History Main / PhoneyCall

* In order to keep up the ruse that she's a Baroness with a child, Claudette Colbert's character has to pretend to talk to her on the phone. Of course, no one is on the other line. One of the funniest scenes from the film, ''Film/{{Midnight 1939}}''

** Save face by not letting everyone know that Charlie hung up on him.

[[caption-width-right:217:Your doctor says you should lie down all evening.]]

[[quoteright:217:[[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rosalyn.png]]]]

->'''Scratch:''' Uhh... BlatantLies never with you.

->'''Scratch:''' Uhh... [[BlatantLies never with you]].

* In the Literature/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.

->'''Scratch:''' Eh, just do what I do. Create a fake portal and pretend the Ghost Council's callin' ya.\\

* In ''Series/Community'', the first episode of the final season has the dean fake a phone call to avoid a conversation twice. The first time, he goes through all his pockets trying to find his phone despite apparently having left it in his office. He later snatches someone else's phone for a fake phone call to avoid answering a variation of the same question.

* On the SoapOpera ''Series/TheCity'' (a reworking of ''Series/{{Loving}}''), Molly is on the phone with her mother. She puts it down to turn off the kettle, and at this point, the audience hears the operator's message "If you'd like to make a call please hang up and try again. If you need help, hang up, and then dial your operator. . ." Molly returns and proceeds to ''pick up the phone and continue talking the way she was before'', thus revealing herself to be completely delusional--and the SerialKiller who has been offing various characters for the past several months. In a later scene, her boyfriend Danny realizes this when he picks up the extension while she's talking to her "mother", only to hear the same operators message.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Used in "Connie and Frankie". Mr. Conklin pretends to call his wife Martha over his disconnected office phone, to ''order'' her to let the (female) Frankie stay as their house guest. The scheme fails as Martha shows up to visit Mr. COnklin at school.

** In "Lone Gunmen", a member of TheMafiya calls Oliver Queen with information. Oliver answers in Russian, then asks his friend Tommy Merlyn for some privacy because it's a Russian model he's dating. Tommy muses that he now knows why Oliver is taking the news that [[TheBroCode Tommy had slept his ex-girlfriend Laurel]] so calmly.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In "Birds of Prey", Detective Lance calls the Arrow on the BatPhone, only to be surprised [[ShortDistancePhoneCall when Oliver Queen's mobile phone goes off in response]]. Fortunately Oliver had programmed his mobile to make it look like his mother is calling, and quickly leaves the room to roast [[MissionControl Felicity Smoak]] for transferring the call.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In "Birds of Prey", Detective Lance calls the Arrow on the BatPhone, only to be surprised [[ShortDistancePhoneCall when Oliver Queen's mobile phone goes off in response]]. Fortunately Oliver had programmed his mobile to make it look like his mother is calling, and quickly leaves the room to answer the call.

* In the [[http://marcel-oehler.marcellosendos.ch/comics/ch/1989/01/19890123.gif January 23, 1989]] ''ComicStrip/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.