comedy Archive
29 Apr 2021
Album Reviews: ‘Richard Pryor’ and ‘Craps (After Hours)’
Comedy albums are unique in the album world. Unlike music, for most listeners, they’re a one-and-done affair. You may well have bought Robin Williams’ Reality: What a Concept when it was released in 1979, but if you’re like me, you listened, enjoyed, and then moved on, rarely taking it off the shelf for another spin.
02 Nov 2020
Album Review: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (soundtrack)
Even though today I’m (cough, cough) middle-aged, when The Rocky Horror Picture Show first came out, I was too young to appreciate it. In fact, as an 11-year-old, I was too young to have appreciated it, even if my parents had allowed me exposure to the film (and they would not have done). But its
29 Jun 2020
Boxed Set Review: Mojo Nixon — The Mojo Manifesto
Years ago while watching some or other “madcap” comedy film, I came to a realization: drama is comparatively easy, but comedy is difficult. It’s a fairly straightforward affair to tug at a viewer’s heartstrings; it’s quite another matter entirely to make them laugh. The same is true in music; writing a weepy ballad –not to
14 Feb 2020
Bartender-Author Sandlin Gaither on Tequila, Dog Hair and Chainsaw Fights
Note: This story first appeared in Mountain Xpress ahead of the live performance referenced herein. Sandlin Gaither has been listening to you and your friends. From his position behind the bar at popular local music venues in Asheville, N.C., he’s been witness to some memorable conversations. Without causing a delay in the serving of beer,
26 Jan 2020
A Guilty-pleasure Look Back at The Jerky Boys
Americans of a certain age will remember the phenomenon of the prank phone call. In the pre-cell phone era, everyone had either a landline or no phone at all, and unless one paid extra to the phone company (and in those days there was only one phone company), your number was published in a thick
25 Oct 2019
Rhapsodizing with Rick Wakeman
Legendary keyboardist Rick Wakeman is perhaps best known for his work with Yes, a group he has joined and quit at least five times since the early ’90s. But the classically-trained musician also has a staggeringly large catalog of solo albums. Beginning with his debut release (1973’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII) and continuing
19 Oct 2019
Asheville Improv Comedy Fest: Planning to Improvise
Improvisation is performance without a net: there’s no script and no direction. The actors onstage succeed or fail on the strength of their quick wit and ability to work together. And when improvisation works, it showcases creativity in its rawest, most spontaneous form. With a goal of getting Asheville on the map as a destination
02 Sep 2019
Welcome to Cadillac Baby’s Show Lounge: The Bea & Baby Boxed Set
From the perspective of crate-diggers – amateur and professional music archivists alike – one of the great benefits of the digital age has been the rescuing of obscure recordings. Against the backdrop of the recently revealed 2008 Universal fire in which countless audio masters were lost, it’s some comfort to discover that the catalog of
27 Aug 2019
Televisionary: Josh Mills discusses TV Comedy Pioneer Ernie Kovacs (Part Two)
Continued from Part One … My first exposure to Kovacs was the PBS retrospective series, which I guess was in the late ’70s. Yeah. This record came out in ’76. It was nominated for a Grammy in ‘77 for Comedy Album of the Year. And then, the same year, ‘77, PBS showed The Best of
26 Aug 2019
Televisionary: Josh Mills discusses TV Comedy Pioneer Ernie Kovacs (Part One)
There was no precedent for the comedy of Ernie Kovacs. A pioneering figure in the early days of television, Kovacs brought a bizarre kind of comedy – mostly verbal, but with a visual component as well – to the black-and-white screens of the 1950s. A half century-plus later, his material is still bizarre. Recently, Omnivore