Early 1990s TV commercial - pay $2 a minute to hear a story that will make you cry

A TV commercial for a 900 number that makes people cry. (Via Filled with Chocolate Pudding!)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Anonymous

It was a $2 rickroll.
Anonymous

Nowadays we just google search for “liebot, what is the saddest thing?” and read an achewood comic.
Andy Baio

At $2/minute, I’m guessing it’s a very long, sad story.
Anonymous

Cant believe that no one noticed
Victoria Jackson at the 22 second mark?
She was in 80′s movies, Casual Sex, and also daffy blond on SNL in the 80′s.
cj
lesbianjesus

It’s a recorded message saying the minimum billable duration of this call is 30 minutes, then static.
Anonymous

Has anyone tried to call the number yet?
Anonymous

Is that Kimmy Robertson AKA Lucy from Twin Peaks at 20 sec?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeK6a07lW3khttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeK6a07lW3k
darren

The kids are too smart to fall for that kind of thing these days.

By the way, if you want to win an iPod and you know what color the sky is, text your answer to 48139. ($4.99 per text, additional charges may apply)
Metronicity

Oh God…that is killer. That is brilliant. So good it makes me want to cry. Thank you so much. I needed that.
jackm

This must’ve been the inspiration for everyone’s favourite fair-weather tune “The Crying Game”
(Apologies to Boy George. Or perhaps not.)

“I know all there is to know about the crying game
Ive had my share of the crying game

First there are kisses, then there are sighs
And then before you know where you are
Youre sayin goodbye

One day soon Im gonna tell the moon about the crying game
And if he knows maybe hell explain

Why there are heartaches, why there are tears
And what to do to stop feeling blue
When love disappears”
Anonymous

It’s like something out of a David Cronenberg movie.
Ratdog

Has anyone tried to call the number yet?
theroboticdan

Have you guys seen the “Spider-Man Crying Number”? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dG-4GZ1ytU
Anonymous

And the worst thing is the crying chap with the layered-and-feathered look is now mistaken for a mullet man. Two different styles, folks!

(so what if I kept my hair like that for far too long… shut up.)
milovoo

Obviously it’s the audio version of Li’l_Brudder. He wants to be a quarterback!
apoxia

Mullet man would be pretty spunky with a better haircut ;)
Anonymous

looks like her, but that’s not Victoria Jackson.
IWood

Ooo. Like a Bawwww thread that you pay for.
Anonymous

….but they AREN’T crying over the bill?
blueelm

I believe this was a comedy skit, no?
Anonymous

What makes people all over America cry? This ad’s bad acting.
Seriously, I’m in tears.
Category

@Anon-13

God dammit I hate you. I’ve gone MONTHS until your damn post!
Anonymous

I would love to know what the story was that made that strong mullet wearing man cry.
Anonymous

I’m very sure that is not Victoria Jackson at the :22 mark. It looks a little like her, but definitely a different woman.
pentomino

When I was growing up, TV shows were rife with 1-900 number ads. I never called them; I was too young, and the time it took to decide to ask my parents was enough time to reconsider and know better.

Now I have to comb YouTube for all kinds of 900 number ads. Apart from the obvious psychic hotlines, there was also an insult line, a “DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince” line that was all over Nickelodeon, and a few others that couldn’t have been anything but some recorded message if you actually called them. I’ve always been curious, but not $3.99 a minute curious.

I wonder if anyone thought to record their calls onto cassettes and post them online.

Of course, now we have SMS services.
sisterbeer

Clearly, it is a beautiful story about Jesus.
misterfricative

They’d market that differently these days: Are you man enough not to cry?
Rob Beschizza

Dial an insult! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUcznJNZc0o&feature=related
pinehead

It is kinda fun to imagine what’s on the other end of the line. I imagine it’s something terribly surreal, like maybe this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av0FLJaeu54

Or an endless loop of novelty Christmas songs performed by barking dogs or meowing cats.
Anonymous

“You’re paying $2 a minute for this callâ€¦ you’re paying $2 a minute for this callâ€¦ you’re paying $2 a minute for this callâ€¦”
nehpetsE

Its the pay per minute version of the onion cellar scene in “the Tin Drum”
nehpetsE

SOMEONE OUT THERE MUST STILL KNOW WHAT THE SAD STORIES WERE!

Maybe it was something more like this?

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20040119monday.html
Anonymous

Back then, it was $2 / minute; today, it’s free on fox news. Thank you glenn beck weepy bullshit hour!
Anonymous

In an alternate version of Fight Club- Jack watches this ad, calls the number, and cries. The end.
quesie

I once emcee’d a S/M “slave auction” where a celebrated author offered the opportunity of giving the lucky winner “15 minutes to make me cry.”

She was one tough cookie.
Anonymous

i think the story goes “Your call will cost $10,000.”
Anonymous

this made me lose the game
buddy66

Some time in the late 60s a wag at Bell Tel, Los Angeles, assigned a number to Dial-A-Prayer that spelled out GODDAMN. Yep: 213-GODDAMN got you a nice little recorded prayer. I remember it staying active for upwards to a year before it was removed. I won a couple bar bets with it.