Comedy
145 articles
George Martin: The A&R Manager Behind The Comedy Successes Forecasts...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 March 1962
...Cribbins, Drake, Sellers, Milligan, Bentine Have Bright Disc Futures ...
Lonnie Donegan: What Lonnie Needs Now
Report by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 10 March 1962
— A FOLLOW-UP TO 'DUSTMAN' ...
Freddie Starr & the Midnighters: Joe Meek and Merseybeat
Interview by Bill Harry, Mersey Beat, 23 May 1963
Meek Records Midnighters First Disc ...
The Beatles, Ken Dodd: Ken Dodd Champions The Beat Groups
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 September 1965
"YES!" CACKLED Ken Dodd as he stood there in his dressing room at the London Palladium, wearing big boots, baggy trousers, a yellow daisy and ...
Ken Dodd: It's Tattifalarious! Ken Dodd's The New 'In' Name!
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 11 September 1965
The Diddy People march on the Pop 50 ...
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 27 November 1965
ON SEA? WELL, THAT'S HOW IT SEEMS TO LEAPY LEE WHO RECKONS HE CAN TELL IT WITH HIS EYES CLOSED ...
The Beatles: Who is the Funniest Beatle?
Comment by Dawn James, Rave, January 1966
JOHN, GEORGE, Paul and Ringo stood squashed together in an hotel corridor, besieged by people young and old. One of the younger ones screamed "aahh!," ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Musical Mayhem: Chris Welch on the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Profile and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 16 April 1966
"WE'RE NOT doing a Temperance Seven — we're murdering the Temperance Seven!" insisted a defiant member of Britain's most incredible new rhythm ensemble — the ...
Spanky & Our Gang: Spanky and Our Gang Building Clubhouse at Top of Pops Tree
Profile by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 6 May 1967
FROM THE overcrowded forest of pop vocal groups, a gifted new quartet seems clearly about to rise into a Sequoialike prominence. ...
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 1967
Pat Paulsen Sparkles at Troubadour Outing ...
The Smothers Brothers: Forcing The Establishment To Bend
Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 17 June 1967
WHILE THE love-ins, be-ins, chiquita stickers and protest marchers give the Establishment an inkling of what the younger generation thinks, feels and hopes to change, ...
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 22 August 1967
Bill Cosby Begins Career as Singer ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Cream: Cream, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Nick Jones, Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 November 1967
IT WAS A night of great music and brilliant comedy, approaching genius in both departments, when the Cream and Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band starred ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: The Bonzo's Humanoid Machines
Profile and Interview by Bill Harry, Record Mirror, 11 November 1967
THE HUGE starship from Alpha Centuri entered the Solar System and Computer XII directed it to the third planet from the sun. The expedition scanned ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Dedicated Idiocy
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 9 December 1967
THE BONZOS' POLICY PAYS OFF ...
The Scaffold: Scaffold: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 17 February 1968
AN HILARIOUSLY comedic and subtly intimate evening sparsed with a few soft-core implications was to be had at the Queen Elizabeth Hall during the appearance ...
The Scaffold: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 February 1968
THANK U SCAFFOLD ...
Report by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 22 June 1968
the dear sweet ageless hippy... ...
Live Review by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 9 November 1968
ONCE UPON a time in the land of the Charity, a concert was given in aid of all the boys' clubs all over the country. ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 November 1968
TINY'S BIG HIT ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Urban Spacemen DO Exist! The Mad, Mad Mad World Of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 30 November 1968
CAROLINE BOUCHER INSIDE A DOO DAH DEN! ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse (Liberty)
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 21 December 1968
Bonzo's latest piece of art ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Viv Stanshall, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, at the Pop Think-In
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 21 December 1968
FISH: I'm trying to become a pisceculturist. I'm less interested in fish than I am in turtles really. I like evil fish of archaelogical interest ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse (Liberty)
Review by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 4 January 1969
ONLY JUST received this one, so can't claim much familiarity, but I like it well enough already to want to include it anyway. ...
