AI Summary
5 min readBen Palmer runs a tip line for reporting people in the United States without legal status. He takes calls from suspicious neighbors, a teacher who wants to deport the parents of a kindergarten student, a woman who wants to report a Publix employee for helping her find the water but not speaking English. He sounds official, helpful, and matter-of-fact. Then he calls them back with the results of his investigation: a clinical psychologist says your brain often misinterprets dirty looks due to negativity bias and personalization. The tip line is a bit. Ben Palmer is a comedian.
From stand-up to fake customer service
Ben Palmer started doing stand-up in 2008 in Ohio. It bombed, but he heard a couple of laughs—probably awkward ones—and that was enough to keep trying. His comedy was weird and absurd, not political. Around 2015, he found a new venue: Facebook. Corporations like Uber and Walmart had pages filled with customer complaints that nobody responded to, so Ben started responding himself, signing his posts "Ben Palmer, Freelance Customer Service Representative." He would reply to a customer upset about Walmart employees wearing BLM masks with a deadpan apology about the company's stance on "bio latex manufacturing." His audience could see he was kidding; the person he was trolling often could not.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:55) **Introducing Ben Palmer and His Fake Immigration Tip Line** - The episode opens with a clip of Ben Palmer running a fake tip line for reporting people without legal status, taking a call from a woman suspicious of her neighbors.
- 2 (03:00) **Ben Palmer's Background and Early Comedy** - Ben describes his path to comedy, including his time in the Air Force, driving for Uber, and working at an emissions testing company.
- 3 (05:50) **The Birth of Ben's Trolling Style** - Ben explains how he moved from stand-up to trolling corporate Facebook pages by impersonating customer service agents.
- 4 (08:29) **Escalating the Bit: Impersonating a Parler Employee** - Ben recounts his three-month-long trolling of former Congressman Ted Yoho, where he pretended to work for the social network Parler.
- 5 (10:52) **The Ted Yoho Tapes** - The episode plays clips of Ben's conversations with Yoho, revealing the former congressman's trust and controversial statements.
- 6 (13:06) **The Jig is Up: The Free Solo Analogy** - The conversation turns to how Yoho finally caught on, and Ben discusses his own emotional wiring, comparing himself to the documentary *Free Solo*.
- 7 (14:50) **A Near-Miss on Court TV** - Ben shares a story of his cover being blown just before filming a court TV show, highlighting the tension of his bits.
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Show Notes
Comedian Ben Palmer set up a fake tip line for reporting immigrants in the United States suspected of not having legal status. He recorded the conversations, and things... got uncomfortable and, in some cases, disturbing. But for a lot of viewers, these calls were surprisingly funny. How does Ben Palmer withstand the awkwardness and maintain his deadpan delivery as he trolls unsuspecting Americans trying to get their neighbors deported? And how did he go from being your average stand-up comic, doing sets after his day job, to creating viral social commentary full-time?
Show notes:
- He made a fake ICE deportation tip line. Then a kindergarten teacher called. (Washington Post)
- God, Country, Family (YouTube)
- Ben Palmer's YouTube Channel (YouTube)
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