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Unreleased comedy sets by stand-up legends like Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Bob Saget and many more — all recorded at Los Angeles’ famed the Comedy Store venue — will feature in an upcoming Vinyl Me, Please Anthology collection.
50 Years of the Comedy Store, a limited edition 5-LP vinyl set that spans the club’s half-century legacy, also features never-before-released sets from Iliza Schlesinger, Whitney Cummings, Paul Rodriguez, Jimmie Walker, Sandra Bernhard, Howie Mandel, Louie Anderson, Arsenio Hall, Richard Pryor, and Pauly Shore.
The performances were recorded at each of the Comedy Store’s marquee anniversary shows, celebrating a decade of laughs on the Sunset Strip. In addition to the 5-LP’s worth of stand-up, the 50 Years of the Comedy Store also comes with access to an exclusive podcast series recorded at the Comedy Store podcast studio featuring comedian guests detailing the history of the stand-up institution.
“So much of stand-up comedy – particularly the comedy performed every night at the Comedy Store – is so ephemeral, happening in the moment by a performer who will never say the same thing the same way again, to an audience in attendance who will never be the same again either,” VMP’s Director of Music Andrew Winistorfer said in a statement.
“In the same way that live jazz albums capture fleeting moments, so do live comedy albums. So it was exciting for us to try to distill 50 years of nights at the Store into one box set, capturing a series of nights on the club’s landmark anniversaries. 50 Years of the Comedy Store preserves these nights forever, and serves as a jumping-off point for the next 50 years on Sunset, with a two-drink minimum.”
VMP Anthology: 50 Years of the Comedy Store, limited to 1,000 copies and pressed on 180g colored vinyl, is available to purchase now at VMP.
The Comedy Store collection follows VMP anthologiesdedicated to Stax Records, the women of Motown, Ghostly International, the Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, and more.
