The Crank Yankers team invaded San Diego Comic-Con this year for a special panel to speak about the show’s upcoming return to Comedy Central, revealing all-new footage and prank calls. Present at the panel were executive producer and showrunner Jonathan Kimmel, joined by voice talent David Alan Grier (The Cool Kids), Chelsea Peretti (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), and Bobby Moynihan (Happy!), along with production designer Gary Kordan. Comedian Brian Posehn also served as the panel moderator, presenting to fans never-before-seen clips and also revealing behind-the-scenes stories from the show.
Crank Yankers dates all the way back to 2002 when it first premiered on Comedy Central. Created by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel, Daniel Kellison, and Jonathan Kimmel, the series features actual crank calls made by both series regulars and special celebrity guests. These recorded phone calls would then be animated with puppets as a visual aid for the viewers, making the hilarious crank calls that much more hilarious. After its run on Comedy Central and a brief run on MTV2, Crank Yankers ultimately ran for four seasons and 70 episodes, airing its final installment in 2007. It was an impressive run for a simple show about puppets making crank calls, but big fans of the series were certainly sad to see it go.
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As we know now, that wouldn’t turn out to be the very end of the series after all. Earlier this year, Jimmy Kimmel announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live the upcoming return of the series, which would serve as the first project on the TV star’s new Kimmelot production imprint. Kimmel’s brother Jonathan is now serving as the showrunner and executive producer, and the revival seems to be carrying over the same charm that the series always had so many years ago. To keep up with the times, it was also revealed that the series would be including pranks from social media and other platforms as well.
Now that most everyone uses cell phones and screens phone numbers they don’t recognize, crank calling just isn’t the phenomenon that it used to be. This would explain the show’s creative shift into adapting pranks pulled off in other platforms. Also thanks in part to the rise of YouTube, there just doesn’t seem to be enough shows on TV featuring pranks and crank calls anymore, so it’s certainly great news to see one of the most well-known of them all finally making its return to television. The timing is just right to bring Crank Yankers back now, as it will introduce the show to a new generation while bringing back viewers who remember watching the episodes from the past.
Season 5 of Crank Yankers will consist of 20 episodes, meaning there are tons of new cranks we can all look forward to seeing play out with animated puppets. Hopefully, in addition to new interesting characters making pranks, we’ll be seeing lots more familiar faces coming back to make new calls as well. You can watch some new footage from the return of Crank Yankers below, courtesy of Comedy Central.
