That’s Roy DAMN Mercer.
You might not know the name Brent Douglas, but even if you aren’t familiar with his name, chances are you’ve probably heard his work.
Douglas, a DJ for KMOD in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the voice one of the most iconic radio characters to ever hit the airwaves: Roy D. Mercer.
The fictional Mercer was created by Douglas and his fellow DJ Phil Stone, and voiced by Douglas himself. In their now-famous sketches, Roy D. Mercer would prank call unsuspecting targets using his thick southern drawl, demanding money for some ridiculous reason and threatening an “ass whoopin'” if they didn’t pay up.
The hilarious sketches usually featured Mercer’s catch phrase, “How big a boy are ya?” And they became so popular that that famous catchphrase became the title of 7 albums featuring compilation of Mercer’s prank calls.
His prank calls have racked up millions of views on YouTube, like this one where he called an unsuspecting pawn shop to let them know that he had bought a mink coat for his wife “Sharon Jean” that had lice on it.
What a legend.
The duo ended their radio show in 2012 after a 27-year run, and Stone passed away the following month at the age of 57.
And yesterday, KMOD announced that Mr. Roy D. Mercer himself, Brent Douglas had passed away Saturday morning.
It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of Brent Douglas, Roy D. Mercer, one of the patriarchs of KMOD. Our thoughts & deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, and all who were lucky enough to have Brent in their lives. Rock In Peace Brent. 🤟#RoyDMercer pic.twitter.com/qDFsu2OfuP
— 97.5 KMOD (@975KMOD) February 8, 2025
Douglas was remembered by one of his former colleagues, Lynn Hernandez, not just for Roy D. Mercer but some of his other incredible sketches during his time on the radio:
“You know, one thing I really liked about those guys was not just their comedy. I mean, they had theatre of the mind radio which isn’t really done much these days. These days it’s a lot of reality tv on the radio.
But back then, they really wanted to take you to a different place, whether it was their Dyslexia where they would almost swear on the radio every single time and he would just say everything backwards, their fishing report, their Greek Theatre, and then of course Roy D. Mercer will live on forever.”
If you’re like me, you grew up listening to Roy D. Mercer’s hilarious prank calls and laughing your ass off. And Douglas claimed that the character was inspired by another prank caller from Knoxville, Tennessee named John Bean, who had a character named Leroy Mercer and would record his prank calls and distribute them on tape to listeners.
Wherever he got the idea, it was obviously a hit: There were 15 albums of Roy D. Mercer calls released by Capitol Records Nashville and Virgin Records, which sold hundreds of thousands of albums despite no promotion from the label. Hell, I remember listening to them on my grandpa’s cassette tapes when I was a kid.
Many of the albums landed on the Top Country Albums chart, with How Big ‘a Boy Are Ya? Volume 5 peaking at #13 on the chart. And Roy D. Mercer even released a song by the same name featuring the legendary Charlie Daniels back in 1999.
Rest in peace to an absolute legend.
