iTuned Out
Filed Under Funny 2.0, Records, Stand-Up Comedy
While ordering Patton Oswalt’s album over iTunes, I noticed that a search for Genre:Comedy does not work on the store. Currently it just takes you to back to the main iTunes page. Don’t know if it’s always been this way or not, but it’s rather frustrating. The return of the comedy album has been pursued heavily by people like Uproar Comedy, Laugh.com and, most notably, Comedy Central Records.
The absence of a main comedy landing page on iTunes probably impedes online distribution of comedy records. With comedy such a spontaneous buy, the ability to have the “celestial jukebox” featuring a wide range of comedy may be exactly what the comedy album needs. Of course, iTunes has brought a lot of changes to the music industry itself, including returning emphasis on the single. Is there an equivalent to the single for comedy albums? Maybe having the first few tracks of Feelin’ Kinda Patton seeming isolated from the whole is a good thing in the new online distribution model?
I can remember back in the early 1980’s in NYC a standup named Rick London. Though he did great impressions, he, admittedly was a bit dismal at standup.
However, recently I discovered his
cartoon site and it is unbelievable.
It reminds me a bit of a combination of The Far Side, Gahan Wilson, and a number of other greats. http://www.londonstimes.us . There are thousands (he apparently creates the concepts, writes them and has a team that draws them. It is a must-see, I’d say.