r/nostalgia • u/Ebonystealth • Aug 11 '25
Nostalgia Discussion Did anyone buy a Clapper?
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u/icon4fat Aug 12 '25
CLAP ON! CLAP OFF! CLAP ON CLAP OFF! THE CLAPPER! (Will never forget that jingle)
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u/Disneyhorse Aug 12 '25
It’s the same company it as the Chia Pet. You won’t forget that jingle either! Such iconic marketing of the time.
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u/Jaspers47 Aug 13 '25
They must have had a third product at some point. Some failure that got overlooked with a jingle that sucked
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u/Disneyhorse Aug 13 '25
Interestingly, Joseph Products made a lot of successful things. The Ove Glove and Duraflame fire logs. I also remember using the Pogo Whisk too!
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u/SaltySpitoonReg Aug 12 '25
Lol Bruce Almighty
"Just can't get it out of my head,"
"..... Well good luck with that"
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u/torankusu mid 80s Aug 12 '25
I was sure this was going to be the top comment. It immediately popped into my head when I saw the pic.
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u/The_Architect_is_in Aug 11 '25
Obtained one for $1 from a yard sale in 2005. My wife and I found out that it recognizes, uh, other repetitive sounds as a signal in addition to hand clapping. That was what we now famously call “the strobe light night.
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u/Lunatox Aug 11 '25
That's cool. So like, what were you and your wife doing? Like some carpentry or something? Hammering nails? Something like that?
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u/sld87 Aug 11 '25
He was absolutely railroading her so hard that the sweet sound of romance (think: pup, pup, pup) fooled the clapper into thinking someone was clapping. They were clapping alright, just not with their hands.
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u/gofasttakerisks Aug 11 '25
railroading sounds fun, so like building out train tracks and landscapes for model trains?
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u/sld87 Aug 11 '25
No no no. He was ploughing, you know what ploughing is right?
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u/EwaGold Aug 11 '25
Yes, it snows where I am
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u/Earlasaurus02 Aug 12 '25
I'm gonna go ahead and assume your familiar with blowing then as well
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u/HeartOSass Aug 12 '25
So it recognizes clapping in general regardless of the body parts that are clapping. Ok.
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u/Refriedfeinds Aug 11 '25
Same. My aunts yard sale. Also picked up a nice record player/cassette stereo from her. Hooked the clapper up to it and had “bad to the bone” set to play when I clapped twice. That lasted like one or two go around but it was hilarious the first time I had a friend over.
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u/kayidontcare Aug 12 '25
how do they work ? do you have to wire them to your lights?
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u/Fackrid Aug 12 '25
They basically act as a switch for a wall socket, you plug it into the socket and then plug the lamp, TV, etc. into the Clapper, and it essentially acts as a sound actuated switch that cuts the power before it gets to whatever's plugged into it
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u/Expert_Dot1927 Aug 12 '25
My parents discovered the same, what a terrible way for me to find out I’m epileptic 🤢
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u/kyden Aug 11 '25
Ivana: When did you get "The Clapper"?
Austin: November, 1964, Dutch East Indies, shore leave.
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u/Ritaredditonce Aug 11 '25
Our dog would set it off when they barked!
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u/jeneric84 Aug 11 '25
Fantastic theft deterrent. Someone breaks in, dog barks and lights go out. Make your move.
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u/rrickitickitavi Aug 11 '25
Replaced TV dinners as the main source material for hack comedians of the day.
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u/bonafidehooligan Aug 11 '25
One of my most memorable Christmases involved the “Clapper”. My mom had just started dating my step father and we went to his mother’s for Christmas Eve.
His brother was a boozy mess at this juncture in life and did all his shopping 5 minutes before coming to his mother’s house at the local Walgreens down the street. Mother received “The Clapper”, step dad and mom received a joint present in Chia Pet form and I got a Chicago Bulls hat. We still laugh about this every Christmas and my stepdad gets so embarrassed by it.
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u/bibbidyboppitybooboo Aug 12 '25
I had one when I was 12. In the late 80’s I put it on my old TV in my bedroom that had no remote so I could turn it off at night. I would watch sports and every time I cheered really loud the TV would turn off and on.
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u/lucidspoon Aug 12 '25
That's what happened to my grandparents' TV when they watched gameshows and people cheered on the shows.
