Verve Comedy Records Discography?

[JSngry]

Seems like there should be...some pretty impressive output over the years...

[GA Russell]

I can think of Shelly Berman. Mort Sahl? Was The First Family on Verve? Who else?

[JSngry]

Phyllis Diller, Jonathan Winters, Jackie Mason...

[Stereojack]

Was The First Family on Verve?

The original one was on Cadence.

[Mark Stryker]

Here's a list of Verve's Spoken Word, International Series, which includes their original comedy releases. http://www.jazzdisco.org/verve-records/catalog-spoken-word-international-series/album-index/

For what it's worth, the most comprehensive Comedy discography I've seen is called "Laughter on Record: A Comedy Discography" by Warren Debenham, published by the Scarecrow Press in 1988. http://www.amazon.com/Laughter-Record-Discography-Warren-Debenham/dp/0810820943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274614800&sr=1-1

It's quite remarkable. 4,367 listings -- from A&P Players' "I Love Jimmy Carter, Jimy Carter" (A&P AP-1001) to Ziegfeld's "Ziegfeld Girl." (C.I.F. 3006;two comedy cuts). It's also indexed by subject, which is interesting. Sample topics under O:

Occupations

- blue-coller workers

- business

- firemen

Off-Key Singing

Old Age

- old men

- old women

- retirement homes

- retirement party

- romance

Opera

- Carmen

Outer Space (See also astronauts; Star Trek)

The book doesn't include CDs and it's not annotated, but if you're interested in knowing what's out there, it has it all.

Edited May 23, 2010 by Mark Stryker