Line #72 Main/MistakenForPrankCall


1	->'''Gilligan''': Operator, listen to me, listen to me! We're shipwrecked, you see, and we found this telephone line, and we tapped into it. And we're on a deserted island, and there's no telephone booth or even a phone!\
2	'''Operator''': Why do I get all the nuts? ''(disconnects the line)''
3	-->-- ''Series/GilligansIsland'', "You've Been Disconnected"
4
5	A PrankCall is a prank call. Except when it isn't.
6
7	Phone calls can often be quite tricky things. Because the person on the other end of the line can't see you, it is often necessary to [[MrExposition explain who you are and in which situation you are right now]]. And because of the same reason, the person at the other end has to [[TakeOurWordForIt take your word for it]].
8
9	But what if your situation is a truly bizarre one? What if it is very hard to convince other people, that {{Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot}}s really ''exist'', and that a group of them is in your house ''right now''? Or what if you are a celebrity, and the message you want to deliver is: "I want ''you'' for my next album/movie/whatever!"?
10
11	Well, the persons called will [[CassandraTruth simply refuse to believe you]]. They will think that you are just a prankster with a sick/unfunny sense of humour. They will either hang up without any further words, or will angrily snark at you, and ''then'' hang up.
12
13	Can result in an OhCrap moment if the called persons notice their mistake afterwards, fearing that they may have insulted someone important, or that they screwed up the opportunity to accept an unique offer. Though if they are lucky, the caller will realize what went wrong and try again.
14
15	Related to CassandraTruth; YouHaveToBelieveMe, YourCostumeNeedsWork, FunnyPhoneMisunderstanding, TheOperatorsMustBeCrazy. If it's a 911 call, it can overlap with PoliceAreUseless. May involve a person with an unfortunate RealJokeName. May also involve an EvilPhone.
16
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19
20	[[foldercontrol]]
21
22	[[folder:Anime]]
23	* In the first story arc of ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Touma desperately calls a number of research facilities to try and get more info on Index's perfect memorization ability. He finally gets somebody on the line only to be yelled at for making a prank call about magic so late at night.
24	* The first time Haru calls Tsurezure's house in ''Manga/{{Ojojojo}}'', his sister hangs up the phone the second Haru refers to herself as his girlfriend (he hadn't told anyone in his family that he was dating).
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:Comics]]
28	* There was once a [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse Mickey Mouse]] comic wherein Mickey was terrorized by the villain via phone. At one point, when the phone rings ''again'', Mickey has had enough, picks up the receiver, and angrily yells at the caller before the latter can say a word. Too bad it was Minnie calling this time...
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Fanfiction]]
32	* ''Fanfic/DekuIThinkHesSomePro'': Nedzu becomes suspicious when over 15 different recommendation letters come in asking to allow Izuku a chance to take the Recommendation Exam, having apparently dealt with students with hacking skills and tech quirks to fake their way into enrollment. Aizawa confirming all of them were legitimate takes Nedzu by surprise.
33	* ''Fanfic/YouHadYourChanceToHelpYearsAgoAndYouBlewIt'': Paris initially tried to contact the Justice League for help with Hawk Moth, but because [[WorldHealingWave Ladybug’s abilities]] undid all the damage, [[spoiler: Guy Gardener]] found no proof of the attack and assumed it was a prank call. All further distress calls were blocked by [[spoiler:him]] and it took four years for the rest of the Justice League to learn about the attacks.
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Film]]
37	* In ''Film/AirForceOne'', when the President calls the White House from a staffer's satellite phone, the White House operator naturally assumes it is a prank call...until the President tells her to [[PhoneTraceRace trace the call]] and look at where he's calling from.
38	* In ''Film/TheAmericanPresident'', Sydney Ellen Wade gets a call just after talking to a male friend. The caller identifies himself as President Shepherd, and she tells him she doesn't believe him, then says some unflattering things about the President. Um... it's really the President.
