My son was about 15 when he accidentally caught him on TV with some other kids. Gene was refusing to talk until 10 people each sent in a thousand bucks. He hit 9 and then was in a serious stall, so my son called up and pledge a thousand dollars. He and his friends went wild when it was announced that the 10th pledge came in and he could start talking again.
LOL!
I've done that with Pat Robertson. Something about laughter being good medicine. Sure cured my ills