Vivian Stanshall: Face to face with Viv Stanshall: the day the cows came into the kitchen
Interview by uncredited writer, Jackie, 22 February 1969
DID YOU have a happy childhood? ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Loves and hates of Vivian Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band
Interview by uncredited writer, Jackie, 22 February 1969
I LOVE ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 31 March 1969
Opening Night Crowd Cheers Watts Band ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 April 1969
Wild Choruses 'Lift' a Rock Group ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog Band: Tadpoles (Liberty)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 29 August 1969
LIBERTY RECORDS have gone to an almost unusual amount of trouble to supply record reviewers, deejays and other assorted irks with a copious, track-by-thrusting-track run ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Grateful Dead: The Bonzo Dog Band, the Grateful Dead: Boston Tea Party, Boston
Live Review by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, 14 November 1969
Have You Seen My Bonzo Dog Doo Dah? ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Bonzo Dog Runs, Fucks Itself
Report and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Rolling Stone, 29 November 1969
NEW YORK — The Bonzo Dog Band, bitter over what they felt was shoddy treatment by their American record company, cut their second U.S. tour ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Keynsham (Liberty)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 20 December 1969
BRAVO BONZOS! Never a band to take the easy course or rest on past successes, they continue to advance their unique musical properties with a ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog Band: 'We Were Unsexual, Unattractive And Musically Unexciting'
Interview by Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 10 January 1970
VIV STANSHALL TALKS TO KEITH ALTHAM ABOUT THE BONZO BREAK-UP ...
Guide by Loyd Grossman, Fusion, 20 February 1970
The Beatles – do you still want to know what they're up to? Even if, sub specie aeternitatis, it's, like, nothing? Well, go ahead, indulge ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band
Retrospective by John Mendelsohn, Fusion, 2 October 1970
IT GIVES ME limitless pleasure to inform you that, unless you're a member of a decidedly tiny minority of rock and roll women and men, ...
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Monty Python's Flying Circus (BBC Records)
Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 19 December 1970
OF ALL THE comic programmes to arrive on the magic box, Monty Python's Flying Circus seems to be the one that most people talk about afterwards. ...
Keith Moon, Vivian Stanshall: Viv Stanshall: If it's not the S.S. it's bleedin' campers...
Interview by Rob Partridge, Record Mirror, 2 January 1971
THE ABSURD strikes back. This time it's the Fuhrer and his faithful SS attendant dancing in one of London's Beer Kellers. Before that, it was ...
Ray Stevens: 'Bridget The Midget' Man Says Religious Lyrics Will Be Next Big Thing
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
People are getting sick to death of the 'put-the-world-to-rights songs' ...
Martin Mull: Martin Mull (Capricorn)
Review by Bob Fisher, Cream, June 1972
SINGER/SONGWRITERS are thirteen to the dozen this year. Of the newcomers of the last eighteen months only a couple have managed completely successful albums, like ...
Cheech & Chong, Mahavishnu Orchestra: Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 20 June 1972
Two Hours of Non-Stop Music By Mahavishnu ...
Screaming Lord Sutch: Sutch is Life...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc, 5 August 1972
SCREAMING Lord "Jack the Ripper" Sutch — as he now likes to be known — is currently wearing his grudge on his chest. He is ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 28 October 1972
Bowie Band Fails To Arouse Crowd ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: The Funny Side of Dr Hook
Profile and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
DR. HOOK were unexpectedly thrust to popularity via their international hit 'Sylvia's Mother' last summer. The strange thing is, people were buying the song and ...
Martin Mull: The Wonderful, Wacky World of Martin Mull
Interview by Arthur Levy, Zoo World, August 1973
And His Fabulous Furniture in Your Living Room!!! ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show: Belly Up (Columbia)
Review by Jim Esposito, Zoo World, 6 December 1973
WILL SUCCESS spoil Dr. Hook? Or will Dr. Hook spoil success? Such is the saga of the madcap Medicine Show a study in reverse ...
Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 2 March 1974
Silly words from Terry Jones to Rosalind Russell ...
