Episode 150 – David Melville on George Formby

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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 simple, especially given its current ubiquity.  Enjoy some fun tunes and, if you’re in LA, go see the Independent Shakespeare Company at Griffith Park this summer.

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Episode 149 – Craig Rowin on Weird Al – Off The Deep End

Craig Rowin SDCraig 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’m glad he did.  This has one of my all-time top Weird Al songs, and we had a blast talking about (individually) meeting Weird Al, as well as, in his case, working with him.
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Episode 148 – Rob Newhart

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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 father.  The album we’re holding isn’t discussed in this episode, but we are holding it for a reason – it has the first recorded mention of Rob’s name, in track one of side 2, in which Bob talks about becoming a father. Continue reading

Episode 147 – Live Tribute to Robin Williams – with Rick Overton, Jamie Costa and Josia Elliott

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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/Shg53iv4B9o

We had a wonderful time talking about Robin, his work, and getting a little sidetracked about impressions.  But it wouldn’t be a tribute to that great mind if we weren’t a little all over the place

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Episode 146 – Joseph Scrimshaw on Morey Amsterdam – The Next One Will Kill You

Scrimshaw_SD_2Joseph 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 after joke in a variety of strange, fun little songs, and we pick it apart.

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Episode 145 – Christopher Bay on Shelley Berman – Inside Shelley Berman

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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 album, but it’s pretty all-inclusive, especially with this episode’s final clip – a rarity, courtesy Christopher himself.

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Episode 144 – Justin Michael on The Muppets – The Muppet Show Album

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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 joke choices are spot-on, especially the kind you need to see for full effect.  It really holds up as it’s own piece of comedy work outside of The Muppet Show itself, and was a lot of fun to talk about.

Host: Jason Klamm
Producer: Mike Worden
This Week’s Guest: Justin Michael

Before You Were Funny
Batman: The Animated Podcast
Buy “The Muppet Show” Album

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 under the provisions of fair use for the sake of commentary, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Please subscribe to us on iTunes, follow us on Twitter and like us at the Facebooks.

Episode 143 – Eban Schletter on Spike Jones – Thank You Music Lovers

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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 introduced him to Spike Jones at the age of 21, and how that may or may not have changed his career trajectory.

Host: Jason Klamm
Producer: Mike Worden
This Week’s Guest: Eban Schletter

EbanSchletter.com
Buy “Thank You Music Lovers”

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 under the provisions of fair use for the sake of commentary, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Please subscribe to us on iTunes, follow us on Twitter and like us at the Facebooks.

Episode 142 – Janet Varney on Albert Brooks – Comedy Minus One

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Janet Varney stops by her own home to delve into Albert Brooks’ classic “Comedy Minus One” for our second go-round with this album.  This time, we get a picture of an entirely new experience – namely, someone who grew up without the script to the act-along segment!  This made for an excessively surreal experience with this already experimental album.

Host: Jason Klamm
Producer: Mike Worden
This Week’s Guest: Janet Varney

JanetVarney.com
SF Sketch Fest
Buy “Comedy Minus One”

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 under the provisions of fair use for the sake of commentary, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Please subscribe to us on iTunes, follow us on Twitter and like us at the Facebooks.

Episode 141 – James Bladon and Jeremy Guskin on Monty Python – The Holy Grail Soundtrack

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This week I’m joined by the amazingly talented James Bladon (the music for Superego and their alter-egos The Journeymen and the music editor for countless TV shows) and my great friend and talented person in his own right Jeremy Guskin to discuss (deep breath) “The Album Of The Soundtrack Of The Trailer Of The Film Of Monty Python And The Holy Grail.”  It would’ve been worth talking about it even if it was 50 minutes of movie clips, but the fact that this is a great album on its own is actually quite a spectacular feat.  They took the time to make this album seem like it was a tossed-off (bad choice of words, I know), last-minute money-grab, when in fact it’s filled with solid sketches.

Host: Jason Klamm
Producer: Mike Worden
This Week’s Guest: James Bladon and Jeremy Guskin

Buy the “Holy Grail” Soundtrack
James on IMDB
Buy “Mount Us More” by The Journeymen

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 under the provisions of fair use for the sake of commentary, and are intended to sell more albums, not to endorse Vinyl Piracy.  Please subscribe to us on iTunes, follow us on Twitter and like us at the Facebooks.