# Who does "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again."?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 13, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960 "2003-11-13T03:40:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JoeyThePenguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@JoeyThePenguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyThePenguin)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960/1 "2003-11-13T03:40:43Z")

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Whose voice is it on the phone recording “If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again. If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator.”?

Joey.

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960/2 "2003-11-13T03:43:45Z")

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Lily Tomlin?

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**Author:** ![NBIT33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NBIT33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBIT33)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960/3 "2003-11-13T03:53:27Z")

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James Earl Jones

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960/4 "2003-11-13T03:55:32Z")

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[Ginger Sharbel](http://hometown.aol.com/coachvoice/page4.html).

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**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960/5 "2003-11-13T03:57:28Z")

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[Weird Al](http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/W/Weird%20Al%20Yankovic/Weird%20Al%20Yankovic%20-%20Albuquerque%20lyrics.htm)

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**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960/6 "2012-07-23T07:22:53Z")

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[Joan Kenley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Kenley), aka “The Telephone Lady”, as featured on _The Simpsons._

Sorry it took so long to come up with the answer. 😉

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**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-does-if-youd-like-to-make-a-call-please-hang-up-and-try-again/212960/7 "2012-07-23T08:08:48Z")

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The OP you dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service.

But for posterity it was very probably [Jane Barbe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Barbe) or her successor as the voice of Ma Bell, [Pat Fleet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Fleet).