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Monty Python: Hi There, Tiger!
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
THE DUNBLANE HYDRO bestrides a cemented hillock just five miles across freeway and dale. ...
Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1974
WHEN WE LAST left our heroes Flo and Eddie (PRM September '73), they were poised on the brink of substantial obscurity. ...
Jim Stafford: The Gators Growl in Hog Town
Profile and Interview by Jim Esposito, Page One, December 1974
JIM STAFFORD stepped up to the microphone on the 15-yard line of the University of Florida's football field, pinpointed at the vortex of four spotlights ...
Biff Rose: The Half Live Adventures Of Biff Rose
Retrospective by Jerry Gilbert, ZigZag, January 1975
"My use of words is just some antics..." A chronoligical analysis of Biff Rose's albums ...
Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
The very serious business of trying to be funny: An assessment of ALBERTO Y LOST TRIOS PARANOIAS by MICK FARREN ...
Lenny Bruce: The Law, Language And Lenny Bruce (Phil Spector International)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
ABOUT EIGHTEEN MONTHS or so before Lenny Bruce died, he formed a loosely defined business relationship and a close friendship with Phil Sector. On the ...
Flo & Eddie: Illegal, Immoral & Fattening
Review by Richard Cromelin, Phonograph Record, September 1975
IN THE SPIRIT of fair play which should be utmost in our minds this Bicentennial year, PRM sent invitations to a wide spectrum of rock ...
Disco-Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes, Susan Cadogan: Leicester
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
APART FROM the flash of inspiration provided by the Birmingham band Muscles, the evening ranked as one of the most musically boring I have ever ...
Flo & Eddie: Illegal, Immoral and Fattening
Review by Ben Edmonds, Rolling Stone, 23 October 1975
INSIDIOUS. Here we have the mainspring of the Turtles, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, with an album that contains two songs (Rebecca and Let Me ...
Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias: Nashville Rooms, London
Live Review by Ed Jones, Melody Maker, 27 December 1975
"I LEARNED this one off this old Dutch geezer wot was deaf, dumb, blind and crippled, called Truck Van Rental. It's called 'I Been Down ...
Stackridge: Presenting Mutter Slater
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 20 March 1976
Well this is really a feature on Stackridge but even they admit that Mutter's became their front man. Still they're all getting behind a new ...
Derek & Clive: The Worst Job I Ever 'Ad
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
Derek and Clive and the rich panorama of sub-human life ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 25 September 1976
Rollers, Quo, Wakeman just three targets for ace satirists Supercharge ...
Fabulous Poodles: UMIST, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
PURE, UNDISGUISED entertainment from a crackerjack fun quartet of sly, sleazy, 'appy crups who played like the Beatles never happened — a major reason why ...
Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias: Not Only The Whole Story Of Rock But A Killer Whale Too…
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 22 January 1977
"DA HIPPY Church" is what my Dutch cab driver calls it. As regular readers will know, the Paradiso is a converted church in the centre ...
Fabulous Poodles, UK: UK, Fabulous Poodles: the Odeon, Edinburgh
Live Review by Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, 13 May 1978
"NOT AS bad as expected" seemed to be the general consensus of opinion on the yet to be acknowledged supergroup, UK. This sentiment summed up ...
Vivian Stanshall: The Urban Submarine Man
Interview by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 7 October 1978
I WAS JUST about to plunge fully clothed into the swimming pool, notebook and pencil in hand, when it crossed my mind that it might ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall: Afloat!
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Yes, it's the tang of the salt spray in a Force 9 from Finisterre with regard to this one, hipmates; A rollicking tale which tells how Silver's parrot changed his ...
Wild Man Fischer: Look Out, Las Vegas
Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, Chic, December 1978
"I'LL BET YOU that if I played Las Vegas, Don Rickles, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Hackett, everybody in that place would look up to me and ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall (1979)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1979
The world-class eccentric talks about the old days with the Bonzo Dog Band; demonstrates some of his favourite instruments; explains his love of Dada; recounts some adventures with Keith Moon; expresses his ambivalence towards Monty Python's Flying Circus and chats about Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.
