Track Listing

1. Vodka Ad
2. Vegas
3. Second Marriage
4. Great Renaldo
5. Mechanical Objects
6. Moose
7. Kidnapped
8. Unhappy Childhood
9. Science Fiction Film
10. Eggs Benedict
11. Oral Contraception
12. European Trip
13. Lost Generation
14. Private Life
15. Brooklyn
16. Army
17. Pets
18. My Grandfather
19. My Marriage
20. Bullet in My Breast Pocket
21. N.Y.U.
22. Love Story
23. Police
24. Down South
25. Summing Up

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41630 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Amazon.co.uk Review
Compiled from Woody Allen's legendary standup routines of the mid 1960s, Standup Comic is an absolute necessity for any acolyte of the man's solid work from his Casino Royale and New Yorker phase.

"Here's a good example of oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me, and she said 'No.'"

Between a youthful stint as a TV gag man and his groundbreaking films of the 1970s, Allen tried his hand at standup. He was, predictably, a success. Taken from nightclub dates in 1964, 65 and 68, Standup Comic shows how stylistically similar he was to contemporaries like Bill Cosby but also how his absurd flights of imagination made him utterly unique.

"I took a puff of the wrong cigarette at a fraternity dance once. The cops had to come and get me. I broke two teeth trying to give a hickey to the Statue of Liberty."

Now that he's a junior-varsity Ingmar Bergman, it's easy to forget that Allen's first public face was that of a world-class shlub--a rumpled redhead who shared stories of analysis, sexual frustration and failure. The long-form tales featured on Standup Comic (including Allen's famous bit featuring a moose and a cocktail party) provide plenty of laughs as well as an early glimpse at this protean comic genius. --Mike Gerber

Customer Reviews

nailbiters against the bedwetters
This CD is a compilation of the 3 LP's Allen released in the 1960's. Having been a very succesful and highly-paid television-writer, Allen took to being a lowly-paid (at first) stand-up comedian. Anyone who is familiar with Woody Allen's comedy movies will instantly recognize his style of humor on this disc. Psychiatry, his disastrous relationships with women, his relatives, etc. are his favourite topics, and they are treated with the typical Allenesque point-of-view, which somehow manages to put you on the wrong foot every single time. Some of the jokes on this album later turned up in his movies. This CD actually doesn't include all the material that was available on the original LP's, but what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality, and, like it or not, this is all we're ever going to get. Somehow I don't think he'll ever go back to standup. It's our loss.

Fantastic Woody Allen comedy.
Far from limiting himself to movie roles and directing, Allen has a rich past of musicality and stand-up, as well as fiction writing (have you read his Complete Prose?).
This is a CD of some fantastic early material, featuring the wonderful and individual style of comedy that is unmistakable Allen: he's abstract, fantastic, imaginative, creative and caustic all at once.
This is a real treat to anyone interested in outlandish and frivolous comedy - please sample it, it's simply brilliant.

Fantastic
I bought this album off the back of his films and i was expecting it to be good but it exceeded my expectations. Some great srrueal anecdotes. You can really see how he inspired some other great comedians. (Emo Philips for example.)