Could This Be A Generation Gap?

Coyle & Sharpe “Mutant Zebra-Eel In Paint Store” – Coyle & Sharpe were a duo of man-on-the-street pranksters from the Bay Area in the 1960s who improvised deadpan put-ons with unsuspecting strangers and recorded the exchanges with hidden microphones. This selection is taken from their first album, The Absurd Imposters. It was sort of difficult to figure out which bit from the record to post here, but I ended up choosing this one because it is just so over the top in its ridiculousness. If you like this bit, I suggest that you buy a copy of the record, which is only available as a limited-edition cd-r rerelease on the Coyle & Sharpe website, which is run by the Sharpe family.

Neil Hamburger, Live In San Francisco 9/18/2000 – As opposed to his albums, this comedy set was recorded live with a real non-canned audience. It is sort of interesting to hear how Neil Hamburger goes down with an audience who seem to be mostly in on the joke, with at least one layer of irony removed, but with witless drunken shouting added. It’s not as funny, but it’s certainly worth listening to if you’re a fan. In this show, Neil is mixing in old classic routines from his albums with some material that would end up on his most recent album, Laugh Out Lord, including the worst Julia Roberts joke of all time.

The MSR Singers “I’m Just The Other Woman” (version 2) – This is the title track from one of MSR’s compilations of song-poems. If you’ve never heard of song-poems and don’t feel like following that link, I’ll explain: A few companies, one of them being MSR, used to advertise a deal in which a person could send in an original piece of poetry that session musicians would turn into a pop song. The results of these recordings are often ridiculous, but I think that this particular song is absolutely beautiful and poignant.