File format: mp3; file size: 53.8mb, interview length: 58' 46" sound quality: ***
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall (1979) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages transcripts, January 1979
This is a transcript of Ira's audio interview with Vivian. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band: Boogie 'Til You Puke
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 8 September 1979
TENDER MOMENTS IN THE COMPANY OF ROOT BOY SLIM AND THE SEX CHANGE BAND. By GIOVANNI DADOMO (AGAIN) ...
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 1980
DESTRUCTION OF THE BLUES ...
Splodgenessabounds: The Max Factor
Interview by Deanne Pearson, Smash Hits, 24 July 1980
Deanne Pearson gives a compact account of Splodgenessabounds ...
Splodgenessabounds: Woolwich Tramshed, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 31 January 1981
The Splodge is dead, long live the Splodge ...
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, April 1981
I HATE COMEDY albums and I hate the kind of people who like them. I hate it when they play their latest comedy acquisition for ...
The Firesign Theatre's Nostalgia for the Future
Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 2 December 1983
LOS ANGELES — Joey Yolk, wearing his T-shirt from the 1997 Rolling Stones Farewell Tour, has just struck out on foot for the big city, ...
Spinal Tap: the Comics Behind the Funniest Rock Movie Ever
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 24 May 1984
Celebrating seventeen years of heavy metal's most painful career ...
Weird Al Yankovic: In 3-D (Rock ‘n' Roll)
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, August 1984
JUST IN CASE anyone should ever ask you, here are seven good reasons why this album should be a part of every collection: ...
Spinal Tap: This Is Spinal Tap (15)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, 30 August 1984
Remember The Bad News Tour? How The Comic Strip tore into the ludicrous excesses of heavy metal groups? ...
Interview by Karen Schlosberg, Creem, September 1984
WHAT'S A nice girl like Tracey Ullman doing in the music business? First we have to clear up several pieces of information that are rather ...
Spinal Tap: This Is Spinal Tap
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
Director: Rob Reiner; Starring: Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer ...
Spinal Tap: The Spinal Solution
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
Cynthia Rose shares a wake-up cuppa with Derek Smalls, Nigel Tufnel and David St Hubbins, the unlikely rockers who made it from New York back ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Roger Ruskin Spear (1985)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 1 March 1985
The ex-Bonzo Dog man talks about his current activities, and brings us up-to-date with the activities of his fellow Bonzos.
File format: mp3; file size: 18mb, interview length: 19' 42" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Half Man Half Biscuit: System Club, Liverpool
Live Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
WARNING: PACEMAKERS TO BE SHOWN ...
Report and Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
The Vindaloo roadshow blitzes Britain with firm-hold hairspray, firm-hold Fuzzbox parents, lobbed bunnies and drape jackets. Entertaining FUZZBOX, THE NIGHTINGALES and TED CHIPPINGTON are the ...
The Fat Boys: Getting just desserts
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 15 August 1987
THE MAITRE D' at Samplings on M Street hovers over a table that looks like it's just had a serious accident. ...
Frank Sidebottom: Contact Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 9 January 1988
PAUL MCCARTNEY, the famous ex-Beatle and big mate of top bubble head comedian Frank Sidebottom, once said, "The only thing that I ever got from ...
Frank Sidebottom: 5/9/88! (In Tape Double LP/Cassette only)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988
THE VERY existence of 5/9/88! is a triumph of art over antagonism. Like The Smiths at Strangeways… and The Beatles during Let It Be, Sidebottom's ...
Frank Sidebottom: Would You Marry This Man?
Interview by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 12 November 1988
Frank Sidebottom reckons he's the world's most eligible bachelor. Cathi Unsworth succumbs to his charms and checks out his prolific vinyl output. ...
Rudy Ray Moore, Clarence Reid (aka Blowfly): Blowfly, Rudy Ray Moore: Club Lingerie, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 12 December 1988
Blowfly Captures Crowd ...
