{{short description|American comedian}} {{Infobox social media personality | name = Tom Mabe | image = | caption = Tom Mabe | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | occupation = {{Hlist|Comedian|YouTuber|prankster}} | nationality = | logo = | logo_caption = | pseudonym = | youtube_handle = MabeInAmerica | youtube_years_active = 2009–present | youtube_genre = {{Hlist|Comedy|pranks}} | youtube_subscribers = 948 thousand | youtube_views = 236 million | stats_update = October 21, 2025 | website = {{URL|https://www.tommabe.com}} }} '''Tom Mabe''' is an American comedian, YouTuber, prankster,<ref name="Smith2008">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Jacob|title=Vocal tracks: performance and sound media|url=https://archive.org/details/vocaltracksperfo0000smit|url-access=registration|accessdate=4 July 2011|date=2008-08-04|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25494-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/vocaltracksperfo0000smit/page/235 235]–}}</ref><ref name="Urbina2007">{{cite book|last=Urbina|first=Ian|title=Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmeONfsHrI4C&pg=PA100|accessdate=4 July 2011|date=2007-05-01|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-8050-8303-3|pages=100–}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/18/business/consumers-finding-ways-to-zap-telemarketer-calls.html?pagewanted=3&src=pm|title=Consumers Finding Ways To Zap Telemarketer Calls|last=Schwartz|first=John|date=18 December 2002|work=The New York Times|page=3|accessdate=4 July 2011}}</ref> and jingle writer.<ref name="Flippo">{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAgEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Tom+Mabe%22&pg=PT28 |last=Flippo |first=Chet |magazine=Billboard |date=11 December 1999 |page=56 |title=Revenge Sweet for Songwriter Mabe: Turns Telemarketer Pranks into Debut Virgin Nashville Set |accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Reece">{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Tom+Mabe%22&pg=PA25 |last=Reece |first=Doug |title=Popular Uprisings: Billboard's Weekly Coverage of Hot Prospects for the Heatseakers Chart |magazine=Billboard |date=18 October 1997 |page=25 |accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref>
==Career== Mabe, based in Louisville, Kentucky, achieved notability with his prank responses to telemarketing calls.<ref name="On the Media">{{cite news |url=http://www.onthemedia.org/story/130725-revenge-on-the-telemarketers/transcript/ |work=On the Media |location=New York, NY |date=11 July 2003 |title=Revenge on the Telemarketers |last1=Garfield |first1=Bob |first2=Brooke |last2=Gladstone |accessdate=2 March 2016 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307080920/http://www.onthemedia.org/story/130725-revenge-on-the-telemarketers/transcript/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Arak">{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/torturing-the-telemarketers/ |last=Arak |first=Joel |title=Torturing the Telemarketers |publisher=Associated Press |date=12 August 2003 |accessdate=2 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Urbina">{{cite book |last=Urbina |first=Ian |title=Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore |location=New York, NY |publisher=Times Books/Henry Holt and Co. |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmeONfsHrI4C&q=%22Tom+Mabe%22&pg=PA185 |isbn=978-0-8050-8303-3 |page=185 |accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Beato">{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBQ8UwCC_3AC&q=%22Tom+Mabe%22&pg=PA80 |author=Beato, G. |title=Off the Hook |work=Spin |date=June 2002 |accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Owen">{{cite web |url=http://www.leoweekly.com/2015/06/tom-mabe-to-perform-rare-hometown-shows-at-laughing-derby/ |last=Own |first=Brent |title=Revenge on the Telemarketers: A conversation with comedian Tom Mabe |date=25 June 2015 |work=Leo Weekly |location=Louisville, KY |accessdate=1 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Flippo"/><ref name="Reece"/><ref name="Farnham">{{cite news |last=Farnham |first=Alan |title=Fighting Telemarketers: When Do-Not-Call List Fails, These Strategies Work |work=ABC News |date=21 January 2014 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/best-ways-turn-tables-telemarketers/story?id=21534413 |accessdate=2 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="WAFF">{{cite news |author=WAFF-TV |title=Phone service system battles unwanted telemarketing calls |publisher=WAFF-TV |location=Huntsville, AL |date=20 November 2014 |accessdate=2 March 2016 |url=https://www.waff.com/story/26879961/phone-service-system-battles-unwanted-telemarketing-calls}}</ref><ref name="Cooper">{{cite news |last=Cooper |first=Anderson |work=Live from the Headlines |title=Interview with Tom Mabe |publisher=CNN |date=12 August 2003 |url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2003-08-12/segment/03 |access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref><ref name="Quinn">{{cite news |last=Quinn |first=Jennifer |title=Losing friends and alienating people |work=BBC News Online |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3631969.stm |date=19 April 2004 }}</ref> Upon receiving an unsolicited call, Mabe would engage telemarketers in an unexpected and often uncomfortable conversation while recording the incident.