Thomas Michael Cipriano (born March 28, 1966),Hessler Jr., Carl (February 9, 2010)

''King of Prussia Courier''. Retrieved April 3, 2017. also known as Captain Janks, is an American practical joker most notable for making

prank calls A prank call (also known as a crank call, a hoax call, or a goof call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call and can be illegal under certain circumsta ...

to live television shows and news networks since the late 1980s, such as ''

Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' is an American television talk show broadcast by CNN from June 3, 1985 to December 16, 2010. Hosted by Larry King, it was the network's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Ma ...

'',

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

. He has been labeled by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' as the "nemesis of news outlets," "the news media's greatest crank caller,"Farhi, Paul (July 30, 2014)
"Prank-call legend Captain Janks is still a nemesis of news outlets"
''

''. Nash Holdings LLC. Retrieved April 3, 2017. and by the ''

Philadelphia City Paper ''Philadelphia City Paper'' was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The independently owned paper was free and published every Thursday in print and daily online at citypaper.net. Staff reporters focused on labor issues ...

'' as "public enemy No. 1 for television- and radio-show screeners." Janks and ''The Washington Post'' have described the calls as commentary on the lack of source verification done in news outlets. All of Janks' calls reference

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...

and his radio series, and the Captain Janks

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

has become a

recurring character A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main f ...

on the show.

Prank calling

History

Cipriano was inspired to do prank calls from hearing tapes of the

Tube Bar prank calls The Tube Bar prank calls are a series of prank calls made from 1975 until 1977 or 1978 to the Tube Bar in Jersey City, New Jersey, in which Jim Davidson and John Elmo would ask "Red", the proprietor of the bar, if they could speak to various non- ...

.Katsilometes, John (October 19, 1999)
"Columnist John Katsilometes: A real chat with King of Hoaxes"
''

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays from 1990 to 2005 and is now ...

''.

Greenspun Media Group The Greenspun Media Group is an independent company and was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Greenspun Corporation. Headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, the group has over 60 years experience in the Las Vegas Valley. Beginning with the ''Las Veg ...

. Retrieved April 3, 2017. Cipriano began his prank calling career in 1989, when he telephoned local Philadelphia television shows and sent tapes of his calls to ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

''.

is the person referenced in all of Cipriano's last comments in each of the prank calls, and the Captain Janks alter ego has become a

on Stern's show. Cipriano's national live television airing prank call career began with talk shows; his first call was in 1989, when he telephoned to

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

's talk show ''

''. He then made prank calls to other interview television shows such as those of

Phil Donahue Phillip John Donahue (December 21, 1935 – August 18, 2024) was an American media personality, writer, film producer, and the creator and host of '' The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the fir ...

and

's Sonya Freedman in the early 1990s. In 1992, his prank calling expanded to live news series; he faked as a witness of an earthquake that took place in

Landers, California Landers is an unincorporated community in the High Desert region of the Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County, California. Landers' population, as of 2017, is 2,982 people. Its residents are sometimes referred to as "Landroids"—an allusio ...

, when calling to CNN. Cipriano also telephoned shows that wouldn't take calls while on air. The first time he did this was in 1991; he lied to producers of the ''

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...

Labor Day Telethon'' that he was a representative for King in order to make a call on the show, saying that King wanted to make a "pledge" to Lewis. Cipriano then compiled samples of King's voice and ordered them in a way that would trick the producers into believing it was really King talking on the phone. When Cipriano called with his real voice asking Lewis about

when the show aired, Lewis called him a "schmuck." On June 25, 1996, a collection album of recordings of Janks' phone-call pranks, titled ''King of the Cranks'', was released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

and

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

via the labels

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and Ozone Music."Howards Beginning"
''

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

''.

Metrocorp Metrocorp Publishing is an American media company based in Philadelphia that publishes lifestyle magazines in the United States. It is known for publishing ''Philadelphia'' magazine, along with ''Philadelphia Wedding'' magazine and ''Be Well Phil ...