39	-->'''Sydney Ellen Wade:''' Hello?\
40	'''President Andrew Shepherd:''' Yeah, hi, is this Sydney?\
41	'''Sydney:''' Leo?\
42	'''Shepherd:''' No, this is Andrew Shepherd.\
43	'''Sydney:''' Oh! It's Andrew Shepherd! Yeah, you're hilarious, Richard, you're just a regular riot!\
44	'''Shepherd:''' No, this isn't Richard, this is Andrew Shepherd.\
45	'''Sydney:''' Oh! Well, I'm so glad you called, because I forgot to tell you today what a nice ass you have. I'm also impressed that you were able to get my phone number, given the fact that I don't have a phone. Good night, Richard.\
46	'''Shepherd:''' Uh, this isn't Richard- ''[Sydney hangs up]'' This used to be easier.
47	** This is directly followed by an OhCrap moment. To resolve the issue, and verify his real identity, Shepherd calls her again, but tells her to immediately hang up and call the White House telephone operator to be put through to him.
48	* In ''Film/{{Andhadhun}}'', someone calls the police saying that Inspector Manohar was the one who dumped Mr. Sinha's body. The police officer receiving the call dismisses this as a crank call.
49	* In ''Film/DieHard'', John [=McClane=] uses the radio he steals from the villains to contact the police on an emergency frequency and call for help. The dispatcher doesn't believe him, especially after confirming that there had already been a "prank" fire alarm from the same location.
50	* In ''Film/EightLeggedFreaks'', Chris has this happening to him after he calls to report the town being overrun by the giant mutant spiders. Made all the more painful considering he had to fight past the spiders, climb on to the roof and ascend to the top of a radio tower in order to get a signal to make the call. Adding further insult to injury, [[TheCavalryArrivesLate at the end of the film the police finally arrive]]. They had not believed the reports of the spiders but believed Harlarn's theory that the assailants were extraterrestrial in nature.
51	* In ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'', Rooney gets a phone call from Sloane Peterson's father saying that her grandmother has died. Knowing that Sloane is Ferris Bueller's girlfriend, and that Ferris is skipping out on school, Rooney assumes that Ferris is pranking him. So he insults the "father", demanding that he bring the grandmother's body up to the school for confirmation. Then Ferris calls line two. [[spoiler:''Then'', as Rooney stammers an apology to Sloane's father, a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] occurs: we discover that it was Ferris' buddy Cameron who was making the phone call. So it's a prank call mistaken for MistakenForPrankCall.]]
52	** Played straight when Jeannie calls 911 after she finds Dean Rooney snooping around her house. When the police arrive, Rooney is gone, so they assume Jeannie was prank calling and arrest her.
53	* In ''Film/HotFuzz'', Angel thinks that a call from Peter Ian Staker (P.I. Staker, to explain why), is a prank call. He was ridiculed in a local newspaper and became a bit of a laughing stock. To be honest, reporting a missing swan that ran away from a swan castle sounds ridiculous. Moreover, Nicholas stays at a hotel called "Swan" and his room is called "Castle". When the caller introduces himself as P.I. Staker, Nicholas gets really angry and loses it (''"Piss taker? Come on!"''). GilliganCut to him interviewing one Mr. Staker whose swan really did run away.
54	* In ''Film/KillerKlownsFromOuterSpace'' Officer Curtis Mooney dismisses a sudden barrage of calls from the entire town reporting Klown attacks and a radio call from his direct superior requesting him to call backup as the Terenzi Brothers (somehow) convincing the entire town to prank him [[ItsAllAboutMe so he will decide to quit being a police officer]].
55	-->'''Officer Mooney''': [''over the radio to Officer Dave Hanson''] OK, let me get this straight. You say there are clowns, and you've seen them. OK Dave, that's it. Screw you and your college flunkies. I've had enough of this from you and everyone else. I know what you're trying to do: Break me down, drive me outta the force. Well, it's going to take a hell of a lot more than a lame prank like this to get Curtis Mooney to throw in his badge. So [[AtomicFBomb FUCK YOU!]] Over. [''Shuts down radio'']
56	* In ''Film/MajorLeague'', Jake is sweating it out in the Mexican league when someone from the Cleveland Indians calls him to join their team this year. Jake doesn't believe the call is real.
57	-->Is that you, Tolbert?! This isn't very funny, you know. I'm hung over! My knees are killin' me and if you're going to pull this shit at least you could've said you were from the Yankees.
58	* In the film ''Film/SmallSoldiers'', the protagonist's love interest is trying to call the police to help with the army of killer toys. At first she says that it isn't a prank call, and then says that it ''is'' a prank call, and asks if they'll come arrest her. They hang up.
