nine pages of complaints
found here, the service is often being used to prank, harass and scam people.
[more inside]
posted by defenestration
on Oct 2, 2010 -
60 comments
Phone Sex Pranks — "Below are prank calls I've made- to phone sex girls. Only thing is, I tell them I'm into some "weird" stuff. They're all 100% real and 100% expensive." He's Gil Ozeri of Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. The weird stuff he's into? Clowns, Jewish mother stereotypes, old-timey barbers and Clippy. Yes, Clippy of MS Word infamy. [nsfw, natch]
posted by Kattullus
on May 28, 2007 -
57 comments
Art of Bleeding: The
first time Mr. Outerspace died, it was to
serve the greater good of cleaning the Cacophony Society's gutters of useless hangers-on and lazybones. The
second time, it seemed to serve no purpose at all. Some of us are hoping the
third time will be the charm. You might not think you know his art, but
you do. RIP Peter Geiberger, 1979-2006.
posted by Scram
on Sep 22, 2006 -
4 comments
Payback is a B**** Someone played one too many practical jokes and/or pranks on some IT guys who had too much time on their hands. Impressive results ensue.
posted by FlamingBore
on Aug 8, 2006 -
52 comments
Yes, it's another Snakes on a Plane promo but this one is different: it's fucking awesome. Drop in your friends name (hopefully it's semi-normal and they have it in the db), then fill out some info about your friend, then have it place a call to them. Watch friend freak out when Samuel L. Jackson calls them up and knows all sorts of shit about them. Trust me, it totally freaked me out when someone did it to me today.
posted by mathowie
on Aug 2, 2006 -
114 comments
Pink Expenses is a fun little hack. Select from a list of racy services, get presented with a plausable looking receipt, then cut it out and submit it with your next corporate expense report. Hilarity ensues
(or you get fired, which is still kind of funny).
posted by mathowie
on Apr 6, 2006 -
22 comments
Have you ever wondered why we don't harvest milk from pigs? Or why the Amoco Corporation is always leaving all the lights on in their building in such an energy-inefficient fashion? What the hell is the Grimace anyway? What does Ruth Bader Ginsburg think of the legal problem of Siamese twins, when one is retarded and the other commits a felony? What are the qualifications of the buzzer-pressing "judge" on "$100,000 Pyramid"? Can you crash on the Sultan of Brunei's sofa when you're in town? For many years, Guy Petzall attempted to get answers to questions like these.
Sometimes he succeeded.
posted by Gator
on Apr 1, 2006 -
43 comments
Must-haves for your coffee table, lavatory reading, or just killing time on the subway:
The Nutritional Benefits of Nose Picking;
Perfecting the Art of Fart Projection (NEVER be blamed again!);
How to Murder a Complete Stranger (and get away with it) [paging scarabic]. These and other eyebrow-raising books can be yours, assuming you already have a book that you can put these dustjackets on.
FlapArt: The Alternative Book Cover.
posted by Gator
on Mar 17, 2006 -
17 comments
What makes a prank great ? The Economist (of all places) is looking for the finest prank in history. I'd be happy just to hear
your finest.
"For the most impressively elaborate pranks, however, go to a university campus. Take thousands of bright young things with too much time on their hands, itching to achieve, amuse and misbehave, and splendid acts of delinquency will follow." See also:
Shenanigans
posted by spock
on Jan 8, 2006 -
53 comments
It's Friday. It's early. You beat your coworkers into the office. Now for some fun go load up the
Office Poltergeist server onto their machines, note their IP address, and wait a few hours. Later today you can send text to their screen, send sounds, move their windows slightly, and open their CD tray. If you're careful, you can probably keep pranking someone for hours using this. [via
MeFi Projects]
posted by mathowie
on Nov 11, 2005 -
26 comments
Panos - 105 Fake road signs by 47 artists world-wide. {site is flash. best way to see them all is go through "artists"}
posted by dobbs
on Aug 23, 2005 -
23 comments
Overqualified: A new letter every Tuesday Joey Comeau wrote cover letter after cover letter, listing the same store bought traits in the same wording, day after day, hoping to find another job. And then one day he just snapped a little. He sat down to write a cover letter, and something entirely new came out. So he sent it anyway, but also publishes them on the web. (Or at least
he used to.)
posted by anastasiav
on Nov 27, 2004 -
19 comments
"Al Pieda" Targets Ann Coulter
Members of the notorious culinary terrorist group "Al Pieda" launched an attack on Ann Coulter while she was speaking at the University of Arizona. The report says some pie got on her face but attendants were able to wipe it off before she received any nutrional value from the pie.
Not to be confused with the notorious math group
"Al Gebra", who would have probably thrown a slide rule at her.
posted by fenriq
on Oct 25, 2004 -
26 comments
