Vintage Stand-up Comedy

Sid Caesar - Sid Caesar On Comedy 2009

On: Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sid Ceasar	Isaac Sidney Caesar	Yonkers, New York, USA
Sep 08 1922 -	Official Site	Wikipedia

Interviewed by Kelly Carlin (George's daughter).

Caesar was the youngest son of Max Caesar and his wife Ida (née Raphael), Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who ran a restaurant. Caesar would wait on tables and learned to mimic the accents, something he would use throughout his career. He first tried his double-talk with a group of Italians, his head barely reaching above the table. They enjoyed it so much that they sent him over to a group of Poles to repeat it in Polish, and so on with Russians, Hungarians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Lithuanians and Bulgarians. Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, Caesar can actually speak only English and Yiddish. Sid's older brother David was his comic mentor and "one-man cheering section."
At fourteen, Caesar went to the Catskills as a saxophonist with Mike Cifichello's Swingtime Six and would also occasionally perform in sketches in the Borscht Belt. When he graduated from high school, he left home, intent on a musical career. He arrived in New York City penniless and tried to join the musician's union (later he attended classes at the Juilliard School of Music). He found work at the Vacationland Hotel in Swan Lake in the Catskills. Caesar's comedy, however, got bigger applause than the musical numbers, and the show's producer asked him to do stand-up between his numbers. Source: Wikipedia

01 Introduction / Family Influences 5:36

02 Funny in School 1:25

03 Start in Show Business 4:18

04 Mining Sketches - Routines / Music Ability / Phrasing 2:54

05 Mind Reading Sketch - Making People Laugh / Being a Musician 7:36

06 Transition to Comedy from the Coast Guard 23:45

07 Transition into TV 6:12

08 The TV Experience 3:33

09 Process of Writing 9:44

10 Joy of Performing 5:50

11 Courage and Fearlessness 3:55

12 Young Comics - Importance of Comedy 3:42

13 What Makes You Laugh? - Comedy and Tragedy 3:47

14 Advice - History / Contribution to Comedy 8:56


	Interview, Comedy
Enjoy!

Bill Dana - Jose Jimenez At The Jungry i 1961

On: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Bill Dana	William Szathmary	Quincy, Massachusetts USA
Oct 05 1924 -	Official Site Phone: (615) 330-3005 His Blog	Wikipedia

Bill Dana is of Hungarian-Jewish descent, but is best known for playing the Mexican character Jose Jimenez. He recorded one of his best-selling albums at the Hungry I, “The Astronaut.”

In fact, his famous alter ego, Jose Jimenez, has been adopted as the official eighth Mercury astronaut, the first words spoken from the ground to an American entering space being, "OK Jose', you're on your way."

Having become a part of the extended astronaut family, Bill Dana currently serves on the advisory board of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and is on the Nominations Committee of the National Aviation Hall of Fame. (Jose Jimenez is also acknowledged in The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and enshrined at the United States Astronaut Hall Of Fame in Florida.

Not merely a gifted stand-up comic, but writer, producer and actor, Bill Dana's career has spanned nightclubs, television (“The Bill Dana Show” in addition to countless guest appearances), recordings and lecturing. His success as a comedy writer includes being responsible for one of the Top Hundred rated TV programs of all time, an Emmy-award winning episode of the All in the Family series.

Co-author of “The Laughter Prescription,” Bill Dana serves on the Advisory Board of The National Hispanic Media Coalition, and was also given that institution's first Impact Award.

01 My Nightclub Act

02 The Astronaut (With Don Hinkley)

03 Presenting Bill Dana

04 Any Questions? (With The Audience)

Stand-up

Kapp Records KL-1238

ENJOY!

WANTED

Best Of Jose Jimenez 1985

Hoo Ha! Direct From Noshville 1971

Shtick From Bill Dana's Hoo Ha! 1971

New Alice In Wonderland 1966

Cry b/w Jose's Dream (45) 1965

King Of The Surf (Part II) (45)

What Kind Of Fool Am I (45)

All I Need Is You b/w Make Nice (45) 1965

Jose Jimenezchevitz b/w Childhood Scenes (45) 1966

US Senator b/w Bob Sled Racer (45) 1960

You Know You're Getting Old When...

On: Sunday, January 15, 2012

At the end of TV's Two And A Half Men episodes there's a quick shot of comments written by producer Chuck Lorre called Vanity Cards. Here's one on aging. It's too friggin' accurate.

