The Comedy On Vinyl Podcast

It kinda feels like Brock Wilbur has been on before, but he hasn’t.  This is our second time covering the soundtrack to This Is Spinal Tap , and this time we also meander into the world of other “fake” bands and his own family history with music. Host:  Jason Klamm Producer:  Mike Worden This Week’s Guest:  Brock Wilbur BrockWilbur.com Buy “This Is Spinal Tap” on Viny...

This week, we begin retracing the history of Firesign with Phil Proctor, in part one of a mini-series covering every album from the Columbia years, and perhaps moving on to more.  Phil is currently working on an autobiography, so he’s in the storytelling mood, so while we planned to cover the first three albums on this episode, at the end of the show we’re JUST up to the group solidify...

Jordan, Jesse Go!’s own Sunny D, Brian Fernandes, stops by with a challenge he might not have realized was a challenge.  A stand-up album from the late nineties is very much out of my comfort zone, if only because I sort of stopped listening to and watching stand-up for a few years, starting right around when this album was released.  It was a relief finding something relatively new that I g...

Two of the creators and co-stars of TV Land’s Teachers , which premieres January 13th, picked my favorite Python album, and the thing that really got me addicted to Monty Python in general.   Monty Python Sings is drenched in the best the group has to offer, musically, and we break it down, track by track.  We also talk about how bangable Monty Python are individually.  Also, before you ask,...

In a first for our podcast, we’re about to premiere a Bob Newhart track that is 50 years old and you probably only heard if you were there for the recording.  From a one-of-a-kind acetate in the Abraham Comedy Archive, the “Paul Revere” sketch by Bob Newhart does not appear on any Newhart albums, and a search for this sketch yields nothing online.  This week, Jeff Abraham discuss...

As a fan of Epic Rap Battles of History, I had to have Zach Sherwin on.  He’s a brilliant performer, and a great writer.  I’m always pleasantly surprised when someone who could easily (and understandably) have had an entirely vinyl-free listening experience decides they want to not only pick some vinyl I love, but an artist I absolutely adore.  I don’t talk about how important Gr...

Julia is a stand-up and the host of the Simpsons podcast “Everything’s Coming Up Podcast!” and she decided to do something unusual.  She picked an album only a year old – the newest vinyl album we’ve ever talked about on the show.  Weird Al’s  Mandatory Fun, regardless of age, is classic Al, so that’s more than enough reason to talk about it at length.  We...

The full, actual title of this gem is “Music to Listen to Records By – Edie Adams Sings?”  A woman after my own heart, with one of the great, absurd record titles of all time, and using punctuation in the title (my first sketch comedy group, which still exists, was originally called “Dan and Jay’s Komedy? Hour” ) Edie uses her considerable musical talents to sou...

I’ve spoken to some of the great minds in comedy on this show.  And yes, I count Jeremy Guskin among them.  But when I told Jeremy that Billy West was doing the show, his reaction was the same as mine.  Billy West is a hero to both of us, and, speaking personally, easily my biggest voice over hero of all time.  Billy sat down with us kindly for over two hours and we talked Jonathan Winters,...

We’re back on a favorite, and not long since the last time we covered it.  I’m not sure if it’s just the demand of listening to the album more than I normally would, but the amazing Paul Gilmartin of The Mental Illness Happy Hour have a great discussion about this album, and also what it means to get the right kind of laughs, and to succeed, comedy-wise, on your own terms. You ca...

This week, I talk with one of the producers of the Back to the Future documentary “Back in Time,” Lee Leshen, who brings up Howie Mandel’s insane crowdwork comedy for the first time on the show.  Give it a listen, and go see the movie, which comes out the same day as The Million McFly March to Benefit Parkinson’s . You can win a chance to be on Comedy on Vinyl by donating t...

Live from iOWest!  I’m joined this week by James Urbaniak, Jeremy Guskin, Andy Merrill and Taylor Jessen to talk about “Another Monty Python Record!” You can win a chance to be on Comedy on Vinyl by donating to the Michael J. Fox Foundation!  Just check out our recent post for that info here:  http://comedyonvinyl.com/donate-to-parkinsons-win-a-chance-to-be-on-the-podcast/ Host: ...