59	* ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': Mr. Delmar, witnessing Spidey fight a gang of bank robbers dressed in Avengers masks, calls the police saying "Spider-Man is fighting the Avengers in a bank on 21st Street."
60	* In ''Film/ViceVersa'', when Judge Reinhold's character races to answer the pay phone that one of the kidnappers is calling to, he is breathing so hard on his end for about less than a minute that the female kidnapper thinks it's a pervert on the phone until Judge's character reveals who he is.
61	* In ''Film/GodToldMeTo'', a man calls the police station, saying another attack will occur during the St. Patrick's Day parade. He is assumed to be a prank caller, and everyone except Pete is surprised when the murders happen on schedule.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
65	* In ''Series/ModernFamily'', when Claire decides to bring back her and her husband's sexy roleplaying alter egos Clive and Juliana, she phones Phil as Juliana, and he tells her she has a wrong number and hangs up.
66	* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYoeoEE3ww a sketch]] featuring a trio of billionaires who keep calling up random phone numbers, trying to give away their MASSIVE YACHTS. They can't understand why nobody wants them...
67	* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'':
68	** Del Boy is on a ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' style quiz show, while Mickey Pearce harasses Rodney with prank calls. When Del uses his "[[{{Lifelines}} phone a friend]]" to call Rodney, he initially assumes it's Mickey, but then realises. Unfortunately, he gives the wrong answer. Later, Del gets a phone call from the producer saying the question was worded poorly, and he's won after all. Absolutely certain that this is Mickey, he says to give it all to charity.
69	** In the episode "Dates", Del has earlier pranked Albert with a policewoman/stripper and is expecting some kind of retaliation. When he is told at the end by a policewoman that he is under arrest for some fairly far-fetched sounding reasons, he automatically assumes that the prank is being repaid. When he tries to assist the 'stripper' to undress, a definite OhCrap moment results...
70	* On ''Series/AllMyChildren'', as Will tries to force himself on his wife Hayley, she barricades herself in the bedroom and frantically calls her ex-boyfriend Brian for help. Unfortunately, Brian's wife An-Li picks up. Already unconcerned, when Will picks up the extension sounding completely calm, An-Li is now certain that Hayley's actions are just some drunken attempt to get Brian back and hangs up.
71	* In ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', Sam and his friends are on the look out for a prank from a rival bar owner. When a slightly hammy and unlikely-looking 'fire safety inspector' appears, they send him packing covered in foam. Then Rebecca casually remembers to mention that she is expecting a fire safety inspector to call at some point later that day.
72	* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe reaches Emily's stepmother's cell at the Ross/Emily wedding. When she explains she can't be there because "I'm pregnant with my brother's triplets" the stepmother asks "Am I on the radio?"
73	* ''Series/GilligansIsland'':
74	** A transoceanic telephone cable washes ashore onto the island. They tap into the cable and somehow manage to call a mainland US telephone operator. When they frantically yell things like "Help, we're stranded on a desert island!!" , the operator just bemusedly hangs up.
75	** The castaways also once play out a low-tech version of this trope involving a lost homing pigeon. They send it back to the mainland over and over again with pleas for help and keep getting replies from the owner, who thinks he's found a new pen pal with a great sense of humor.
76	* Not exactly a call, but in TheStinger for an episode of ''Series/HannahMontana'', Jackson and Robbie Ray have undergone a prank war on each other and hear the doorbell ring, but they're so paranoid they think it's another prank. It turns out it was a group of guys giving them a giant $10,000 check, who decide to go next door.
77	* ''ChallengeAnneka'' routinely had Anneka Rice phoning up tradespeople to help out with that week's project, and being met by suitably star-struck responses. In one out-take, the recipient of the call steadfastly refused to believe that the call was genuine, leaving Anneka to make increasingly desperate pleas that she was the real Anneka Rice.
78	* Subverted in ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', when Chuck has to call in to reported a stolen [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Delorean]] with the license plate "Demorgan". The guy on the other side of the line thought it was a prank call, but Chuck managed to talk him around.
79	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Hitchhiker" has a woman being chased by a strange creep. Near the end, she finds a phone to call her mother, but the mother says she thinks it's a prank since her daughter [[DeadAllAlong died two weeks ago]], and it is there she finds out [[TheGrimReaper who that creep was]].