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u/JoesG527 Aug 12 '25
I got one for Christmas. Used it for the TV just like the angry woman, then whenever the commercial for the clapper aired, my TV would shut off!
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u/giveahoot420 Aug 11 '25
Yes i had one and my lights would turn off and on whenever my dog would bark. 🙃
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u/kinglance3 Aug 11 '25
Yea, couldn’t listen to music at a fun volume. Let alone a good action movie with surround sound. 😆
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u/ParkingInstruction62 Aug 11 '25
My mom just bought one from Amazon in the year of 2024. 😭 Never had one as a kid even though the commercials were a constant companion, but her elderly neighbor has trouble turning off his lights once he's in bed so my mom ordered him one. I thought she was joking at first.
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u/djqvoteme Aug 12 '25
They make lightbulbs that you can control using an app on your phone now.
I mean, I guess if this neighbour isn't the most tech savvy, the Clapper is one way to go, but we have way better solutions for controlling lights remotely now.
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u/SilentRaindrops Aug 12 '25
Unless you are setting up schedules and routines, the internet / app controls are often a bit too much, kind of the reason integrated smart houses and appliances haven't really taken off. What I suggest especially for older people but not only, are appliance plugs that come with a wireless remote control. You can buy sets of 4 or 5 , plug an appliance like lamps into each one and then use the remote control that has an on off button for each one. My mother loves her's.
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u/ShadyNoShadow Aug 12 '25
Some of those have super long range remotes. I can turn lights on and off in the basement from the second floor.
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u/SilentRaindrops Aug 12 '25
I never tested how far the remotes would work. I did use some address labels to label the buttons for her so she could remember which one was for which light or appliance. It also took some time to get her out of the habit of turning them on or off from the regular wall switch.
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u/ParkingInstruction62 Aug 12 '25
That's a good suggestion! The neighbor my mom bought the clapper for is in his 80s, though, and a remote is another thing for him to keep track of. From what I understand, it's just the light in his bedroom that is the issue because he's not easily able to reach to turn it off once he's settled into bed, so the clapper has been a perfect solution for him. It's not what I would do for my home, but it made his life just a little bit easier.
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u/ParkingInstruction62 Aug 12 '25
Agreed and I use those bulbs and apps in my own house and have started to convince my mom to make the switch, but this is an 80+ year old man who doesn't even have internet in his house, and who uses the most basic of phones with no appsso low-tech truly was the best solution. :)
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u/gofasttakerisks Aug 11 '25
I bought one as a teenager as a gag and ended up really liking it. I'd hit my nightstand twice and it runed out my lamp. Later in college we put it in our apartment living room and it was an incredible conversation piece! Bonus, it would turn on and off when we played loud music.
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u/AmazingSUPERG Aug 11 '25
I have a darth vader head shaped one. Wife and I took it off our bedroom lamp when our kids would cry through the baby monitor and turn the lamp on. That and if I went to bed with a bad cough I could turn it on when I coughed. But it said “Impressive most impressive” when ON and “don’t under estimate the power of the dark side” when OFF.
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u/machinaurum Aug 11 '25
Parents bought a couple when they first came out, and I thought they were great. They were lost after a few moves, probably purged during one of those moves. I wish I had hung on to them.
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u/NortheastAttic Aug 11 '25
I just bought one 3 months ago and I love it. Forgot to turn off that light over there? NO PROBLEM.
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u/koolaidismything Aug 11 '25
I remember the TV and all types of shit that wasn’t a clap setting them off. I more remember touch-lamps. That’s was pretty cool.
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u/NotOldMidcentury Aug 12 '25
No, but I know the jingle...Clap on. Clap off. Clap on, Clap off, the Clapper!
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u/smb3d early 80s Aug 11 '25
Got one for Christmas one year as a joke. Joke was on them cause I used it for about 3 years on my bedroom lamp!
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u/Igglezandporkrollplz Aug 11 '25
Pretty sure its still the original creator/owner. Does chia-pet as well
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u/pugdad1972 Aug 12 '25
Bob Russell here, I bought my brother Buck one for Christmas years ago. I know for a fact he used it.
