Comedy on Vinyl

…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

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