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #280
You know you're getting old when... You throw your back out on the toilet. You shave your ears. Your second wife calls your first wife “ma’am.” You're genuinely excited when your prescriptions arrive in the mail. You read the obits in the newspaper to check the ages of the dead people. You read a newspaper. You're bummed out that the smokin’ hot chick from Body Heat now looks like William Shatner in drag. You say “bummed out.” Women your age have real breasts and artificial hips. Masturbation leaves you winded. You try to amuse the kid hooking up your Blu-ray player by telling him about Betamax. You pee in morse code -- dots and dashes -- and have to look down to see when you’re done. Your car radio is set to “classic rock” so you have something to switch to during NPR pledge drives. Your doctor says things like, “that’s normal for a man your age” and “consider yourself lucky.” Beneath your chin is what appears to be a neck skin hammock. Beneath your penis is what appears to be two ping pong balls hanging from a flesh-colored bolo tie. You
choose your new car because it offers great lumbar support and convenient cup holders. Watching “The Who” perform at the Superbowl made you inconsolably sad. You wonder if the orgasm you're about to have will actually end your life. Your doctor tells you a new medication will reduce the amount of semen in your body and your only response is, “so what.” Your car radio is set to “classic rock” so you have something to... oh, wait, I already did that one.

1st Aired: 8 March 2010

Shelley Berman - Live Again! 1995

Shelley Berman	Sheldon Berman	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Feb 03 1925 -	Official Site	Wikipedia

Shelley Berman devoted much of his time to acting in the '90s after spending the lion's share of the previous two decades semi-retired, but this album, recorded at one of Los Angeles's best-known comedy clubs, shows his talent and instincts as a standup comic remained as sharp as ever. Live at the Improv features both fresh material and Berman reprising routines from his classic albums of the '50s and '60s. While somewhere along the line Berman seems to have developed a fondness for dialect gags (such as the Latino room service operator in "Hotels" or the presumably Eastern European translator in "International Conference"), for the most part this finds Berman firmly in touch with his neuroses and diving into them with comic panache. The new recordings of "Department Store," "Neurosis," and "Father and Son" are different but not necessarily inferior to the original performances, and the passage of time has added a gravitas to "Father and Son" that separates it from the version on Outside Shelley Berman. And while new bits like "Argued with My Pants" and "Soap" are on the lighter side of his spectrum, they're consistently funny and show he hasn't lost his touch (and the latter's construction as a series of letters is a clever variation on the telephone call routines that helped make him famous). Folks wanting a perspective on why Shelley Berman's classic albums were so path-breaking ought to dig up some of his vintage Verve recordings, but longtime fans will find plenty to enjoy on Live at the Improv. [Live at the Improv was previously released as Live Again! by the Chuckle label, and also issued in an edition by Laugh.com.] ~Source Allmusic.com

01 Introduction: Argued With My Pants

02 The Department Store

03 Hotles (Coat Hangers, Toilet Seat, Soap, Room Service)

04 I'm Not Doing The Airplane Material

05 International Conference

06 Neurosis

07 Embarrasing Moments

08 Fathers & Sons

	KTel
	Stand-up
Enjoy!

Redd Foxx - Say It Like It Is 1960s

On: Saturday, January 14, 2012

Redd Foxx	John Elroy Sanford	St. Louis, Missouri USA
Dec 09 1922 – Oct 11 1991 age 68	Official Site	Wikipedia

Redd Foxx began doing stand-up comedy on the infamous "Chitlin' Circuit" in the 1940s and 1950s. Foxx was one of the premier "blue humor" comedians. Blue humor was very dirty, too dirty for white audiences. For years his party albums were not available in white record stores. In the 1960s his records became available, although marginally in white record stores, leading to minor comedy work on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (1948) and "The Red Skelton Hour" (1951), among other classic variety shows of the time. Foxx developed a fan base in the 1960s that led to increased notoriety. He received his own television series in 1972 called "Sanford and Son" (1972), which was a reworking of the British sitcom "Steptoe and Son" (1962). Foxx's character, Fred Sanford (actually, Foxx's brother's name), was a cranky old man who was set in his ways and would insult both friends and strangers at the drop of a hat. He ran a junkyard in Watts, a bad neighborhood in Los Angeles, with his son Lamont (played by Demond Wilson). The show broke down racial stereotypes and was a huge success, making Foxx and the show household names. Foxx fought a very public battle with the writers and producers of the show, claiming that they did not do enough to promote the black experience, and in general complained there were not enough black writers or producers in the entertainment industry. These highly publicized disputes led to the show faltering artistically, but not in the ratings. Foxx left the show in 1977 to accomplish his dream on ABC: his own variety show, which lasted less than a year. ~Source: IMDB

01 Side 1

02 Side 2

	MF Records RF-7
	Stand-up
Enjoy!

