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The Jerky Boys – Honorable Mentions

The Jerky Boys are pushing 40, but they are still omnipresent in today’s culture. And just maybe a little more humor is what we need.
Here are the Jerky Boys mentioned in contemporary news and culture.

Who is the biggest Jerky Boys fan around? Yep, Bill Belichick

Man the cellphone and access to incoming numbers has made crank calling a dinosaur, no? Also, how crazy is the story that of all the people on the planet, do you care to guess who is the biggest Jerky Boys fan around? Yep, Bill Belichick loves their crank calls, which is surreal. Heck, picturing Bill Belichick laughing in general is kind of weird. Bill Belichcik busting a gut at the Jerky Boys is doubly so

Chattanooga Times Free Press

The Jerky Boys became part of the cultural consciousness

Daredevils and pranksters have been at it forever. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, before caller ID became standard, the Jerky Boys became part of the cultural consciousness with their stable of New York-centric characters prank-calling unsuspecting businesses.

They inspired a generation of teens to record their own. But, in contrast to TikTok, there wasn’t glory for your successful Jerky Boys imitation, beyond playing the tapes for your friends during third period study hall.

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New York Post

Jukebox That Only Plays Prank Calls

Just track after track of Jerky Boys and Longmont Potion Castle played at full volume!

The Hard Times

Jerky Boys Accidentally Prank-Call Last Remaining Fan

NEW YORK—Infamous crank phone-callers Johnny G. Brennan and Kamal Ahmed, better known as the Jerky Boys, unknowingly pranked 22-year-old videostore employee Jake Matson, their last remaining fan, Tuesday. “Hello, this is Frank Rizzo,” said Brennan. “I’m throwing a bachelor party and I wanna come over there and rent some smutty animal videos. What kind you got there, sizzle-chest?” Matson, who, unlike his peers, still listens to his Jerky Boys CDs regularly, instantly recognized Brennan’s voice and begged him to do a few seconds of Saul Rosenberg.

The Onion

Oscar-Winning Actor Alan Arkin Passes Away at Age 89

Actor Alan Arkin portrayed Ernie Lazzaro in “The Jerky Boys” (1995).

WDW News Today

Oscar-Winning Disney Actor, Alan Arkin, Has Died

The 1990s is when Alan Arkin began to hit his stride as he appeared in Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). His roles began to start leaning heavily into comedy, as he secured supporting roles in So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), The Jerky Boys (1995), and Grosse Point Blank (1997).

Inside the Magic

There Are Probably Better Ways to Honor the Great Alan Arkin Than By Re-Running This Piece on Jerky Boys: The Movie, But That's the One We're Going With

There Are Probably Better Ways to Honor the Great Alan Arkin Than By Re-Running This Piece on Jerky Boys: The Movie, But That’s the One We’re Going With

 

Nathan Rabin's Happy Place

Look, I listened to my fair share of Jerky Boys tapes as a kid, and I laughed a fair number of times at them too.

Screen Crush

Punitive Damages - Antar’s RICO Lawsuit Against CT Will Require New Amended Filings

“Sue Everybody”

You don’t have to pay for law school to know that you “Sue Everybody.” The crank-call comedians, the Jerky Boys, reminded us about this a generation ago. Antar takes it to a new level.

Frank Report

BGS 5+5: LONESOME ACE STRINGBAND

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

As a band, I think the art form outside of music that has had the biggest impact is the crank (prank) phone call. For years we’ve been listening to the Jerky Boys. We are old enough to remember the late ’80s and early ’90s when underground Jerky Boys cassette tapes were passed around organically and treasured by all who were lucky enough to possess them.

The Bluegrass Situation

Trump wanted to prank-call Chris Cuomo from the White House

Donald Trump wanted to ‘prank-call’ CNN’s Chris Cuomo from White House with Andrew Cuomo, new book alleges

 

Trump wanted to prank-call Chris Cuomo from the White House
PageSix

Ted Prequel Show Ending Explained

Ted and John live with John’s parents, Matty and Susan – as well as his cousin, Blaire – in a Massachusetts suburb, where they buy pot from college students, rent pornographic tapes from the video store with fake I.D.s, and use Jerky Boys prank call routines to get back at their school bully.

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Screen Rant

Bill Belichick next team odds: Where will future hall-of-famer coach next, if he does?

To know Bill Belichick’s next move, you must know the man. And that’s a quagmire because his gruff sideline and press conference demeanor belies a guy with a sly sense of humor, a love for the Jerky Boys […].

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The Athletic

Peacock’s ‘Ted’ Show inspired by the Jerky Boys, prank calling

By episode 3, we are seeing Ted and John, inspired by the Jerky Boys, prank calling a bully pretending to be the father that abandoned him, escalating the thing so that they are quasi-parenting the kid to do good in school and then ultimately hiring and actor to play his father to show up at his birthday party. This is all…quite funny.

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The Athletic

Kids prank call Augusta National asking for a tee time

“I’m just giving a ring,” says the wanna-be Jerky Boy in the green shirt. “Me and the buddies are sitting here and we’re thinking what a better day than Thursday to go out and play a quick 18? You guys got carts?”

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Golf Digest

Learn more about the Jerky Boys’ Success.