Question: how do you get Comedy Central to show a deaf man masturbating to the vibrations produced when a phone sex operator yells into the other end of a receiver that he places up to his balls? Make him into a puppet. Apparently, there are very few things a puppet cannot get away with. Crank Yankers -- a new show on Comedy Central featuring puppets who make real-life prank phone calls --proves that very fact. But how long can a show with such a limited repertoire survive? You can only watch a female puppet call up a mechanic to tell him that he left a dump in her back seat, so many times before it gets redundant. Crank Yankers, however, has the potential to be something different, better.
I have never been a fan of crank calling, though. It seems like something Mike Judge would do on an off night. And the Jerky Boys -- of "I have warts on my ass" fame -- did not impress me. But Crank Yankers is funny. And I mean pee your pants funny. Brought to you by Comedy Central's newest golden boys Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla -- the two stars of The Man Show -- Yankers takes popular comedians, like Dave Chapelle, Stephen Colbert (Daily Show), Tracy Morgan (SNL), and gives them the freedom only guaranteed by felt skin, plastic eyes and a hand up your ass.
The way it works is devilishly simple. The calls are real and they involve real people. But they are acted out by puppets. One skit finds Shavin' (Dave Chapelle) calling a small Bed & Breakfast in the Bible Belt and attempting to book 12 rooms for the Wu-Tang Clan.
But if anything can be learned from the short-lived fame of the Jerky Boys, it is that this crank calling schtick can get old and get old fast. It will not be long before the novelty of puppets grows tired and the crank calls are revealed for what they are, the back-up plan for a boring Friday night in Middle School. Yankers hopes to avoid cable t.v. oblivion, however, by keeping some regular characters like Special Ed -- a mentally challenged boy who calls up a computer technician to tell him that "I got mail," over and over -- but creating different characters each week depending on their comedic guests. Also, they intend on having a musical guest each week. Puppet-fied, of course. Tenacious D, Wu-Tang Clan and Ween are some of the bands that have already signed up.
It remains to be seen whether or not Crank Yankers will last, but for now, the show has found a new, funny twist on an old, juvenile gag.