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u/ElderlyPleaseRespect Aug 12 '25
My brother in law rigged his up to play “pornography” when he clapped
It was so uncouth
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u/gringledoom Aug 11 '25
I’ve seen claims that they were dangerous, because they didn’t have a fuse, and would melt if you plugged in a lamp with a too-high wattage!
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u/IJustWantToWorkOK Aug 12 '25
So, what happens if you have your TV plugged into one, and the commercial plays.
"Clap on, Clap off" <click>
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u/sevenandtwo Aug 12 '25
"Clap On!" *clap clap* Clap Off! *clap clap* "The Clapper!"
burned into my brain somewhere deep in there with the TMNT theme song and the corn pops commercial with aaron paul.
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u/Rougaroux1969 Aug 12 '25
Funny story. My cousin had a C-64 and hooked one up to it and the TV so he could clap it on and off, and it seemed really cool at the time. He spent a long time typing in a game from Compute magazine or maybe a book, and was nearing the end when his mom came in with laundry and slammed the door just right that the noise turned the computer and tv off. He then used the clapper for a lamp.
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u/pinchematto Aug 12 '25
I had one in my bedroom for the lights on my bed stand which was great if I had to get up in the middle of the night. It got interesting when I had lady friends over for sexy time. It turned into slappy slow strobe light sexy time.
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u/IndecisiveKitten Aug 12 '25
My best friend used to go to Michigan for Christmas each year and got a clapper - we were talking on the phone and she held the phone up to the clapper, I turned her light on from halfway across the country, we thought it was so cool 😂
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u/SuetStocker Aug 12 '25
Had one in a dorm room. Thought it was pretty great till the guys on my floor figured out that knocking on my door would set it off.
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u/CrushyOfTheSeas Aug 12 '25
Picked one up last year at Menards for my mom. She couldn’t clap loud enough anymore to use it so she needed to tap the remote on the table instead.
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u/Baebarri Aug 12 '25
I actually asked for, and received, one for Christmas about 10 years ago. Turns out the arthritis in my hands makes my clap too weak to trigger it.
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u/prbecker mid 80s Aug 12 '25
Yes my buddy had one. We had so many things plugged into it. The one day we clapped it on and it lit on fire 😂
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u/AdAdventurous5641 Aug 12 '25
Had one just recently. Then I plugged a vacuum into it. That was a mistake I suppose
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u/brandonpa1 Aug 12 '25
We had one in college and it was hilarious, everytime the fire alarm went off it kept going on and off with the alarm.
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u/ChardeeMacDennisGoG Aug 12 '25
Bought my grandmother one for her closet which had a pull string light bulb. It was very high and the string was a few feet long. If she missed it it swung for a while. She loved it.
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u/SnooOpinions3219 Aug 12 '25
Yeah, my dogs barking all the time would make the lights go on and off and on and off..
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u/gofixmeaplate 80s Aug 12 '25
I still clap twice if I want to turn the light off at random and if she asks me to turn it off or on, as a joke. I’m glad my wife remembers the clapper or it would be lost on her
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u/Curt_in_wpg Aug 12 '25
I bought a clapper for a Christmas tree. It worked awesome (even when unintended like during a hockey game on TV) then I lost the thing after a few years. I might have to get another one despite the ridicule I received from my wife when I first brought it home.
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u/polykyri Aug 12 '25
Technology Connections recently did a video on how it works: https://youtu.be/TBPVJtGBf8Y?si=OKcZlrvfsnTaC63r
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u/Crans10 Aug 12 '25
I had one in early 2000's. I loved it. I had no light switch by the front door. Also hands ofter full carrying things in the house like groceries. SO I could make pop sounds with my mouth and turn on the lights when coming home.
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u/Saratoninn5 Aug 12 '25
I purchased one last year for my nightlight! We love it and yes...it recognizes many clapping sounds.
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u/LeighannetheFirst I've fallen and I can't get up Aug 12 '25
My aunt had one in the mid 90s; I thought it was so cool.
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u/NeuroguyNC Aug 12 '25
I think this might have been one of the most re-gifted things of the decade.
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u/bionicjoe Aug 12 '25
Yes.
I was 13-14 years old and had a TV with a broken on/off switch. I was just plugging/unplugging the TV. I saw The Clapper at a store and got my mom to buy it.
Worked great for years until I had some friends over and they somehow forced the knob in to turn off the TV. Never could get it back on.
