History Main / PhoneyCall

* The keep up the ruse that she is a married Baroness with a child, Eve has to pretend she is talking to her, and that she is sick from smallpox. One of the funniest scenes from the film, ''Film/{{Midnight}}

* In the [[http://marcel-oehler.marcellosendos.ch/comics/ch/1989/01/19890123.gif January 23, 1989]] ''CalvinAndHobbes'' strip, Calvin momentarily pretends to be calling Susie about homework as his mom passes through when he's actually trying to purchase power tools.

* ''{{Garfield}}'': Jon once talks about a date with the automated time service.
* In another ''CalvinAndHobbes'' strip, Calvin lies to his babysitter, Rosalyn, about feeling sick. Rosalyn sees through this and calls the automatic time service, pretending that she's speaking with Calvin's doctor. She then tells Calvin that Doc wants Calvin to take a teaspoon of castor oil and lie down all evening.

* In an episode of ''{{CSI}}'', Grissom is taken off a case and Nick covertly calls him to discuss the investigation; when caught, he pretends he's talking to his girlfriend, leaving Grissom somewhat puzzled on the other end.

* ''{{Hustle}}''. In "Father of the Jewels", Sean is with the mark when he calls Mickey and starts acting like he is talking to nursing home. Mickey is initially confused but quickly figures out that Sean is letting him know that they urgently need to set up a nursing home for the next stage of the con.

Do not confuse with a PrankCall

** safe face by not letting everyone know that Charlie hung up on Bob out out of frustration.

* In the first of the [[TheBlackwellSeries game series 'BlackwellLegacy' ]], Rosa needs to communicate with her ghost partner Joey that she needs him to use one of his abilities while in the general area of someone who isn't supposed to know about Joey being a ghost. Rosa gets around this by supposably making a call to Joey, although no one is on the other side of the line, but it lets her voice her request without arousing suspicions.

* In the first of the game series ''BlackwellLegacy'', Rosa needs to communicate with her ghost partner Joey that she needs him to use one of his abilities while in the general area of someone who isn't supposed to know about Joey being a ghost. Rosa gets around this by supposably making a call to Joey, although no one is on the other side of the line, but it lets her voice her request without arousing suspicions.

** safe face by not letting everyone know that Charlie hung up out out of frustration about Bob.

* '''Type C''': Bob keeps talking after Charlie has hung up. Depending on the situation, Bob could either be trying to show off to bystanders by shouting an insult into the speaker which he otherwise wouldn't have dared to if Charlie was still connected. Or Bob is trying to safe face by not letting everyone know that Charlie hung up out out of frustration about Bob.

Occurs in three varieties:

!!Type A: Bob isn't actually talking to anybody
Bob hasn't dialed anyone but pretends he's talking to Charlie. This can fail if:
* the phone isn't working
* the phone rings while he is talking
* Alice is a cable girl who came to connect Bob's previously unplugged and non-functional telephone to the network.

!!Type B: Bob is actually talking to Carol, but he pretends it's Charlie.
The comedy here is built on the fact Carol initially can't understand what's going on. It rarely fails, but in cases where it does, it can fail several ways:
* Carol screws everything up by walking into the room and asking "Why did you just call me Charlie?"
* Carol says something so surprising or infuriating on the phone that Bob can't help but respond, calling her Carol.

!!Type C: Bob keeps talking after Charlie has hung up
Depending on the situation, Bob could either be trying to show off to bystanders by shouting an insult into the speaker which he otherwise wouldn't have dared to if Charlie was still connected. Or Bob is trying to safe face by not letting everyone know that Charlie hung up out out of frustration about Bob.

!!Type D: Bob is talking to an automated system
such as:
* a time service
* his automated banking system ([[ForInconveniencePressOne hilarity]] may [[HilarityEnsues ensue]] if it uses voice recognition)

Regardless of variety, all three attempts can fail if:

Occurs in three varieties.

