Robin Cooper's Song for the Lord (phone prank video)

[Video Link]

Robin Cooper is the phone-pranking, letter-pranking alter-ego of British writer/producer/funnyguy Robert Popper. I've blogged about his sillywork before ("Look Around You," "Friday Night Dinner," "Timewaster Letters"), but this new stunt is pretty great.

I interviewed him last year for Jesse Thorn's podcast: Listen here.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: Entertainment • pranks • robert popper • robin cooper • video

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Robert

Don’t get me wrong — Robert Popper is hilarious. I just couldn’t seem to interpret this as anything but a slightly ditzy old Robin singing a slightly ditzy literal song. It does what it says on the tin. Am I missing some veiled subtext? It all just seemed rather… kindly.
- blueelm
  
  To me those are the ones that are funniest. I don’t know, I’m accustomed to the rude upsetting pranks, but some times it’s funny to see people react to some one they just kind of feel sorry for, or who is just kind of silly but weirdly sincere and honest. The humor I guess lies in the fact that he’s able to make people seem to either just get fed up with how sad he is or genuinely feel bad for him while we know, of course, it’s a prank. In this one it’s just really simple, yeah, but it’s funny to me because it creates such a visible awkward moment.
  
  But… if you have to explain a joke…
Navin_Johnson

Is that the same televangelist who cures Robin of his “buttocks” pain? That’s a fabulous one.
Awesomer

I really like this one. The singing starts about 1:15.
cepson

How is this a “prank”? He sounds like a daft, lonely old lady, and the show’s hosts politely patronize her. What should they have done? Started calling “her” a no-talent twit? Acted offended about something that wasn’t really offensive? Maybe they should have treated what they imagined to be a simpleton offering a childish song, like a child. Which is pretty much what they did. If this had been a real person, the whole bit would have seemed kind of sadly sweet. But since it’s supposed to be a “prank”, it just makes the prankster look like a dick.
- lumis
  
  Robin? Is that you?