They're obviously not fans of The Simpsons

March 29, 2009 12:15 AM

Some wiseacres slip in risque prank-call names to a local TV station for its "Happy Birthday" segment, and whaddyaknow! It works.
posted by zardoz (65 comments total)

I can't believe somebody got "Mike Hunt" through. Some of the others are bad, but seriously? Mike Hunt?
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:20 AM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

I didn't think I was gonna, but I definitely LOLed.

The poor sap was even reading it as Huge Erection.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:22 AM on March 29, 2009

Yeah, I didn't think I still had it in me to laugh at old-as-dirt 5th grade prank calls...but I guess I still do!

"Amanda Huggenkiss? Amanda Huggenkiss? Hey guys, come on...I need Amanda Huggenkiss!"
posted by darkstar at 12:26 AM on March 29, 2009

Oh, and just for the fun of it, Bart Simpson's prank calls were inspired by the Tube Bar prank calls.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:38 AM on March 29, 2009

Bwahahaha gotta love it when this kinda stuff happens.

One has to wonder if the anchors who read those names know that they were pranks and how many of their friends know too.
posted by Chan at 12:45 AM on March 29, 2009

"Lou Briccant: Hope your big party goes smooth." This is really real?
posted by Curry at 12:49 AM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

If it's real--which I'm kind of doubting--I'd say the most likely scenario is that the anchor did it as a joke. He seemed to give himself away when he read "huge erection" and "mo lester," neither of which were written on the screen.
posted by roll truck roll at 1:23 AM on March 29, 2009

Unless the rest of the staff is made up of innocent grannies, someone in the studio had to see what was going on but said nothing to the producer. They could have killed the segment, pretended there was a technical problem, and promised to read the list later.

I prefer this.
posted by pracowity at 2:31 AM on March 29, 2009

Why not Mike Hunt, eh? (I didn't believe the name of this business when we drove past it the first few times.)
posted by b33j at 3:29 AM on March 29, 2009

I went to elementary school with a Mike Hunt. He did not go by Michael. He was an unabashed, unashamed Mike Hunt.

The summer before 3rd grade, his mother had remarried and he took, in hyphenate, the name of his new stepfather. He returned to school that fall as the pungently monikered Mike Hunt-Pfister.

This is not me shitting you. This is me telling the truth. Mike Hunt-Pfister.
posted by BoatMeme at 4:20 AM on March 29, 2009 [36 favorites]

There's a real estate agent in my hometown named Michael J. Hunt. My father absolutely relishes going in and asking if Mike Hunt is around.
posted by riane at 5:15 AM on March 29, 2009

When I was a kid there was a guy in the local phone directory listed as "Bumanus".

Yes, you read that right. We brats would ring him rather too often asking if we could speak to "Mr Bumanus". The reply was invariable — "Byeewwmanus, Byewmanus!"
posted by Wolof at 5:42 AM on March 29, 2009

Listen to me, you; when I catch you, I'm gonna pull out your eyes and stick 'em down your pants, so you can watch me kick the crap outta you, okay?
posted by digsrus at 5:43 AM on March 29, 2009 [4 favorites]

I, too, have worked with a Michael Hunt, and that was how he insisted on being addressed - not that I can blame him. He said his parents were just that naïve.
posted by kcds at 5:48 AM on March 29, 2009

This is not me shitting you. This is me telling the truth. Mike Hunt-Pfister.
posted by BoatMeme at 7:20 AM on March 29 [3 favorites +] [!]

Oh, but did any of you work with an editor named Dick Handler? Hmm? I did.
posted by etaoin at 6:23 AM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

as a kid walking to school, i passed a house every day that had a mailbox out front with the name c. r. butts on it. a bunch of us dropped our pants one afternoon, aimed them at the house and began shouting C.R.BUTTS C.R.BUTTS! as we did this a big black dog walked up and licked my ass. go figure.
posted by kitchenrat at 6:28 AM on March 29, 2009 [7 favorites]

I knew a Dick Gay, but he ended up changing it to Dick Gway so... you know... nobody would think he was gay or something.
posted by dunkadunc at 6:32 AM on March 29, 2009

Dare I bring up the gynecologist in my town named Dr. Stiff? He went by his middle name, Doug. The reason? His first name was Richard.

