On the subject of crank calls.

[big_danny_t]

I have a confession to make: I really don't understand the appeal of crank calling. I have been amused by a few before, but mostly I just feel bad for the crankee. I never really laughed at Crank Yankers, never really laughed at Jerky Boys. This morning, there was a crank call on the radio where a woman was cranking a guy saying she had just ran

Comments

[final_destiny]

Seconded. Like you, I've heard a few prank calls that were funny but they were usually less mean and more just kind of weird (I remembered one about the cranker posing a recent thief who'd stolen a VCR - yes, I'm old - and was asking the victim/crankee how to program it). No, you're right, most of them just seem really mean.
I do recall an episode of Punk'd where the celebrity (it may have been Steve Austin, come to think of it) was clearly pissed after the affair. I legitimately wondered if he fired his manager or somebody after that. He did the whole 'I got punked' bit at the end but he was clearly not happy about it.

[labrynthos]

I'm ambivalent to them. There are times when they can be funny...but if you're cranking with something that's sensitive (e.g. Kate Middleton's hospital visit that resulted in a nurse committing suicide), or some kind of emergency, or danger and so forth...well...I just don't see how's that's a good idea. I guess it can be funny, but maybe we should collectively rethink what humor really is-and in this case-taking pleasure in someone else's confusion, fear, embarrassment, or misery isn't humor, it's schadenfreude.