Steven Wright - Live In '85

On: Friday, January 13, 2012

Steven Wright	Steven Alexander Wright	Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Dec 06 1955 -	Official Site	Wikipedia

Steven Wright is one of the greatest comedians, and the greatest deadpan comedian ever. His style is so unique and timeless, that no matter how much time has passed, his jokes will still be as fresh and as funny as ever. Anyone who doesn't laugh at Steven Wright's deadpan type of humor, is humorless themself. Source IMDB

01 Soundtrack

	* * *
	Stand-up
Enjoy!

Phyllis Diller - Phyllis Diller On Comedy 2009

On: Thursday, January 12, 2012

Phyllis Diller	Phyllis Ada Driver	Lima, Ohio, USA
Jul 17 1917 - Aug 20 2012 age 95	Official Site	Wikipedia

In 1955, while working as a journalist for the San Leandro News-Observer, Phyllis Diller appeared as a contestant on Groucho Marx’s game show You Bet Your Life. Diller’s memorable performance on the show sparked the advent of her national exposure. She received an offer to make her comedic debut at San Francisco’s The Purple Onion Comedy Club, where she floored the audience with her dynamic one-liners and comical costumes. This success led to future bookings at New York’s Blue Angel as well as an appearance on The Jack Paar Show.

In her monologues, Diller adopted the stage personality of a typical housewife and spoke of topics that affected American suburbia -- kids, pets, neighbors and even mothers-in-law. Her most notable routines were filled with anecdotes about her fictitious husband "Fang," and her numerous face-lifts. Diller’s delivery was accentuated by her animated facial expressions, eccentric costumes, and overdone make-up. During performances, she would often flaunt a cigarette while laughing at her own jokes with her trademark cackle. Excerpt source: Biography

01 Introduction, Family From Ohio

02 Funny As A Kid, Setting Standards, Attitudes

03 George Carlin

04 Starting In Show Business

05 Female Role Model, Male Comedians, First Club Shows

06 Being A Woman In Comedy, Comedians And Music

07 Tool Kit For Comics, Confidence, Stage Persona, Props

08 Pioneering For Women, Magic Of Believing

09 Dream Book, Bob Hope, Television

10 Family And Marriage, Piano, Painting

11 What Is The Role Of Comedy

Stand-up

* * *

ENJOY!

WANTED

Beautiful Phyllis Diller 1967

Great Moments Of Comedy 1964

What's Left Of Phyllis Diller 1967

Paul Dooley - Booked Solid 1961

Paul Dooley	Paul Dooley Brown	Parkersburg, West Virginia
Feb 22 1928 -	Official Site	Wikipedia

An agreeably rumpled, very hard-working character actor of film and television, Paul Dooley has been active in big-budget and independent features, excelling in both lead roles and bit parts. Initially an aspiring cartoonist, Dooley got his start with the Second City theater group, making his New York stage debut in the early 1950s. Here he was discovered by Mike Nichols, who cast the actor as one of the poker buddies in the original 1965 Broadway production of "The Odd Couple". When star Art Carney left the play, Dooley replaced him as Felix opposite Walter Matthau's Oscar.

His most memorable work was arguably playing the beleaguered father of Dennis Christopher's Italy-obsessed cyclist in Peter Yates' touching drama "Breaking Away" (1979). Here the actor would best showcase his abilities, bringing added dimension to his character, a man at once cantankerous, affectionate, frustrating and funny.

A performer with dozens of films to his credit, Dooley has also been very visible on TV, seeming a virtually constant presence with high-profile starring and supporting work in series, TV-movies and commercials. Dooley's earliest credits include the 1960s series "Get Smart" (NBC, CBS) and "The Dom DeLuise Show" (CBS, 1968).
While his work in front of the camera earned the most notice, Dooley has performed extensively on stage, including his turn as the titular baseball great the acclaimed one man play "The Amazing Casey Stengel" (1980-81) at the American Place Theatre. Another important feather in Dooley's cap was the groundbreaking children's series "The Electric Company", which he co-created and wrote. A 1970s program that enlivened educational TV for the post-"Sesame Street" set, "The Electric Company" featured such impressive regulars as Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno, and would remain in the hearts of its target audience for decades after its last broadcast. Dooley also formed All Over Creations, a production
company concerned with fortifying industrial films and commercials with clever comedic elements. Source: TCM

01 Part I Paul Dooley "Live" From The Stage At The Duplex In New York City
02 Part II: Continuation Of "Live" Performance Of Paul Dooley From The Stage At The Duplex In New York City