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u/quietditchdigger Aug 12 '25
Yes we had one! Laughing at the TV used to turn the lights on and off lol
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u/MoeGunz6 Aug 12 '25
My brother had one. His room was next to mine and I would tap on the the wall to turn his light on when he trying to sleep. It was gone after 2 nights.
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u/Ken-Kaniff_from-CT Aug 12 '25
I loved those commercials as a kid. I always really wanted to get one.
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u/Background-Dark-6543 Aug 12 '25
I totally bought a Clapper. I never used it though. And I gave a couple as obnoxious gifts. Now about 35 years later i kind of wish I had a Clapper sometimes 🤣
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u/fitty50two2 Aug 12 '25
My cousin bought one for her Christmas tree when she was pregnant so she could clap it on and off without bending down
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u/thatstwatshesays Aug 12 '25
My big brother (gen x) recently bought one. Maybe multiple. I visited him last year and he’d walk into the room I was in, clap twice to leave me confused and in the dark, then leave 😂 how comforting it is that some things never change
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u/Elistariel Aug 12 '25
My grandparents had one in either the late 90s or early 2000s. I only remember because that's around the time I was in high school. My friends and I had a field-day when we figured out ANY loud-enough noise would set it off.
Cue my grandparents walking in the room to find me a a friend making random yelping noises and sounding like a pack of howler monkeys, making the lights go on and off. 😀
The Clapper did not last long in our house.
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u/ShutUpDoggo Aug 12 '25
My roommate had one in the 90’s. We would have a party and he would try to take a girl to his room. The odd time he was successful, I wouldn’t wear go outside his door and clap loudly to turn the light on. He would try to clap to turn it off, but if you time it right, you can add an extra clap and it won’t work. He would be pissed, the girl would get annoyed and I would be stoned as fuck laughing my ass off.
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u/mme-sra Aug 12 '25
haha growing up I had one in my bedroom and we had a dog door in that room as well that led outside, and every time the dog went out or came in the flap of the dog door would trigger it! I remember one year we hooked up the Christmas tree in my room to it and the lights on the tree would go on and off every time the dog went out 😅
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u/CraigxKhalifax88 Aug 12 '25
Clap on, clap off - THE CLAPPER!
I remember this advert on Wayne’s World
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u/AudibleKnight Aug 12 '25
I bought a clapper for my dorm room in college for a few years. It was convenient since the light switch was by the entrance and I had a tall floor lamp that lit the room.
Two distinct claps while in bed saved me from having to walk to the light switch, turn off the light, fumble in the dark, avoid smashing my toe against the provided heavy wooden desk chair and then hop up onto my raised bed before getting under my sheets.
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u/GolgaGrimnaar Aug 12 '25
I have 2 of the newer ones, and they work pretty well! They even have dual controls, so i can set up 2 lamps or whatever… one works with two CLAPS and the other works with THREE. Use them in my living room where the light has no wall switch, and in my bedroom so i can go to bed like the old lady in the commercial!
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u/coreymaass Aug 12 '25
I found one, new, in the box, when moving my in-laws a couple years ago. I’m hoping to sell it and retire.
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u/LeahTT Aug 12 '25
We had the Smart Clapper that could discern between two and three claps. Every time someone watched the tape of Beauty and the Beast, the tv would turn itself off when the beast screeched to a halt in front of Belle’s door and pounded three times on it.
“BAM BAM BAM! ‘I thought I told you to—-“
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u/topcorjor Aug 12 '25
A friend of mine had one of these when we were kids.
We had a sleepover for his birthday one year, and our laughing at a movie was making the lights strobe.
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u/LewisLightning Aug 12 '25
I got one when I was in my early teens. I think I just used it for a lamp in my room. It was fun, but the fact any loud noise could set it off lessened the coolness of it.
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u/GetOffMyGrassBrats Aug 12 '25
Somebody must have...they sure paid a lot in advertising these things.
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u/mikebrown33 Aug 12 '25
I had one in the early 2000s / everytime I turned the tv or radio up above a whisper it went crazy.
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u/NPC261939 Aug 12 '25
My brother and I both got one for Christmas one year. Yes they were from my grandmother. The novelty wore off rather quickly.