Dame Edna Everage: "I'm A Sort Of Fairy Godmother"
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, 14 December 1988
Absolutely! For you are the "legendary" "housewife-superstar" Dame Edna Everage, mentor of the rich and famous, guru of "style" and big pal of Sir Clifford ...
Frank Sidebottom: 13:9:88 (In Tape)
Review by Bob Stanley, Melody Maker, 13 May 1989
SO WHAT do you reckon will be the first significant movement in Pop Music in the Nineties? Dreampop? Crotchquake? Stone Rose Psychedelia? Nah. The one ...
The Simpsons: The Simpsons Sing The Blues (Geffen)
Review by John Harris, Sounds, 12 January 1991
SO YOU thought Bart Simpson was a pubescent anarchist who spat in the face of the American way and sowed chaos wherever he went? ...
New Kids On The Block: A Secret History of New Kids On The Block
Special Feature by Chuck Eddy, Throat Culture, 1992
"Rap is a toilet, not a design for a toilet, or a better toilet...It is the first toilet. It is a toilet for sitting on, ...
Spinal Tap: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 18 July 1992
THE VERTEBRATE ROCK'N'ROLL SWINDLE ...
Interview by Phil McMullen, Ptolemaic Terrascope, November 1992
SOME DAYS are made in heaven, some days are made in hell and some inhabit a nowhere-land somewhere in-between. ...
Butthole Surfers: Independent Worm Saloon (Capitol)
Review by Keith Cameron, Vox, April 1993
WITH THEIR last album, 1991's half-hearted Pioughd, the Butthole Surfers appeared to be relying on a well-cultivated knack for elaborate in-jokes, almost to the exclusion ...
John Shuttleworth: Buzz Club, Manchester
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 28 April 1993
ONE-TIME PUNK parodist in the guise of Jilted John, actor Graham Fellows has emerged in a new incarnation – a singer-songwriter of dubious pedigree by ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall 1943-1995
Obituary by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 20 April 1995
VIVIAN STANSHALL died in a fire at his apartment in London on March 5. At 51 he was the Renaissance man of English absurdity. A ...
The Lightning Seeds: Three Lions '98: They Shoot, They Roar!
Report and Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 16 May 1998
Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land! Oh yes, we're gonna win the World Cup. Why? Because FRANK SKINNER, DAVID BADDIEL & IAN BROUDIE have updated Three Lions' — ...
Barenaked Ladies: Northern Exposure
Interview by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 10 December 1998
The improbable and partially nude true story of how five funny guys from Toronto called Barenaked Ladies became the biggest new rock band in America ...
The Firesign Theatre: Sixties Laugh-In: The Firesign Theatre
Retrospective by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 21 January 1999
"THEY'VE COME TO steal my dreams," whimpers a female voice. A series of male voices drifts past: "Get up, lady." "It's the trade of the ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog Band: Neil Innes
Interview by Richie Unterberger, Perfect Sound Forever, 26 June 1999
IF THERE was ever an equivalent to Spike Jones in rock music, the Bonzo Dog Band were it. ...
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 August 1999
Madonna loves their parodies; so do Elton, Mick and Boy George. Dave Simpson meets Aussie sensation Supergirl ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, November 2000
'Is Morris operating from a high plane of disgust or from some pit of personal rage?' Compilation of best bits from the dark ambient comedy ...
Retrospective by Everett True, Tangents, 2001
TOM LEHRER WAS the man who first taught me that Americans could be both smart and satirical. He was also indirectly responsible for one of ...
Richard Pryor: ...And It's Deep Too! – The Complete Warner Bros Recordings (1968-1992)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, January 2001
A 9-CD box showcase for the greatest stand-up comic who ever lived... and it's funny, too! ...
Neil Innes: Innes's Humor Doesn't Compromise His Rock
Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 9 October 2001
CAMBRIDGE – Neil Innes, a bald man sporting a gray, Beatles-like wig, took the stage at the House of Blues Sunday night. The members of ...
Ali G: The joke's on you: Ali G's 'Me Julie'
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 March 2002
This week Ali G releases his first single, 'Me Julie'. Caroline Sullivan wishes he wouldn't. ...
