Favorite on-air Tom moves

[masterofsparks]

We devote a lot of discussion to our favorite JW calls and sayings, but I’d like to mention a few of my favorite things Tom does during the show:

1. When someone calls with a song request and Tom promises to get it on the air, only to play “Heat of the Moment” or “Porcupine Pie” or something similar
2. When someone mistakes Tom for the call screener and tells what they’d like to talk to Tom about and Tom pretends to transfer them to wrong department after wrong department.
3. When Tom, in the middle of a call, adds echo to his voice (a modulator, maybe?) and poses as another caller.


What are your favorites?

[samir]

I like it when someone calls back, like Herbie last night and gets as far as:

"You hung up on me last ti..."

[The Hinterlands]

The four-five fake topics he tosses out before announcing the real one.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

The four-five fake topics he tosses out before announcing the real one.

Hate Pit spin-offs

[erika]

I'm really enjoying his a-capella singing and scatting and whatnot. Last night's little medley towards the end of the show was fabulous.

[The Hinterlands]

The four-five fake topics he tosses out before announcing the real one.

Hate Pit spin-offs

Yeah, I wasn't sure if it had become an established enough trend to mention, but it's made me laugh every time.

[AaronC]

When Tom disagrees with a caller and supports his argument by pretending to look it up on the internet (i.e. Shirley Jones wrote the Lottery, The Cubs beat the Yankees in the 2000 World Series).
 

[Pat K]

I doubt he does it on purpose, but I always laugh when this sequence of events happens:

1. A caller gets tom really riled up about something
2. The call ends.
3. Tom picks up another caller, who introduces him/herself and preambles their call a bit.
4. Tom's blood is still up, and he begins angrily finishing thoughts from the last call, and the current caller has to just hang on the line awkwardly and wait for Tom to cool down and redirect the conversation.

It's fun to hear how different callers handle it - some try to join in, some try to ignore it, some hang up, some hang on the line for minutes on end. It gets me every time.

When Tom disagrees with a caller and supports his argument by pretending to look it up on the internet (i.e. Shirley Jones wrote the Lottery, The Cubs beat the Yankees in the 2000 World Series).

This is unbelievably funny every time it happens. And it always seems to work!

[erechoveraker]

Lately, it's been when Tom James'd James. There's such satisfaction to it on so many levels, I love it.

[Pat K]

Lately, it's been when Tom James'd James. There's such satisfaction to it on so many levels, I love it.

Jamesing James during the otherwise DOA April Fools show might be my favorite best show moment ever. The show went from 0 rpm to 100000 rpm in 3 seconds.  I literally almost had to pull my car over.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

Lately, it's been when Tom James'd James. There's such satisfaction to it on so many levels, I love it.

"Is this James?  What's wrong with you, you sicko?"

i die every time

[Mason]

I like it when someone calls back, like Herbie last night and gets as far as:

"You hung up on me last ti..."

Another version of that is when a caller says something like "You're gonna hang up on me, right?" and Tom denies it, then lets them talk for another few seconds. Then right when their guard is down, he hangs up. Not even a GOMP, just an unceremonious silence while he moves on to the next call. It's like poetry, only good.

Anytime a caller sets themselves up to be hung up on is my favorite moment of any show. Maybe it's hard to be that aware when you're on the phone, but as a listener I can practically see Tom's finger reaching for the button well in advance. But I'm powerless to stop it. I can only listen in amazement as the caller is foisted by their own petard.

[Matt]

I like it when Tom makes it so that a caller can't hear him speak. The caller goes on some ridiculous spiel and Tom talks over them and makes fun of 'em and stuff.

A good recent example would be when Michael K. and Henry were going back-and-forth, and Tom said he might as well just leave and let them do the show. There's a better example that I can't remember right now; some caller went on a five-minute rant and Tom was letting him have it. It's wrong, but so funny.

Hopefully some of that made sense.

[moonshake]

I don't think he's done this recently, but I love hearing Tom talk to himself.

[gravy boat]

I like "Mike's doing his own show out there" if Mike has any sort of conversation with a caller or laughs.