Dr.
Richard.
Stiff.
Gynecologist.
posted by shinynewnick at 6:55 AM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

And it is real. Here is a Twitter update from the station noting an event with C.E. Huffman, one of the anchors in the video. Here's another report with him from the station's own site.
posted by shinynewnick at 7:01 AM on March 29, 2009

I went to school with a kid named, no joke, Lee Kee Bhum.
posted by the dief at 7:32 AM on March 29, 2009

The best one is "Craven Moorhead - you came a long way."
posted by wsg at 7:44 AM on March 29, 2009

In middle school, I had an amazing science teacher named Mr Cummings. I never gave him shit about his name. In both middle and high school, I had a vice principal named Mr Woody who was very poor at doing his job. I was not so kind to his name one day after being fed up with him.
posted by secret about box at 7:44 AM on March 29, 2009

There are two brothers around here named Siemens who go by Dick and Harry.
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:48 AM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'd say the most likely scenario is that the anchor did it as a joke.

Small market news is all too real and funny as hell.

And if he did do it as a joke it would be the last thing he ever did in the news business.

In other words, this is absolutely real.
posted by Zambrano at 8:26 AM on March 29, 2009

In High School, I knew a Jack Cox. Personally, I think he liked it.
posted by goHermGO at 8:30 AM on March 29, 2009

Mike Hunt is the least remarkable name on there. I mean, there have to be hundreds of people with that actual name. There was a kid in my school named Richard Boner, for crying out loud.
posted by DU at 8:32 AM on March 29, 2009

At my first parent-teacher conference, I was 22 year old first year teacher. I was teaching 18 years olds and I was pretty nervous to meet my students' parents. Anyway, a father walked in and introduces himself as Dick Licker. No lie. I would have loved to see the look on my face.
posted by Hop123 at 8:35 AM on March 29, 2009 [2 favorites]

You little S.O.B.! Why, when I find out who you are, I'm going to shove a sausage down your throat and stick starving dogs in your butt!
posted by planetkyoto at 8:50 AM on March 29, 2009

pracowity: I prefer this.

For the record, despite the YouTube poster taking credit for the prank (and misspelling "London"), those were actually done for Christopher Morris' BBC1 radio show in the early 90s. And they're awesome!
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:52 AM on March 29, 2009

Somehow the wacky circus-like music playing the background makes it all the more hilarious.
posted by Servo5678 at 8:55 AM on March 29, 2009

Pope, the Tube bar stuff is priceless. Thanks.
posted by headless at 9:05 AM on March 29, 2009

Ah, I went to college with a fellow named Richard Hard. Legal name. He was Irish, and claimed that his parents just didn't realize the implication.
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 9:55 AM on March 29, 2009

My dad used to work with a guy called Richard Head and, yes, he did go by the shortened, familiar version of his first name.
posted by ob at 10:17 AM on March 29, 2009

Thats what she said.
posted by bitslayer at 10:40 AM on March 29, 2009

A friend told me a story of a woman (a friend of his parent's) who married into the name Gaye Hoar. Googling around, I found one [pdf] apparently legit reference to this person.
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 10:42 AM on March 29, 2009

As someone who hasn't seen a local news broadcast in nearly ten years help me out here: Do stations really waste that much time daily wishing people happy birthday? Do they know everyone has birthdays? Do they have no NEWS to report during that time?

No wonder they're getting their ass kicked by the internet. I don't feel sorry for them anymore.
posted by sourwookie at 10:44 AM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

I knew a guy who went to college with a friend - his name was Harry Savage. He was planning on going into politics, if I remember correctly.
posted by mammary16 at 10:51 AM on March 29, 2009

The principal at the school I did the last 3/4 of 6th grade at (long story) was named "Nancy Phenis". I don't know how you have a last name like that and get into education.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:01 AM on March 29, 2009

I took a grade 8 summer school math class from Mr. Harry Balls.
posted by Kale Slayer at 11:09 AM on March 29, 2009

I've always felt sorry for anyone listed in the phonebook under the surname Gotobed
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:21 AM on March 29, 2009

I believe that everyone mentioned in this thread is an actual person, who really has that unfortunate name, and that all of you actually do know those people personally! I really do!
posted by Pater Aletheias at 12:34 PM on March 29, 2009

He's no longer with us sadly, but I'll never forget Dr. Richard Dangle, former dean of the University of West Georgia's College of Arts and Sciences. He insisted people call him 'Dick'.

That's right. Dr. Dean Dick Dangle. Sad that he's gone now, because he was a really good guy.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:53 PM on March 29, 2009

I thought this might be an intentional joke. Then I found the station's apology.
posted by eye of newt at 1:11 PM on March 29, 2009

In high school my friends and I used to look through the phone book for people with funny names. One night we managed to find the holy grail.

