Comedy on Vinyl

Happy New Year and happy satire.  Sure, that’s an expression.  One of the great, energetic musical comedians, Tom Lehrer is a must-listen (again, another real expression) for those bent on listening to comedy made by intelligent people.

Until recently, Lehrer was a university professor who got out of the satire business for a number of reasons.  He has been quoted as saying “Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Prize.”  That about sums it up.  Give it a listen.

Also, given Tumblr’s inherent limits (if we post more than 20… anythings, it starts pushing old episodes off of iTunes), we’re moving feed hosts, so there MAY be some iTunes issues in the coming days.  Please let us know if you notice an issue before we do: jason@comedyonvinyl.com

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guests: Dan Gomiller and Ari Jarvis

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks.

Tom Lehrer’s Official Website: http://www.tomlehrer.org/

Buy “That Was The Year That Was” on Vinyl: http://goo.gl/NS7yV

Episode 18 Direct Download

…I have no words.  Except Merry Christmas.  This special episode features the one and only Zero Mostel at possibly his most insane, reading Dr. Seuss’s timeless “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”  There are SO many things going on here, I can’t begin to describe it.

Just know that despite the fact that we didn’t talk much about Zero (his comedy was on the stage and screen), he was a great actor, and Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” wouldn’t have been the same without him intimidating the hell out of Gene Wilder.  In many ways, we wouldn’t have the same Gene Wilder.  Take a listen and, as always, have a Merry Thing.

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guests: Dan Gomiller, Ari Jarvis, Jeremy Guskin  and Jen Smith

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks.

Zero Mostel’s IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0609216/

Buy “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” on vinyl: http://goo.gl/3fChz

Episode 17 Direct Download

http://stolendress.com/comedyonvinyl/wordpress/wordpress/?feed=podcast

We waited too long to get to this album, since its among the first albums I ever listened to, and it simply blew my mind.  What’s disappointing is its the first one I simply have not been able to find locally on vinyl - despite having it in the secret Comedy on Vinyl Vaults somewhere deep in the woods of Upstate New York at my mom’s house (it also explains why we’re pointing to an image of the album cover on my phone).  THAT said, this is going to be one of those albums I absolutely DEMAND you purchase immediately.  I choose to sample these tracks without killing the value of purchasing the album, but believe me, it was very tempting to give you “Seven Words” in its entirety, as this is the greatest version there is.  That said, I didn’t - so go buy it.

Though people have treated George Carlin as though he was following the work of Lenny Bruce, Carlin was never an activist, and no matter what you thought of his changing onstage persona, he remained a comedian, unlike Lenny Bruce.  ”Stand-up philosopher” is a phrase bandied about in this podcast, and I’ve always felt it fit George Carlin to a T.  Comedians are, by trade, thinkers before speakers.  Usually the speaking takes the form of a joke - Carlin weaves the traditional joke in with pure “one-on-one” conversation, letting you discover his thought process as he helps you understand your own.  All this, on top of being a bad-ass who did, indeed, challenge the FCC and, whether he tried to or not, changed the way the US and its government looks at “profanity,” makes George Carlin a legend.  Do yourself a favor and discover this album, if you haven’t already.

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guests: Dan Gomiller, Ari Jarvis and Jeremy Guskin

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks.

George Carlin’s official site: http://georgecarlin.com/

Buy “The Rutles” on vinyl: goo.gl/fs6ny

Episode 16 Direct Download

After Monty Python, Eric Idle continued the sketch comedy television with Rutland Weekend Television, which featured “The Seventh Python,” Neil Innes.  Best known beyond The Rutles as an amazing absurd satirist, Innes brought a musical legitimacy that Idle, with impressive musical credentials of his own, likely couldn’t match.  Also, Innes did a dead-on John Lennon.

Hardly the first mock-documentary, this is one of the first - if not THE first musical-themed film in the genre.  A pretty literal parallel of the actual history of The Beatles, The Rutles is impressive, if only for its attention to detail.  The songs are, in many cases, dead-ringers for actual Beatles songs (which apparently caused a legal problem or two), and the story an absurd twist and comment on Beatlemania - an obsession that, no matter how you feel about The Beatles, is easily seen as one of the strangest phenomena to ever ripple through pop culture.

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guests: Dan Gomiller & Ari Jarvis

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks.

Buy “The Rutles” on vinyl: http://goo.gl/iafam

Buy “The Rutles” on DVD: http://goo.gl/l96Yx

Episode 15 Direct Download

Mel Brooks may have made the name he has today with a unique brand of parody, but Young Frankenstein is arguably his masterpiece, and is no doubt the beginning of a brand of pastiche that has informed the work of every great filmmaker of the last four decades.  Self-awareness without having to mug, genuine drama without a sly wink, and real, stone-faced, honest acting make this more than just what Mel Brooks calls a “spoof.” 

