Fonejacker is the latest hit Channel 4 show, created  and played by “Kayvan Novak” an actor who has turned his hand to comedy of a different nature, Kayvan has starred in many UK TV shows including Holby City, and Spooks and has also starred in Syriana as Arash not to mention voicing a handful of video games such as Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo.  It is in the latest field, voice acting, in which Novak excels, leading to the brilliance that is “Fonejacker”.

Fonejacker is at its core a phone prank show, which sounds puerile at first, but it is truly funny.  Novak plays the prankster and brings on all manner of amazing voices and noises to wind up various companies and private individuals in the UK, but best of all are the crazy animations they place on the screen during these audible conversations, showing various strange characters conversing.

The show succeeds because of the characters, and these include, in no particular order, the Doovde Man, a man of Asian origin who finds it difficult to pronounce various English words, such as LCD TV (Luck-de-toov), DVD (Doove-de) and JVC (Joove-ka).  Terry Tibbs is a bald cockney wheeler dealer, who will try and buy anything from free ads but only for much less than you want to sell it, with catchphrases that include”Beautiful, Beautiful” and “talk to me”.  Pet Mouse rings up a pet shop, and asks for the best advice on how to kill the pet cat using cat nip, very funny.

George Agdgdgwngo is a Nigerian scamster who will try anything and everything to get your bank account details over the phone.  He claims to be from your bank, but when you ask which bank that is, he dodges the question, he offers millions of dollars in prizes but after the exchange rate they are only small amounts in pounds, George is probably one of the best characters in the show.

In the flat rental hotline, Novak set up a hotline in various newsagents and as and when prospective renters ring up they are put straight through to the fonejacker, who annoys them by mishearing the calls i.e. “I would like a one bedroom flat in Brighton”, and the taped message replies “you require a three bedroom lesbian house share in Wales”. The call usually ends up in the caller swearing and hanging up in despair.

In the internet serving providing sketch an Indian ISP rings up various prospective customers, but for some reason the offers get more expensive not cheaper as the call goes on.

Fonejacker is not for everyone, but I would recommend giving it a go, most people who have watched it have liked it, and I personally think it’s brilliant. Fonejacker is repeated regularly on the Channel 4 network, and a new series should be with us soon.