. 1996. Retrieved April 4, 2017. In October 1999, John Katsilometes reported that Cipriano had crank phoned "just about every emergency

ive Ive or IVE may refer to: Music * Ive (group), a South Korean girl group * I've Sound (aka "I've"), a Japanese musical group People * Ive (given name), a Croatian and Slovenian given name * Bert Ive (1875–1939), British-born Australian cinema ...

report worthy of national coverage," such as those regarding the

Columbine High School shooting A school shooting and attempted bombing occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teacher; ...

s and the car crash death of

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...

. Television stations Cipriano has successfully prank-called range from national and local news networks like

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

to home-shopping channels and religious networks. In 2014, Cipriano suggested he has made around 10,000 fake phone calls. The popularity of ''The Howard Stern Show'' has also led to numerous imitators of Captain Janks. A 1996 ''

'' magazine article reported that there was "at least one Janks imitator in every major city." One of these imitators called ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' in the summer of 1992 asking

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot ( ; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an Independent politician ...

if he had "mind-melded with Howard Stern's penis." According to the article, "Reaching them by phone or through the Howard Stern Newsletter—written and disseminated by Kevin Renzulli of West Orange, New Jersey, another of Stern's true believers—Janks coordinates group operations, such as Larry King being hit by three consecutive callers shouting "Howard Stern" and "Baba Booey"—Stern's nickname for producer

Gary Dell'Abate Gary Dell'Abate (), also known by the nickname Baba Booey, is an American radio producer who has been the executive producer of ''The Howard Stern Show'' since 1984. His autobiography, '' They Call Me Baba Booey'', was released in 2010. Early lif ...

—while interviewing Donny Osmond."

Method

Cipriano has reasoned in an interview that, in addition to making people laugh, he does prank calls of live television shows and news stations to make fun of the lack of

fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...

that he felt was a problem in news organizations, especially

. He explained, "They are so willing to get the "scoop" before anyone else that they can be very sloppy about getting the story on the air." ''

'' journalist Paul Farhi has also marked the crank calls a critique of the lack of accuracy review in news stations: "That Cipriano, a self-described "not-too-bright guy," can beat professional call screeners so often suggests they don't do it often enough in the race for color, drama and "breaking news." In a 1996 interview, Cipriano explained he had a 16-setting

voice changer A voice changer (also known as voice enhancer) is a device which changes the tone or pitch of or adds distortion to the user's voice. Hardware implementations The earliest voice changers were electronic devices usually used over the telephone for t ...

for use in tricking producers into letting him call onto their shows.

List of examples

* In 1991, Cipriano called into ''The Elvis Files'', a live TV special hosted by

Bill Bixby Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993) was an American actor and television director. His career spanned more than three decades, including appearances on stage, in films, and on television series. He is known ...

purporting to have evidence that

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

was

still alive "Still Alive" is the song featured in the closing credits of the 2007 video game '' Portal''. It was composed and arranged by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain, who voiced the ''Portal'' antagonist and in-game singer of the song ...

. Cipriano asked Bixby why he didn't call into Howard Stern's show "like (he) promised" and added "That's very naughty." In 1992's follow-up special, ''The Elvis Conspiracy'', Cipriano rang in again as "Tom from Philadelphia" and asked if there was a possibility Presley was "disguised as Howard Stern." * In 1996, Cipriano pretended to be a spokesperson for the

Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company was the initial corporate entity from which the Bell System originated to build a continental conglomerate and monopoly in telecommunication services in the United States and Canada. The company was organized in Bost ...

when calling reporter Bruce Hamilton on a

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3), branded as CBS Philadelphia, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPSG (channel 57 ...

report of a blizzard in Philadelphia. He said to the reporter that phone lines were down due to too many people calling the number 1-800-52-STERN. The line was for ordering the comedy VHS tape '' Butt Bongo Fiesta'' (1992) by Stern. * On July 20, 1999, Cipriano pretended to be a representative for

Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod Missions The missions of CGAS Cape Cod include search and rescue (SAR), Admiralty law, maritime law enforcement, International Ice Patrol, aids to navigation support (such as operating lighthouses), and marine environmental protection (such as ...

when calling to ABC News during their live report of the plane crash death of

John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American socialite, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist. He was a son of 35th United States president John F. K ...

hosted by

Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-American television journalist. He was best known for serving as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 200 ...

