Top 10 Celebrity Prank Calls

Admit it. At least once in your life you picked a name out of the phone book and dialed the number for a harmless prank call that made you and your friends fall to the floor in fits of hilarity. (Mine was a guy named Weldon Rumproast -- a homerun in my first at bat.) Maybe you even had the presence of mind to record the call, for playback of a wild moment in youth, before moving on to more serious pursuits. Like your new job as receptionist for the Prince Albert Canned Tobacco Company.

But you’ll always remember the delicious thrill of that anonymous call on an unsuspecting (and hopefully funny sounding) victim of the oldest gag on the telephone. In fact, history recalls that the very first phone call was itself a prank, with Alexander Graham Bell buzzing his lab assistant and delivering the immortal line (sotto voce) “Mr. Watson. Come quick, I need you.” Later accounts of the tale included the convenient cover story that Bell had “spilled” acid on his pants. But the dial tone was set.

As technology progressed, so did the elaborate buildup to the joke. And one can argue that the art form has reached its zenith with the invention of the Celebrity Prank Call.

With the stunning array of inexpensive, high-tech digital editing tools now available to anyone with an Internet connection (and a high tolerance for profane cruelty) the old telephone prank call has risen to hilarious new levels. Any movie star who’s ever had a film released on DVD is fair game and devilish pranksters have gone to great lengths to update the old “running refrigerator” gag. Here are 10 of the best.

Arnold Interrogates Drunk Guy

Batman Cracks the Disappearance of Dr. Leslie Tompkins

Peter Griffin Books a Haircut

Ms. Cleo Gives a Free Psychic Reading

W.  Calls The Distributor About His Beer Delivery

Jack Knows She Can’t Handle the Truth

If Mr. Rogers Found Your Missing Cat

Jack Black Hits On the Hot Chick At the Front Desk

Radio Shack Guy Is Drilled By Sargent Hartman

Sulu Calls An Old Buddy Back In Arkansas

Homicide Detective Grills An Unlucky Telemarketer (a nod to the glories of good old fashioned analog)

Don’t Keep Al Pacino Waiting For His Limo

Hopefully we’ve given you a few ideas the next time a new phone book gets plopped on the doorstep. Oh, and by the way. Don’t bother trying. Weldon Rumproast changed his number. We already checked. Like, 14 times.