As Dan points out in this episode, “Young Frankenstein” is a spiritual sequel to its namesake, and even cursory knowledge of the original “Frankenstein” is enough to get the basics.  That said, it’s still a good, human story, given to us through some of the best slapstick ever put on film.

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guests: Jennifer Smith, Dan Gomiller & Ari Jarvis

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks.

Buy the “Young Frankenstein” soundtrack on VERY expensive vinyl: http://goo.gl/3qZPC

Buy “Young Frankenstein” on DVD: http://goo.gl/7OT4x

Episode 14 Direct Download

They’re back, and this time we cover the second album that made Jason and Dan become best friends while hanging out in a broken Ford Fiesta.  Yep, that’s Upstate New York for you.  This is, in fact, our first quadrilateral New York episode.

The appeal of this album is clear, even to comedy nerds who have never touched marijuana in their lives.  The characters are great, due in large part to Cheech’s voice characterizations, and the situations are not, in any way, difficult to understand.  Add the fact that Cheech & Chong were smart and considerate to add production values to something that could easily rely on mere mentions of illegal activity for its laughs, and you have one of the greatest comedy compilations out there.  It outshines the last album we covered, and - for Dan and I at least - rivals Monty Python Sings, which we will surely cover in the future.

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guests: Jeremy Guskin, Dan Gomiller

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks.

Cheech & Chong Official Site: CheechandChong.com

Buy “Greatest Hit” on vinyl: goo.gl/UCjAG

Episode 13 Direct Download

It’s taken much too long to get to Monty Python, given our collective love for the group, perhaps best demonstrated by how many Holy Grail references make their way into this podcast.  This is a great primer album, though it makes little sense to listen to this until after watching the series and, of course, Holy Grail and Life of Brian.

They were the gods of irreverence and detractors of the end portion of a sketch.  Inspired by The Goons, Ernie Kovacs and a host of other insane comedy-types, Monty Python was something new to their UK audience, but was something mind blowing for an originality-starved US audience that wouldn’t see their first episodes until a few years after they originally aired.  Nerds everywhere rejoiced and further found one more reason to believe they would always be alone.  Until they met that special someone who could also say “anarcho-syndicalist commune” without breaking a sweat.  Listen and enjoy.

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guest: Jeremy Guskin

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks.

Monty Python Official Site: Pythonline.com

John Cleese Twitter: http://twitter.com/johncleese

Buy “The Instant Record Collection” on vinyl: http://goo.gl/BZJrz

Episode 12 Direct Download

If it wasn’t for this album, the 70s arguably wouldn’t have been the 70s.  Before “pot culture” and “pot humor,” there were two brilliant sketch comedians who also talked a lot about pot.  Those guys were Cheech and Chong.  I wouldn’t be who I am if it wasn’t for Cheech and Chong - my first attempts at audio comedy, at 13 - if a bit rough - were just Dan Gomiller and I doing our version of Cheech and Chong, sans the drug humor we couldn’t relate to.

Luckily, we aren’t the only squares upon whom the indelible mark of Cheech and Chong’s humor was left.  Enter Bob Wiltfong, the man you’ve seen as Nationwide Insurance’s World’s Greatest Spokesperson in the World and as a version of himself on The Daily Show.  His earliest memory of Cheech and Chong was “Sister Mary Elephant,” the star track from this album.  Bob joins me this week from the Second City Theatre in Hollywood to discuss the comedy of two of the last comedians to really use the comedy album as an art form.  Even if they were talking about getting stoned a bunch.

Subscribe on iTunes (And please leave your comments and rate us.  We need to know if you think we are sexy or not.)

Host: Jason Klamm

Producer: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guest: Bob Wiltfong - Bob on Facebook

Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.  The samples played in these non-commercial (see: free) podcasts are used without permission, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Follow us on Twitter or at the Facebooks - also, we finally have comedyonvinyl.com, which is almost designed and up.  But not quite.

Official Cheech & Chong Site: http://www.cheechandchong.com/

Buy “Big Bambu” on vinyl: http://goo.gl/g8Bb2

Jason co-stars as Charles De Mar in “A Drinking Game: Better Off Dead”: http://adrinkinggame.com

Bob co-stars in “The Dad Show” at The Second City Hollywood: http://goo.gl/MWRxP

Bob’s Nationwide Spots: http://www.youtube.com/greatestspokesperson

Thank you,

Jason Klamm

Episode 7 Direct Download