Live Review by Ian Winwood, Kerrang!, 20 July 2002
OUTSIDE THE Astoria, on the Charing Cross Road, "Filthy Phil The Preacher" is holding a Bible and a broken megaphone. ...
Tenacious D: D-linquent, d-generate and d-praved!
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 November 2002
Leaders of the satanic rock revolution, cult spunk guzzlers Tenacious D have already lured Dave Grohl, Weezer and Tool into their sleaze-sodden underworld where orgies ...
Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited', 2004
THE SCENE: MIAMI in 1951. A 25-year-old strip show emcee initiates his first public demonstration of what would, decades later, be called performance art. It ...
Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004
IN THE LATE 1960s, millions of us walked around with alternate visions of reality dancing in our heads. No, it wasn't just drugs and the ...
Various Artists: A Mighty Wind
Review by Ken Hunt, Record Collector, March 2004
THE QUANTITY OF hot air expended in the wake of A Mighty Wind, Christopher Guest's spoof of the US folk scare and its fall-out, has ...
Vivian Stanshall's Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead
Review by Rob Chapman, Uncut, June 2004
GENUINE ECCENTRICS don't fill out an application form to join the Eccentrics Club and then sit in wood-panelled drawing rooms trading well-honed anecdotes with fellow ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Neil Innes: Neil Innes: Taking Off/The Innes Book Of Records
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, March 2005
A TV SHOW like The Innes Book Of Records would struggle for a terrestrial timeslot these days, but back in the late '70s former Bonzo ...
Goldie Lookin' Chain: Goldie Lookin Chain
Interview by Simon Price, The Independent, 3 April 2005
One minute they were an unknown posse from Gwent, the next they were music industry darlings. Are Goldie Lookin Chain — the "Welsh Wu-Tang Clan" ...
John Cage, Keith Rowe: Seriously funny
Comment by David Stubbs, The Wire, June 2005
David Stubbs on discovering that humour and music do mix ...
Rutles.The: The Rutles: Rock Café 2000, Stourbridge
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 18 June 2005
A COMEDY sketch that grew into an cult, the Rutles may be a joke that delivered its punchline almost three decades ago, but 200 or ...
Goldie Lookin' Chain: Safe As Fuck (Atlantic)
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, 19 September 2005
THE PROBLEM WITH jokes is that they're only really funny the first time round. Nowhere is this truer than in music. ...
The Darkness: The gathering Darkness
Interview by Simon Price, The Independent, 13 November 2005
What a year it's been for Lowestoft's campest band of brothers. They've lost a bass player, found a new one (it took, ooh, seconds) and ...
Jake Thackray: Jake In A Box/Live Performance
Review by Daryl Easlea, bbc.co.uk, 2006
AFTER HIS LATE '60s and early '70s heyday, when he could be found on national telly and Royal Variety Shows with his hilarious vignettes of ...
Tenacious D: MEN Arena, Manchester
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 15 December 2006
NO ORDINARY BAND could have made their Manchester debut by packing the city's largest rock venue. But Tenacious D pulled off this impressive feat, thanks ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: Pour L'Amour Des Chiens
Review by Johnny Black, MOJO, January 2008
The '60s' best-loved musical satirists return; guests stand in for Viv Stanshall. ...
Overview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 25 May 2008
It's business time for pop comedy again – but why now? ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: CSI: Ambleside
Review by John McCready, The Word, June 2008
Forget the TV-obsessed japery of their John Peel years. Half Man Half Biscuit are now the most perceptive satirists in British music. ...
The Mighty Boosh: One mighty impressive line-up
Preview by John Lewis, Metro, 24 June 2008
The Mighty Boosh get their very own festival ...
Cheech & Chong: Lost in the ozone again
Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 17 September 2008
CHEECH MARIN AND Tommy Chong require little introduction. The countercultural comedy heroes turned movie superstars took several decades off to pursue solo careers (and Chong ...
