Enema Man Lives
August 4, 2017 5:31 PM   Subscribe

For twenty years, the same prank caller has dialed the payphone at McSorley's Old Ale House, the landmark pub in Manhattan's East Village, most every Sunday afternoon to say "your enema is ready." [via]
posted by killdevil (29 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
...that prank caller's name? Mike Rotch.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:34 PM on August 4, 2017 [7 favorites]


Talk about a shitty prank.
posted by Fizz at 5:39 PM on August 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


Now that's dedication.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 6:13 PM on August 4, 2017


metafilter: your enema is ready
posted by pyramid termite at 6:25 PM on August 4, 2017 [7 favorites]


Here's some more background on McSorley's, the oldest bar in Manhattan.
posted by killdevil at 6:32 PM on August 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


Dial E for ...
posted by zippy at 6:34 PM on August 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


With friends like him...
posted by dywypi at 6:51 PM on August 4, 2017 [7 favorites]


"Listen, you. When I get a hold of you, I'm going to use your head for a bucket and paint my house with your brains!"
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:11 PM on August 4, 2017 [10 favorites]


This is great. My favorite lines:

I’d looked forward to this moment for years and always imagined that when I got hold of Enema Man, I’d nail him with a clever retort, maybe even force him to break character. Instead, I froze and mumbled something about stuffing the enema up his arse. “Well, my new friend,” he said before hanging up, “that’s sorta the point.”
posted by mostly vowels at 7:17 PM on August 4, 2017 [19 favorites]


You know, I bet they are getting a lot more than one prank call a week now that the article is out.
posted by yhbc at 7:25 PM on August 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


It's not really a prank anymore, is it?
posted by clockzero at 7:27 PM on August 4, 2017


"If I didn't know any better I'd say you was a regular jackass!"
posted by growabrain at 7:42 PM on August 4, 2017


FWIW, McSorley's shows up during Cassidy's memories in Preacher.

Is it sad my mind picked that up as soon as I say the name in the main page post?
posted by Samizdata at 7:47 PM on August 4, 2017


No way New Yorkers turn down a free drink.
posted by srboisvert at 7:50 PM on August 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


He’s expected to prevent female customers from accidentally wandering into the men’s room, which is only marked TOILET—a remnant of McSorley’s male-only past.

One night in the winter of 1924 a feminist from Greenwich Village put on trousers, a man’s topcoat, and a cap, stuck a cigar in her mouth, and entered McSorley’s. She bought an ale, drank it, removed her cap, and shook her long hair down on her shoulders. Then she called Bill a male chauvinist, yelled something about the equality of the sexes, and ran out. When Bill realized he had sold a drink to a woman, he let out a cross between a moan and a bellow and began to jump up and
down. “She was a woman!” he yelled. “She was a goddamn woman!”

The Old House at Home, Joseph Mitchell
posted by betweenthebars at 8:06 PM on August 4, 2017 [16 favorites]


This is classic. Good job.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:16 PM on August 4, 2017


“Enema man hasn’t called,” he’d tell me. “Hopefully nothing happened to him.”

is somehow the most touching thing I've read today.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:30 PM on August 4, 2017 [19 favorites]


And it's been a long day.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:57 PM on August 4, 2017 [3 favorites]


Nah, he's fine, just distracted with a new gig.
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:10 PM on August 4, 2017


Do- forever
Prank mcsorley
Sleep 1year
;And they said battery backups were bad
posted by TheAdamist at 9:20 PM on August 4, 2017


Remember that Zappa song, taken from the news? The Illinois Enema Bandit?
posted by Oyéah at 9:30 PM on August 4, 2017 [3 favorites]


The one time I was in McSorley's, we took down the number of the payphone (it was directly next to our table), promising ourselves we'd dial it the next time we were properly soused. I don't think anyone in the group ever followed through, but I'm glad to hear someone is making appropriate use of the equipment.

(Inbound calls on payphones in establishments where you're pretty likely to know the person calling. There's a thing I didn't realize I missed until payphones had evaporated from the landscape.)
posted by brennen at 12:36 AM on August 5, 2017 [2 favorites]


Remember that Zappa song, taken from the news? The Illinois Enema Bandit?

I was just coming to wonder if Michael Kenyon is on the loose.
posted by TedW at 1:16 AM on August 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


My god, that's a beautiful tavern.
posted by Robin Kestrel at 3:29 AM on August 5, 2017 [3 favorites]


Enema man, enema man
Doing the things an enema can
What's he like? It's not important
Enema man
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:48 AM on August 5, 2017 [3 favorites]


Is he a jerk, or is he a dick?
When he didn't call, did he get sick?
Or was it another kind of trick?
Nobody knows, Enema man
posted by flabdablet at 10:37 AM on August 5, 2017 [3 favorites]


I did not expect this thread to remind me why I hate Zappa's music, but I guess I'll take that as a bonus.
posted by brennen at 1:45 PM on August 5, 2017


With that posh "your enema is ready" he sounds like a rich man's buttler.
posted by zippy at 3:18 PM on August 5, 2017


Amen, elan, a canal ; Enema!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 3:38 PM on August 5, 2017 [4 favorites]


« Older Millennials are Killing   |   “The heart wants what the heart wants.” Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments