On DVD: The Best of Crank Yankers Uncensored

Directed By:Comedy Central

Starring: Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes and many, many more.

Comedy Central brings you three hours of The Best of Crank Yankers Uncensored.

The Movie

It's a simple premise, take a phone, somebody funny and preferable with a quick wit, and an innocent dupe. Mix it all together and you have some awkward but potentially funny stuff. It's not an original idea, right after Bell called Watson and asked him to “Come here...” he probably rang the corner drugstore and asked if they had Prince Albert in a can. Crank Yankers manges to breathe new life into an old gag though with the use of puppets and an imperial tonne of guest yankers, or would that be crankers? Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, Fred Armisen and Tracy Morgan all seem to be regulars, but you'll also hear Jeff Goldblum, Patton Oswalt, Dennis Leary,  David Alan Grier, David Cross and even Tenacious D. Trying to figure out if your really hearing who you think your hearing is half the fun of the show. That and looking for silly sight gags on the sets. Even in the most cringe worthy segments the sets were always entertaining. There is eye candy everywhere. The posters, the bins in the shops I actually had to stop and go back several times because I had to make sure that I didn't miss anything.

Actually more often than not that is the only fun in the show. A lot of the segments start out with a bang and quickly fizzle out. Out of the whole three hours there are only a few segments that really take off. There are quite a few that barely get out of the starting gate and a couple that just lay down in the chute. I guess they were shooting for the three hour mark but the bad segments really pull down the marginal ones. On the upside they do make the genuinely funny segments look hysterical. I'm not a huge fan of the show but I remember it being funnier than this. It doesn't really live up to the title of “Best of”.

Watching three hours of Crank Yankers in one sitting did impress upon me how genial most people are when placed in awkward positions. Of course we only see the successful calls, I guess it wouldn't be much of a show if every call lasted ten seconds and ended in “@%&# off”. The funnier segments with one or two exceptions seem to actually start out with a weaker gag. It's the relationship that develops between the pranker and the prankee that actually makes most of the humor possible. Tracy Morgan negotiating exactly what he can and can't put in a personal ad ends up being much funnier that Adam Carolla explaining to a Ufologist that he wasn't anally probed by aliens that he was just raped by illegal aliens because Tracy actually has to develop a relationship with the personal ad placer to negotiate his ad, even if it only lasts minutes. Adam on the other hand is just explaining the joke to the Ufologist who doesn't do anything more that say “yeah” and “uh-huh”.

6/10

The Video

The video is presented in full screen, the colors are bright and vibrant and I never noticed any blooming or aliasing. Nothing spectacular but more importantly nothing that's going to distract you either.

6/10

The Audio

The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo, English only. It's mixed well and considering half of the conversations are over a phone connection of some sort everything sounds really good.

7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD is packaged in a standard DVD case with locking tabs, the artwork is great, showcasing the more popular characters from the show. The menu is nice allowing you to choose individual segments or to view the segments by character. The only extras are some DVD previews from Comedy Central and I'm not sure I really count previews as extras. It's hard to complain when your getting three hours of content but I would have traded some of the weaker segments for some behind the scenes action, interviews, commentaries or maybe some calls gone bad.

6/10

This would make a great stocking stuffer if you know a fan of the show. If you are a fan I think the actual season sets would be a better deal. 

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review

The Movie 6/10

The Video 6/10

The Audio 7/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 6/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

-Mike Young