As he had done in London, Crisp allowed his telephone number to be listed in the telephone directory and saw it as his duty to converse with anyone who called him. For the first twenty or so years of owning his own telephone, he habitually answered calls with the phrase: "Yes, Lord?" ("Just in case," he once said.) Later on, he changed it to "Oh yes?", in a querulous tone of voice. His openness to strangers extended to accepting dinner invitations from almost anyone. Whilst he expected the host would pay for dinner, Crisp did his best to "sing for his supper" by regaling his host with wonderful stories and yarns, much as he did in his theatrical performances. Dinner with him was said to be one of the best shows in New York.