Facejacker

In Fonejacker, Kayvan Novak took a popular childhood prank to the extreme. He phoned unsuspecting members of the public under a range of comic guises in order to wind the recipients up. In his latest series, which continues tonight, he comes face to face with his victims, using prosthetics to play an array of characters. Old phone favourites are now brought to life, such as car salesman Terry Tibbs. New creations include Dr Ali, Saddam Hussein's plastic surgeon.

Facejacker is the follow-up to prank phone call show Fonejacker. It finds heavily disguised comedian Kayvan Novak taking his characters to the streets to bamboozle the public.

It works fairly well because there is nothing mean-spirited about Novak's japery. At worst he's merely wasting people's time. He's also a gifted character comic - the stunt in which he voiced a recalcitrant takeaway drive-through machine was particularly impressive. Enjoyable, although I suspect it may pall after a while.

Facejacker review

Facejacker, a spin-off from Fonejacker, puts Kayvan Novak's creations in the real world but the first episode doesn't live up to expectations.

He became a cult figure with the edgy prank call series Fonejacker, now Kayvan Novak is coming out from behind the telephone receiver to look his bemused victims in the eye. In Facejacker, the comic dons prosthetics, cakes himself in make-up and morphs into a smorgasbord of infuriating characters out to baffle and beleaguer those unlucky enough to pull up to his fast food drive-in counter or stumble upon his fake plastic surgery consultancy. Several familiar Fonejacker characters are given faces, including the hapless scamster Augustus Kwembe and the sleazy car salesman Terry Tibbs, while new personas include a charlatan art critic and a former member of Saddam Hussein's medical team. Prepare to laugh, but most of all prepare to be gob-smacked by Novak's nerve.

Kayvan Novak (the star of Fonejacker who made prank phone calls in the guise of various personalities) reinvents the hidden camera show. Some of his personalities prove just as funny in the flesh, but the best characters are new ones such as the excruciatingly bad art critic, Brian Badonde.

Top ten: Masters of the TV stitch-up

As Facejacker revives the art of the TV prank, Playlist salutes ten notorious wind-up merchants.

Fonejacker Kayvan Novak's scrape with the law

Kayvan Novak, the man behind Fonejacker, had a brush with the law when a prank backfired while he was filming the new spin-off series Facejacker.