Credibility Gap - Something For Mary Mono & Stereo (45) 1973

Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L. Lander  Michael McKean, Lew Irwin, John Gilliland, Thom Beck, and Len Chandler	Birth Name	Birthplace
Born/Died	Official Site	Wikipedia

The Credibility Gap were the unsung heroes among 70s comedy troupes. Starting as a group of newsmen doing humorous commentary for the Los Angeles AM rock radio station KRLA in the late 1960s, as the more news-oriented members departed they were replaced by comedians. By 1971 the classic lineup of Richard Beebe, David L. Lander, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer had coalesced. Between broadcasts that year they recorded the album "Woodschtick and More" for Capitol Records. Drawing on the coincidence of Woodstock's having taken place in the Catskills, the album reimagines the rock festival as a Borsch Belt tummlers' convention. It was all a little too "inside" showbiz for the folks at 'Rolling Stone' whose negative review served as the album's kiss of death. Though the album is admittedly somewhat uneven, it includes some very funny bits. ~WFMU

01  Something For Mary  4:37

• Wha Happen, Girl?
• Freedom Is a Four-Letter Word
• Good Mornin', Joseph
• Intermezzo
• Outermezzo: Wise Up, People
• Nazareth Nocturne
  

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Credibility Gap - Woodshtick And More 1971

Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L. Lander  Michael McKean, Lew Irwin, John Gilliland, Thom Beck, and Len Chandler	Birth name	Location
Born/Died	Webpage	Wikipedia

"Woodschtick" is ostensibly a parody of Woodstock, with the world's greatest Borscht Belt comedians -- referred to as "schtickticians" -- gathering in a hotel room in the Catskills for a day-long celebration of comic schtick. Because schtick is the Yiddish word for "piece," it's all a play on Woodstock's promise of "3 days of peace and music," but something strange happens about eighteen minutes into the album side: "Woodschtick" suddenly transforms into a parody of old-time radio dramas, One Night at Dike Bridge, "as told by Senator Edward M. Kennedy to a battalion of highly paid and obedient scriptwriters.” With Shearer playing Buster Crabbe in the role of Kennedy (!), this "William Zapruder production, in association with the Massachusetts Automobile Club" is set on Chappaquiddick Island one July evening in 1969, with only one of the names changed to protect the innocent (Mary Jo Kopechne is referred to as "Mary Lou"). As "schtick," it's a nasty piece of work.
RADIO ANNOUNCER [Beebe]: “Hemingway once defined courage as ‘Grace under pressure,’ but this wasn’t grace under pressure -- it was Mary Lou under water! Without thinking for a moment of his own personal safety, Senator Kennedy panicked. Suddenly, he remembered what his father once said years ago…"
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY [Lander in an echo chamber]: “Teddy! Bring me my pills! And while you’re at it, always remember: If you’re ever trapped under water in a car with a girl, make sure both of you get out alive, or else some politically ambitious judge could write an inquest report that could make you look baaaaad!”
RADIO ANNOUNCER: “Those words ringing in his ears, the senator filled those massive Kennedy lungs with air and dove repeatedly into the murky waters!”
And it just gets more venomous from there. Never released on CD, Woodschtick and More has been out of print for decades (probably because the material is considered too dated) and there's no trace of it on Amazon.com, but it's well worth seeking out if you enjoy comedy albums in general and the work of Shearer, Lander and McKean in particular. Source: Temple Of Schlock

01-24 24 tracks 

Sorry, no track names.

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Lew Irwin & The Credibility Gap - Album Of Political Pornography 1968

Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L. Lander  Michael McKean, Lew Irwin, John Gilliland, Thom Beck, and Len Chandler	Birth Name	Birthplace
Born/Died	Official Site Harry Shearer	Wikipedia

An LP with a barf bag gag enclosed, the "KRLA news team" do headline-based satire of the summer of Nixon's election year, with songs, poetry, and bits on Eldridge Cleaver, the asteroid Icarus, and the death of Bobby Kennedy. Note, this was recorded before Lander/McKean/Shearer joined the team.

