Jasper Carrott - The Stun (Carrott Tells All) 1983 (UK)

Jasper Carrott	Robert Norman Davis	Acocks Green, Birmingham, England, UK
Mar 14 1945 -	Official site	Wikipedia

By 1983 the humor of Jasper Carrott was beginning to wear very thin, not due to any major drop in quality, although repetition was almost inevitable, but more because of over-exposure following the screening of regular television series. Not that this ever reached the proportions of, say, a Carol Vorderman or a Noel Edmonds, but it still gave credence to the adage of having too much of a good thing. Without really having any lasting memory of the reason, it was probably this excess of Carrott which resulted in The Stun being my last recording. Blame certainly couldn't be ascribed to the album itself as this is definitely one of my favourites. I think it helped that it contained all new material and was unrelated to any of the TV series. Not that The Stun is an unconditional winner - his inability to match his kid's prowess on computer games was particularly old hat - but it was gratifying to see him tackle new topics. His take on child psychology and first time voters, which he associates with the loss of virginity are particularly good. But it's the absolutely brilliant description of his trip to Hong Kong, taking up the whole of the second side, which, for me, is the highlight of this or any other of his albums. The story is told with such gusto that it's immaterial whether any of it is true.
The Stun is hardly a comedy classic but it is indicative of how funny Carrott can be. -RateYourMusic

01 Holidays
02 Hairloss
03 Child Psycologist
04 Computer Games
05 Sport
06 Virgin Voter
07 Hong Kong

	Standup	DJM Records DJF 20582
Enjoy!

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Jack Benny - Classic Friars Club Roast Of Jack Benny January 21 1970

Jack Benny	Benjamin Kubelsky	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Feb 14 1894 - Dec 26 1974 age 80	Fan Club	Wikipedia

Alan King	Irwin Alan Kniberg	New York City, New York, USA
Dec 26 1927 – May 09 2004 age 76	Official Site	Wikipedia

Spiro Agnew, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Milton Berle, George Burns, Johnny Carson, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, Ed Sullivan, Don Wilson	Birth name	Birthplace
Born/Died	Official Site	Wikipedia

One of the leading entertainers of the 20th Century, Jack Benny's comic timing remains legendary. Be it his signature pregnant pause or his exasperated "WELL!" audiences adored the most famous cheapskate in town. His radio and television family: Eddie Anderson aka Rochester, Mel Blanc, Dennis Day, Phil Harris, and his real life wife Mary Livingston, formed one of the most beloved ensembles of the sitcom format. They were his foils to laughter and his deadpan expressions spoke volumes. Forever 39, Benny hit just the right notes in comedy-his attempts at violin playing notwithstanding.

 
01 Soundtrack

	Standup		* * *
ENJOY!
His other material on this blog are "tagged" at the bottom of this post WANTED
Jack Benny Story		Jack Benny Fiddles With The Classics
Jack Benny Playes The Bee		Benny Fields And His Minstrel Men
Jack Benny vs Fred Allen		The Sportsmen
Radio Fight Of The Century		Great Moments In Radio
Jack Benny		Presents The Treasury Of Golden Memories Of Radio
One Night Stand In 1942 And 1943 Complete Jack Benny Show		On The Town With The Sportsmen

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Mike Warnke - Alive! 1976

Mike Warnke	Michael Alfred Warnke	Evansville, Indiana USA
Nov 19 1946	Official Site	Wikipedia

YES this is a Christian record, but this guy is really something else...used to be a satanist & druggie, then found Christianity, and went on to talk about his old self, but with an edge and super intensity. He'll even say stuff like 'I really don't care if you don't like me', so yea... not your normal Christian record... we've even actually listened to this all the way thru (and it's a pretty strange journey for sure!) -eBay reviewer

01 Preacher Lessons And Cookie Cutters
02 Tennessee Home And Blankety-blank
03 Catholics And Hell
04 Bible Stories And Jonah
05 Do's And Don't
06 The Occult
07 The Jesus Freaks
08 Scuzball

09 Catholic And Heaven
10 Suicide And The Gospel Trio
11 The Navy's Grade A Number One Fruitcake
12 Three To A Cubicle
13 The Gideon Bible And The Mop Closet
14 Like Yourself

	Christian Standup	Myrrh #MSA-6561
Thanks Bob H!

