By Ken Fang on

If you watched the halftime studio portion of the Oklahoma-Oregon West Regional Final game in the NCAA Tournament, you saw a rather bizarre two minutes and 14 seconds segment featuring puppets filling the roles of Greg Gumbel, Clark Kellogg, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Charles Barkley. You heard the voices of Greg, Clark, Kenny and Chuck with the puppets. And they all played it straight. It was quite strange as this was not a promotion for an upcoming CBS or TBS show as far as we know.

If you were away from your television or flipping around looking for something else waiting for the game to return, luckily, we have the video for you:

Following that segment, the guys were back on set next to the puppets and we got this classic Greg Gumbel gif:

And Kenny Smith tweeted the puppeteers with the Greg, Clark, Kenny and Chuckster puppets:

It did lead to some reaction from those in the industry including former CBS NCAA voice Tim Brando, now of Fox:

And this one from ESPN’s Dave Pasch:

It certainly led to some interesting television. Now if leads to the return of Crank Yankers to TV, then we might be getting somewhere:

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About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

View all posts by Ken Fang