01 Introduction - Voting Day 2:25
02 Kennedy - LBJ Debate 2:39
03 Drunk Voter 2:31
04 Long Lines 3:35
05 Gun Collector 3:05
06 Johnson And Central Park Violence 3:38
07 Dusty Hoofs 1:30
08 Integrated Heart 0:40
09 Faith Healing 4:26

10 Icarus 2:52
11 Abomibable Snow Man 3:22
12 Soul On Ice 3:02
13 Poway 2:43
14 Conventional Convention 3:26
15 Nixon-Agnew Dealer 1:42
16 Humphrey Vs. Demonstrators 4:54

	Barf bag included with album

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Credibility Gap - The Credibility Gap Floats 1979

Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L. Lander  Michael McKean, Lew Irwin, John Gilliland, Thom Beck, and Len Chandler	Birth Name	Birthplace
Born/Died	Official Site	Wikipedia

Satirical comedy troupe the Credibility Gap didn't enjoy significant popularity outside their native Southern California during their life span, but the group was a training ground for a number of major comic talents, including Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and David L. Lander. The Credibility Gap's name came from a Nixon-era euphemism for the distance between a politician's statements and the truth, and began in 1968 as a regular feature on Los Angeles radio station KRLA-AM created by news director Lew Irwin. Irwin and his collaborators Richard Beebe, Thom Beck, Len Chandler, and John Gilliland created the Credibility Gap to record and perform humorous sketches that parodied current events and were broadcast as part of KRLA's news and public affairs programming. Under Irwin's leadership, the troupe was popular enough to land a deal with Blue Thumb Records and release an album drawn from their KRLA sketches, An Album of Political Pornography. But in late 1968, Thom Beck left the group, and Lew Irwin followed in early 1969 (Irwin would go on to found another comedy group, the Fifth Estate, and created a successful syndicated underground radio news feature, Earth News). Joining the Credibility Gap in their absence were Harry Shearer, an actor, comedian, and writer who as a child appeared on The Jack Benny Show, and David L. Lander, a talented voice mimic hired by Irwin shortly before his departure. By 1970, Len Chandler and John Gilliland had drifted away from the Credibility Gap, and a friend of Lander's, a New York actor named Michael McKean, had joined the team, though the troupe's relationship with KRLA had soured and their show had been shrunk from 15 minutes to a mere 180 seconds. However, after Shearer landed a side gig as a disc jockey on an FM "free form" outlet, KPPC, the Credibility Gap found a new home on the station, and the group's satire gained both sharpness and depth. In 1971, the group, now centered around Beebe, Lander, McKean, and Shearer, released a second album, Woodschtick and More, for Capitol Records, which coincided with the end of their run at KPPC when they were fired along with most of the station's staff. Woodschtick and More didn't sell well, but the group did find a sympathetic ear at Warner Brothers Records, who after hiring the Credibility Gap to do some satirical sketches that appeared on promotional releases signed them to a record deal. However, due to a contractual glitch, the Credibility Gap's album for Warner Bros., 1974's A Great Gift Idea!, wasn't released until shortly after their deal with the label had lapsed, and both promotion and sales were non-existent. The Credibility Gap regularly performed live during this period, and on KMET they continued a New Year's Day tradition began at KPPC in which they performed surreal improvisational commentary on Pasadena's annual Tournament of Roses parade; an album was compiled from their New Year's Day shows called Floats. In 1975, Richard Beebe left the Credibility Gap, and the group split up a year later; a collection of material from their KPPC broadcasts, The Bronze Age of Radio, appeared shortly after their breakup. Michael McKean and David L. Lander soon found success on the popular television series Laverne and Shirley, playing thick-headed greasers Lenny and Squiggy, while McKean and Harry Shearer teamed up again in 1984 for the cult classic heavy metal parody This Is Spinal Tap, and later played aging folkies in 2003's A Might Wind. Shearer and McKean were also members of the cast of Saturday Night Live (Shearer in 1979 and 1985, McKean in 1995), while Shearer has enjoyed a long run as a member of the voice cast of The Simpsons. After a long career in radio, Richard Beebe succumbed to lung cancer in 1998. Allmusic

The Gap torture American kitsch with their alternative commentary to Pasadena's annual Rose Parade. Featuring Denver Devereaux Jr., Dave Swarts, Garner Ted Armstrong, and the guy with the Pace Car. CD includes bonus tracks "The Night the Lights Stayed On In Pittsburgh" and "Hello World, This Here's Wrong Number" (from the Gap's single for Rhino Records, 1977).

