The Jerky Boys – In the Press

Don’t just listen to us. Here are what people say about the Jerky Boys.

The Calls that Changed Comedy

DURING THEIR NINETIES HEYDAY, THE JERKY BOYS TURNED PRANK CALLING INTO A FUNNY, FILTHY ART FORM, SELLING MILLIONS OF ALBUMS AND INSPIRING TODAY’S CROP OF IMPROVISATIONAL, AUTHENTICITY-SEEKING COMEDY STARS. THEN THEY WENT QUIET. NOW, THE GROUP’S CO-FOUNDER AND DRIVING FORCE, JOHNNY BRENNAN, IS READY TO HIT REDIAL ON HIS CAREER.

Rolling Stone Magazine

Nobody Needs a New ‘Jerky Boys’ Record Right Now

The Jerky Boys were good at what they did: Their first three full-length records all made it into the Billboard 200, two of them went platinum, and they scored a Grammy nomination.

The Vice

The Jerky Boys return with proof prank calls never go out of style

Most everyone has made a prank phone call or two. But hardly anyone manages to turn juvenile high jinks into a career.

New York Post

Johnny Brennan answers the call for more with new ‘Jerky Boys’ album

The Jerky Boys may have never fully left, but in terms of putting together a new record of prank call mischief, Johnny Brennan agrees that a return to the phone line was a long time coming.

Vanyaland.com

Jerky Boys Creator Johnny Brennan on First Album in 21 Years

“In today’s world, you can still do the Jerky characters — you just gotta come in from a different angle”

Spin

The Jerky Boys’ Johnny Brennan Is Back to Sell You a Piano

He made a name—and a living—making prank calls in the ’90s. Now the Jerky Boys’ Johnny Brennan has returned, and it’s like nothing changed.

Daily Beast

Why The Jerky Boys Are Back After Two Decades Away

The world’s most famous prank caller, Johnny Brennan, tells us about his decision to revive The Jerky Boys after a long hiatus.

denofgeek.com

Sopranos’ Vincent Pastore started with the Jerky Boys Movie.

His journey into acting began unexpectedly while running a travel agency in the 1970s, where a chance encounter with Alan Arkin’s son led to his first acting role in The Jerky Boys. 

tribune.com.pk

Interview with Jon Glickman who worked on the Jerky Boys movie

Interview with Jon Glickman who worked on the Jerky Boys movie.

The Anker

Learn more about the Jerky Boys’ Success.

Don’t just listen to us. Here are what people say about the Jerky Boys.

Telephone Trespassing

Think only kids make prank calls? Now grown-ups are dialing, baiting their prey and taping what follows. One group of callers seems poised to take the phenomenon to the bank. They are the New York-based Jerky Boys.

Los Angeles Times

Caravan calls on bad Boys

Joe Roth’s Caravan Pictures has made a deal to develop a feature based on the Jerky Boys. Roth said the guys could be the ’90s Cheech and Chong.

Variety

The Jerky Boys 2

Take two New York slackers, a telephone, a truckload of attitude — and a career is born. Are the Jerky Boys abusive and manipulative snots or spoken-word pioneers? Who cares; they’re funny as hell. A−

Entertainment Weekly

If the Jerky Boys Call, Take the Phone Off the Hook

As telephone guerrillas puncturing institutional defenses with their rude crank phone calls, the Jerky Boys have touched a nerve. The comic flailings of these self-described “lowlifes from Queens” are comic cries of anger from a social stratum that looks ahead and sees only dead ends.

The New York Times

Hollywood Rings Up the Jerky Boys

Contrary to what you might be thinking there, Sizzlechest, the Jerky Boys are really not so different from you or me. Anonymous but well-known to many as the two phone pranksters from Queens whose audiotapes of their crank calls literally turned into gold.

Los Angeles Times

The Jerky Boys

A lowbrow, high-concept item that could click with undemanding audiences out for a rowdy good time. Pic definitely has potential to reach beyond the stars’ cult following.

Variety

Calls of the Wild

The Jerky Boys are ringing up one success after another.

The Washington Post

Hot Comedy: Jerky Boys, Jeff Foxworthy and Adam Sandler

Select and Warner Bros. are laughing all the way to the bank. This week, three hit comedy albums crack the top half of The Billboard 200 chart — including both Jerky Boys albums still selling more than a year after release.

Billboard

Jerky Boys Called on Their Pranks

Hey, tough guy, read this article. I mean now, not next week! I had the chance to meet the phone-pranking duo known as The Jerky Boys when they passed through Boston to hype their new film.

The Harvard Crimson

The Jerky Boys Parlay Crank Calls Into Big Bucks

Their first albums have sold nearly one million copies each. The second album was nominated for a Grammy and entered the Billboard pop chart at No. 12 — the highest debut ever for a comedy album.

The New York Times

Whatever Happened To… The Jerky Boys?

Johnny Brennan remembers the best meatloaf he ever tasted. It was tender, not too dry, and he ate it the one time he was nominated for a Grammy.

Maxim

The Calls that Changed Comedy

During their Nineties heyday, the Jerky Boys turned prank calling into a funny, filthy art form, selling millions of albums and inspiring today’s crop of improvisational comedy stars. Then they went quiet. Now Johnny Brennan is ready to hit redial.