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Hal Roach - Hal Roach Says Write It Down 1980 (Ireland)

Hal Roach	John Roach	Waterford, UK
Nov 04 1927 –  Feb 28 2012 age 84	Official Site	Wikipedia

Irish folklore is based on story-telling. Story-telling is synonymous with the name Hal Roach. Hal quite often describes himself as one of the cheaper better acts. He, in fact, downgrades himself when one considers that he has toured the world and in Jury's alone he has played to over a million customers.
Ireland's most travelled storyteller, Ireland's King of Blarney, call him what you may, but the thing that gives him the most pleasure is the laughter of children. Audiences all over the world have rewarded him with their laughter, he in turn has lifted the dull grey cloak of sadness from us all and brought sunshine to our lives. Long may he reign! Source: eBay seller

 
01 Side 1
02 Side 2

	Standup	Rego Irish Records – R-28,000
Enjoy!

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Barton Brothers - Mister Chairman, A Point Of Order 1955

Eddie Barton	Birth name	Birthplace
Born/Died	Official Site	Wikipedia

Artist	Birth name	Birthplace
Born/Died	Official Site	Wikipedia

The response to Joe McCarthy's war on Communism, and its tactics, famously drew responses, comments and critiques  from many corners of the worlds of art, news and entertainment. What other aspect of life in mid-50's America played such a strong role in the work of such diverse performers as Bob and Ray, Pete Seeger and Edward R. Murrow, among others far too numerous to mention? On the fringes of this response were some less well-known chapters of the story. Today's example is a 10" LP by The Barton Brothers, performing a 20 minute play written and directed by Hal Collins, titled "Mister Chairman! A Point of Order", and released in 1955 on the Allo Records label.

Such was the fear of McCarthy and his power, that the album - despite being released after public opinion and his Senate colleagues had turned against McCarthy - carries text on the back cover almost begging the listener to understand that it's contents are SATIRE, and that SATIRE is really OKAY. Oh, it's also that rare, special brand of SATIRE - "HUMOROUS SATIRE"! After going on to say that their album contains a caricature (capitalizing that word, while spelling it wrong, by the way) of the manner of presentation of a political investigation, they even assure us that "any similarity to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

I'd love to say that hiding behind this timid, apologetic marketing lurks a great work of satiric, biting art, but...I don't actually believe that to be the case. This is fairly hamfisted stuff, in which McCarthy's doppelganger gets upset at being denied his favorite meal, and then becomes suspicious of the red.... well, I'll let you hear it and find out. Source: WFMU

01 Side 1
02 Side 2

	Standup	Allo R 7
Enjoy!

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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

		Satire				Blue Thumb BTS-2
ENJOY!
Their other material on this blog is "tagged" at the bottom of this post

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Ogden Nash - Ogden Nash Reads Ogden Nash 1953

Ogden Nash	Birth name	Rye, New York, USA
Aug 19 1902 - May 19 1971 age 68	Official Site	Wikipedia

Ogden Nash Reads Ogden Nash was one of spoken word label Caedmon's earliest (1953), and most successful, releases. Nash reads "Portrait Of The Artist As A Prematurely Old Man," "Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer," and 26 other poems. The cover drawing is by legendary celebrity artist Al Hirschfeld.

Nash reads his poetry in a soft Boston accent, with an even tempo and virtually no theatrics. It would be very easy to over accentuate or telegraph the "bombs" but he just smoothly lets them out.
It's tempting to say Nash's poetry is out of date, belonging to another time, a different sensibility. One of Nash's favorite subjects was women, and while his observations might have been funny 40 years ago, today they would definitely raise the ire of the more correct thinking among us. To some, his menagerie of animal poems, collected on Parents Keep Out, stand up best. These poems show his mastery of puns, wordplay and bizarre rhymes.
Nash worked for the New Yorker (where his poems first appeared) during the '30s. He wrote a number of screenplays, and wrote the lyrics for the musical comedy One Touch of Venus.   Ogden Nash died in 1971.  

