Touch-Tone Terrorists

The Touch-Tone Terrorists is the name of a series of prank phone calls comedy CDs. .

About

The Touch-Tone Terrorists are actually one man, Pete Dzoghi [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1203943/ Pete Dzoghi ] ] who also goes by the name of "RePete". He purchased a series of 1-800 numbers including ones that were one digit different than actual customer service numbers for companies such as (apparently) UPS, Jiffy Lube, an auto insurance "claims support line", a psychic line, a pen manufacturer, and others. [http://junkyardwillie.com/webpages/faq.htm Frequently Axed Questions ] ] Using a Gentner SPH-3A phone hybrid and a Yamaha SPX-90 electronic pitch transposer to alter his voice over the phone, he would take incoming calls from people who had misdialed the number and were under the assumption that they had dialed the right number. He created a series of characters, all of which were voiced by him.

At one point UPS tried to stop the sale of the Touch Tone Terrorists CDs through a series of letters demanding, among other things, that all inventory of Infestation Records' CDs be "delivered" to UPS lawyers "for destruction", because UPS believed that many of the TTT calls involved customers who thought they were speaking to UPS customer service representatives. Infestation Records refused to comply on the basis that the CDs are a protectable parody. For legal reasons, all subjects give their permission to have their voices on the CDs; the subjects were "paid well." .

RePete was also a frequent guest on Howard Stern's radio show, usually crank calling "Howard Stern" staff and Wack Pack members, such as Crazy Alice, High Pitch Eric, and Joe the Godfather [ [http://www.laweekly.com/news/features/the-merry-prankster/3583/ LA Weekly - News - The Merry Prankster - John Whalen - The Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles ] ] Two phone calls were also featured in the first season of "Crank Yankers". A movie which is based loosely around his characters (called "Lost In Transit") is in post production. [ [http://www.lostintransit.com/ Lost In Transit, the Junkyard Willie movie ] ] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870164/]

The webmasters of Prank Call Central have dedicated their site to RePete, and call RePete the " [g] reatest prank caller of all time" [ [http://www.prankcallcentral.com/ Prank Call Central ] ] . Xtreme Prank Radio, the web's prank call radio station appears to hold a similar view: Xtreme Prank Radio's logo is a photograph of a billboard advertising the Touchtone Terrorists. [ [http://www.live365.com/stations/yehti7 Online Comedy Radio Station - Live365 Internet Radio - Xtreme Prank Radio ] ] TTT also fare well on the amazon.com rating system, with the tapes receiving between 4 to 5 stars each out of a total of 5 stars. [ [http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_m/105-9258471-8250016?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=touchtone+terrorists Amazon.com: touchtone terrorists: Music ] ]

The Touchtone Terrorist Characters

*Junkyard Willie: A gravelly-voiced African-American man with a bad attitude. He is known for launching off into litanies of curse words and Ebonics, then filibustering during the arguments that ensue. Frequently threatens to "pee in yo gas tank". Also often uses variations of phrases that include "jive turkey," "talkin' trash" and "old bag." Junkyard Willie, also known as Willie Robinson, is a former drill sergeant. Willie is from Compton California, and used to be an operator of a junkyard where he would shine hubcaps.

*Jim Bob: A stuttering retarded hillbilly in a wheelchair with poor customer service skills and a low IQ.

*Blade Jones: A homeless drunk, he readily admits to customers that he regularly uses drugs and alcohol at work. He often vomits while customers are on the phone ("Sorry, I just had a little too much to drink"), and calls prospective employers looking for a job.

*Stu Jaimison: The arrogant, corporate big shot. He is unsympathetic to disgruntled customers, frequently telling callers that they are "a drop in the bucket" to his company.

*Joe: The nice guy. Irate customers will often complain to him because he has sympathetic ear, after which he'll "transfer" the call to Jim Bob or Junkyard Willie, sometimes cyclically until the caller becomes sufficiently exasperated and hangs up.

*Vladimir: A rude Russian who gets under people's skin ("You sound like stupid American").

*Old Man Louie Pellagrini: A senile 90 something year ("I love booze and broads"). Known for attempting to get booze delivered to his hospital room, or calling in search of his lost colostomy bag.

*Tic-Tac: A Mexican-American who annoys customers by interrupting them in Spanglish.

*Clarence Washington: An Ebonics talking African-American man talks a whole lot of mumbo jumbo!

The CDs

*Appetite for Disruption: This was the first CD in the series. Released in 1998 it featured 18 outbound prank calls.

*A Permanent Lapse of Reason: This was the second CD in the series. Released in 1999 it was the first CD in the series to feature the inbound prank calls. This CD had a total of 21 calls which 5 of them were inbound calls.

*Customer Service Disasters: This was the third CD in the series originally released in 2000 with 16 calls on the CD. This CD was then re-released in 2005 with 2 new prank calls and new CD cover art. By popular demand 17 of the 18 calls on this CD feature inbound wrong number calls for various businesses.

*Customer Service Crackpots: This was the fourth CD in the series. Released in 2002 this was the first CD in the series that did not go by the name Touch-Tone Terrorists. It went by the name The Junkyard Willie Prank Call Tapes 4. This was because this CD was released very shortly after September 11, 2001 attacks and with the issue of Terrorists the creator of the CD decided to change the name for this. This CD featured 22 prank calls.
*Customer Care Creeps: This is a future release and will be the fifth CD in the series. Estimated release date is 2008 or 2009. It has been confirmed that this CD will go by the name Touch-Tone Terrorists. [ [http://www.junkyardwillie.com/webpages/news.htm#ttt5 Touch-Tone Terrorists news, Crank Yankers, more ] ]

References

ee also

*The Howard Stern Show
*Howard Stern
*The Wack Pack
*Crank Yankers
*Prank call

External links

* [http://www.junkyardwillie.com/ Touch-tone Terrorists official Web Site]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=24327482 Junkyard Willie's Myspace page]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=50588363 TTT Myspace site with four tracks]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6SlENuTAZA "Corrupt Admissions Director" on Youtube] A fan's video, with the "Corrupt Admissions Director" track as background.
* [http://www.lostintransit.com Homepage of the lost in transit movie ]