No. 1 comedy album: Jim Florentine & Don Jamieson on ‘Terrorizing Telemarketers Volume 7′

You know how much you hate telemarketers? That's how much Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson love them. They've been terrorizing them for the past 20 years and their latest album "Terrorizing Telemarketers 7" is the number one comedy album in the country.

Both appeared on my New Jersey 101.5 show. Florentine explained its success:

"It's been hanging in there for some reason, I guess people like prank calls. They're evergreen. You can always listen to them. Nothing's topical or whatever. And it's just you know, it brings you back to when you were a kid."

It was during their time on the radio that Christina an ex telemarketer called in from Hazlet and told the story about how something was off, and she kept a guy on the phone long enough for the police to get there for a domestic violence situation. It prompted Florentine to jokingly ask "Did you make the sale at least?"

So what's it like putting TT7 together?

"We're like a band going into a studio," says Jamieson, "but instead of plugging in amps and instruments, we just plug a landline into the wall. We didn't do an album for like four years. We plugged the phone in and It started ringing immediately."

How do you get your ideas?

"It's always something they'll say usually that triggers Jim and I," says Jamieson. "We'll give each other a look and go OK, that's what we're gonna hone in on with this person. Like a guy called to sell solar panels on the new CD. And he said, I want to come out and take a look at your 'ruff.' Once you heard ruffs, we knew what we were targeting in on."

"And it's great because they say you're on a recorded line. They always tell you that. So I was breaking in as the guy's supervisor during that call. And I kept going, Leonard, this is your supervisor. It's pronounced roof. We don't say 'ruff' in this company. Let's get this sale going, buddy. Come on. And I just tortured him the whole time. He's like, it's not my supervisor. And Jim's like, 'Well, I'm on my cell phone.' So I'm coming from my end. And finally at the end of the call I just fire him."

Ever get threatened by a telemarketer?

"On one of the previous CDs, volume 5, a guy threatens to come down with a sawed-off shotgun and blow our head off. And there's another where I pretend I'm working on the phone line outside, right, but I'm connecting the wires and I could hear Jim's conversation with a telemarketer."

"And I come in and I listen, I'm just working on the line out here. But I can just hear your conversation, it sounds like this deal might be a scam. And just letting you know. Then the guy goes, 'you're butting in our business'. I go, 'listen, I'm with the phone company. I'm fixing the line. I don't like what I'm hearing. I know somebody who can give you a better interest rate on that mortgage.' And the guy threatens ... you're up on the pole. He goes you're lucky I don't come out there and knock you off the pole and get something with some part of my body. That's some physical harm."

When I asked what their favorite torture of all time was both agreed it was 'Fiance' from the new disc, which Jamieson refers to as their "Stairway to Heaven."

"This call is 18 minutes long. We get this guy so wound up in a situation that he psychologically dissects both Jim and I with such precision that he should have been awarded a master's degree in psychology."

If you've ever wanted to get even with telemarketers either in person or vicariously, you need to listen to "Terrorizing Telemarketers 7" which you can get here.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise only. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.

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