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The Best of Crank Yankers: Uncensored
Score: 80%
Rating: Not Rated
Publisher: Paramount
Region: 1
Media: DVD/1
Running Time: 180 Mins.
Genre: Comedy/TV Series
Audio: Dolby Digital English Stereo

I can't help it; I've always had a soft spot for crank call comedy, ever since the Jerky Boys, of course. So a few years back when Crank Yankers started coming on, I really wanted to see it; unfortunately, I never got the opportunity. The idea behind the show is to take supposedly real crank calls and put them to muppets, and the DVD The Best of Crank Yankers: Uncensored is the best skits from the four seasons or so of the show.

This particular collection starts with a naked Tenacious D parody and continues to touch on characters like Special Ed (a personal favorite), Niles Standish, Spoonie Luv and Bobby Fletcher in skits like Special Ed's call with AOL tech support or his desire to go to Hawaii. Other ones involve a call from an Opera employee calling out for help or a man who lives with his mother calling an adult store to find out what products they have.

Another fun skit is Niles Standish's call to a calligrapher to have her write up an invitation to his buddies for a "butt slapping" party. Another call is a man calling a phone sex line for his deaf friend who has to convey the conversation over a computer, and then there's the woman who seems to get really turned on by calling tech support. Needless to say, this show is definitely not for kids and what was not shown on TV is most definitely seen here, after all, it is "Uncensored."

Like I said above, I didn't get a chance to watch this show live, but over the years, I've heard various skits. Between XM Radio's Comedy Channel and just normal e-mail circulation, I've found several that I really enjoyed (like the woman who calls her car repair shop because there is a turd in her back seat), and, unfortunately it seems like something gets lost when you put visuals to them, at least muppet visuals. For the most part it isn't bad. The only times I've found it to be off were when the camera switched to the person being pranked and their voices are still the over-the-phone, altered version. It just really pulls you out of the experience and reminds you that these are just recordings applied over the visuals. It just doesn't always work right.

There is a very specific group for this DVD and those are existing fans of the show. People who have heard some of the skits through other means might be tempted, but quite frankly, a lot of these crank calls are better heard and not seen.



-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

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