Jim Florentine created and voiced one of Eminem’s favourite shows, “Crank Yankers”. Now the comedian shares stories about letting Marshall take part in the show and taking the MTV stage with him.
In a new In Godfrey We Trust Podcast episode, Jim touched on how his playful relationship with Marshall started in the early 2000s:
We heard through the grapevine that Eminem was a fan. We only went through one season, we got shitty ratings. We were gonna do the second season when we heard he was a fan. And then I was watching the movie awards that night in my fucking apartment, and I saw him doing that. And I’m like, holy shit!
The next day his manager called Comedy Central and got in touch. He said, “Listen, Eminem wants to do that show. It’s the only show he watches. He watches with his daughter, they bond over it. He wants to be a character on that show. He wants to do calls with the guy who does Special Ed and Bobby Fletcher. Which those two characters I did. In four days, I was in Detroit, in his studio, doing prank calls with him. He was the fucking best. When he walked in, I was in the studio. He got there late, so I’m already in the studio, he walks in, where the control board is, and I see him, like, holy shit, there he is, Eminem. And I’m just, oh my God, I got to be calm, I’ve been around celebrities before. Because I’m thinking, if I piss this guy off, he’s gonna write a whole album about me. But when he comes in, he comes out to me and stares. He goes, “I can’t believe I’m in the room with the guy that does the voice of Special Ed. And then he went on, “How did you do that call? When that guy called, how did you know to go in this direction? How did you know?..” And he even knew my obscure Telemarketer CDs where I fuck with telemarketers before I even do Crank Yankers. He knew all that shit too. It was insane. We sat like that, and then we just started riffing and doing calls. We did about three or four of them. It was unbelievable.
Then we ended up doing a bit for the MTV Music Awards. We did a thing when he brings Special Ed. Remember, there was a year when Triumph the Insult Dog made fun of Eminem. So the next year, he goes, “Hey, I went to puppet therapy, and I want to say I’m over it. I brought my friend tonight”. And I pop up over the podium. The puppet, I’m under the podium, doing the voice. And there is a puppeteer under there, too, doing the puppet. I’m doing the voice, and I just keep bothering Eminem and Eminem ends up beating Special Ed because he won’t shut the fuck up. H says he’s cured, and he’s all happy, and he loves puppets, and he brought his buddy with him, and I just keep, “Your stans! You don’t write to your fans! That’s messed up!” I was just ripping on Em, just bugging the shit out of him.
We did that, and then we went to dinner with him afterwards, went to a club. And then he would prank call my phone. He did that special Ed imitation. I knew it was him, but I would never say anything, it was private. He’d be doing Special Ed, and I know how he did it. It was a little off. I knew it was him, but I wasn’t going to say anything. I’m like, “Who is this? This is terrible!”
Jim stayed in touch with Eminem and was involved in more projects making prank calls for D12 and taking part in the “Ass Like That” video.
Watch the interview below:
