History Main / MistakenForPrankCall

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!"?

** Inverted in one episode when Bart makes a genuine prank call for a "Hugh Jass" on a busy night -- only for a guy actually called Hugh Jass to be present to take the call.

* In ''Film/TheAmericanPresident'', Sydney (Annette Bening) gets a call just after talking to a male friend. The caller identifies himself as the president, and she tells him she doesn't believe him, then says some unflattering things about the president. Um... it's really the president.
-->'''Sydney Ellen Wade:''' Hello?
-->'''President Andrew Shepherd:''' Yeah, hi, is this Sydney?
-->'''Sydney:''' Leo?
-->'''Shepherd:''' No, this is Andrew Shepherd.
-->'''Sydney:''' Oh! It's Andrew Shepherd! Yeah, you're hilarious, Richard, you're just a regular riot!
-->'''Shepherd:''' No, this isn't Richard, this is Andrew Shepherd.
-->'''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.
-->'''Shepherd:''' Uh, this isn't Richard- ''[Sydney hangs up]'' This used to be easier.

* 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.

* ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': Mr. Delmar, witnessing Spidey fight a gang of robbers dressed in Avengers masks, calls the police saying "Spider-Man is fighting the Avengers in a bank on 21st Street."

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In "One Minute", Hank is sitting in his car when he receives a call on his cellphone from a digitally disguised voice warning 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. He initially thinks it's a prank call from his coworker Gomez, but he gets paranoid that it might not be 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.

** Not knowing he had the same name as an eminent scientist, California carpet cleaner Donald Cram was awakened by a phone call informing him of his Nobel Prize in chemistry. He initially believed it to be a prank.
*** As carpet cleaner Cram had a chemistry degree, this was not the first time he had been mistaken for the more eminent Cram.

* In the first story arc of ''LightNovel/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.

* ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' had it several times.

* There was once a ComicBook/MickeyMouse 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...

** 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 Nater".

* There was once a MickeyMouse 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...

* People with embarassing or {{Punny Name}}s, or with the [[NamesTheSame same name]] as a celebrity, are BlessedWithSuck regarding this here.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': 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.

* In one episode of Kenan & Kel, 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]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': 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 destroy the Powerpuff Hotline when he tries to call them again.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': 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.

* When Dean comes back to life in season 4 of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', he reaches out to Bobby. Bobby doesn't believe him and hangs up on him, threatening to kill the caller if they ever call him again.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In the Season 4 premiere, Dean rises from his grave and, desperate for help, calls his surrogate father Bobby, only for Bobby to say: