Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Best of "What's His Name "- The Jack Paar Comedy LP

I've owned several copies of this obscurity over the course of time and it is the only album I've ever seen on the phallic sounding Ramrod Superrecords. The back cover has an advertisement for Jiffy Sew. The LP is quite funny, consisting of two monologues from The Tonight Show with Jack Paar from 1960 or so. One is from an episode of the program that was broadcast from England, although the album provides zero context, and this is something the listener is pretty much left to themselves to figure out. I've heard a rumor that this was a "premium give-away" promo LP courtesy of NBC, but I don't know if that is true. If it is, it makes the label's name all the more confusing. Here it is in its entirety - The Best of "What's His Name."

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, I haven't heard this LP in years. Unfortunately, lost mine due to the nature of being a kid. Thanks for posting.

Anonymous said...

Being old enough to remember Jack Paar's TV show, maybe I can add some clarification. This album was originally a giveaway to audience members of Paar's late night audience. It was directly connected to his sponsor, Jiffy Sew, and included a product sample attached to the cover! Yes, the content of the album is pretty hodgepodge, mixing monologue jokes from his London programs (his show broadcast from there for a week) with New York City broadcasts. As for the album's title, there was a running joke, perpetuated by Paar in monologues, that people would recognize him, but could not recall his name. I hope this info helps! ~Steve Crum