01 Parade Theme (& Parade)

02 Minidoc

03 Parade

04 Curt

05 Parade

06 Fred Cadaver

07 Parade

08 Dave Swarts

09 Parade

10 Curt

11 Parade

12 A Queen's Diary

13 Parade

14 Rabbi Korff

15 Parade

16 Pasadena

17 Parade

18 Dave Swarts

19 Parade

20 Mayor of Palmdale

21 Parade

22 Curt's Closing Thoughts

23 Parade Theme 

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Credibility Gap - Bronze Age Of Radio 1977

Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L. Lander  Michael McKean, Lew Irwin, John Gilliland, Thom Beck, and Len Chandler	Birth Name	Birthplace
Born/Died	Official Site	Wikipedia

If you pine for the days of the original National Lampoon Radio Hour, you will certainly enjoy The Credibility Gap. The Bronze Age of Radio is a sixties sketch comedy radio compilation best enjoyed, as Harry Shearer suggests in the liner notes "while driving five mpg past a fender bender". The Credibility Gap was a group of newsmen who decided the news needed a bit of a boost.

My favorite bit on The Credibility Gap The Golden Age of Radio is the opening Who's On First?, a rock and roll version of the classic Abbott and Costello baseball routine. This had been tried before and was tried after but this version really works.

The sixties were a time when politically correct meant a politician wore bow tie. The Spots bit would probably not even make it on Saturday Night Comatose these days with its ads for Dago Men's Wear (at the Mafia Shopping Mall), Jigaboo Car Wash where the men with the do rag do (Coon Plaza Shopping Center), and Mr. Spic Tacos. This kind of material would now be considered edgy but it is still quite funny.

Other bits on The Credibility Gap sketch comedy CD are definitely geared towards an audience very aware of the sixties -i.e. people who were around but didn't smoke up too much. These include Tricia's Honeymoon, about Nixon's daughter, Senator Kennedy's Next Speech with its many references to Chappaquiddick.

I am not quite sure what to make of The Mark Steel Hollywood Auction -not because I smoked up too much but because I was smoking Popeye candy cigarettes and bubble gum cigars-while the Electro-Clip fake commercial is just bizarre. The World's Greatest Man Pageant (Neil Armstrong, Dick Nixon, John Wayne, Howard Hughes, Marshall McLuhan) is simply bizarre and includes a rather strange commercial.

The great advantage of The Bronze Age of Radio over the golden age of radio comedy is the sound quality has not been affected by time so everything still sounds fresh and new. Those who like sketch comedy and can remember the sixties -and if you can you must be a Republican-will enjoy The Credibility Gap The Bronze Age of Radio.

Source: The Serious Comedy Site

01 Who's On First 4:10
02 Tricia's Honeymoon 8:10
03 The LBJ Tape 2:40
04 Spots (Tribute To Fred May) 3:07
05 The Last "Big Picture" 8:55
06 Editorial Reply 1:34

07 I, Othello 2:47
08 Senator Kennedy's Next Speech 6:12
09 The Mark Steele Hollywood Auction 5:08
10 Dave Sportz For Electro-Clip 2:32
11 The World's Greatest Man Pageant 11:55   

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Lew Irwin & Credibility Gap - An Album Of Political Pornography 1968

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01 Introduction & Voting Day
02 Kennedy-LBJ Debate
03 Drunk Voter
04 Long Lines
05 Gun Collector
06 Johnson & Central Park Violence
07 Dusty Hoofs
08 Integrated Heart
09 Faith Healing.(Incomplete)
10 Icarus
11 Abominable Snowman
12 Soul On Ice.
13 Poway
14 Conventional Convention.(Incomplete)
15 Nixon-Agnew Dealer
16 Humphrey Vs. Demonstrators