He’s a stand up, an author, and the host of  Redacted Tonight .   Give his work a listen and it’ll become obvious why the influence of Carlin was so important to him.  We discuss Class Clown and how important it is to have not only a point of view and a voice, but a reason for being on stage.  Not all stand ups necessarily agree that their work should have a point beyond laughter, but...

He’s the voice of Brak, one of the writers of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and a big fan of Steve Martin.  We have a lot of fun talking about obscure comedy as well as this, one of the most well-known there is. Host:  Jason Klamm Producer:  Mike Worden This Week’s Guest:  Andy Merrill Buy “Let’s Get Small” Comedy on Vinyl is recorded at Fort Awesome Studios in beautiful downtown Burban...

He’s an amazing stand-up, a writer for @midnight, and he was kind enough to pull this week’s album up on his phone since I gave away my vinyl to the last guest who picked it as that week’s album.  Dan Telfer breaks down his love of “The Great White North” and sketch comedy in general, and then, because we haven’t had the discussion on the show yet, we talk Cosby...

Brian Kiley is a stand-up, writer for Conan, and author of the book  The Astounding Misadventures of Rory Collins.   Somehow, we haven’t covered this album since our first three episodes, so it was definitely time for a revisit.  We sat down and talked about the changing world of stand-up, as well as Bob’s influence on Brian’s work. Host:  Jason Klamm Producer:  Mike Worden This...

Jason C. Brown is the director of an upcoming short film called  Imaginary Friends , which is currently funding on Indiegogo , hence our unusual posting of a COV bonus episode this week.  I may be biased (see me in the promo video below), but I think you should go send some money their way so that this movie gets made!  Jason sat down with me to discuss one of his greatest influences – SNL....

The Independent Shakespeare Company’s own David Melville returns, to again open up our comedy minds to the works of George Formby.  Still a respected name in English comedy, his work never quite traversed the ocean sufficiently, so it’s time for some mind expansion.  Formby’s double-entendre-laden ukulele tunes are played with an unusual skill on an instrument mistakenly seen as...

Craig Rowin of Your Pretty Face is Going To Hell  drops by (and so do I, this was “on location” in Hollywood) to talk about Weird Al’s perfectly-timed “Off The Deep End.”  Now, before you write me an e-mail about this being a CD-era album, I’d advise you to go to the Netherlands.  Where they released this album on vinyl, apparently.  Craig squeaked it, but I&#82...

    It’s not often you get to talk to someone about playing their own father in a movie.  In 1992, that’s exactly what Rob did, for a cameo in “Heart and Souls.”  We discuss how that came about this week, as big fans of his dad, but we also discuss his own introduction to comedy by the likes of Richard Pryor and George Carlin, the former passed down from his fathe...

On Sunday, August 2nd at IOWest , we helped kick off The 13th Annual Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival with a tribute to Robin Williams, with Robin’s close friend, Rick Overton, and special guests Josia Elliott and Jamie Costa.  Josia’s a big Robin fan, and if you haven’t seen Jamie’s moving tributes to Robin in the form of impressions, you should go here:  youtu.be/Shg53i...

Joseph Scrimshaw is back!  And this time, we do something I’ve been waiting to do a long time on this show – let the guest pick from the archive and we both listen to it, fresh.  This week, we listen to one of two comedy albums (in the same year) by “The Human Joke Machine,” Morey Amsterdam.  Perhaps best known as Buddy on The Dick Van Dyke Show, here he rattles off joke af...

Every once in awhile, because of this show, I’m fortunate enough to meet an official archivist for a legend.  This week, I talk with Christopher Bay, who is the archivist for not only Shelley Berman, but for Woody Woodbury.  Christopher talks about his experiences with Shelley, including discovering him and imitating him from a young age.  We do talk a bit about this, Shelley’s first a...

He co-hosts the Before You Were Funny podcast and Batman: The Animated Podcast.  Turns out, he’s also the first person to bring The Muppets to the show.  Another surprise first turns out to be a brilliant piece of work, especially given that we’re supposed to imagine animated felt for 45 minutes.  Not only are the voice characterizations typically great, but the sound design and the jo...

Podcast listeners will know the sounds of his nimble fingers from the background of many a Paul F. Tompkins podcast, and sketch comedy fans will know his music from Mr. Show.  Eban Schletter is not only a great musical improviser, but a guy who maybe, sort of, fell into comedy as a genre.  Although, on reflection, it kind of seems inevitable.  In this episode, we talk about how Eban’s dad in...