Comedy History 101

Have you seen The Irishman? There’s a scene where Don Rickles (played by comedian Jim Norton) is performing at the Copacabana for mobster, Crazy Joe Gallo - on the night he was gunned down. The incident is pretty true. And Don Rickles, much like other comedians of that era, had a history of working at clubs owned by the mob.

We jumped into Don Rickles history with the mob - that eventually led him to a role in Scorsese’s Mob film: Casino

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The oldest recorded joke in the world - dates back to 2,300 BC. It’s attributed to the Sumerians, Back in those old-timey days - fart jokes were all the rage. Go figure.

In this episode, we dive into several of the world’s oldest jokes - to see what was making ancient people laugh.

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From the archives: The history of Moms Mabley, who was the first successful female standup comedian and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Moms bridged the gap between vaudeville and modern stand up comedy. She was also the first woman comic to play the Apollo theater and Carnegie Hall in 1962.

Moms influenced the style of comedy legends Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Whoopie Goldberg, and Eddie Murphy -who modeled the grandma character in Nutty Professor after her.

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Gallows humor is witticism in the face of – and in response to – a hopeless, tragic, or deathly situation. Gallows humor is typically made by or about the victim of such a situation. In this episode of CH!01 - we actually chart gallows humor - made by people in history right before they’re about to be executed.

Yes, gallows humor on the gallows.

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We continue our history of: Dolemite. Eddie Murphy has a new Netflix bio-pic on comedian Rudy Ray Moore - and the making of the movie Dolemite. The movie was made for $100,000 in 1974- and in this episode we cover everything that went wrong during production; including a drunk director, hiring a real-life junky, and basically filming without permits.

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“Dolemite is my name and f*cking up motherf*ckers is my game!” says Dolemite - the comedy creation of Rudy Ray Moore. 

There’s a new Netflix bio-pic coming out on Rudy Ray Moore called: Dolemite is My Name. It stars Eddie Murphy - and chronicles how Moore went DYI and produced the movie: Dolemite. In this episode we dive into the early days of Rudy Ray Moore, producing XXX Party Records - to the Dolemite origin story.

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Here Comes the Judge is a 1968 song by legendary comedian Pigmeat Markham. It become one of comedy’s first memes when Sammy David Jr. made it a catchphrase on the TV show: Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In.

The song, and Laugh In comedy sketch, became so huge - that 4 other versions of Here Come the Judge were released in the same year - all them making the charts. (The most famous by Shorty Long.) 

Here Comes the Judge - also inspired the Baskin-Robbins flavor: Here Comes the Fudge. 

Find out more about one of comedy’s first memes - long before there was the Internet. 

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This week, Saturday Night Live fired new cast member, Shane Gillis. Turns out he made racist comments on podcasts.

Ugh!

But there’s been numerous famous comedians who have been fired by SNL over the years. Adam Sandler. Fired! Chris Rock. Fired! Sarah Silverman. Fired! Not to mention, Norm Macdonald, Damon Wayons, Rob Riggle, Chris Farley, and of course, Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr….ALL FIRED!

In this episode of CH101 - we cover all the performers who have been fired by SNL over the years.

More at ComedyHistory101.com

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In 1971, the legendary comedy troupe, Monty Python, went to Germany to film two episodes of: Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus.

The Pythons were reluctant to do the episodes - largely because they had to do the shows..in German. The only problem was - none of the members of Monty Python could speak German. The Pythons had to phonetically learn the scripts - to appear like they knew German - to very mixed results. 

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Traveling salesman and farmer’s daughter jokes - are the product of a bygone era. When these two joke genres collide, it involves a farmer, his daughter, and a salesman who is stranded in the country. Without fail, the salesman is warned to stay away from the daughter. Comedy ensues. 

Believe it or not  - this joke has its origins in 13th century Iceland.. We give you the full traveling salesman/farmer’s daughter scoop in this episode. 

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