The Barron Knights: Duke D'Mond, 1943-2009
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 28 April 2009
Singer whose group's top 10 hits brought parody to 1960s pop ...
Comment by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 29 April 2009
WOW. FOR ONLY being "New Zealand's fourth most popular novelty folk duo," singer/guitarists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement must be pretty ambitious to book Jones ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Frank Zappa: ROCK CLIMBING: Jon Stewart Asks, 'Does Humour Belong In Music?'
Column by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, July 2009
HIGH SUMMER, the silly season, is the time to examine humour in music. ...
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 16 May 2010
Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie's anti-folk television duo are superstars of comic pastiche, now the Conchords show they're also top flight on stage. ...
Frank Sidebottom: Chris Sievey 1955-2010
Obituary by Rob Hughes, The Guardian, 22 June 2010
Musician, entertainer and alter ego of the cult comedy creation Frank Sidebottom. ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 November 2010
IF DIE Antwoord are a joke, they're a painfully acute one. This over-the-top South African rap-rave trio, comprising rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser and a ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog Band: A Dog's Life
Review by David Quantick, The Word, March 2011
The ever-rising legacy of the Bonzo Dog Band — every shade of music and humour faithfully packaged in one 3CD box. ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: 90 Bisodol (Crimond)
Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, November 2011
Antacid, pierced glook and regional epithets — the enduring joy of a new album from Birkenhead's finest satirists. ...
Screaming Lord Sutch Is Alive And Well And Living At Number Ten...
Retrospective by Alan Clayson, unpublished, June 2012
...10, PARKFIELD ROAD, South Harrow, that is – where the mere mortal christened David Edward Sutch had tumbled out of bed just prior to the ...
NOFX: 30th Anniversary Box Set
Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, 2013
Satirical Californian punks display cockroach-like endurance. ...
Interview by John Lewis, Baku, May 2013
WE'RE AT THE O2 in London to see Craig David's first UK tour in four years, and there's a weird buzz of excitement. Just over ...
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Rock's Backpages, December 2013
I LISTENED to some of it in my youth, but spent most of my post-teenage years trying to avoid this crap: pandering, patronizing, mono-dimensional, unimaginative ...
The Faces, Michael Jackson, The Police, Slade: John Pidgeon, 1947-2016
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 21 July 2016
Rock writer turned broadcasting executive who did much to reinvigorate BBC radio comedy. ...
Essay by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 19 October 2016
From the Residents' freakish Beatles sendups, to Spinal Tap's meta-metal escapades, to the gastronomic goofs of "Weird Al", a chronicle of those who have turned ...
Flight of the Conchords: O2 Arena, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, The Evening Standard, 21 June 2018
BRET MCKENZIE and Jemaine Clement were supposed to play their first London tour dates in seven years in March but then Bret rather inconsiderately tumbled and ...
Vivian Stanshall: Beyond The Bonzo Dog Band
Memoir by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 26 May 2021
Vivian Stanshall was the strikingly eccentric ringleader of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, often described as the UK's version of the Mothers of Invention. ...
Slept on Soul: Paul Mooney's Race
Column by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 28 May 2021
AS A CHILD of the 1970s, I grew-up as a fan of racy Black comedy albums. My "summer mother" Aunt Ricky had a stash of ...
Charlie Dore: The songwriter to the stars
Interview by Paul Sexton, The Independent, 24 June 2021
Multi-talented Charlie Dore talks to Paul Sexton about her new album, being covered by Tina Turner, Celine Dion and George Harrison, and the electrifying aura ...
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 20 August 2022
He has written duets for man and Muppet, parodied Morrissey in The Simpsons, and become Hollywood's go-to for bringing "heart" to the movies. Now he's ...
Mojo Nixon: You Can't Kill Me: Mojo Nixon, Free, Drunk & Horny and Ready to Rumble
Memoir by Holly Gleason, Rock's Backpages, February 2024
MOJO NIXON was crazy. Walking on a razor edge, laughing into the wind like some kind of kamikaze "Hey, y'all! watch this!" good ole boy ...
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