. When asked about his locations, Cipriano responded, "Howard Stern thinks you're a

ick Ick or ICK may refer to: * Ick, a character in the children's television show It's a Big Big World * Islamic Community of Kosova, a religious organization in Kosovo *''Ichthyophthirius multifiliis'', a single-celled parasite. Also known as Ich * ...

" Jennings ended the call with him assuming the caller was a fan of Stern. * During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Cipriano called into ''

Hardball with Chris Matthews ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' is an American television talk show hosted by Chris Matthews. The program premiered on the now-defunct America's Talking network in 1994 (as ''Politics with Chris Matthews'') before moving to CNBC, and then to M ...

'' impersonating

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

journalist

Dexter Filkins Dexter Price Filkins (born May 24, 1961) is an American journalist known primarily for his coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for ''The New York Times''. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for his dispatches from Afghanistan ...

. When asked by

Chris Matthews Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', on America's Talking and later on M ...

about the possibility of Iraqi civilians attacking U.S. forces, Cipriano said they were not and instead asking for tapes of Howard Stern. Matthews replied, "You're kidding!" * On October 15, 2003, during a report of the

Steve Bartman incident The Steve Bartman incident was a controversial play that occurred during a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins on October 14, 2003, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 posts ...

by the ESPN program ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

'', Cipriano prank-called the show faking as Bartman. A spokesperson for ESPN, Josh Krulewitz, released the following statement: "We made a mistake. We have a process in place to prevent this type of situation. In more than 24 years it hasn't happened on 'SportsCenter' before. In this instance we should have been more thorough. Once it became clear, we communicated to viewers immediately that it wasn't a real interview.""'SportsCenter' Fooled by Cub Fan Impostor"
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

''. October 17, 2003. Retrieved April 4, 2017. ''

The Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are distributed to its members, major ...

'' reported "several references to the prank" that were a part of later ''SportsCenter'' showings; this included

Matt Winer Matt Winer is an American television personality who is currently working for TNT Sports. Career Turner Sports signed Winer in 2010 to contribute to coverage of sports across its networks. He became the primary studio host for '' Major Leagu ...

saying that " artmanwas so infamous he has his own impersonator." On the prank call's ten-year anniversary, Dan Patrick, who was an anchor at ESPN when the prank occurred, replayed the prank on his radio and

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

show twice.Horgan, Richard (October 15, 2013)
"Ten Years Later, Dan Patrick Talks to Captain Janks"
'' Adweek''. Beringer Capital. Retrieved April 4, 2017. * Cipriano prank-called the

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado station

KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona district, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * KUSA (TV), a televisi ...

in its live report of the July 2012 shooting of the Century 16 movie theater in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...

. He falsely claimed there was an additional attendant killed in the shooting. * During a February 12, 2013

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...

report of Christopher Dorner's series of shootings, Cipriano telephoned the station as an official for California Department of Fish and Wildlife, claiming that the department discovered Dorner: "We believe it was Ronnie und, Howard Stern's driverthe limo driver who fired at Mr. Dorner. He was on his way to a block party and got caught in the fire-out." When the reporter asked him for more details, Cipriano responded "You're a real dumb ass. You still don't get that this is a prank."Couch, Aaron (February 12, 2013)
"'Howard Stern' Regular Pranks Coverage of Possible Christopher Dorner Shootout (Video)"
''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

''.

Eldridge Industries Eldridge Industries, LLC is an American holding company headquartered in Miami, with offices in New York City, Greenwich, Connecticut, London, and Beverly Hills. Eldridge Industries makes investments in various industries including insurance, as ...

. Retrieved April 4, 2017. The reporter said after Cipriano was cut off, "Apparently, some people taking advantage of live television on a very serious day here in Los Angeles." * On July 30, 2014, Cipriano acted as a person who claimed to have seen the plane crash of the

Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Airlines ( Malay: ''Penerbangan Malaysia'') is the flag carrier of Malaysia, headquartered at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The airline flies to destinations across Europe, Oceania and Asia from its main hub at Kuala Lumpur Int ...

