Even the character names are funny: Spoonie Luv, Special Ed and Niles Standish. Voices come from everywhere - from “The Daily Show” regular Stephen Colbert to more established talent like Denis Leary and David Alan Grier. (Hadassah has a big nose and Wu Tang Clan are portrayed as record-spinning, jewelry-wearing loudmouths.) There never has been a collection of skits so warped and so oddly produced as this, with caricatures enhanced and stereotypes highlighted.
The ultimate in frat boy television, “Crank Yankers” works so well because it’s completely fresh. After asking a few harmless questions (“Do you have cable? Do you have covered parking?), she accepts the job before it’s offered and starts to freak out the potential employee by “inviting” herself over. Second best gag involves Hadassah (Sarah Silverman), a “normal” person who answers a family’s ad for a nanny. She tries her hardest to accommodate the obnoxious rappers into her establishment, and it is simply a riot, especially when she can’t understand him because of his rapid-fire speech pattern and penchant for profanity. What spins the viewer into bizarre-o land is that actual conversations between pranker and prankee are mouthed by soft and squishy creations that don’t quite look like Muppets but are as charming as anything Jim Henson ever made.įirst episode dives right into the madness as comedian Dave Chappelle takes on the personality of Shavin’, Wu Tang Clan’s manager who rings a church-loving bed-and-breakfast owner in order to secure some reservations. Here, everyone lives in Yankerville and spends their day phoning company operators, little old ladies, shopkeepers and regular Joes. It could do without the interstitials that bring nothing to the table - “This show brought to you by the letters ‘F,’ ‘U’ and ‘K,’ ” for instance - but like “Beavis and Butt-Head” and “South Park” before it, it certainly does what it sets out to do: offend equally … and with love. Best Easter Movies for Kids to Watch in 2022 Decider Picks. As if there is any legitimate comparison, “Yankers” one-ups Fox’s “Greg the Bunny” in almost every category: The puppets are funnier, the bits are cruder, and the overall sense of cutesy reality is more genuine. Find out where Crank Yankers is streaming, if Crank Yankers is on Netflix, and get news and updates, on Decider.