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As a longtime aficionado of prank phone calls, I have a special place in my heart for the work–make that the Lord’s work–done by one “Brother Russell” aka Russell Miles, who is an unheralded comedic genius living in Texas.

I found his Melba Comes Alive CD at Kim’s Video in New York one day in the late 1990s and bought it without hesitation: Prank calls made to Christian radio shows by a kooky old Christian lady character? Count me in.

I was not disappointed. The bust-a-gut funny “Melba” trilogy of Radio Jihad, Melba Comes Alive!, and Here is Melba are three of the best examples of this sort of thing that you could ever possibly find. Miles is absolutely brilliant at doling out his craziness carefully enough to fool radio hosts who are used to the nuttiest people calling in and taking it to absurd places before they are any wiser. His technique is perfection: “Melba” claims to be 92. They can’t tell if she’s for real or not, and don’t want to risk offending an elderly Christian lady. “Melba” uses this conceit the same way that “Ali G” could get away with murder by asking “Is it because I black?”

Every few years I pull out my Melba CDs and laugh my ass off at Brother Russell’s unique brand of “recreational Christianity.” This weekend was one of those times and even though the calls were all made way back when Bill Clinton was in the White House (“and doing all that stuff we don’t like”) they have aged like fine whine. Here’s a selection of a few of my favorites that are online. If you like what you hear, you can get more directly from Brother Russell’s Bandcamp page.

WARNING: Don’t drink anything near your computer as you listen to these. It won’t end well for your keyboard…

Below, “Melba Jackson” tells Christian radio host and TV exorcist Bob Larson about her experience at Disneyland’s Gay Day. “These people would kiss openly, you know and embrace, but if we gave them a funny look, they would say rude things to us. They were very hateful.”

Brother Russell exposes the Illuminati, Trilateral Commission and their squads of paramilitary orangutans who are planning to invade the Vatican.

Melba versus a Mormon. This one is pure gold.

Brother Russell “fools around with the Holy Ghost,” takes a “real harsh bong hit” and gets choked up about Jesus: