Shavin': "You do keep it real over there?"Ĭlearly these two have nothing in common, but Shavin' remains polite to her and signs off, "Peace, I'm out." Saying he's seeking 12 rooms for the band and various female groupies - the B&B has a total of two rooms - Shavin' makes some unreasonable requests (microphones, turntables, air mattresses) of the poor, dumbfounded Reba, peppering his language with rap lingo and the occasional four-letter word. Tomorrow night's premiere opens with a strangely sweet conversation between Chappelle, giving voice to "Shavin'," who claims to be the manager of the rap group Wu-Tang Clan (who appear puppetized on the show), a real-life bed-and-breakfast owner named Reba. Rather, these cranks are restrained in their assault, and the humor results from the creative ad-libbing of the comedians. Phone calls placed by the Yankers, though off-color, are not mean-spirited like the ones popularized by the Jerky Boys, who made a career out of crank calls. When reenacted by the lifelike puppets, which look as if they came right out of Jim Henson's closet, the hilarious telephone interaction makes for a half-hour of curiously addictive television. The original crank calls were made by such comedians as Dave Chappelle, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. The Yankers of the title are foul-mouthed puppets who reside in the mythical town of Yankerville and spend their spare time on the phone harassing fast-food managers, travel agents, landlords and anyone else they can think of. "Crank Yankers," premiering tomorrow night at 10:30 on Comedy Central, is a clever, laugh-out-loud and often raunchy tribute to the art of the crank call. Series creators: The brains behind Comedy Central's unashamedly sexist "The Man Show," which ends each episode with footage of women jumping on trampolines.ĭoes this combination sound less than tempting? Perish the thought and give these peppy puppets a chance. Calls are then reenacted by Muppetlike marionettes. Why don’t you bother Tom Hanks, he made fun of a retarded person for three hours and got an Academy Award for it.”Ĭrank Yankers also features the voices of Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Kimmel, Wanda Sykes, Adam Carolla and Sarah Silverman.Series concept: Comedians make crank telephone calls to unsuspecting victims. “There are a lot of teachers of special kids that come to my stand-up show. “Not really,” said Florentine, who also voices the dastardly Bobby Fletcher character. Special Ed’s enthusiasm for mundane things like fried chicken or yelling “Yay! I peed in the pool!” has caught on with fans, and Florentine said his portrayal of Ed hasn’t resulted in much protest from mental-health advocates and the like. They’d say ‘That’s not funny.’ But the people at Comedy Central thought the puppet was cute and women would like it.” “But I played the CDs for women before they designed the puppet, and women didn’t like it. “They were like, ‘Man, Special Ed is going to be a hit, especially with the women,'” Florentine, a New Jersey native, said. The character, originally called The Retard (“I was being politically correct,” he said), appeared on Florentine’s CDs, which ended up attracting Comedy Central’s attention when it was assembling “Crank Yankers.” The calls are then acted out by puppets.įlorentine, a stand-up comedian by night, said he had nothing to do during the day, so when telemarketers would call, he’d see how long he could keep them on the line despite his antics. For those unfamiliar with the show, which is part way through its third season, you will find comics pretending to be characters calling unsuspecting people and introducing ridiculous, sometimes side-splittingly funny, situations.
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