Crank Yankers: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Crank Yankers is an American television show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison that featured actual crank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, and re-enacted onscreen by puppets for a visual aid to show the viewer what is happening in the call. The show premiered in 2002 on Comedy Central and returned to MTV2 on February 9, 2007, running again until March 30, 2007.

Yankerville, a twisted town inhabited solely by puppets, is the setting for re-creations of actual crank phone calls. Comics and celebrities -- a list that includes people such as rapper Eminem and comics Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes and Drew Carey -- make the calls. Among the regular pranksters are show creators Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla. Characters featured on the show on a regular basis include Special Ed, Elmer and Bobby Fletcher. The show originated on Comedy Central but new episodes aired for a time on MTV2.

Series details

• Title: Crank Yankers
• Format: Animation
• Language: English
• Genres: Comedy
• Premiere date: 2002-06-02
• Final broadcast date listed: 2022-08-03
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: Comedy Central
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 25 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 6.4/10
• TVMaze ID: 27100
• IMDb ID: tt0318959
• TVDB ID: 79009

Cast and credited roles

• Artie Esposito — Puppeteer
• BJ Guyer — Puppeteer
• Paul McGinnis — Puppeteer
• Victor Yerrid — Puppeteer
• Biz Markie — Announcer

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2002-06-02; final listed air date 2002-08-04; episode order: 10.
• Season 2: premiered 2003-03-04; final listed air date 2004-04-13; episode order: 30.
• Season 3: premiered 2004-07-20; final listed air date 2005-03-09; episode order: 19.
• Season 4: premiered 2007-02-09; final listed air date 2007-03-30; episode order: 8.
• Season 5: premiered 2019-09-25; final listed air date 2020-06-03.
• Season 6: premiered 2021-05-05; final listed air date 2022-08-03.

Source and licence

Adapted from Crank Yankers on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.