Television series
Fonejacker
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
- Dip in and out
Kayvan Novak plays a serial prankster making bewildering phone calls to unsuspecting British businesses and services. Each episode is a succession of real conversations twisted into absurdist comedy through pure commitment and timing. It's improv theatre disguised as prank calls—hilarious if you love cringe, chaos, and the specific comedy of watching people try to make sense of nonsense.
If you liked this
Brass Eye1997
Chris Morris's absurdist fake documentary series that pranks institutions and media in ways that feel anarchic and brilliant. Same spirit of chaos meeting unwitting participants.
But Aggressively intellectual and often deeply offensive. The targets sometimes feel too vulnerable. It's also uneven—not every sketch lands.
Nathan for You2013
Nathan Fielding's deadpan involvement in ridiculous business schemes creates comedy from the collision between his absurd ideas and ordinary people's genuine confusion. High-wire stuff.
But Can feel uncomfortably exploitative. Long stretches without payoff test patience. The cringe factor is sometimes genuinely upsetting rather than fun.
Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge1994
Steve Coogan's Partridge conducting painfully oblivious interviews where his delusional confidence creates cascading social disaster. Interview-based comedy where the host is the catastrophe.
But Dated production values and a narrow joke repeated across episodes. The Alan Partridge character would later overshadow this version completely.
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Trigger Happy TV2000
Both weaponize confusion in public spaces, but where Fonejacker builds comedy through conversation, Joly builds it through spectacle and silence. Same mischievous lineage, opposite methods.
Comedian Dom Joly's prank show predates Fonejacker but operates on pure visual comedy—absurdist sketches and public pranks with no dialogue needed. Same prankster DNA, completely different execution: theatre rather than telephone.
But Sketch-show pacing means comedy lands inconsistently. Some pranks are too broad or dated. The concept alone can't sustain every scene.
More like this (7)
The League of Gentlemen1999
Sketch comedy built on grotesque characters and genuinely unsettling premises. Characters so weird they scramble your brain in exactly the way Fonejacker does.
But Genuinely disturbing content—paedophilia, extreme violence, graphic bodily horror. It swings between hilarious and deeply uncomfortable without warning.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan2006
Sacha Baron Cohen's character pranks real Americans into revealing their worst impulses. Documentary-style chaos comedy that uses real reactions to fuel the absurdity.
But Heavily criticized for cruelty toward vulnerable people. Feels exploitative watching people humiliated for laughs. The character works as satire only if you buy that reading.
People Just Do Nothing2014
Low-budget mockumentary following incompetent pirate radio DJs. Fondly observant cringe comedy about people convinced of their own importance while doing nothing.
But Quieter and gentler than Fonejacker—if you want chaos and prank energy, this is too slight. The humour is mild and sometimes disappears entirely.
Human Traffic1999
Fast-paced, chaotic British comedy about five days in the lives of Cardiff clubbers. Loose, energetic, genuinely funny about young people being ridiculous together.
But Hasn't aged particularly well. The drug-use portrayal feels dated. If you're after sophisticated comedy, this is aggressively silly and unambitious.
Skins2007
Ensemble drama about British teenagers being chaotic and self-destructive. The UK's answer to teen chaos, with real consequences underneath the comedy.
But Tries to balance comedy and genuine tragedy, sometimes awkwardly. Teenagers behaving badly is the entire appeal—if that bores you, nothing here will grab you.
The Thick of It2005
Both are built on the comedy of miscommunication and commitment to disorienting people through talk. But where Fonejacker is impish, Tucker is vicious—same mechanism, opposite emotional temperature.
Malcolm Tucker's profane political chaos unspools through rapid-fire improvisation and fractured documentary style. Comedy built on people struggling to communicate under pressure, with language as the weapon.
But Relentlessly sweary and demanding—you must follow fast dialogue and political detail or lose the thread. The tone is furious rather than playful; it can feel exhausting.
Look Around You2002
Both thrive on people (the viewer, the call recipient) accepting a false premise and playing along. Where Fonejacker fools the public, Look Around You fools the audience—same con, inverted direction.
Educational sketch show that pranks the viewer by parodying earnest 1980s science programming. Absurdist and deadpan, built on commitment to a ridiculous premise nobody questions until it's too late.
But Very dry. If you need your comedy signposted or explicit, this will pass you by entirely. Episodes are short and some jokes land only on rewatch.
