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[http://www.example.com/ Example.com], [http://www.example.net/ example.net] and [http://www.example.org/ example.org] are reserved for "documentation" by [http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2606.txt RFC 2606] but make for useful fake email addresses.
[http://www.search-wise.net/ Search-wise.net] serves as a dummy search engine for shows that want to show a character using a search engine but which (for whatever reason) either don't want to or can't use a real one like Google. For example [[The BBC]] doesn't have product placement so Search-wise is used instead.
Aircraft tail registration numbers [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N88892 N88892], [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N9748C N9748C] and [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N9747P N9747P] are reserved for movie use as well.
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** There was some shock and laughs when some called the original number and connected with a church in North Carolina reportedly tended by a pastor named Bruce, as well as other churches in Georgia and the private cell number of a pastor in Wisconsin.
* Avoided in ''[[Sneakers]]'', where the NSA operative gives her phone number as "273-9164, area code 415". (At the time this was a real number for the San Francisco office of the [[Intimidating Revenue Service|Internal Revenue Service]].)
* If you call the number given to [[Dwayne Johnson]]'s character at the beginning of ''[[Southland Tales]]'' (which goes to John Larroquette's character), you'll end up getting John Larroquette's "actual" voice mail.
* Parodied in ''[[The Hebrew Hammer]]'': The titular Jewxploitation hero enters the first six digits of a number ("555-555..."), then struggles to remember the seventh ("Oh, yeah! 5!").
* In ''[[The Adventures of Ford Fairlane]]'', a girl asks for Ford's number. He gives her a 555 number and she complains that they only [[Lampshade Hanging|use those in movies]]. He replies, "Hey, no shit, honey--[[Breaking the Fourth Wall|what do you think this is, real life?]]"
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* [[Warren Ellis]]' novel ''[[Crooked Little Vein]]'': When told to call (555) 555-5555 for help, Mike demonstrates his detective skills by pointing out that the number won't work, as it's only used by Hollywood. To which the Chief of Staff responds, "We gave it to them. It works for us."
* [[Sherlock Holmes]] lived at 221B Baker Street. A fake London address at the time of writing, but since then the street has been expanded and now 221 Baker Street is a real address.
** And a Sherlock Holmes Museum/Gift Shop.
* [[Nero Wolfe]] lived on West 35th Street, Manhattan; the number varied, but consistently put his house in the river.
* The [[Babysitters Club]] could be reached at KL5-3231.
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* ''[[Seinfeld]]'' typically prefixed its numbers with KL5, but in one episode Elaine reveals that when a man she doesn't want to see again asks for her number, she gives a fake one that spells "No Elaine", which is one digit ''more'' than a phone number.
** Also from ''Seinfeld'', in one episode Kramer's phone number is 555-3455, which is one digit off from Moviefone, 555-FILM (3456). Moviefone's actual number is 777-FILM; presumably, the writers wanted to spare the actual 777-3455 from a flood of prank calls, since they (like Kramer) were presumably already getting lots of wrong numbers.
* In an episode of ''[[Happy Days]]'', Ralph Malph is excited that a prospective date's number starts with Klondike 5--"Hey! I got a Klondike 5!"
* Used and averted on ''[[Third Watch]]'': In one scene, Doc asks for a woman's phone number, but we hear only the last four digits as a [[Sound Effect Bleep|vehicle passes by]], preventing us (but not Doc) from hearing the first three. Other episodes have used it straight.
* The KACL studio number in ''[[Frasier]]'' is 555-KACL.
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* One episode of ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' has Rose and Blanche campaigning a fundraiser telethon on TV. Rose's donation number is "555-GIVE", followed by Blanche's number: "555-EASY".
* Invoked in the ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'' episode "818-jklpuzo," where "jklpuzo" is the mnemonic used for a phone number. This translates to 555-7896.
** Producer Chuck Lorre even discusses this trope, and the difficulty in getting the phone number on air, in his essay-like [[Vanity Plate]] at the end of the episode. CBS would eventually censor it from broadcast due to the number he [[Take That|gives to the idiots who dial all these numbers]] as well as the [[Executive Meddling|executives]], 555-382-5968, which reads {{spoiler|FUCK YOU}}.
* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' took place in an apartment building whose address was 623 East 68th Street, which would be in the middle of the East River.
* Tying in with the 5/6/10 episode of ''[[The Office]]'', the website for the [http://schrutepi.com/ Dwight Schrute Detective Agency] was put online complete with Phone (570) 555-0698, Mobile Phone (570) 555-0698 and Fax (570) 555-0245.
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* AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" averts it mentioning the phone number 36-24-36.
* [[De La Soul]]'s "Ring Ring Ring" averts this: "You wanna call me? Take my number down. It's 222-2222. I've got an answering machine that will talk to you." The number is usually blanked out in TV and radio broadcasts of the song and its music video, because it's actually used by the ''Chicago Tribune'', among others.
* The video for [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]]'s song "Jesus He Knows Me" featured the (parodied) televangelist's contribution hotline as '1-555-GEN-ESIS'. Area code 555 is reserved for directory assistance purposes, though Wikipedia is rather unclear as to what those are.
* The incomplete form used for a website name in the ''Animainiacs'' song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpzuIDPwEU4 "LA Dot"]"You can find me on my webpage spot w w w dot dot dot
* Glenn Miller's song "Pennsylvania 6-5000" was the number of a hotel the band had performed at.
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* The old [[Fahrenheit 451]] text adventure (yes, it exists. Yes, Bradbury wrote a good chunk of it) had this as a plot point, complete with [[Zeerust]] flavor. Calling NYC-XXX was how Montag got in contact with certain members of the Underground. The game also included numbers which, when dialed, gave useful information, utter garbage, or fake "hints" that would get you killed if you tried them.
* The [[Manic Miner]] cheat code "6031769" is said to have been author [[Matthew Smith]]'s (Liverpool) telephone number at the time.
* In his ending in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'', Taskmaster [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|advertises his mercenary training academy]] with the number given as 555-TASK. He still gets lots of signups though, as in the next 'panel' he's rolling in money. Presumably these numbers work in the Marvel universe.
* Somehow averted in [[Ripper]] - [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] points this out.
{{quote|Spoony: For those of you playing at home, try calling these numbers and see who picks up!}}
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* [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/thankforasking/ This] ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' strip features an [[Ambulance Chaser]] named [[Meaningful Name|Marcus P. Smooze]] whose number is 555-5555.
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Sarah's number is 555-7272.
* In ''[[Girls with Slingshots]]'' unlucky guy Jim gets a number from a girl which contains area code 555. He doesn't realize that it's a fake.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Universal Tropes]]
[[Category:Number Tropes]]
[[Category:Phone Tropes]]
[[Category:555]]
▲[[Category:Asia]]
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