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"Gettin' paid to make people laugh is like a dream come true! I've
been
doin' it for free for more than 40 years and this sure feels good."
The
words of a man who is living the American Dream, Willie P. Richardson.
His standup comedy show consists of his unique brand of Southern Humor,
including hilarious stories about his upbringing, his family, and his
show
business career.
These days, he's known on radio stations throughout America as "The
Phone
Prankster". Mr. Richardson is a native of Nacogdoches, in the" Piney
Woods"
of East Texas. Although he says he was raised in a neighborhood so
tough
"They had pictures of missing policemen on milk cartons," he admits
that
he's had fun "messin' with folks" all of his life. He began pulling
"telephone pranks" on friends and relatives starting at about the age
of
12. He says that his first prank was "almost his last"...Young
Willie
called a "mean, stingy, hateful" neighbor, told her he was with the
phone
compoany, and asked how much telephone cord she had coming out of her
wall
(this was in the days of permanently-attached phone cords)..She replied
"It
looks like about 6 feet".. Willie said "Well, everybody's supposed to have 9 feet of cord...I just called
your
neighbor and she says she has 12 feet, so she must've pulled 3 feet of
your
cord over into her house."
"She was furious that her neighbor had stolen her cord, "Willie
said.....She
asked what the phone company would do about it and Willie replied, "To
save
a service call, you can help me and we can do it right now"...He then
proceeded to tell her to drag a chair up to and facing the wall, wrap
the
cord around her wrist, put her feet against the wall, count to three,
and
pull as hard as she could...."The line went dead...It scared me to
death"!
The lady had pulled the cord completely out of the wall. "One of my
cousins
told on me and I spent the rest of the summer mowin' yards to pay for
the
real phone company to come out and fix it". Mr. Richardson says that
was
the only "mean" prank he's ever pulled on anyone.
Until the age of 47, Willie had a number of occupations, including;
delivering furniture, driving a milk truck, landscape work ("mowin'
yards"), and working as a molder in a brass valve factory. His
recording
career began by a twist of fate one day when he stopped by to see a
friend
who owns a local record company. Willie had "phone pranked" his
record
producer friend several times in the past . His friend told him that
he
wanted him to make a prank call to a nurse at the local hospital.
Willie
made the call from the record company studio with the tape machine
rolling.
The premise of the call was that the hospital had sent the wrong baby
home
with his daughter and that he would like to return and exchange it for
the
correct one. The call was so funny that Willie and his friend took it
to
the hospital for the "victim" and all of her friends to hear. They
were
literally crying tears of laughter.
Within one week Willie had recorded his first album. A number of
local
radio stations began airing the recordings. After testing the
recordings
locally, copies were mailed to stations nationally. The response from
stations and from the public was tremendous. Willie has now recorded
13
albums and his wife, Lucretia, has released her own collection of
phone
pranks. More than one million copies of their recordings have been
sold
and he was recently named "Comedian of the Year" at the annual Cammy
Awards Show at The Albabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, SC.
In response to many requests for a video featuring his phone pranks,
Willie
P. and cast recently completed a project entitled "The Phone Pranks
Video"
and it was released in the summer of 2004. In March of 2006,
Richardson
recorded a new DVD in Sheffield, Alabama, entitled "Live At The Ritz"
featuring his standup comedy show. He has appeared on stage with many
major entertainers, including; Percy Sledge, Ray Price, Gene Watson,
Don
Williams, Moe Bandy, Joe Stampley, Mel Tillis, The Platters, Ronnie
Milsap,
The Supremes, and The Temptations.
Willie and Lucretia spend several hours each week on the phone with
radio
stations participating in interviews. They also make some prank calls
each
week to use on future album releases. They appear in concert more
than
100 times yearly throughout America. His latest CD, "The Phone
Gangster",
is currently being aired on radio stations throughout the country.
Their humor is "clean," though some may call it "politically
incorrect".
They take pride in the fact that their albums are enjoyed by people of
all
ethnic and age groups and are being played on all types of radio
stations,
including; Country, Blues, Gospel, Top 40, Rock, MOR, and News-Talk.
XM
Satellite and Sirius Satellite Radio also feature Willie's recordings.
"We
don't try to make fun of people or demean anyone...We're just havin'
harmless fun with folks...Most of the calls we make are set up by a
friend
or relative of the victim, and we have to call them back and ask them
to
sign a release so that we can use their voices on our albums. We've
not had
anyone refuse to sign yet", Mr. Richardson states.
Willie and Lucretia plan to continue making comedy albums and
performing
concerts "For as long as people want to see and hear us....We love
meetin'
our friends and fans in person". They always take the time to sign
autographs and visit with fans at intermission and at the conclusion of
their concerts. "Without our fans, I'd still be mowin' yards!", Willie
says.
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