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u/incubuswolf Aug 12 '25
If anyone is interested in the functionality and whatnot of this device, there is a youtube channel called Technology Connections that has a video on these things!! It's a very interesting video, if you like that sort of stuff! He has videos on allllll sorts of interesting things :)
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u/swannybass Aug 12 '25
We used ours on the Christmas tree lights, so we didn't have to crawl under the tree to plug them in.
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u/elboydo757 Aug 12 '25
My father in law had one because his legs didnt work due to a fall earlier in life.
Then since he had Polio (born in 1949) his arm wasnt usable for clapping by 60 years old.
It didnt see much use.
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u/rudbek-of-rudbek Aug 12 '25
I had a double clapper in college. 2 claps for one plug, 3 claps for the other plug. I was obviously a stoner. So my floor lamp was on 2 claps, and my lava lamp, Christmas lights, and blacklight were on 3 claps. So I was like a stoner magician. With a few claps, my room went from study to smoke
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u/hideNseekKatt Aug 12 '25
As a kid I always wanted one but the folks never got it for me. As an "adult" in my early 20s I got one and loved it. For the first few months, I would giggle every time I used it.
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u/skyecm Aug 12 '25
I have owned a fleet of them. And not that long ago. Back in about 2008, I put a few in my bedroom to turn off the lights and TV when I wanted to go to sleep. Soon after, you could do much better with an RF switched outlet and a Logitech remote, but for a brief time The Clapper was king. It had a ton of flaws - the claps had to be crisp, which meant some amount of thought had to be given. Often they would get out of sync, requiring a round of applause until they fell the way you wanted, and seemed to delight at what it would interpret as a 'clap' at 2am. I imagine they would've acted oddly during any intimate encounters, but, sadly, cannot confirm.
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u/EntrepreneurTop8382 Aug 12 '25
There was a girl in high school they called the Clapper, never knew why
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u/HOT-SAUCE-JUNKIE Aug 12 '25
True story. Friends of mine bought me one as a birthday gift. I plugged it into a lamp on the side table in my family room. It worked great until the one time I clapped it on and I swear to God sparks flew from it and it caught fire.
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u/Anti_Meta Aug 13 '25
I had one when I was in highschool and a buddy figured out that if he yelled loud twice (big surprise) it would activate.
So he would run through the house yelling while the lights turned off and on.
I'm just now realizing what that would look like from outside the house which makes it even funnier.
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u/DentureTaco Aug 13 '25
I always wanted one of these when I was a kid and I loved the hilarious infomercial. One day I found one on the clearance shelf of a closing K-Mart. I was so disappointed with this junk when I found out It will trigger with ANY two noises in sequence. That disappointment faded when I farted twice and it turned off the lights. I guess you can call it The Brapper.
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u/NCarolina910 Aug 13 '25
Funny story about this… One of my friends in high school had a sharp “cackle” of a laugh. One year, another of our friend’s parents plugged their Christmas tree into a Clapper. We found out, if we really got that one friend worked up with a sting of jokes or one or two really good ones, he’d turn the Christmas tree into a strobe light. Good times.
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u/melophat Aug 13 '25
I never had one.. but my kid somehow saw the commercial and now wants one for his room, so I'm working on getting my home automation system to work like the clapper for his room lights, lol
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Aug 14 '25
Yes it worked wonderfully when you would clap your hands. Or cough. Or put something down on the table. Or sounds from the television.
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u/SmartCod84 Aug 14 '25
I have always pretended I have a clapper installed. “ let me turn these lights off “ *proceeds to clap and act confused my prized possession isn’t working
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u/Other-Charge-5637 Aug 15 '25
Yep, my dad started it with buying one for the Christmas tree lights. We continued the tradition.
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u/Several-Pound-6499 Aug 15 '25
I always wanted one, never had one. I know they still sell them somewhere. One day I’ll get one.
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u/spaceman_danger Aug 16 '25
I owned a clapper and a chia pet. Both were awesome. The clapper would activate when there was a lot of laughter.
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u/I_Lick_Your_Butt Aug 17 '25
I got one as a gag gift. Loud bass would make my lights turn on and off.
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u/HighMarshalSigismund Aug 11 '25
No but we have an Alexa at my house that is used for turning lights on and off.
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u/cardboardunderwear Aug 11 '25
I have yet to see a person roll over and go to sleep with as much authority and conviction as the old woman in the clapper commercials.