Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
I always wanted an older sybling as a kid. That wss the best way to learn about cool music, or so it seemed to me. My parents had a decent-sized record collection but my father did not like Rock n Roll. He was always too grown for that. My mom did, however, she didn't buy many albums, so the hardest-rockin records we owned were Simon and Garfunkel, Judy Collins and A Hard Day's Night (and the only reason we had that was because Dad was friends with one of the actors in the movie). Most of the vinyl in our house was comprised of original cast recordings--My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, The King and I, West Side Story, A Chorus Line. My twin sister became an avid fan of the Musical Theater, while I...did not.
There were a handful of comedy records however (Tom Leherer, Peter Sellers, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner), none more enticing than this one, Bill Cosby's third album, released in 1965. First of all, there is cover, with a young Cosby, the most amiable-looking of guys. Two, the title fascinated me. I mean, when you are seven-years old there aren't many deeper philosophical questions than the simple ones--"Yeah, why is there air anyway?" (One of the other Cosby records we had, I Started Out as a Child, struck me as being very deep too.)
Above all, there was Cosby's material, instantly accessible and appealing. The man simply sounded funny. He made my father laugh and that was a big deal. At a time when my father was often sullen, his moods increasingly dark due to too much drink, listening to him laugh was a thrill. It was exciting to see him happy, if only for a moment. My father laughed from the gut--it was an almost violent reaction. He laughed loudly and his face would turn red. I remember being both charged-up by the force of his laughter and also frightened. Mostly, I recall sharing something with him. Being connected by laughter. If he thought Cosby was funny, it was okay for me to laugh as well. To this day, when I listen to this record, I can tell you where my dad laughed.
Here is one routine from the album. Enjoy.
Now, as a parent myself, I enjoy "The Cosby Show" in a whole different way. I guess I ought to check out Cosby's early stuff too. Thanks, Alex.
My favorite part is when he talks about dentists, which is on YouTube:
http://tinyurl.com/2cwtj7
When searching I also found his Noah's Ark routine (from "A Very Funny Fellow" wikipedia tells me). I totally forgot about this skit! One of the nuns who taught me in elementary school played this for my class; the principal (the head nun) later gave her a bit of hell for it, and told her that "the classroom is no place for modern comedy." Ah, Catholic elementary school . . . good times!
http://tinyurl.com/2c7acj
Being a child of the 50's Kleins bits resonate with some of my childhood experience. Only I didn't grow up in the City!
9 I always like his version of Stevie Wonder's "Uptight"
Oh man, the Woody double lp (subject for another installment of ditc) was a bible for me growing up, some of the Wood Man's best stuff.
I'm no moral crusader on this - I liked Carlin too and I swear like a sailor. But I think it's cool that Bill can be so funny without profanity. Skills, man.
1.) Wonderfulness (must have listened to 'Chicken Heart' 200 times in a year's time)
2.) Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right! (Loved the setup on 'Superman' and 'Pep Talk')
3.) I Started out as a Child (check out 'Ralph Jameson' - very unconventional Cosby track)
4.) Why is There Air? (Never knew what Midol was at the time, but 'The Toothache' was still hysterical)
5.) Revenge (Junior Baaaahhhhhrrnnness....you gunky!)
6.) To Russell... (the title track could have been my brother and I growing up)
7.) Himself (everyone knows this one, and maybe it doesn't rank higher for me because I'd seen the HBO special so many times I got burned out on it)
8.) My Father Confused Me... (actually has the 'Dentist' and 'Dudes on Dope' routines that were made more famous by the 'Himself' special.
9.) 200mph (another long title track, classic Cosby build-up)
10.) It's True! It's True! (great track - 'Mr. Ike' - about life in the early days of television)
I have about 4 or 5 more (some had to be downloaded for lack of availability), but a lot of it is retreads/reworkings of the older stuff. "Oh Baby" was really the last true comedy album (1991), nothing really memorable save for the skiing routine.
genius! Thanks for the post.
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