Customer Reviews

A Wake Up Call for Telemarketers (Bonus Dvd)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A Wake Up CAll for Telemarketers takes Tom Mabe's last record and goes to new hysterical heights. Anyone who has ever answered a telemarketers phone call can live vicariously through Mabe's antics. The calls where Mabe stays at the same hotel as a telemarketers convention and proceeds to harass various rooms at the wee hours of the morning is comic genius.

I found out about this CD when Tom Mabe was a guest on the Walton and Johnson radio show -- the bits they discussed were funny enough that I had to track the disc down. It's absolutely hysterical. Perhaps I'm drawing a bit of sadistic pleasure from this, since the victims are telemarketers and therefore creatures I find hard to sympathize for, but this is a lot funnier to me than other crank call CDs. I just wish there was more on the disc, the running time is a bit short. Also, the song at the end of the album, "Pick One," wasn't really that funny, and had nothing to do with the theme of the rest of the disc. It's inclusion seemed pretty nonsensical to me.

I was surprised to discover that this set also includes a DVD with a few Mabe stand-up routines and about 20 minutes of live antics previewing "Mabe in the USA" (I couldn't tell if this was a TV show or special he has in the works). The "Mabe in the USA" segment was funny -- some hidden camera stuff, some pranks... a lot of the same kind of humor as you'd see on shows like "Jackass," only not as crude or potentially dangerous. Much funnier, in my opinion.

Between the CD and the DVD, overall, I think this is a great value.

Chances are you've received an Email with a Tom Mabe joke call attached. Tom Mabe lives in the Louisville, Kentucky area and has a good ol' boy sense of humor that actually goes a long way. I find myself listening to comedy albums only once as the joke has been told and is over. The advantage to Tom Mabe's collection is you have a CD full of jokes and a DVD with "Candid Camera" type scenes that are more risqué than television.

The CD contains great jokes on the phone regarding a man who wants life insurance on his wife - right away, another phone victim hears how Tom really treats those obnoxious Holiday Carolers and phone calls where he is in the bathroom. Half of this CD is an attack on tele-marketers who he not only berates, but checks into a hotel full of telemarketers and subtly harasses them all night long (sales for sleeping pills, wake-up calls, etc.). They are funny the first time, so maybe pass it along to a friend.

An added treat is the DVD which contains many funny clips including Tom at the Kentucky Derby naked wearing only a men's urine receptacle in the front. It seems the fine people of Kentucky can have fun after several beers. Then there's the scene of two guys just relaxing fishing when Tom and his assistant show up in radioactive suits and give them dire warnings. The ending is hilarious. The blind pilot walking around the airport is clever as is a pizza delivery boy who sees two men dressed in S&M outfits. Of course, the girls (and guys) in bikinis for a car wash proves everyone can take a joke.

If you collect comedy albums, this is a good one, but personally I'll pass mine on. I listened, watched and enjoyed, but its better with company. The only comedy album I've watched alone or with company repeatedly is Sam Kinison, just because he is so outrageous. Tom Mabe comes close to crossing the line, but always leaves you laughing. For a CD and a DVD it is a good deal for those who like audible and visual humor.

Tom, I will buy each and every CD you ever put out, even if it's just more phone calls made at 3AM to telemarketers. Can I please pay your long-distance bill?

If you thought the jerky boys were funny doing their outrageous prank calls, then this CD is a must! Tom Mabe does a rendition on the prank call as telemarketers call him and the prank is played on them. Clean good fun, this cd is a must buy!

Tom has once again, proved why he is the best comedian out there. Tom crashes a telemarketing convention at 3am and starts calling telemarketers in their hotel rooms at 3am. Pure genius!

As someone who has suffered in the past from the attentions of telemarketers and now goes to some lengths to block and avoid them (I do hope the Do Not Call Registry IS allowed to take effect from October), I really empathize with Tom Mabe. Some of the calls recorded here really hit the mark and had me in tears of laughter. That said, at least one is alarmingly mean in spirit and execution. Not necessary, Tom, not necessary - you can, and in the other tracks do, make your point without stooping to that.

The guy kind of crosses the line to obnoxious from funny. A couple of them are OK but it gets old fast. He's a one trick pony.
Save your money - download a few of the more interesting ones for free and see if you like it. Then re-consider buying the cd. As an example, he calls people at 3Am and they get mad. Ha Ha Ha. The first one (round one) a little more creative.

What started out as a good game of giving telemarketers a taste of their own medicine is now just tom Mabe's obnoxious prank calling. Tom Mabe has done a 180 degree turn around and become the very person he despised in the first place.

By making prank calls to people in their hotel rooms at 4 AM, Mabe is worse than any telemarketer who ever targeted him. There is no excuse for what he is doing now. He's just an obnoxious kid trying to make money by harrassing innocent people. Don't support him.