Flight 17 shootdown when calling to

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

in a live report of the crash. He identified himself as staff sergeant Michael Boyd, working for the

United States embassy The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

in Ukraine's capital city

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. He said to reporter

Krystal Ball Krystal Marie Ball (born November 24, 1981) is an American political commentator and media host. She was previously a political candidate, as well as a television host at MSNBC, a regular contributor to ''The Huffington Post'', and a co-host of ...

, "Well, I was looking out the window, and I saw a projectile flying through the sky. And it would appear that the plane was shot down by a blast of wind from Howard Stern's ass." The reporter, still unaware of Cipriano prank-calling MSNBC, responded, "So, it would appear that the plane was shot down. Can you tell us anything more from your military training, of what sort of missile system that tmay have been coming from?" As a result of the prank, Diana Rocco said in the end of the report, "This was an unfortunate incident, and we apologize to our viewers." * On August 24, 2014, Cipriano called

faking as

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

police department's public information officer Adam Sure during the station's coverage of the

2014 South Napa earthquake The 2014 South Napa earthquake occurred in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), northern San Francisco Bay Area on August 24 at . At 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale and with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of VIII (''S ...

. Gold, Hadas (August 25, 2014)
"CNN pranked by Howard Stern fan"
''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

''.

Capitol News Company Capitol News Company, LLC is an American media company based in Arlington, Virginia, United States. It is a private holding company owned by Robert L. Allbritton. Its primary publication was ''Politico'', which was acquired by Axel Springer SE, ...

. Retrieved April 4, 2017. His explanation for the earthquake was, "Because of the early morning, because it was so early in the morning, most people were at their homes when it happened, and what we believe is this was a rumbling from Howard Stern's butt crack." Reporter

Christi Paul Christi Paul is an American journalist and former weekday news anchor for HLN and weekend anchor for CNN's '' New Day''. Biography Paul was raised in a Christian family in Bellevue, Ohio. She graduated from the University of Toledo whe ...

responded to the call: "Alright, obviously that is not who we expected it was to be. We apologize for that so early in the morning."

Personal life

Cipriano served in the army from 1985 to 1988. The name for his alter ego Captain Janks derived from the name of the real-life army captain of the same name. In a 1996 interview, Cipriano claimed to have lost his former shipping clerk position at a

medical laboratory A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical medical labor ...

not long ago. In 1999, he revealed he was working "for a company that manufactures toilet seats and other plastics." In 1998 and 2005, it was reported he was working at a

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

.Hickey, Brian (February 24-March 2, 2005)
"Captain Pranks"
''

''. Metro. Retrieved April 4, 2017. As of 2014, he is a

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

who resides in

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

.Klein, Michael (April 27, 2009)
"Captain Janks tossed in jail"

Philadelphia Media Network The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC (formerly Philadelphia Media Network (PMN)) is an American media company. It owns ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' and ''Philadelphia Daily News''. The company is owned by The Philadelphia Foundation, a nonprofit or ...

. Retrieved April 3, 2017. On a May 19, 2014, episode of ''The Howard Stern Show'', Cipriano revealed that he was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

.Johnson, Brian (January 27, 2015)
"Howard Stern 12/27 Recap: Prank Caller Captain Janks Comes Out As Gay"
''Empty Lighthouse''. Retrieved April 6, 2017. On February 8, 2010, Cipriano pled guilty to charges of theft by deception and deceptive business practices; these charges were a result of fifteen cases in thirteen different food and entertainment businesses in the counties of Montgomery, Chester, Berks, Lehigh and Bucks from October 2006 to April 2009, where he deposited from contracts to make appearances at the places but never showed up. He was sentenced by Montgomery County Court judge Steven T. O'Neill to eight years of probation, and he was required to pay $5,926 for the businesses he scammed. He attributed his actions to addiction to his prescription painkillers, and took

urinalysis Urinalysis, a portmanteau of the words ''urine'' and ''analysis'', is a Test panel, panel of medical tests that includes physical (macroscopic) examination of the urine, chemical evaluation using urine test strips, and #Microscopic examination, m ...

tests during his probation.

References

External links

Captain Janks
official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel
Capt. Janks
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

"The Interactive Captain Janks Web Site"
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Janks, Captain 1967 births Living people