Side 1
01 Kind of an Ode to Duty
02 Portrait of the Artist as a Prematurely Old Man
03 Good-bye, Old Year, You Oaf, or Why Don't They Pay the Bonus?
04 Geddondillo
05 Watchman, What of the First First Lady?
06 Song for a Temperature of a Hundred and One
07 Medusa and the Mot Juste
08 A Beginner's guide to the Ocean
09 The Terrible People
10 I Don't Mean Us, Except Occasionally
11 That Reminds Me
12 The Evening Out
13 Don't Grin, or You'll Have to Bear It
14 I Remember Yule

Side 2
15 Spring Song
16 Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer
17 I Do, I Will, I Have
18 How Do You Say "Ha-Ha" in French?
19 What to Do Until the Doctor Goes, or It's Tomorrow Than You Think
20 The Polterguest, My Polterguest
21 Piano Tuner, Untune Me That Tune
22 Thoughts Thought After a Bridge Party
23 Mr. Bett's Mind a Kingdom Is
24 Allow Me, Madam, but It Won't Help
25 You and Me and P. B. Shelley
26 The Strange Case of Mr. Ormantude's Bride
27 How to be Married Without a Spouse, or Mr. Kipling, What Have You Done with Mrs. Hauksbee?
28 Spring Comes to Murray Hill

	Poetry	Caedmon TC 1015
Thanks Stephen K!

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Morey Amsterdam - The Next One Will Kill You 1963

Morey Amsterdam	Moritz Amsterdam	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Dec 14 1908 - Oct 28 1996 age 87	Official Site	Wikipedia

The Next One Will Kill You is the comedy CD re release of the 1963 stand-up jokes album by Morey Amsterdam. If the name Amsterdam is familiar, it is probably because he played Buddy Sorrell, one of the writers for the fictitious Alan Brady Show. Amsterdam was known as The Human Joke Machine and this old school joke CD proves it was a well-earned title.

Morey Amsterdam sings and tells jokes to a musical background. This is of course clean and family friendly comedy. Each track is a collage of similarly themed jokes such as My Psychiatrist Says. Our very PC world might be a bit uncomfortable at the fake Irish accent Morey Amsterdam uses on Big Molly O’Toole but it is funny. I Wonder What a Baby Thinks is more cute than har-har funny. A Man’s Best Friend is His Nose is a series of nasal jokes. Drunks Inc. is delivered in a late night blues style that really makes this track stand out and perhaps the best one on The Next One Will Kill You.  Baby Drown the Drain is a Cockney accent ditty and the weakest bit on this comedy CD.  Onions has a weird tropical – Caribbean feel to it. This is a decent enough bit but the jokes are the weakest on The Next One Will Kill You.  This Morey Amsterdam is definitely old school and on the weirdly cool side.

01 Yuk-A-Puc 2:40
02 My Psychiatrist Says 6:47
03 Big Molly O'Toole 3:19
04 I Wonder What a Baby Thinks 3:51
05 A Man's Best Friend Is His Nose 3:00
06 Drunks Inc. 7:01
07 Baby Down the Drain 2:36
08 Onions 6:34

	Standup	* * *
Enjoy!

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Katie Lee & The Ray Martin Orechestra - Life Is Just A Bed Of Neurosis 1960

Katie Lee	Birth name	Tucson, Arizona, USA
Oct 22 1919 -	Official Site	Wikipedia

Oh man, (too) bad, this LP is available on a CD. A CD that feature 35 Lee tunes (tunes from this album and Songs Of Couch And Consultation) so I will not be posting a sample.
Normally I don't get into comedy albums and music... but this project is different. It's insane. Well, OK... you can see where I'm going with this review.
The presentation of the vocals and orchestration isn't over the edge. The vibe is easy listening/broadway/space age with very pleasant and straight forward vocals by Lee. The contrast and humor are born from the lyrics which are terrific. And, if we might consider that behavioral science terms weren't common in most households in 1960... this record, to my thinking... would seem crazy to most.
The whacked thing is that the songs seem as fresh and funny now as back in the day. They don't make neuroses like they used to! Source: Unearthed In The Atomic Attic

01 Life Is Just A Bed Of Neuroses
02 Case History ('A' Loves 'B' Loves 'C')
03 Why Johnny Why
04 Love That Man
05 Mental Blocks
06 Be Miserable
07 The Ballad For Group Therapy
08 We Must Adjust
09 The Insecure Tango
10 Don'tville
11 When I Was A Little Girl
12 The Get Well March

	Funny Folk Songs	RCA Victor LSP-2214
Thanks dwight c, pcthunderfoot!

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