* Bob isn't actually talking to anybody (Bob hasn't dialed anyone but pretends he's talking to Charlie). This can fail if:
** the phone isn't working
** the phone rings while he is talking
** Alice is a cable girl who came to connect Bob's previously unplugged and non-functional telephone to the network.
* Bob is actually talking to Carol, but he pretends it's Charlie. The comedy here is built on the fact Carol initially can't understand what's going on. It rarely fails, but in cases where it does, it can fail several ways:
** Carol screws everything up by walking into the room and asking "Why did you just call me Charlie?"
** Carol says something so surprising or infuriating on the phone that Bob can't help but respond, calling her Carol.
* Bob is talking to an automated system, such as:
** a time service
** his automated banking system ([[ForInconveniencePressOne hilarity]] may [[HilarityEnsues ensue]] if it uses voice recognition)

[[AC:Real Life}}
* [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2807312/Domestic-abuse-victim-drunk-boyfriend-beating-calls-police-house-keeping-attacker-dark-pretending-order-pizza.html An abused woman used this to call 911 on her boyfriend by pretending she was ordering a pizza.]] Luckily for her, the operator picked up on her ploy quick, and played along, allowing the police to arrive and arrest the boyfriend.

* There are many smartphone apps to facilitate realistic sounding fake calls, which cause the phone to "ring" at a scheduled time, display a designated contact name and picture, and playback a recorded script for the cellphones often have [[TruthInTelevision a "fake call" option]].

Very, very often a ComedyTrope, and as such it almost never succeeds, Alice usually finds out the truth almost immediately and tends to misinterpret it.

* Modern cellphones often have [[TruthInTelevision a "fake call" option]].

* Done dramatically in {{Obsessed}}. Lisa tricks the Charles' babysitter into letting her into the house by pretending to hold a phone conversation with Sharon. Justified a bit when Lisa pretends that Sharon is upset with the babysitter, causing her to decide against taking the phone herself.

* At one time there was a series of advertisements for a building society, starring StephenFry and HughLaurie. In one, Laurie calls their telephone banking service. Fry, whose character [[AnythingYouCanDoICanDoBetter always has to go one better]], claims his bank has one too, calls it, and requests his balance -- though we see at the other end of the line there is only a telephone ringing in an empty office.

* Laurie does this in ''[[Literature/TheSpiderwickChronicles Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: A Giant Problem]]''. Nick's [[AdultsAreUseless dad]] doesn't want [[StrangeGirl Laurie]] and [[UnfazedEveryman Nick]] going to the beach without supervision, so Laurie fakes a call to [[AloofBigBrother Jules]] to ask him to babysit them. She tells their parents that Jules agreed, and they are none the wiser as she and Nick go off to hunt giants with [[Literature/JackTheGiantKiller Noseeum Jack]].

* In ''TheMuppetsWizardOfOz'', Toto has declared himself to be Dorothy's agent, and is apparently calling someone about a gig. Dorothy's reaction: "That isn't even a real phone!"

* ''BreakingBad'' makes particular use of this whenever Walt talks to Jessie in the first two seasons.

* In the TommyAndTuppence short story collection ''Partners in Crime'', Tommy has a hidden button on his desk at the International Detective Agency. If he wants to impress a client or end an interview early, he presses it, and Alfred the office boy phones ''him''. He then answers the phone and pretends to be speaking to an important government minister or something.

* Laurie does this in ''[[OurFairiesAreDifferent Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: A Giant Problem]]''. Nick's [[AdultsAreUseless dad]] doesn't want [[StrangeGirl Laurie]] and [[UnfazedEveryman Nick]] going to the beach without supervision, so Laurie fakes a call to [[AloofBigBrother Jules]] to ask him to babysit them. She tells their parents that Jules agreed, and they are none the wiser as she and Nick go off to hunt giants with [[Literature/JackTheGiantKiller Noseeum Jack]].