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
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
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.
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.” 
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.
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.
For the first time, I’m going to recommend you actually watch something before listening to this week’s album (links are below). Why? Well, because Ernie Kovacs is the godfather of experimental TV. Which is why, as a comedy writer, I was blown away that my introduction to him was from non-comedian (but hilarious person) Adam X. Storm.
He was Troy McClure. He was Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. He was Bill McNeil. Most importantly, he was a brilliant comedic actor, and loved by everyone he worked with. He also inspired some of us to do what it is we do. That was reason enough to make our first live episode a tribute to him.