Trolling techniques

Tony has been trolled in many different ways over the ages. Here is an incomplete list of the ways Tony has been trolled and messed with, along with their effectiveness.

Splices
Splices are a classic technique that has fallen out of favour in lieu of traditional caller interactions.

Examples:
 * Tony making racial slurs
 * more N-word reminders
 * another another racial reminder
 * and another racial slur Tony made
 * Tony banging his mother
 * Tony hates blacks
 * Tony beats up blacks
 * Tony the terrorist
 * Tony the rapist

Effectiveness: Low/medium. A good splice will really rattle Tony and kill his mood. A bad splice will have him sighing and not reacting.

Foul language
Having a filth-mouth can trigger Tony, especially if he is being holy and/or mindful of his language. General purpose swearing, such as 'fuck', 'shit,' bitch', etc, might work, but racial slurs are always a hit.

A barrage of slurs is a potent poison to behold.

Effectiveness: Low. Tony used to be much more strict about the filth-mouth but nowadays he is desensitized to the odd curse word. Excessive swearing will still have him clutching his pasta pearls however.

Songs that remind him of an ex
When Tony breaks up with a sweetheart, the last thing he wants is a reminder of them. Trolls have exploited this weakness by playing an excerpt from a song that sings the ex's name.


 * Gloria - Gloria by Laura Branigan. Here is an example.


 * Michelle - Michelle by The Beatles. Was only used once.

Effectiveness: Low. Was effective back when the wound in his heart was still fresh, but now he no longer cares. With Michelle he ended the relationship in anger, so the song didn't phase him.

Loud screeching noises
Tony's ears are sensitive. High-pitched loud tones give him much agida. Tony will usually follow with mention of his physical discomfort, such as eyelids unable to open, numb lips, a migraine, etc. Since these types of calls can and may annoy the listener as well, they should be used sparingly.

This technique has not being used lately, as character-driven calls where personalities clash is favoured.

Effectiveness: High. This technique will instantly kill Tony's mood. Too many may cause a ragequit.

Echoes
Echoes are essentially a feedback loop in which every sound echoes infinitesimally. The caller would usually make high pitch wacky noises. Tony's words are amusingly echoed as well. These types of calls usually come from (111) and other private numbers.

Effectiveness: Medium. These annoy Tony as much as loud screeching noises but won't kill his mood as much. Tolerable but not by much.

Bait & switch
Rarely is Tony excited to talk to a caller, so a savvy troll can exploit this. Observe this excerpt where this Suzette call was not to be.

Effectiveness: High. As mentioned, callers Tony likes are few and far between, but execution is key. Warning: playing with his expectations too much may cause a show to quit early.

Offensive songs
Tony is a man of music but he does not appreciate stunad songs. Here are some types of offensive songs that trigger Tony:


 * comedy skit songs
 * KKK theme tune
 * parodies of Christmas songs
 * parodies of his own songs
 * song parodies of himself
 * spliced songs of other people
 * spliced songs of himself

Effectiveness: Medium. The more Tony treasures a song, the greater his angst will be once corrupted. Splice songs of himself are especially good.

Disgusting requests
Asking for a disgusting good or service from Tony is bound to upset him. The more gross and deranged the request is, the greater.

Typical requesters include but are not limited to:
 * Request Guy - Tony's bodily fluids to be sent to him
 * Alfonso - gay sex and cuddling while watching Mamma Mia
 * Madeleine Mitten - kinky sex. Here's a disgusting example.

Effectiveness: Medium/high. The more disgusting the better. If it is too unbelievable Tony might scoff at the request.

Farts
Farts are a trigger as they remind Tony of his Irritable Bowel Syndrome and childhood incidents that led him to being called ' Shitwalker'. As such farts can be effective ammo for a troll's arsenal (pardon the pun).

Examples:
 * Andy & Anus - this is their whole gimmick. Here is a Christmas themed example for variety's sake.
 * Loose bowels
 * more bowel trouble
 * simple fart call

Effectiveness: High. A single fart can send Tony reaching for the hang-up button. Too many will cause Tony to lose his shit (pardon the pun).

Offensive jokes
Tony likes a good joke, unless he is the subject or expense of said joke. An offensive joke will cause the opposite of delight in Tony.

Examples:
 * Spencer Rice used to tell lots of jokes. Some of them upset Tony, such as the price of the hooker joke and the black Batman joke.
 * Jesco's racist jokes

Effectiveness: Medium. Subverting Tony's expectations tends to get a rise out of him. If the joke is both coherent and offensive, Tony will scream.

Wasting his time
If Tony sets aside time for a segment that is wholly a waste of time, Tony will be furious.

Examples:
 * an interview with Señor Arriaba who refuses to break character
 * the Joshua Higgins emergency show, in which Higgins took advantage of the show to solicit prostitution
 * unnecessary memorial shows, such as for Pastor Ken and presumably BBF.
 * charity plugs that turn out to be offensive in nature, such as fucking the homeless or getting fucked by the homeless.

Effectiveness: Medium. If Tony plans his show around a segment doomed to fail, he will go ballistic. However there is the risk of disappointing the listeners too.

