The Jerky Boys’ Johnny Brennan on Crank Calls, Howard Stern, Seth MacFarlane, and His New Record

If you throw on any one of the early tapes from The Jerky Boys, odds are you’re going to have several immediate reactions. The original pioneers of crank phone calls, first, are brash, shocking and, yet, funny. At other times, though, you may bristle or find yourself putting your hand over your mouth in astonishment. The tapes, which were created by the loud-talking comedian, Johnny Brennan, do create surprise and alarm. But not always in the ways you might assume. If you listen closely, Brennan is often being self-deprecating. The joke is on him or his character (which, admittedly, gets a bit murkier). But while the tapes aren’t necessarily for everyone, they sure have been popular over the decades ever since The Jerky Boys’ first official release in 1993. Ever since, The Jerky Boys have sold millions of records. We caught up with Brennan to talk about creating the idea, the many characters that appear in his skits, and what it was like making his first Jerky Boys album in two-plus decades, The Jerky Boys: Balloon Animals, which came out in November.