80	* In ''Series/ImAlanPartridge'', the hotel receptionists have been taking phone messages for Alan from a prank caller giving joke names, and mistake Bill Oddie for one of them.
81	-->'''Alan:''' [Reading from a list] "Mr. G. String... Mr. Nick Hers... Y. Front... Mr. T. Osser"? That doesn’t even work! "Mr. B. Oddie"? This is Bill Oddie! It’s not a prank call. Why have you put it on there?
82	-->'''Susan:''' Well, we thought it looked like "body".
83	-->'''Alan:''' What’s rude about a body?
84	-->[{{beat}}]
85	-->'''Sophie:''' Tits?
86	* ''Series/GetSmart''
87	** A public phone booth turns out to be a DrowningPit. Smart has to get the operator to put through a call to CONTROL because he doesn't have any coins, but can't get the operator to believe that he's drowning in a telephone booth.
88	-->'''Smart:''' Operator, this is a matter of life and death!
89	-->'''Operator:''' That's what they ''all'' say.
90	** In another episode Smart has faked his death, and can't get Larrabee to believe it's really him when he calls for help. Larabee hangs up, but help arrives anyway after Larabee traced the call and discovered it came from a ShoePhone.
91	* In season 5 of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', when Oliver is finally allowed to call home to let his mother Moira know that he's still alive, she thinks it's a cruel joke and admonishes him for stirring up her grief five years later. He has to talk fast to keep her from hanging up on him.
92	* In ''TVSeries/FastNLoud'' the secretary of the tuning shop gets numerous calls of someone who says he is Dale Earnhardt Jr. who wants a Chevrolet Nomad to be tuned. She thinks its a prank call and hangs up everytime being very annoyed. But somtime later the tuning shop gets a Package of Mountain Dew as a present. Guess what? The Caller WAS Dale Earnhardt Jr.!
93	* Comes up fairly often in ''Series/LondonsBurning'', most notably in one episode where the Fire Brigade get multiple ''actual'' prank calls about a local school being on fire. Blue Watch quickly figure out that one particular group of students are involved, including Kevin's little brother, but can't prove anything. [[spoiler: Turns out the kids are hoping that after a few repetitions of this, [[CryingWolf the fire crews will be less than prompt about showing up]] when they set the place on fire for real.]]
94	* ''Series/ADifferentWorld'' Jalessa calls her husband to tell him that she's gone into labor. Unfortunately, because all she can do is gasp and moan on pain, he thinks it's an obscene phone call and hangs up in disgust.
95	* ''Series/DifferentStrokes''. Drummond gets a phone call from an extortionist and initially thinks it's his buddies pranking him. . . until the [[ICanSeeYou man describes his outfit]] and that he's sitting on the sofa with his kids.
96	* In one episode of ''Series/KenanAndKel'', the duo thinks a clown at Kyra's party is the same one that robbed Kenan's workplace so they call the cops and all they say is "We have a bad clown in our living room" they understandably think it's a prank call. [[spoiler:Turns out it wasn't the same clown and the only reason the cops came was because they caught the real one who robbed the store and wanted an identification]]
97	* An episode in season two of ''Series/CobraKai'' has a prospective customer ring Johnny Lawrence and inquire about whether or not his dojo accepts genderfluid/genderqueer students. Dumbfounded, Johnny questions whether or not they're prank calling.
98	-->''"Gender-what? Hey, is this a prank call?"''
99	* In one episode of ''Series/MurphyBrown'', Murphy gets kidnapped by radical environmentalists trying to get publicity for their cause. Unfortunately, everyone they try to contact to tell about this either thinks it's one of Murphy's pranks, or [[YouCanKeepHer has been pranked by her recently and as such is glad to see her go]]. In the end, Murphy ends up [[PityTheKidnapper annoying them to the point where they let her go to get rid of her]].
100	* A street story on ''Series/SesameStreet'' has Oscar the Grouch trying out his new cell phone. He annoys Gina by repeatedly calling her at Hooper's Store. After two or three such calls, Gina thinks she's scolding Oscar, but it's actually Mr. Handford calling.
101	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In the Season 4 premiere, Dean is inexplicably resurrected and dumped in the middle of nowhere. Desperate for help, calls his surrogate father Bobby, but Bobby thinks it's a demon imitating Dean to be cruel. He threatens Dean and hangs up on him.
