jerky boys

Listening to the first new Jerky Boys album in two decades, I was nearly in tears. But not from laughter. I was sad in that mopey Generation X way where it suddenly hits you that 1990 was 30 years ago, even though it seems like yesterday. But you can’t stop the ‘90s nostalgia juggernaut. And so we now find the Jerky Boys, those most notorious of merry pranksters who raised crank phone calls to an art form during the Clinton years, back after a 21-year hiatus. The good news: The new, self-titled Jerky Boys album is funny. But the kind of telephone theater that Jerky Boys creator Johnny Brennan perfected decades ago sounds dated in today’s mad world dominated by call centers, airtight phone scripts and people getting pissed when you call instead of text. In 2020, the human element has almost...