<ref name="Arak"/> One of his best known pranks of this genre involved convincing a telemarketer that he had inadvertently called the scene of a homicide.<ref name=Perman>{{cite news |last=Perman |first=Cindy |title=How to Sue a Telemarketer—And Turn the Tables on Them |publisher=CNBC |date=5 October 2010 |access-date=2 March 2016 |work=There Must be a Pony in Here Somewhere |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2010/10/05/how-to-sue-a-telemarketerand-turn-the-tables-on-them.html}}</ref><ref name=Owen/><ref name="How to deal with telemarketers by Tom Mabe">{{cite web|last1=Mabe|first1=Tom|title=How to deal with telemarketers by Tom Mabe|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7OgWcwgB50 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/-7OgWcwgB50 |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|website=YouTube|accessdate=14 July 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He has been featured on ''Drew & Mike in the Morning'' on WRIF numerous times and has released three comedy albums of his calls through Virgin Records Nashville. Mabe now operates a YouTube channel entitled "MabeInAmerica" onto which he uploads his pranks. His exploits now primarily focus on the candid camera style of pranking, although telemarketing related and other prank calls are still included on occasion.<ref name="Official YouTube Channel">{{cite web|last=Mabe|first=Tom|title=MabeInAmerica|url=https://www.youtube.com/mabeinamerica|publisher=YouTube|accessdate=14 December 2013}}</ref> In 2008, Mabe was the Executive Producer, writer, and talent for the CMT (Country Music Television) comedy series, ''Mabe In America''. Six episodes have been produced, including two "best of" shows that showcase his most popular features. He appeared in the second episode of ''CMT Comedy Stage''.<ref name=MTVbiogrpahy>{{cite web|title=Tom Mabe Biography|url=http://www.mtv.com/artists/tom-mabe/biography/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005091751/http://www.mtv.com/artists/tom-mabe/biography/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 5, 2013|publisher=MTV|accessdate=15 September 2013}}</ref>
Mabe also performs as a standup comedian. The current center of focus of his acts generally revolves around issues that Americans tend to find annoying including email spam, bad customer service, and high gas prices.<ref name=SelectComedy>{{cite web|title=Tom Mabe|url=http://www.selectcomedy.com/index.php/Learn-more-about-the-entertainers-we-work-with/tom-mabe-bio.html|publisher=Select Comedy|accessdate=15 September 2013|archive-date=4 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221146/http://www.selectcomedy.com/index.php/Learn-more-about-the-entertainers-we-work-with/tom-mabe-bio.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In December 2013, Mabe created a prank video, intended to discourage driving under the influence, in which he and several accomplices convinced a mutual friend with a history of multiple DUIs that he had just awoken from a 10-year coma resulting from a drunk driving crash. It became a viral video, earning over 28 million views on YouTube by October 2017.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mabe|first1=Tom|title=Epic Don't Drink and Drive Prank|website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfvPPPc_UTs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/zfvPPPc_UTs |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|accessdate=19 October 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==Discography== *''Revenge on the Telemarketers'' (1997) *''Revenge on the Telemarketers: Round One'' (2000) *''Revenge on the Telemarketers: Round Two'' (2000) *''A Wake Up Call for Telemarketers'' (2003) *''Mabe In America'' (2006) *''King of the Ring'' (2011)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.youtube.com/mabeinamerica MabeInAmerica] Official YouTube Channel *[https://www.tommabe.com/ Official site] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110606222318/http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/mabe_in_america/series_wildcard.jhtml?wildcard=/dynamic_templates/shows/center_templates/wildcard/mabe_in_america/tom_mabes_blog_main.jhtml&event_id=890363/ "CMT/Mabe in America" website] *[https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2003-08-12/segment/03 Transcript of attempt to raise money for homeless people]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabe, Tom}} Category:American male comedians Category:21st-century American comedians Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Prank YouTubers Category:YouTube channels launched in 2009 Category:Comedians from Louisville, Kentucky Category:YouTubers from Kentucky