102	-->''Call again, and I'll kill ya.''
103	* Happens in ''Series/TheXFiles'', episode "Bad Blood". A drugged Mulder is trying to get Scully's help, but he's incapable of speaking intelligibly. She dismisses his call as a prank, commenting "Creep".
104	* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': In "A New World Part One", Barry Allen is stranded in the year 2000. He tries to call Professor Martin Stein for help getting back to the present. Even when Barry displays knowledge of his research, Stein thinks this is a prank call and hangs up on him.
105	* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In "One Minute", Hank is sitting in his car when his phone rings. A digitally disguised voice warns him that two men are on their way to kill him and that he has only [[TitleDrop one minute]] to get ready before they reach him. Hank initially thinks it's a prank call from Gomez, but as he's calling Gomez's cell to chew him out, he gets paranoid that the warning might be legitimate, and starts mentally preparing. It is fortunate that he does, because the the warning allows him to narrowly fend off a murder attempt by two cartel hitmen.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Literature]]
109	* In one of ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' books, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect end up upon Earth [[TimeTravel in the near past]]. Arthur suggests to warn their past selves about the impending [[EarthShatteringKaboom destruction of the planet]]. Ford however doesn't consider this to be a very good idea. He proceeds to perform an improvised miniature sketch, in which he is Arthur calling himself. The past Arthur hangs up as soon as the future Arthur tells his name.
110	* The novel ''The Dorset Disaster'' has this-when people start making frantic phone calls that the nuclear reactor has exploded, the first couple are dismissed as pranks.
111	* Invoked in ''Abomination'' by Robert Swindells. The main character, Martha, is trying to trace her older sister, Mary, who was disowned by their [[TheFundamentalist Christian fundamentalist]] parents after she gave birth out of wedlock so that she can be reunited with her son. (The child in question has spent his whole life caged in the cellar.) Martha enlists the help of her only friend, Scott, who finds Mary on an internet chat room. However, he is unable to contact Martha directly and phones her home to leave a seemingly nonsensical message; he does so three times so that Martha's father will both remember the message and be angry enough to repeat it in front of Martha.
112	* ''Literature/HarrysMad'': Madison[=/=]Mad calls the police from the house being used by his birdnapper, the criminal Silver Ware, but when he describes himself as about to escape through the chimney and being only nine inches tall, they think it's a prank. Late in the book though, it's revealed they actually ''did'' follow up on the tips he gave them, and as a result both Silver Ware and his contact (who handles stolen birds) have been arrested.
113	* ''Literature/MarthaSpeaks'': In the first book, there are two instances of this; first, when Martha annoys her family with her [[MotorMouth non-stop talking]], she feels so guilty that she stops eating alphabet soup, rendering her unable to speak. When Daniel calls the vet and tells her his dog won't say a word, the vet mistakes it for a prank call and hangs up. Later, when the Lorraines' house is being robbed by the Cat Burglar, Martha calls the police, but because she hasn't eaten any alphabet soup in a long time, all she can do is bark. The operator asks "What is this, some kind of joke?" and hangs up.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
117	* In ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}},'' we cut from [[ButtMonkey Charlie Brown]] having a romantic moment with [[OfficialCouple Peggy Jean]] to him on the phone.
118	-->'''Charlie Brown:''' And then she kissed me, [[InnocentProdigy Linus]]!\
119	''(At van Pelt home, we see that it's actually [[BigSisterBully Lucy]] whom he's talking to)''\
120	'''Lucy:''' What is this, an obscene phone call?!
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
124	* The calls in ''Series/CrankYankers'' are pranks in RealLife, but apparently genuine in the puppets' universe.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Radio]]
128	* When the crew of ''Radio/CabinPressure'' take a booking from the Princess of Liechtenstein, both Martin and Douglas are initially convinced that it's a hoax by the other.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
132	* Christopher Titus mentions in one of his albums that, during a family ski trip, the Newark police called him to say his father had died. Titus first didn't believe him and then told the officer to poke his dad to check if he was faking.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Video Games]]
136	* ''VideoGame/NineOneOneOperator'': One of the situations is a phone call from someone ordering pizza. [[spoiler:The caller had actually been kidnapped, with the person forced to speak in code in order to avoid spooking their captor. Failing to realize this and hanging up results in them getting killed.]] ''112 Operator'' has a similar situation [[spoiler:with a caller pretending to speak to her mother; ignoring this one turns out even worse for you, since a child is involved.]]