Being accused of indecent things
Tony has been the target of many accusations. Here is a partial list:


 * Joshua Higgins: hitting on Pastor Ken's wife Rosemary
 * Sully Sullivan: banging a cadaver, hitting on an underage girl in a pizza place
 * Alfonso: having sex with him
 * Rico: performing dick-suck on Alfonso
 * Gina: being a slob and farting after sex

Effectiveness: Medium. Generating heat on Tony can create material for trolls to worth with. Like with lying, the closer the accusation is to the truth as possible is best, though sometimes the biggest lies work as well.

Admitting to doing bad things
At times TonyTalk is an open forum for criminal confessions, much to Tony's dismay.

Examples:
 * cannibalism
 * murder
 * pedophilia
 * more pedophilia.

Effectiveness: Medium. The crazier the confession is, the better, so long as it is believable.

Prostitution and demands for sex
TonyTalk is a famed hotbed for sex services, much to Tony's horror. Sometimes the caller is so horny they forgo the payment and just want sex with Tony.

Known prostitutes:
 * Joshua Higgins
 * Willy Wong
 * Filthy Phil Burnell

Demanders of sex from Tony:
 * Madeleine Mitten
 * Ron Christiansen

Effectiveness: Medium. Tony wants nothing to do with the long arm of the law, so he will quickly shoo away any acts of prostitution. He won't yell at a friend who prostitutes if they present it as a desperate means for survival.

Mentioning his mother in a negative light
Tony loves his mother and will flip out upon hearing her name slandered and belittled.

Examples:
 * Pastor Ken soundboard. And another one.
 * Rico on why Tony's mother is in the hospital.
 * Tony's mother giving a blowjob
 * Jesco came on Tony's mother's face

Effectiveness: High. Bad-mouthing his mother is a major berserk button. Common reactions include screaming, punching the microphone, banning the caller from the show, and taking a music break.

Masturbation or sex on the air
Loudly fapping and sex on the air upsets Tony. Oddly, Pastor Ken's pleasuring himself is tolerated.


 * Rico masturbating. And another one.
 * Johnny banging his mother
 * Johnny banging his son
 * Johnny banging his cat

Effectiveness: Medium. Tony will quickly end the call and dive into a music break but won't scream.

Sending Tony nasty emails
Tony will read your emails and will comment about them on the show if they are nasty.

Examples:
 * lewd women
 * calls him fat and/or crybaby
 * calls him a dick-suck
 * sends unflattering nudes of yourself

Effectiveness: Low/medium. They can bother him greatly, though he can easily block the sender.

Accusation of theft
Tony does not like being accused or implied in stealing ideas.


 * stealing another show's format
 * stealing Ghost's listeners and format
 * stealing Alfonso off of Rico
 * stealing Chris Jericho's AEW title belt.
 * stealing Sal Monella's BlogTalkRadio show.

Effectiveness: Medium. Initial accusations will rile Tony up but he will soon be desensitized and no longer care.

Scary calls
Tony is a scaredy-cat who is easily startled and rattled.

Things that scare Tony:
 * Pennywise the dancing clown
 * Ashley and her demonic laugh. It really freaks Tony out.
 * deaths on the air
 * posting scary images in the Discord chatroom (works well after a scary call)

Effectiveness: High. A good scare will have Tony upset and nervous, killing any good vibes he may have had.

Embarrassing stories
Tony, among others, have shared embarrassing stories about himself. Here is an incomplete list of Tony stories. Tony does not like being reminded of his shameful past. However, he is delusional and claims that he never said or did certain things, even if you present proof.

Effectiveness: Low/medium. It depends on the story. Some stories he'll denounce as false or simply not care about, but some stories, especially if they involve exes and other sweethearts, will have him wailing like a banshee.

Insulting his faith
For all his sides-hitting, Tony still takes his Catholic faith seriously. Besmirching the Church and his faith is an easy ticket to Hell and Tony's wrath.

Examples:
 * rosary anal beads
 * calling from church during Mass
 * being a pastor and browsing porn and having sex with animals

Effectiveness: medium. Back in the days when Tony was more mindful of God and his faith, this would rank highly among the techniques. Nowadays Tony is jaded and might not be as offended.

Ragu
Ragu is meat-based sauce that Tony claims no self-respecting Italian will ever eat, himself include. As such it is a sore topic that gets under Tony's skin.

TonysToilet was the first to broach the subject, complaining to Tony of emptying his bowels (and filling his toilet's bowels) with ragu. After a while a trend caught on with multiple callers asking for ragu recipes and Tony's ragu-flavoured shit.

The Italian folk song Funiculì, Funiculà, which sometimes calls in as loud mic spam, has been dubbed the ragu song or ragu theme by the fans.

Effectiveness: low/medium. It is a topic that annoys Tony but he quickly becomes desensitized.

Calling him Clarabelle
Clarabelle is allegedly Tony's middle name, as revealed by BBF. Calling him that name will unleash his anger. It is typically said at the end of a seemingly serious call to make Tony do a 180.

Effectiveness: high. Tony will immediately flip out and yell and terminate the call. If used at the end of a serious call it will sour his mood and he may need to take a music break to vent (usually into the toilet).

Cutting him off
As the host of his show, Tony feels like he ought to be treated with respect. Talking over him and interrupting him will wound his ego and sap his patience. Cut him off enough and he will quit the call in a huff, followed by a lecture not to do that.

Effectiveness: medium. Tony tends to end the call with lost patience rather than lost cool. This technique seems to work best on people that aren't his friends - where Tony tolerates it - or his trolls - where Tony expects it.

More to come
More to come...