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

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

Not stand-up.  Not sketch.  Just pure comedy.  The Firesign Theatre are, luckily, indescribable.  You owe it to yourself to find any of their comedy.  They have released 22 albums since the 70s and this is, frankly, their third.

This particular episode forgoes the convention of being clip-heavy, or even clip-light (there’s just the one, really) as we had a lot to talk about with this week’s guest, the incomparable Jeremy Guskin.  You’ve seen him all over your television screens, possibly asked him to leave, and then realized he was so real you thought he was in the room with you.  THAT is how good he is.  And this week he tells us how inspirational and confoundingly hilarious The Firesign Theatre is, and how important it is to him as a comedic person.

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/Contributor: Mike Worden

This Week’s Guest: Jeremy Guskin - Look at his tweets

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.

Official Firesign Theatre Site: http://www.firesigntheatre.com/

Buy “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers” on vinyl: http://goo.gl/CJ3tv

Jeremy and Jason co-star monthly in “A Drinking Game”: http://adrinkinggame.com

Mike is in “A Few Good Men”: http://goo.gl/DhXIl

Thank you,

Jason Klamm

Episode 6 Direct Download

EPISODE #2: The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart (1960)

In this episode, Jason Klamm, Dan Gomiller and Mike Worden are joined by writer/podcaster Ari Jarvis to discuss 1960s comedy phenomenon Bob Newhart in his premiere album, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.”

Not so much a rarity, this album still serves as a flashback to the days when the proof was really in the pudding.  Small-time, talented no-name gets a break because he liked to entertain at friends’ parties.  The tapes got passed around, and Bob Newhart flew into our living rooms, sort of like a confused pigeon.  Forty years before Matt and Trey got their break with a hand-traded animated Christmas card, Bob Newhart changed the face of comedy by making it marketable again.  All, ironically enough, by making fun of advertising and marketing on a regular basis.

Host: Jason Klamm

Guests: Dan Gomiller, Ari Jarvis

Producer/Contributor: Mike Worden

Direct Download of Episode 2

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

The in-between music in this week’s episode is “I Love Me (I’m Wild About Myself)” by Jack Haley, from 1922, as found at Archive.org.  Last week’s was “Wanita (Wanna Eat?  Wanna Eat?) by Allan Cross, also 1922.

Bob Newhart’s Site: BobNewhart.com

Bob Newhart’s misleading (and unverified) Twitter: @bobnewhart

Buy “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” on Vinyl: http://www.amazon.com/Button-Down-Mind-Bob-Newhart/dp/B000MU3M62

On CD:  http://www.amazon.com/Button-Down-Mind-Bob-Newhart/dp/B000002MSU

Things/entities/people/items/devices that are mentioned in this podcast:

JFK
Marilyn Monroe
Joe DiMaggio
Michael Cera
Scott Bakula / Sam Beckett
Dane somebody 

Thank you,

Jason Klamm

FMI:

“Why Did I Buy That?” (Ari Jarvis reviews her DVD collection): http://www.wdibt.com/