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
140	* In ''VisualNovel/AtomGrrrl'', this happens when Big E calls Jessica for help [[spoiler:after murdering a cop]].
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Web Comics]]
144	* In the ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' story ''Space Savers'', Chuck Goodrich calls Doc's brother Sean "Dark Smoke Puncher" [=McNinja=] for help when Doc is attacked by a ghost manifesting as a cloud of dark smoke. Sean thinks they're making fun of his ninja name, and hangs up.
145	%%* ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' had it several times.
146	* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': At the beginning of Chapter 10, Kokoro receives a [[EvilPhone threatening phone call]], and initially asks the voice on the other end if this is some kind of joke. However, when the voice mentions her mother -- who [[spoiler:was killed in a monster attack shortly after her daughter was born, and whose connection to her was covered up by the CDD]] -- she has no choice but to take it seriously.
147	* A variant in ''Webcomic/TheClassMenagerie'': When the gang is trapped in a dorm about to be overrun with ravenous tropical ants, the 911 operator mistakes it for a confused spring break drunk's call.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Western Animation]]
151	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Moe Szyslak receives prank calls [[RunningGag so often]] (mostly by Bart), that he sometimes mistakes genuine calls for pranks, such as when an important book author wants to invite him to a literary conference.
152	** Inverted in one episode when Bart makes a genuine prank call for a "[[FunWithHomophones Hugh Jass]]" on a busy night -- only for [[RealJokeName a guy actually called Hugh Jass]] to be present to take the call.
153	-->'''Bart:''' Look mister, I'll level with you. This was a prank call that sort of backfired and I'd like to bail out now.\
154	'''Hugh Jass:''' ''[Genially]'' Alright; well, better luck next time! ''[Hangs up]'' What a nice young man.
155	** In the episode where Homer has to go undercover with the FBI regarding Fat Tony's dealings, his "making bones" ceremony involves bringing Moe out for Fat Tony to exact revenge on because the latter mistook Fat Tony's requesting to speak with a [[TheMafiya Russian associate]] for a prank call. It's not completely Moe's fault, however, as aside from Moe being pranked call so often, the person Tony wanted to speak to also had the UnfortunateName of "Yuri Nator".
156	** In "My Sister, My Sitter", Lisa tries calling the hospital to get an ambulance for an unconscious Bart, but they refuse to oblige because Bart had earlier make a prank call to them.
157	-->'''Nurse:''' Look, we've already been down there tonight for a sisterectomy, severe case of butt rot and a leprechaun fight. How dumb do you think we are?
158	** In "Homer the Smithers", Mr. Burns tries to call Smithers but doesn't know how telephones work and mistakenly calls Moe's Tavern and Moe thinks Mr. Burns is pranking him.
159	** Inverted in "Lisa's Rival" when Bart makes the old "is your refrigerator running" call to Skinner, who confirms that his fridge ''wasn't'' running and thanks him for sparing him quite a bit of spoilage.
160	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': In "Telephonies", the Gangreen Gang prank the titular heroes three times into believing that Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins, and HIM were all committing crimes, prompting the girls to erroneously pummel them (two of them, at least). After the trio of villains discover that the Gangreen Gang had been prank calling the girls to beat the trio up for crimes they didn't do, they give the gang [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown a good beating]], and the Mayor arrives just in time to witness the physical altercation. He calls the girls to inform them of this, but because the Gangreen Gang had pranked them so many times, the girls don't believe him and just return to bed with Buttercup using her EyeBeams to vaporize the Powerpuff Hotline when he tries to call them again.
161	* TheStinger for one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'' had Principal Cuttler receive a phone call that he had just won a new car. However, he doesn't believe it, thinking that it's a prank call (earlier in the episode, he had been prank-called by Riley).
162	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' episode "Vision Quest" has most of the main cast trapped in a stuck elevator. When Ray realizes that his phone has reception and calls 911, the operator assumes he's making either a prank or frivolous call and disconnects him. Then when he calls back she has the number blocked.
