Tulsa, OK, radio announcers Brent Douglas and Phil Stone created the character of Roy D. Mercer as a hillbilly variation on the Jerky Boys -- a comedian whose act is entirely based on prank phone calls. Mercer rose from obscurity in 1997, when he graduated from a featured bit on the duo's radio show to a contract with Capitol Records. Two Mercer albums -- How Big 'a Boy Are Ya?, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 -- were released simultaneously in February, and other volumes in the series soon followed on a regular and prolific basis. The duo broke away from the series in 2001 with the New York City-hatin' Roy D. Mercer vs. Yankees. Family Album from 2002 returned to the How Big 'a Boy Are Ya? format. Hits the Road (2003), Get Well Soon (2004), and Black & Blue (2006) stayed the course. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Roy D. Mercer is a fictional character created by disc jockeys Brent Douglas and Phil Stone on radio station KMOD-FM in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. Douglas, who performs Mercer's voice, uses the character as a vehicle for comedy sketches in which he performs prank calls. Seventeen Roy D. Mercer albums have been released, all on Capitol Records or Virgin Records.
Brent Douglas and Phil Stone, disc jockeys on KMOD-FM, a rock radio station, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, created the Roy D. Mercer character in 1993.[1] Initially, they used the character on comedy sketches for the radio station. Originally, the prank call sketches were a part of KMOD's morning show. By 1997, Capitol Records Nashville began issuing the sketches on compact disc.[2] Sixteen Roy D. Mercer compilations have been released on the Capitol and Virgin Records labels. A Virgin Records Nashville executive noted that Mercer's early albums managed to sell between 250,000 and 300,000 copies, primarily due to word of mouth, without any promotion to consumers or radio airplay of the album tracks.[3]
In most of the sketches, Mercer will demand that the recipient of a call pay him money for some incident, and if the recipient refuses, he will threaten them with violence (usually an "ass-whoopin'"). Mercer has been described as speaking with "a mushy-mouthed Southern drawl" and his style of comedy has been described as "not exactly obscene ... [but] border[ing] on offensive".[4] Many of the recipients of the calls are suggested by their friends who supply Mercer with information about the potential recipients.[4]