Tom Mabe

Tom Mabe
Residence Louisville, Kentucky
Occupation Comedian, YouTuber, Prankster
Website http://www.tommabe.com

Tom Mabe is an American comedian, prankster,[1][2][3] and jingle writer.[4][5]

Career

Mabe, based in Louisville, Kentucky, achieved notability with his prank responses to telemarketing calls.[6][7][8][9][10][4][5][11][12][13][14] He kept recording equipment near his telephone, and upon receiving an unsolicited call would engage the telemarketer in an unexpected and often uncomfortable conversation while recording the incident.[7] One of his best known pranks of this genre involved convincing a telemarketer that he had inadvertently called the scene of a homicide.[15][10][16] He has been featured on Drew & Mike in the Morning on WRIF numerous times and has released three comedy albums of his calls through Virgin Records Nashville. Mabe now operates a YouTube channel entitled "MabeInAmerica" onto which he uploads his pranks. His exploits now primarily focus on the candid camera style of pranking, although telemarketing related and other prank calls are still included on occasion.[17] In 2008, Mabe was the Executive Producer, writer, and talent for the CMT (Country Music Television) comedy series, Mabe In America. Six episodes have been produced, including two "best of" shows that showcase his most popular features. He appeared in the second episode of CMT Comedy Stage.[18]

Mabe also performs as a standup comedian. The current center of focus of his acts generally revolves around issues that Americans tend to find annoying including email spam, bad customer service, and high gas prices.[19]

In December 2013, Mabe created a prank video, intended to discourage driving under the influence, in which he and several accomplices convinced a mutual friend with a history of multiple DUIs that he had just awoken from a 10-year coma resulting from a drunk driving accident. It became a viral video, earning over 20 million views on YouTube by July 2014.[20]

Events

Tom Mabe is also known for attending an event at which telemarketers gathered in Washington D.C. with the hopes of discouraging new laws that would prevent telemarketing. Mabe booked a room in the same hotel in which they were staying and called the telemarketers in their rooms at 3 a.m. to pretend to sell them sleeping pills.[19][8][7][21]

Discography

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Jacob (2008-08-04). Vocal tracks: performance and sound media. University of California Press. pp. 235–. ISBN 978-0-520-25494-7. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  2. ↑ Urbina, Ian (2007-05-01). Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore. Macmillan. pp. 100–. ISBN 978-0-8050-8303-3. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  3. ↑ Schwartz, John (18 December 2002). "Consumers Finding Ways To Zap Telemarketer Calls". The New York Times. p. 3. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  4. 1 2 Flippo, Chet (11 December 1999). "Revenge Sweet for Songwriter Mabe: Turns Telemarketer Pranks into Debut Virgin Nashville Set". Billboard. p. 56. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  5. 1 2 Reece, Doug (18 October 1997). "Popular Uprisings: Billboard's Weekly Coverage of Hot Prospects for the Heatseakers Chart". Billboard. p. 25. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Garfield, Bob; Gladstone, Brooke (11 July 2003). "Revenge on the Telemarketers". On the Media. New York, NY: On the Media. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 Arak, Joel (12 August 2003). "Torturing the Telemarketers". Associated Press. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  8. 1 2 Urbina, Ian (2005). Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore. New York, NY: Times Books/Henry Holt and Co. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-8050-8303-3. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Beato, G. (June 2002). "Off the Hook". Spin. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  10. 1 2 Own, Brent (25 June 2015). "Revenge on the Telemarketers: A conversation with comedian Tom Mabe". Leo Weekly. Louisville, KY: Leo Weekly. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Farnham, Alan (21 January 2014). "Fighting Telemarketers: When Do-Not-Call List Fails, These Strategies Work". ABC News. ABC News. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  12. ↑ WAFF-TV (20 November 2014). "Phone service system battles unwanted telemarketing calls". Huntsville, AL: WAFF-TV. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Cooper, Anderson (12 August 2003). "Interview with Tom Mabe". Live from the Headlines. CNN. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Quinn, Jennifer (19 April 2004). "Losing friends and alienating people". BBC News Online. BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Perman, Cindy (5 October 2010). "How to Sue a Telemarketer—And Turn the Tables on Them". There Must be a Pony in Here Somewhere. CNBC. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  16. ↑ Mabe, Tom. "How to deal with telemarketers by Tom Mabe". YouTube. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  17. ↑ Mabe, Tom. "MabeInAmerica". YouTube. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  18. ↑ "Tom Mabe Biography". MTV. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  19. 1 2 "Tom Mabe". Select Comedy. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  20. ↑ Mabe, Tom. "Epic Don't Drink and Drive Prank". Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  21. ↑ Hammann, Joshua (12 August 2003). "Comedian answers call of telemarketing revenge". Associated Press. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
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