Before there was the Netflix comedy concert, before there was the Comedy Central half hour, before there was the HBO comedy special, there was the comedy album. It built modern stand-up, and yet almost nobody remembers how.
I produced a four-CD history of American recorded comedy for Rhino, “But Seriously: The American Comedy Box.” Making it, and writing the history of the comedy album that came along with it, proved to me one undeniable thing: the LP is where stand-up grew up.
Newhart, Berman, Carlin, Pryor, Redd Foxx, the 2000 Year Old Man, Tom Lehrer. They reached living rooms on vinyl years before cable even existed. The album let a comic be an album artist with a point of view, not just a guy doing eight minutes on a variety show.
We lost something when the format became just the audio track for a comedian’s stand-up special.
What is the comedy album that shaped your sense of humor? Tell me; I collect these stories the way I collect the records.