South Park joke results in hundreds of misdialled prank calls
A commercial appeared encouraging streaming services to contact co-creator Trey Parker to purchase the rights to "The Scott Malkinson Show".
Fans of South Park got a little bonus of sorts this week during an all-new episode when a number flashed onscreen as part of a joke — but it didn't work out so great for at least one person.
During "Basic Cable," the penultimate episode of season 23, a commercial appeared encouraging streaming services to contact co-creator Trey Parker to purchase the rights to "The Scott Malkinson Show" and other faux shows featured within this season of South Park.
An actual working Fairplay, Colorado, number flashed onscreen, and sure enough, when called, recording plays of Parker offering up the rights to multiple "shows."
Fans got a kick out of the bit, posting on social media while the show was airing to confirm the number worked and share what they heard.
However, for one Fairplay resident, the joke seemed to be on them instead.
In a Facebook post, the unidentified person said hundreds of misdials had flooded their work number.
"Over the past two days, I have gotten 200+ phone calls and people leaving me random messages," the FB post reads. "We just figured out the connection today when one of the guys that called actually engaged in conversation instead of giggling like a teenage girl and hanging up."
The person, who had not seen the episode but said they were intrigued to watch, made sure to include the actual number featured on the show.
Their post was shared by the official South Park Twitter account, which made sure to again post the correct joke number to call.