163	* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' has a variant of this. In "Pranksters", Rocko learns that his grandmother has arrived to O-Town and needs somebody (who isn't [[TheDitz Heffer]]) to pick her up from the airport. So he calls the other citizens, who all instantly refuse, thinking that Rocko is trying to pull a prank on them given the holiday during the timeline of the episode.
164	* In the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' SynchronousEpisodes "Trains, Planes, and Dude-Mobiles" and "Sticks and Amy's Excellent Staycation," Sonic and his friends are mistaken for a wanted criminal called the Bike Chain Bandit (who they had picked up in their Dude-mobile earlier) and thrown in jail. Sonic uses his OnePhoneCall to call Amy and beg her to bail them out, but Amy, who is busy fighting Belinda alongside Sticks, brushes it off as one of Sonic's pranks and hangs up.
165	* On ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Vladimir Putin gets a call from Kyle asking for a space trip to the moon. Putin asks for $20 million but Kyle unable to afford that claims it's still urgent because they need to get a whale back to his family on the moon immediately (after being played with by whale's home aquarium employees through the intercom). Putin yells at his officials that it's just another prank call ''again'' and thinks then U.S. president George W. Bush is on the other end.
166	* ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'': In "#[=DCSuperHeroBoys=]", General Zod and his minions escape the Phantom Zone and terrorize Metropolis while Superman is away. Supergirl calls Superman and asks for help, but [[CryingWolf she had apparently given him false alarms about Zod before]], so he hangs up on her.
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder:Real Life]]
170	* People with embarassing or {{Punny Name}}s, or with the same name as a celebrity, are BlessedWithSuck regarding this here.
171	* For that matter, the celebrities themselves probably too.
172	** Various celebrities have been discussing examples of this on Late Night {{Talk Show}}s, having been called by X other celebrity to be in a film and thinking that it's one of their friends pranking them.
173	* Can of course also happen to you if the ''place'' you are calling from has a name with one of the above mentioned properties.
174	** One example was told in a news story regarding a town/neighborhood somewhere that was named WesternAnimation/SouthPark. It was considering changing its name after at least one genuine emergency call to 911 was ignored by the operator who thought that the call was a prank.
175	* If you're doing research on the [[UranusIsShowing seventh planet from the sun]], it's probably better not done via phone calls, as they'll almost assuredly be mistaken for these.
176	* Some of the seat-mounted phones in commercial airlines have a short lag between when the user speaks and when the call recipient hears the words. It's possible to hang up on a "prank caller" during that lag time (and annoy the person calling tremendously, those phone calls are expensive).
177	* Happened in the case of the Travis the chimp attack - the 911 operator initially, for the first few moments, thought the call was a prank.
178	* Also a known problem with trained service animals calling 911 - nowadays, many databases have an alert that pops up saying there's a trained service animal at the location, but it can still happen. Ditto with the 'accidental 911 call, animal really in trouble' scenarios that pop up every now and then.
179	* Has also happened in cases where a child has called 911. Operators know that children often do play on the phone, and will sometimes mistake a real call for one of those.
180	* Arnel Pineda, the current lead singer of Journey, initially believed he was being pranked when Neil Schon emailed him and invited him to audition after seeing his videos on Youtube.
181	* Eddie Music/VanHalen admitted that he had initially thought that the request from Music/MichaelJackson to contribute a guitar solo on one of his songs (Beat It) was a prank call.
182	* This is apparently a frequent phenomenon among Nobel Prize winners when they first receive their calls from Stockholm. So much so that the committee now tries to [[AvertedTrope to deliberately avert it]] by having colleagues who know the winner personally take part in the call.
183	** Not knowing he had the same name as an eminent scientist, California carpet cleaner (and holder of a chemistry degree) Donald Cram was awakened by a phone call informing him of "his" Nobel Prize in chemistry. He initially believed it to be a prank.
184	* A woman in Australia called a koala rescue organization and said that her family had just found a live koala in their Christmas tree. The operator initially thought it was a prank call. [[https://globalnews.ca/news/7499125/koala-christmas-tree-australia/ It wasn't.]]
185	* This was a frequent occurrence whenever residents of South Yorkshire's infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butt_Hole_Road Butt Hole Road]] attempted to order a delivery or a taxi, and was one of the many, '''many''' reasons why they successfully lobbied to have the road renamed Archers Way in 2009.
186	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MistakenForPrankCall