Follow these quick, easy steps to execute a short, hilarious, and untraceable prank call.
Face it: We all have an inner Bart Simpson who enjoys nothing more than picking up the phone to prank call an arch-nemesis, a coworker, a teacher, a gullible friend, or the bartender at the local tavern. When your target falls for the ruse, there are few belly laughs more gratifying. To execute the perfect prank call, follow these quick, easy steps to keep it short, sweet, hilarious, and above all, untraceable!
- Practice, practice, practice. Ashton Kutcher doesn't launch an elaborate Punk'd prank without some preliminary planning, does he? The last thing you want is to hear the voice on the other end of the line say, “Hello?” and have nothing prepared. Unless you’re Robin Williams, your brain probably doesn’t fire off jokes like a machine gun, so have your material worked out ahead of time. This leads us to...
- Make it worth your effort. If you’re going to prank someone with “Is your refrigerator running?” or some other archaic nugget from the silent movie era, save your time and energy. Jokes like these (or worse, knock-knock jokes) are just lame. Really go for it and mess with someone’s head—not in a cop-calling or ambulance-inducing way, but something along those lines. Like this:
- Know your enemy. Look, calling the elderly and leading them on is just plain mean. This is supposed to be fun, so make sure your target is healthy, somewhat mentally stable, and has a sense of humor (if, at a later date, you choose to reveal yourself as the perpetrator). The last thing you want on your conscience is shocking, goading, or manipulating someone into a heart attack, a fit of violence, or a mental breakdown. At least, I HOPE that’s the last thing you want. All right, you’ve got your bit down cold, it’s funny as hell, and you’re ready to dial your target’s number. What next?
- Install Asterisk. Asterisk is an open-source telephone applications toolkit that gives you powerful control over your phone so you can do fun things like mask your caller ID. If that's a project for another day, at least dial “*67” before you call. Dialing this number codes your number as “private” in case your target has caller ID. You don’t want to give someone a heads-up that it’s you, or the ability to call back and chew you out for wasting their time! Okay, the line’s ringing... it’s picked up... so now you should:
- Change your voice. You’ve gone through the trouble of making sure they don't recognize your number, so don’t deliver the prank in your normal speaking voice. Yeah, you’re probably not Frank Caliendo or Hank Azaria, but chances are you’ve busted out a funny-sounding dialect or cadence at some point to make someone else laugh—even if it was (sigh) Borat or Austin Powers. Use that skill here to keep your ruse going as long as possible. They even sell toy voice modulators to make you sound like Darth Vader. If this prank is important enough to you (or you plan on making this a full-time hobby), fork over a few bucks for one of those gadgets to disguise your voice.
You’re doing your thing now. Great. It’s comedy gold! Just be sure to... - Be quick. If the punch line of your prank takes more than a few seconds to reach, chances are you’re going to get hung up on. Get to the heart of the matter and be done with it. The quicker you are, the sooner you’re off the phone and enjoying a good laugh yourself! And if the prank was good enough to make you laugh the first time around, hopefully you had the foresight to:
- Record it! Who knows? Maybe you’re the next Jerky Boy. You’ll be a titan of underground prank call cassette tapes. Wait—no one listens to cassettes anymore, do they? Oh well. You can still amuse yourself endlessly, just like Wanda Sykes:
http://www.davezilla.com/mp3/conjugal_visit.mp3
Congratulations! You’ve pulled off a successful prank by being prepared, knowing your audience, and keeping it short and sweet. Revel in your genius, toast yourself, and let your imagination run wild with thoughts of your target cursing, blushing, and reeling from confusion thanks to your mad skills. Bart Simpson salutes you!
How to Make a Prank Call
Follow these quick, easy steps to execute a short, hilarious, and untraceable prank call.
Face it: We all have an inner Bart Simpson who enjoys nothing more than picking up the phone to prank call an arch-nemesis, a coworker, a teacher, a gullible friend, or the bartender at the local tavern. When your target falls for the ruse, there are few belly laughs more gratifying. To execute the perfect prank call, follow these quick, easy steps to keep it short, sweet, hilarious, and above all, untraceable!
- Practice, practice, practice. Ashton Kutcher doesn't launch an elaborate Punk'd prank without some preliminary planning, does he? The last thing you want is to hear the voice on the other end of the line say, “Hello?” and have nothing prepared. Unless you’re Robin Williams, your brain probably doesn’t fire off jokes like a machine gun, so have your material worked out ahead of time. This leads us to...
- Make it worth your effort. If you’re going to prank someone with “Is your refrigerator running?” or some other archaic nugget from the silent movie era, save your time and energy. Jokes like these (or worse, knock-knock jokes) are just lame. Really go for it and mess with someone’s head—not in a cop-calling or ambulance-inducing way, but something along those lines. Like this:
- Know your enemy. Look, calling the elderly and leading them on is just plain mean. This is supposed to be fun, so make sure your target is healthy, somewhat mentally stable, and has a sense of humor (if, at a later date, you choose to reveal yourself as the perpetrator). The last thing you want on your conscience is shocking, goading, or manipulating someone into a heart attack, a fit of violence, or a mental breakdown. At least, I HOPE that’s the last thing you want. All right, you’ve got your bit down cold, it’s funny as hell, and you’re ready to dial your target’s number. What next?
- Install Asterisk. Asterisk is an open-source telephone applications toolkit that gives you powerful control over your phone so you can do fun things like mask your caller ID. If that's a project for another day, at least dial “*67” before you call. Dialing this number codes your number as “private” in case your target has caller ID. You don’t want to give someone a heads-up that it’s you, or the ability to call back and chew you out for wasting their time! Okay, the line’s ringing... it’s picked up... so now you should:
- Change your voice. You’ve gone through the trouble of making sure they don't recognize your number, so don’t deliver the prank in your normal speaking voice. Yeah, you’re probably not Frank Caliendo or Hank Azaria, but chances are you’ve busted out a funny-sounding dialect or cadence at some point to make someone else laugh—even if it was (sigh) Borat or Austin Powers. Use that skill here to keep your ruse going as long as possible. They even sell toy voice modulators to make you sound like Darth Vader. If this prank is important enough to you (or you plan on making this a full-time hobby), fork over a few bucks for one of those gadgets to disguise your voice.
You’re doing your thing now. Great. It’s comedy gold! Just be sure to... - Be quick. If the punch line of your prank takes more than a few seconds to reach, chances are you’re going to get hung up on. Get to the heart of the matter and be done with it. The quicker you are, the sooner you’re off the phone and enjoying a good laugh yourself! And if the prank was good enough to make you laugh the first time around, hopefully you had the foresight to:
- Record it! Who knows? Maybe you’re the next Jerky Boy. You’ll be a titan of underground prank call cassette tapes. Wait—no one listens to cassettes anymore, do they? Oh well. You can still amuse yourself endlessly, just like Wanda Sykes:
http://www.davezilla.com/mp3/conjugal_visit.mp3
Congratulations! You’ve pulled off a successful prank by being prepared, knowing your audience, and keeping it short and sweet. Revel in your genius, toast yourself, and let your imagination run wild with thoughts of your target cursing, blushing, and reeling from confusion thanks to your mad skills. Bart Simpson salutes you!
How to Make a Prank Call
By Howtodotips
Follow these quick, easy steps to execute a short, hilarious, and untraceable prank call.