Brian Ponty

**Brian Ponty** is the proprietor and cook of Ponty's Pizza. He is voiced by Joshua Manning.

## History

Brian is the owner of Ponty's Pizza, one of the three sole restaurants in Gallows Creek, along with Grilling Spree and Chalupacabra. He speaks with a vaguely Mediterranean accent and has an unhealthy preoccupation with advertising his shop whenever he gets the opportunity. Ponty's Pizza is popular for its cheap food and beer combo, offering 2 for 1 for large pies and Lunch Time specials with a three dollar discount for regular pizza, as well as giving out free beer for the number of points scored by the local high school football team with every order. Besides pizza, he also offers complimentary garlic bread and a three hour slow roast. Like the other eateries, Ponty's has a strict take-out information privilege due to "heavy competition" in the past.

On September 3rd, 1987, Brian calls Forrest Nash on KFAM's 189.16 - The Scream, after he ends the call with Sandra Sharpe. Depending on whether Deputy Martinez was killed or not, he will either voice sadness over the loss of a frequent customer to Ponty's Pizza or congratulate the host for saving the life of a good friend to Ponty's Pizza. Either way, as an apparent token of appreciation for his efforts, Brian says that he will give KFAM coupons for free pizza at Ponty's Pizza. He continues to talk about how Ponty's Pizza always has great deals anyway and that the food is "to die for". After being guilted into apologizing for his poor choice of words by Forrest, Brian goes on to say that he hopes that no one has been offended by this blunder, since Ponty's Pizza is having a weekend special on single slices, which only then makes Forrest realize that Brian called in to piggyback off the increased listenership due to the Whistling Man attacks in order to get in on the free air time to promote his shop. Peggy quickly cuts him off, just in time to play a paid ad.

During Virginia Sullivan's call, the caller is too frightened to properly name their address, besides that there is a loud frat house party happening next door, leaving Peggy and Forrest to determine which fraternity it is to send her help. Since Virginia mentioned that they've been ordering take-out, Forrest decides to use their limited time to call one of the restaurants pretending to be from the frat and ask them to include KFAM's number so that they can be directly pointed to Virginia's place. Ponty's Pizza is the correct choice, as supported by a pizza box with the football special and a newspaper from Tuesday listing Gallows Creek High's win by several dozen points. Brian himself will pick up and will be weired out by Forrest's frat man impression. He can either order garlic bread or the slow roast; the latter will take too long and cause Virginia to call in and die on air. Upon hearing that the "frat" wants KFAM's number to be included on the order, Brian thinks about calling them again before the call is terminated prematurely.

Directly afterwards, another call will come in by Brian (using a bad Southern accent), who claims to be a non-descript "small business owner", to say how horrible he finds the Whistling Man attacks. He will constantly allude to his small business and being its owner, as well as how it is a safe and family friendly it is. Forrest can try to avoid asking about the small business, but he will inevitably run out of other questions to ask, leading to Brian dropping the act completely to loudly advertise yet another special before being cut off once more. If Virginia survived the previous call, Peggy will bring up how they can't be too mad at Brian since he indirectly helped save someone's life, though Forrest continues to find his calls more than irritating.

Later in the game, after Forrest searches the basement storage and finds that the almost all the previous callers were somehow related to the death of a teen named George Barrow, Brian will call after he finishes the call with Virginia and Sandra; he will be the first caller if Sandra and Virginia died. This time, he appears much less animated and asks Forrest if he could send out a special birthday message to his uncle. Even if Forrest tries to refuse him, Brian will go on to say that his wishes go out to his uncle, Peter Roni, who he says was nicknamed "Pepper" for having always had "salt and pepper" hair. Somehow Forrest only catches on when he says the name "Pepper Roni" out aloud in conversation, causing Brian to uproariously burst into yet another advert speech about how he can tell him about Ponty's birthday deals and party packages at low prices, though he is unable to finish his sentence due to Peggy ending the call. Not long after, another call comes. On the other end, barely held back laughter can be heard and when Forrest finally asks if it's Ponty again, he continues the ad in full at the same speed, ending the call himself while in mad victory cackling. Forrest is left grumbling in anger and says that he hopes Brian gets sliced up by the Whistling Man with his owner pizza cutter before apologizing for his outburst.

## Trivia

* Brian Ponty seems to be partially based on the Radio Shack Clerk from the Killer Frequency demo, sharing his accent, position as a store owner and promise to give Forrest a discount for his actions.
* According to the pizza box and town map, Ponty's Pizza is located on Jackson Street and the phone number is 555-972-2789.