Black & Blue: The Laff Records Collection View larger

Black & Blue: The Laff Records Collection

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4-CD collection from the ground-breaking label that released some of the most important Black comedian LPs of all time!

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I discovered party records when I was a kid. I’m from the West Side of Chicago, but I would spend my summers in Hannibal, Missouri known for Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer, with my mother’s side of the family. It was small town living, everybody knew everybody, and nobody locked their doors. This particular summer I was staying with my aunt Betty and my uncle Sam. I was 16, all the adults had gone to the only tavern in Downtown Hannibal and for some reason I ended up at the house by myself. As I wondered around the house with nothing to do I turned on the TV but there was nothing I wanted to watch. And then for some reason I decided to look through their albums. They had all the hits – the Temptations, the Dells, The Supremes. But then at the back of the album console I discovered some crazy looking album covers that I had never seen before with funny looking characters playing cards, or dancing, or a man in some crazy pose looking at a beautiful woman with lots of curves. Though the records had different titles they all said party records. Party records I thought “What is this? Who are these recording artists I’ve never heard of before?” But the party record covers made me laugh. I was curious and decided to put one on. It was Redd Foxx. When I first put the record on I heard some silly music and then an emcee introduced Redd Foxx. As he started to talk my mouth dropped open and my heart started to race. At first it was a guilty laugh and I looked around hoping that I wouldn’t get caught but I couldn’t stop. I laughed and laughed, I literally couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t catch my breath. I thought I was going to die. I remember falling on the floor laughing so hard at the way he used his words and unique phrasing, but I had also never heard anyone curse so poetically. Then I put on another album, Leroy and Skillet, they really looked zany and funny on their album cover, dressed in their underwear playing cards, with Skillet’s foot under the table holding two aces between his rusty toes. As I listened to them I laughed hard again with my sides hurting. My brain felt like it was going to explode, I had never experienced anything like this. Television was rated G. All the comedians I saw on the Ed Sullivan show were clean and never cursed. They were squeaky clean and almost corny. That summer I would always find time to escape from the other kids when the adults were gone and listened to the rest of those records like Jimmy “the Funky Tramp” Lynch, Wildman Steve, and Rudy Ray Moore. These comedians shaped another voice in me, a fun edgy side that could appreciate the voice of the working class everyman. Having worked as a filmmaker with some of the greatest comedians ever, getting signed by Richard Pryor, when he had a 40 million dollar deal at Columbia Pictures, to directing comedy superstar Eddie Murphy when he was at the top of his game performing in the highest grossing standup concert film ever, to finally directing the legend among comedy legends, Mr. Bill Cosby, in two different comedy specials. So, I think I know a little bit about comedy. So with that being said Laff Records has put together a powerful box set featuring a who’s who of edgy, honest and real comedy voices. It will leave you laughing out loud, looking at the world from a view you’ve never seen before and just simply appreciate the blue hue of comedy like never before. Are these comedians dirty?

Yes! Do they push the boundaries? Yes! They also give you insight to the working class man and woman, the edgy side of life that we never saw on television. They performed without a filter, hitting it hard from a real place. When I think about my family that I discovered all had these records. It was an underground phenomenon that brought laughter and love into the households. It is at a time in history when we didn’t see ourselves in the movies or in television. It gave us an option that would truly entertain that every man that wanted to be a little naughty and these party records also served a purpose of reliving stress. As these voices were heard during the politically charged times of the 50’s and the 60’s with segregation and the civil rights movement at the forefront of everyone’s brain and these edgy party records allowing people of color to release their stress. I celebrate these comedians because I believe that comedy possess a healing power. And these ladies and gentlemen truly delivered some crazy powerful medicine that touched the Black working class and helped them get to tough times.

