Latest news with #TheJerkyBoys
New York Post
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Jerky Boys founder reveals nutty truth about characters, plans return to big screen 30 years after film debut
He was born to be jerky. The founder of prank-call comedy legends The Jerky Boys credited his own mom and dad for inspiring his insane characters – and now he's ready to take his career full circle. Johnny Brennan is planning to head back to the big screen 30 years after the release of 'The Jerky Boys: The Movie,' this time playing his father Tony in a biopic tentatively titled 'Don't Hang Up' about his uncanny rise from New York wiseass to a wisecracking pop culture phenomenon in the 1990s. 5 Johnny Brennan is planning to head back to the big screen 30 years after the release of 'The Jerky Boys: The Movie.' Matthew McDermott 'If you spoke to my father, it was just a normal guy just speaking like I'm speaking to you now,' he told The Post in a recent interview, the day after he received the script. 'But when my dad got pissed off that's when Frank Rizzo came out,' he said, then flipped the switch into the familiar voice of his foul-mouthed, short-tempered alter ego. 'And things [came out] like, 'Hey get over here, you f–king rubberneck f–k.' But he would only speak that way when he was pissed off or when it was time for one of us to get a f–king asswhooping.' Chronically nervous Sol Rosenberg was just a riff on his mother, Gloria, while other characters were based on uncles or others he came across growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, he said. His characters had New York accents and used phrases he heard growing up like 'sizzlechest' while sprinkling in new quotes of his own like 'skid plate.' His father and mother — who died in 2000 and 2017, respectively — didn't mind the notoriety, Brennan said, even when a Maxim magazine reporter laughed in his mother's face when she spoke and Rosenberg's voice came out. 5 Brennan went to the top of the Billboard album charts with his former partner-in-pranking Kamal Ahmed. Getty Images Brennan, who's now 63, told his mother it was all 'pretty extraordinary.' 'Just by me copying your voice and knowing that you were f–king hysterical, you know we were able to touch the world with these characters I've created, based on the family,' he said. Long before Brennan went to the top of the Billboard album charts with his former partner-in-pranking Kamal Ahmed, he said he was already causing trouble in a big Irish family and a household that he describes as 'nutty as a nuthouse.' He was the oldest of five rowdy siblings and a class clown at Mater Christi school in Astoria before his family packed up and moved upstate to a ranch house in Salisbury Hills in the 1970s. 5 Brennan will playing his father Tony in a biopic tentatively titled 'Don't Hang Up' about his uncanny rise from New York wiseass to a wisecracking pop culture phenomenon in the 1990s. Matthew McDermott He started recording himself and he remembers his dad once walking in on him while he taped a twisted audio skit on his reel-to-reel about his elderly neighbor getting run over by a lawnmower – screams and all. 'I say, 'Dad I'm just making some s–t. I'm making some tapes and whatnot,' he said, before unleashing the Frank Rizzo voice again. 'He goes, 'Jesus Christ, boy, you're a f–king nut.' And then he would go out and shut the door.' By the late 1980s, the home-recorded prank calls had spread through bootleg copies of cassette tapes from his brothers to their friends – then across the country. The off-the-wall tapes had unsuspecting 'victims' on the other end trying to make sense of bizarre scenarios, including a call where Brennan-as-Rizzo tries to buy balloons to float his child around a party 'like a pinata' – though he worries the kid might float away into the sky. The viral-before- viral comedy act was so massive that the pair hit the big screen in 1995, with a plot that involved Rizzo calling the Mafia and a cast that included Oscar-winner Alan Arkin. 5 'We had a great f–king time with that film and I think we have more of a following for that Jerky Boys movie now than ever before,' Brennan said. Matthew McDermott The movie wasn't a critical or commercial success, which Brennan partly blames on a massive snowstorm that hit the northeast the weekend it premiered – but fans have stuck with it over the years, he said. 'We had a great f–king time with that film and I think we have more of a following for that Jerky Boys movie now than ever before,' Brennan said. Brennan downplayed any rift or hard feelings between him and Ahmed, despite reports in Rolling Stone and elsewhere of bad blood when he left the act in the late 1990s to pursue filmmaking. But Brennan admitted the whole game had changed when he set solo out in recent years. 'The people are not the same. First of all, nobody picks up the phone anymore… and if they do pick up the call, they're waiting to be pranked or 'is this some reality show,'' he said. 'This time I had to literally do anywhere from five to 20 calls to get a call on a subject I was going to use.' 5 Brennan's honored that after 40 years later, fans still come up to him with bizarre requests. Matthew McDermott But the calls really just a vehicle to get his characters out into the world, he said. New vehicles include his popular Cameo page, the planned biopic – written by Billy Narducci and produced by Wolfden films –and even a Seth McFarlane-produced documentary on The Jerky Boys, he said. He's honored that after 40 years later, fans still come up to him with bizarre requests. '''Hey Johnny if I call my brother can you tell him you're gonna wrap his head in with a f–king ratchet?'' he said, quoting one of his character's infamous threats. Fans sometimes apologize for bothering him with the weird requests, but he said he never gets jerky with them. ''What do you feel bad about?,' he said. 'I created something that the people f–king love, they love that s–t, they loved it for decades.'
