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Crank Yankers is a United States TV show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison that features actual prank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests which are re-enacted onscreen by puppets. The show premiered in 2002 on Comedy Central and is returning to MTV2 later in 2006.
Show regulars include Wanda Sykes, Jim Florentine, Susie Essman, Super Dave Osborne, and Tracy Morgan. The puppets are designed by Funny Garbage, and the title music is by Fountains of Wayne.
Puppeteers include: Ron Binion, Artie Esposito, BJ Guyer, Rick Lyon, Drew Massey, Paul McGinnis, Alice Dinnean Vernon, and Victor Yerrid.
In the UK, the show is broadcast on ITV4.
The show was cancelled by Comedy Central, but on the July 11, 2006 edition of The Adam Carolla Show, Carolla said Crank Yankers was being picked up by MTV. On July 13, MTV officially announced that the show would be returning to air on MTV2, and had ordered sixty episodes to begin airing later in 2006, with no specific premiere date yet set. *
Behind the scenes
The performers are given a basic outline of a premise by the writers, and call telephone numbers of a list of selected targets (known as "marks"). Using the basic premises, the performers improvise the majority of their lines, playing off of the responses of their marks, with the intention to keep them on the phone as long as possible.
With the exception of a few outside sources (including previous material from Jim Florentine and the Touch-Tone Terrorists), all the calls are made from Nevada. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 makes it is illegal in most states to record telephone calls without both parties' consent. Due to a loophole in the law in Nevada, only one of the parties has to give consent (i.e., the caller), so prank calls can be recorded without the consent of the prank victims. The marks are later contacted to seek permission to air the calls on television *.
The puppets are then constructed based on the various marks' voices, and, along with a series of stock characters (such as "Niles Standish", "Bobby Fletcher", and "Special Ed") based on the performers' character voices, the calls are re-enacted for the skits.
Regular characters
- Niles Standish (Tony Barbieri) — A British Earl, he is a rich and eccentric middle-aged pervert with homosexual tendencies. He frequently calls various services and asks for their price, then orders them to "double it". *
- Special Ed (Jim Florentine) — A mentally impaired teenager who is fond of repetition and regularly shouts "YAAAAAAAY!!!" *
- Birchum (Adam Carolla) — A 62-year-old psychotic Vietnam War veteran, whose hobbies include carpentry and gun ownership. He has a 600-pound wife and is missing part of his right leg (which he lost in the war) and three fingers on his right hand (a carpentry accident). He frequently refers to his time spent in Vietnam and its repercussions, his fallen platoon members (Espinoza, McCann, Jackson, Hernandez, and DiGiacamo), and "smoking hash out of a human skull". *
- Jimmy (Jimmy Kimmel) — A grown man who lives with his mother, he is probably intentionally designed after Jimmy Kimmel himself. He also has two young children (voiced by Kimmel's own kids) who make juvenile pranks and use foul language.
- Bobby Fletcher (Jim Florentine) — A layabout marijuana user who is extremely rude and insulting and repeatedly belches into the phone. *
- Gladys Murphy (Wanda Sykes) — A boisterous African American woman who makes embarrassing announcements, generally of a scatological or sexual nature. Her many children are very mischevious, once going so far as to glue her behind to the toilet.
- Elmer Higgins (Jimmy Kimmel) — A rambling, 85-year-old man with bad hearing. Elmer fits a stereotype of the average elderly American, often calling people to complain about things. He frequently goes off on unrelated and long-winded tangents about his younger days. He has numerous pets, and says that he is a World War II veteran and has one brother called Charlie. He also frequently mentions he has a gay grandson. *
- Helen Higgins (Susie Essman) — Elmer's wife, she is an elderly woman who likes to proposition young men. She also has a pet parrot who is well-versed in curse words.
- Landalious "The Truth" Truefeld (David Alan Grier) — A former football player who likes to rap. *
- Spoonie Luv (Tracy Morgan) — A smooth-talking, black hip hop-type character who makes lewd and suggestive comments. He often refers to himself as "Spoonie Luv from up above". *
- Hadassah Guberman (Sarah Silverman) — A Jewish female college student who works various part-time jobs, including conducting surveys for O magazine. She frequently asks intrusive questions and makes veiled passive-aggressive insults. Her sexuality, as well as her sanity, seem questionable at times. *
- Terrence Catheter (Jimmy Kimmel) — An effeminate, red-headed man who acts as spokesperson for various celebrities, such as Bill Cosby, Mr. T, and the Olsen twins. He calls various places of business to book appearances and asks them to comply with the celebrities' ridiculous demands. *
- Tony Deloge (Super Dave Osborne) — A loud-mouthed, fast-paced politician who calls people at random to pander for votes as "district selectman". He also occasionally tries to use his political power to get things for free.
- Cammie (Lisa Kushell) — An oversexed, conceited and condescending 22-year old exotic dancer. *
- Boomer and the Nudge (Jimmy Kimmel and Patton Oswalt) — Obnoxious morning radio disc jockeys who call people to make "on-air dares".
- Junkyard Willie (Touch-Tone Terrorists) — An obstructionist in the form of a gravely-voiced black man who is actually an import from the Touch Tone Terrorists where he is a regular character. He appears in two sketches where he is a supervisor at YPS ("Yanker Package Service").
- Sav Macauley (Dane Cook) — He is the overly enthusiastic host a phone game show called "The Phone Zone" where he calls people and asks ridiculous random trivia questions for cash prizes and interjects his own sound effects.
- Ken (Kevin Nealon) — An accountant with obsessive-compulsive disorder who prefers cleanliness and even numbers. He often requests people to press the pound key as a part of his disorder.
- Danny (David Alan Grier) — A man who repeatedly gets nervous or disgusted causing him to vomit over the phone. The vomit is depicted as an Exorcist-like liquid shooting out of the puppet's throat.
- Chip Douglas (Fred Armisen) — A Mexican immigrant who is perpetually building a house with minimal supplies and minimal command of the English language.
Performers
Performers who have provided voices for the show include:
DVD releases
Season Releases
| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 Uncensored | September 28 2004 | 10 |
| Season 2 Volume 1 | April 26 2005 | 15 |
| Season 2 Volume 2 | November 29 2005 | 15 |
| Season 3 Volume 1 | TBA 2006 | 11 |
| Season 3 Volume 2 | TBA 2006 | 11 |
External links
2000s TV shows in the United States | Comedy television series | Comedy Central shows | Special Broadcasting Service shows | Television programs featuring puppetry | שיחות מלוכלכות
"Crank Yankers"