Comedy Genre Comes to iTunes

iTunes has just added a Comedy genre page, I imagine partially in response to Comedy Central stand-up doing so well in the TV Shows area (though I’d love to think my posts about it recently and in the past had something to do with it.)

The fascinating thing about the page is how terribly undiverse sales can be in comic taste. “Weird Al” Yankovic eats up half of the top 10 songs area. The other three of the top ten are of Dane Cook, who also rules the albums area, including “Harmful if Swallowed” taking two slots on the top ten. (I can’t discern a difference between the two listings. So I imagine, if their sales are combined, they probably sell even more than Dane Cook’s “Retaliation.) You’re even hard pressed to find a cut from Chris Rock‘s recent Grammy winning “Never Scared” until number 20 on the top song list. I imagine this might change now that there’s a comedy genre page with pushes a broader range of releases.

Even with the occassionally undiverse top offerings and sometimes frustrating Chucklehut-style imagery (can’t humor ever be illustrated by something other than chickens?), it’s great to see the rebirth of the comedy record embraced by digital distribution.

Check out: iTunes Essential Comedy Mix