http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_of_Silence
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The Cone of Silence is one of many recurring joke devices from Get
Smart, an American comedy television series of the 1960s.
Invented by "Professor Cone", the device is designed to protect the
most secret of conversations (aka "C.O.S. security risks") by
enshrouding its users within a transparent sound-proof shield.
Unfortunately, Control had purchased the device from a "discount
place" rather than the federal government, so it has never worked
properly. Naturally, this frustrating situation provides fuel for
comedy.
Whenever Maxwell Smart ("Agent 86") wants to speak to his boss
("Chief") about a top secret matter, "86" would insist on using the
comically defective technology despite being reminded that it never
works. The Chief, usually with annoyed skepticism, would press a
switch, causing the device to descend from above his desk,
surrounding the heads of the two would-be conversers. The awkwardly
impractical device appears to be constructed of clear plastic in
the shape of a large oblong box with two interconnected inverted
bowls on top.
Part of the humor is in the irony that Agent 86 and Chief cannot
hear each other clearly, while bystanders outside the Cone of
Silence can hear everything they say as well as speak to them.
Sometimes the bystander would even act as a relay so that Chief and
"86" inside the device could communicate. Often at the end of the
labored conversation, Chief would become terribly frustrated and
upset as it quickly becomes clear that the Cone of Silence is (as
expected) completely useless.
Variations on the Cone included a portable version, made of two
globes for the participants' heads connected by a tube; the
"Umbrella of Silence", which supported up to four people, and the
"Closet of Silence," into which two people were uncomfortably
squeezed. In one occasion where the Cone wasn't even available,
Smart convinced the Chief to use the (more efficient) "Coughing
Code", where both parties communicate through strategic coughing,
despite the Chief's claims that the Coughing Code wasn't used for
years due to "too many agents giving each other the flu"
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