Rolling Stone

The Jerky Boys Could Never Exist Today

They were a distinct product of the 90s — a foul-mouthed comedy duo from Queens who mastered the prank phone call. Revisiting a Jerky Boys album now is like studying some strange artifact from another time.

Vice

Remembering The Jerky Boys

They would go on to sell millions of albums, star in a movie, and inspire a future generation of comedic talent like Paul Feig and Seth MacFarlane. Spin once declared them the “Hall & Oates of crank calling.”

Mental Floss

The Kings of Call :: Who Were the Jerky Boys?

And there might not be a better example of just how insane the ’90s were than a comedy duo from New York that were, at one point, on top of the world. Their name was The Jerky Boys.

The Hundreds

Jerky Boys to Men

Johnny Brennan talks fatherhood, legacy, and the first Jerky Boys album in 20 years. “People have been asking me for decades. Let me put something else out there.”

Rolling Stone

The Jerky Boys return with proof prank calls never go out of style

Most everyone has made a prank phone call or two. But hardly anyone manages to turn juvenile high jinks into a career.

New York Post

Jerky Boys Return: Hear a Prank Call From First Album in Over 20 Years

After teasing the return of the Jerky Boys in 2019, the infamous prank call artists have officially announced their first album in over 20 years. Sol Rosenberg torments iRobot customer service in an exclusive clip.

Rolling Stone

The Jerky Boys’ Johnny Brennan Is Back to Sell You a Piano

He made a name—and a living—making prank calls in the ’90s. Now the Jerky Boys’ Johnny Brennan has returned, and it’s like nothing changed.

Daily Beast

Why The Jerky Boys Are Back After Two Decades Away

The world’s most famous prank caller, Johnny Brennan, tells us about his decision to revive The Jerky Boys after a long hiatus.

Den of Geek

Jerky Boys Creator Johnny Brennan on First Album in 21 Years

In today’s world, you can still do the Jerky characters — you just gotta come in from a different angle.

Spin

The Jerky Boys terrorize iRobot customer care in prank call from first LP in nearly 20 years

We hope you’ve been washing your ass because, for the first time in nearly two decades, a new Jerky Boys album is on the way. Sol begs iRobot to save him after he duct-taped a knife to his digital vacuum.

The A.V. Club

Whatever Happened To The Jerky Boys?

So what happened to these two guys from New York, who became inexplicably famous just by prank calling people, in the 25 years since they were last household names?

Looper

The PGA Tour is entering its 'Jerky Boys' era.

Don’t ask us why, but golf pranks are suddenly hot again. Now with a little help from Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, the PGA Tour is getting in on the hijinks with the debut of its new YouTube series, “PGA Tour Alter Ego.”

Golf Digest

The PGA Tour is entering its 'Jerky Boys' era.

Don’t ask us why, but golf pranks are suddenly hot again. Now with a little help from Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, the PGA Tour is getting in on the hijinks with the debut of its new YouTube series, “PGA Tour Alter Ego.”

Golf Digest

The Calls that Changed Comedy

DURING THEIR NINETIES HEYDAY, THE JERKY BOYS TURNED PRANK CALLING INTO A FUNNY, FILTHY ART FORM, SELLING MILLIONS OF ALBUMS AND INSPIRING TODAY’S CROP OF IMPROVISATIONAL, AUTHENTICITY-SEEKING COMEDY STARS. THEN THEY WENT QUIET. NOW, THE GROUP’S CO-FOUNDER AND DRIVING FORCE, JOHNNY BRENNAN, IS READY TO HIT REDIAL ON HIS CAREER.

Rolling Stone Magazine

Nobody Needs a New 'Jerky Boys' Record Right Now

The Jerky Boys were good at what they did: Their first three full-length records all made it into the Billboard 200, two of them went platinum, and they scored a Grammy nomination.

The Vice

The Jerky Boys return with proof prank calls never go out of style

Most everyone has made a prank phone call or two. But hardly anyone manages to turn juvenile high jinks into a career.

New York Post

Johnny Brennan answers the call for more with new ‘Jerky Boys’ album

The Jerky Boys may have never fully left, but in terms of putting together a new record of prank call mischief, Johnny Brennan agrees that a return to the phone line was a long time coming.

Vanyaland.com

Jerky Boys Creator Johnny Brennan on First Album in 21 Years

“In today’s world, you can still do the Jerky characters — you just gotta come in from a different angle”

Spin

The Jerky Boys’ Johnny Brennan Is Back to Sell You a Piano

He made a name—and a living—making prank calls in the ’90s. Now the Jerky Boys’ Johnny Brennan has returned, and it’s like nothing changed.

Daily Beast

Why The Jerky Boys Are Back After Two Decades Away

The world’s most famous prank caller, Johnny Brennan, tells us about his decision to revive The Jerky Boys after a long hiatus.

denofgeek.com

Sopranos’ Vincent Pastore started with the Jerky Boys Movie.

His journey into acting began unexpectedly while running a travel agency in the 1970s, where a chance encounter with Alan Arkin’s son led to his first acting role in The Jerky Boys. 

tribune.com.pk

Interview with Jon Glickman who worked on the Jerky Boys movie

Interview with Jon Glickman who worked on the Jerky Boys movie.

The Anker

The Jerky Girls from San Antonio

The Jerky Girls from San Antonio.

MY SA

Learn more about the Jerky Boys’ Success.