NBC Sports
29-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
The Shedeur Sanders prank call shows how inside information can be misused
It came to light as an NFL version of The Jerky Boys. The facts that led to Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders receiving a prank call during the draft speaks to a much more serious potential problem. As explained by the Falcons, 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich saw Sanders's phone number on an 'open iPad' issued to his father, Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Jax Ulbrich wrote it down with the plan of pranking Sanders. It only came to light because the prank happened, and it blew up. But for the reaction to the prank, no one ever would have known that Jax Ulbrich had misappropriated inside information. And that's the key. Inside information. The Ulbrich situation is a reminder that: (1) inside information exists; (2) it can be easily obtained; (3) it can be used for gambling. And would it shock anyone if a 21-year-old would be trying to finagle inside information that him and his buddies could use to get an edge on their betting apps? From the moment the gambling gold rush started nearly seven years ago, it became obvious that the NFL isn't nearly as concerned as it needs to be about how its inside information can be misused by those who hope to tilt the odds in their favor. The Sanders prank call proves conclusively that the means for getting it exists. And the clock keeps ticking toward the inevitable scandal. Will the NFL button things up before it happens?
NBC Sports
29-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
NFL should limit internal access to prospects' phone numbers
When it comes to the general practice of prank calls, The Jerky Boys were artists. When prank calls are specifically made to prospects during the draft, those who do it are just jerks. And while it's impossible to prevent any and all prank calls made by friends or others who may have access to the phone numbers, the NFL can and should do more to ensure that access to the numbers is limited. As to the prank call made to quarterback Shedeur Sanders during the second day of the draft, the number was obtained by the 21-year-old son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Ulbrich had the number because the NFL sent to a broad distribution list an email that provided Sanders's update number. All personnel executives received it. All head coaches and assistant coaches received it. There's no reason for so many people to have the numbers. At most, three people at each team need the number: owner, G.M., and head coach. It arguably could be limited to one person per organization. Another way to prevent prank calls would be to make the calls by FaceTime only. It would be obvious that it's real from the moment the call is answered. Whatever the NFL does, it has some indirect responsibility for the Shedeur prank because it was way too loose with the information. This makes it even more likely that the Falcons' statement will be regarded as the end of the matter (even if there could be more to the story than the team admits), and that the NFL will just quietly move on.
Express Tribune
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Sopranos' Vincent Pastore is shaping the future of acting with his new theater group
Veteran actor Vincent Pastore, best known for his role as Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero on HBO's The Sopranos, is now dedicating his time to teaching and mentoring the next generation of performers. Pastore, 78, recently launched a theater group in collaboration with Maureen Van Zandt—wife of Sopranos co-star Steven Van Zandt—producing both classic and contemporary plays while also offering acting classes to aspiring actors. Despite his celebrated career, Pastore revealed he never intended to become an actor. 'My dream was to be a nightclub owner. I love putting shows together,' he shared. 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. That role opened doors to films like Gotti, and eventually to his iconic part on The Sopranos. Though many students enroll in his classes to meet a Sopranos legend, Pastore reminds them, 'I'm Vinny. I'm a teacher. I'm not that guy on television.' He's also preparing to pass the torch to his 13-year-old granddaughter Maya, who was recently inspired after watching him on stage. 'Let me know when you want to be an actor and I'll teach you,' he told her. With heartfelt memories of co-star James Gandolfini and a passion for performance, Pastore is finding new purpose in guiding others toward their acting dreams.
