Freddy freaker
Freaky.
Freddie Freaker (sometimes known as Freddy Freaker) was a character created in 1987 by L.A. Toys. He appeared in commercials typically seen on MTV advertising his hotline "1-900-490-FREAK" which was geared towards teens. The callers would have an option to hear recordings that were weird sounds, jokes, etc. or make their own rap songs.
Synopsis[]
The commercial features Freddie, a yellow, hideous, gremlin-like humanoid alien puppet dancing in a starry background to the song.
Lyrics below:
It's the Freak Phone! And here's the party freak:
Freddie Freaker, dancing new sensation, grabbin' the nation, doing the Freak, call now
1-900-490-FREAK
Join the party, the fast and easy way
Hear what's scammin' from New York to L.A., call now
1-900-490-FREAK
What's happening, what's jammin', party till you drop
Dial, hear the action, what's happenin', what's not, call now
1-900-490-FREAK
(spoken) Two dollars a call.
Why It's Cursed[]
The puppet, Freddie Freaker is terrifying in the ugliest way possible. It's not even clear at all what the commercial is even trying to advertise.
Trivia[]
- Patrick Simmons, the original creator of the character, stated this in a YouTube comment (probably unable to locate now due to the massive capacity of the comments in the original video):
"Ok dude, you just made my day. I was the artist who designed and created this puppet for this commercial back in 1987 and until this moment I had never seen the final video for it. I was a very young buck at the time, just getting my start in the FX industry, so it was a pretty big deal to create something for a national ad. Thanks for posting it, my coworker and I laughed our a**es off. By the way, the arms were designed to move and bend, so I have no idea why they left him in a Jesus pose. Peace."
- Kevin Leto, the former CEO of L.A. Toys, made an official Facebook group based on the character.
- Leto also commented on someone's Facebook post (who posted about YouTuber OneyPlays bringing more attention to the formerly obscure character) about his original plans for Freddie. He originally wanted to create chapter books based on the character for children, and one idea he had involved the character arriving on Earth tuning into music his big ears tuned into from his planet where they didn't have any music at all, and for the rest of each chapter, the reader would've created their own creative story.
