Crank Yankers
“Volume 1”
(Comedy Central)
Crank calls are funny. Sure, it’s not exactly an amazing feat of human cleverness; in fact, it can be pretty fucking irritating. Crank Yankers is a show on Comedy Central that’s been playing for a few weeks, and ‘created’ by Jimmy Kimmel of ‘The Man Show’ fame. The premise is crank calling, but the actual result is ‘acted out’ by puppets. It’s a pretty basic show, and can be hit and miss depending on the phone calls, but the puppets can really bring out otherwise boring parts. It’s worth watching, and usually is on Wednesday after South Park. I won’t go spoil this CD, especially if you havent seen the show, since all of these skits on the album have been shown on television. But i will say that the comedians on here are all excellent, and make the calls that much more intertaining, as opposed to boring jackasses like the Jerky Boys. We’ve got Billy West (Ren & Stimpy), Lisa Kushell (Mad TV), Jordan Rubin (Man Show writer), Adam Carolla (Man Show), Tracy Morgan (SNL), Jimmy Kimmel (Man Show), Patton Oswalt (King of Queens), Stephen Colbert (Daily Show), Dave Chappelle, Denis Leary, Wanda Sykes (Chris Rock Show), Tony Barbieri (Man Show writer), Pete Dzoghi (Touchtone Terrorists) and my personal favorite, Jim Florentine performing an excellent “I Got Mail.” I gotta say, it’s an excellent choice of comedians. 17 crank calls make up a very amusing CD, and it’s nice to hear uncensored phone calls as opposed to the bleeped out version’s on cable tv.