- Robert Townsend
August 2014

DISC 1

Leroy, Skillet & LaWanda “Back Door Daddy”

1. He Got Away
2. Slack Jawed Leroy
3. Republicans 23rd Psalms
4. The Boss

LaWanda Page “Pipe Layin’ Dan”

4. Married Couple
5. Little Red Riding Hood
6. Bustin’ Cherries
7. Three MFs
8. The Buccaneer
9. Toast to Hitler
10. Old Grandpa
11. It Had to Be You
12. Raise the Dead
13. After Supper
14. Sister Smith
15. Douche Powder
16. Chew the Fat
17. The Dying Whore
18. Hannah the Whore
19. Nite Shift
20. Hangin’ Tree

Jimmy Thompson “Jo-Jo Gun

21. Raped
22. The Gonorrhea
23. Dodgin’ Dick
24. Motel
25. Thunder-Rain-Sleet-Snow
26. Ain’t No Pimp
27. Hune or Huly
28. Jo-Jo Gun
29. Chinese Detective
30. I Can Taste It
31. The Party
32. Ass Crabs
33. Hair Around It
34. Chin Nuts
35. Mexican Next Door
36. Bitin’ Dick
37. Take It In The Ass

Slappy White “Elect Slappy White VP”

38. Slappy White for Vice-President

DISC 2

Dap Sugar Willie “Ghost of Davy Crockett”

1. White Boys
2. Grudge Pregnancy
3. Soldiers
4. Coulda Been Worse
5. Strike
6. Life Insurance
7. Cancer
8. Pickle Slicer
9. Dear Friend
10. Wife
11. Marriage
12. Up To Hi, Down To Lo
13. Poor or Poe
14. Davy Crockett
15. I’m a Witch
16. Room 613
17. Playing House
18. Dentist
19. Duck You
20. Lion Tamer
21. Lady of the Evening

Jimmy Lynch “N****r Please”

22. Stutter On Brother
23. Squirrel Cracked Nuts
24. White Ass On Fire
25. My Name Is_____
26. Dog Eatin’ N****r
27. You Got Worms
28. Tricky Dick & Pussy
29. B-R-R-R-R
30. Watch Out For the Bull

Wildman Steve “Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’”

31. Eatin’ Pussy
32. Black People
33. The Claps
34. Tell the Truth
35. Can’t Satisfy You
36. Is That You?
37. Oakland, Calif
38. The Handicapped
39. Pig F***r

DISC 3

Mantan Moreland “Tribute to the Man ‘Tan’”

1. French Girl
2. Cuban Ballplayer
3. Sick Man
4. That Ain’t My Finger
5. Good Putty
6. Hard Luck
7. This Ain’t Your Day
8. No Drawers
9. Like To Fuck
10. Peter the Pumpkin Eater
11. He Cwippled
12. Revolvin Jones
13. Purttiest Little Stomach

Reynaldo Rey “The Rising Reynaldo Rey”

14. December Frostbite / Avon Lady
15. Soul Flight
16. Fly Away
17. Mushroom Poisoning
18. My Wife
19. Slimp Flied Lice
20. Bumper Jack Cadillac
21. Ahshitoobadjoe
22. Hillbillies
23. Urine Specimen
24. Dog Food
25. Bull-l-l…shi

Leroy Daniels “Sexmouth”

26. As Long As You’re Getting
27. Another Spot To Shave
28. Santa Claus Committed Suicide
29. We Were So Poor
30. Leroy and the Preacher
31. Stand Back, Let the Spirit Work
32. How Much For Crabs?
33. Teacher, Your Thighs Have Caught My Eyes

DISC 4

Redd Foxx “I Ain’t Lied Yet”

1. Stephen Foster
2. Faith Healer
3. Poetry and Prose
4. Makin’ Sandwiches
5. Country Boy
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Sniffing Pepper
8. I Love You
9. Raffle Ticket
10. Everything’s Big
11. Rat Trap
12. Door Knob
13. Teflon
14. Organ Transplant
15. Get Tight
16. Lincoln
17. Say Hamburger
18. Kiss Urass Good-bye

Marsha Warfield “I’m A Virgin”

19. I’m A Virgin
20. Sex
21. Orgasms
22. Chicago Public Schools
23. Fighting
24. Sunday School
25. Growing Up
26. Ring Around the Collar
27. Ugly Men
28. Black Guys
29. Short Men
30. Penis Envy
31. Mouthful