Jablome, Haywood

There's even video of me running up the block excitedly holding the torn phone book page in my hand. "I FOUND HAYWOOD JABLOME! HE'S REAL!"
posted by Sandor Clegane at 1:16 PM on March 29, 2009

Just dropping in to mention that I had a middle school geography teacher named Harry Dickie.

That is all.
posted by anvilcity at 2:08 PM on March 29, 2009

My 8th grade biology teacher was Dick Moss. He was a really great teacher too.
posted by rabbitsnake at 2:15 PM on March 29, 2009

I believe that everyone mentioned in this thread is an actual person, who really has that unfortunate name, and that all of you actually do know those people personally! I really do!

Looks like she's married since.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:25 PM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

All kidding aside, my 6th grade teacher was Mrs. Titsworth.

She was very nice, and surprisingly I never heard anyone give her any crap about it.

One of the vice principals in my high school was named Mike Hunt.

I also have had a lot of teachers with funny names that aren't gutter-worthy. Mr. Turnipseed was worthy of amusement in a more benign sense, for example.

I started off in first grade with the generically named "Mrs. Smith," even.
posted by wierdo at 2:39 PM on March 29, 2009

I work with Myles Davis and James Brown. In different teams are guys with first names Shiraz and Pino. And one of the sales guys is Richard Payne.
For the non-believers, famous soutch coast real estate agent:
http://www.dickpaynerealestate.com.au/
posted by bystander at 5:47 PM on March 29, 2009

At my school we had a teacher called Mr. Pincock, pronounced 'pinko'. Amazingly, I don't think we ever really gave him any stick ... pin cock.

Also a friend of mine at university was studying to be a teacher - and he was doing his teacher training in one of the roughest schools in Manchester - his name: Dicken Hares. I do believe he lived in dread of his charges ever finding out his first name.
posted by JustAsItSounds at 6:06 PM on March 29, 2009

My uncle had a physics teacher at the jc by the name of Dr. Dakov Dakow.

Seriously.

Best D&D villain name ever.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 6:30 PM on March 29, 2009

OK, I will join the fray. In Petaluma CA there is a doctor named Richard Wacker. Yes, a big sign in front etc...
posted by jcworth at 8:39 PM on March 29, 2009

Anderson, Indiana has an RV seller named "Tom Raper".

Straightforward, that.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:43 PM on March 29, 2009

Oh, and at the company I work for there is a woman whose hyphenated last name is Brown-Bush. At some point you would think the hyphen concept would lose allure.
posted by jcworth at 8:43 PM on March 29, 2009

The best part is that Tom Raper plasters the entire state with signs insisting that you're in "Raper Country."

We've never been able to get over that, really.
posted by Scattercat at 9:21 PM on March 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

I worked with a guy named Dick Hurt. His brother, same last name, had the middle name Peter. Dick used to say his mother did a lot of drugs in the 60's.
posted by photoslob at 9:58 PM on March 29, 2009

Mr. Glascock - gym teacher. Kids called him pyrex - not to his face.
posted by rjc3000 at 12:25 AM on March 30, 2009

Meanest teacher in elementary school: Mrs Butt. And hers was enormous.
posted by [ixia] at 4:00 AM on March 30, 2009

The lunch lady in my elementary school was named Mrs. Gross. Irony like this is not lost on third graders, not by a long shot.
posted by Spatch at 5:19 AM on March 30, 2009

There was a person at my company named Randy Dickman. And I've always wondered what kind of childhood women with the last name Slutsky had.
posted by nooneyouknow at 8:10 AM on March 30, 2009

One of my barbers is Korean. His name? Im Ho Soon.
posted by daHIFI at 9:13 AM on March 30, 2009

Would this be a bad point to reveal that my given name is Look At My Giant Erect Penis?

Whenever I wear a name tag, it gets awkward.
posted by quin at 10:14 AM on March 30, 2009

I thought this might be an intentional joke. Then I found the station's apology.
posted by eye of newt

It's funny that he "took out" some space on the blog to aplogize. Wow, what's the going rate on a full page blog? Think of all the revenue he missed out on, posting that apology!
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 4:06 PM on March 30, 2009

Ok. A great assistant principal when I worked in NC was Mr. Randy Boob. When being interviewed for the position at the job fair, the principal introduced himself and then his assistants, with Randy being introduced last. It took every bit of willpower to not bwahha out loud at that moment.

He was married with three daughters. He was a gregarious guy always with a joke and a disarming personality.
posted by bach at 8:15 PM on March 30, 2009

Don't forget Dick Hardt. And Dick Pound. Dick Pound.
posted by mendel at 9:37 PM on April 6, 2009