NATIONAL LAMPOON'S THAT'S NOT FUNNY Genre:Special Interest Though it ran for only a year in the early 70's, The National Lampoon Radio Hour remains one of the most influential?-and consistently hilarious-?efforts at audio sketch comedy. The core of that show became the inaugural c... more »lass of SNL's "Not Ready For Primetime Players," and many of the performers on this 1977 album (that recycles some material from the radio show to great effect) also went on to fame there, as well as SCTV. The material here is as rapid-fire as it is pointed, ranging from recurring installments of Richard Belzer's prophetic, acid-tongued radio talk show host Dick Ballantine and Christopher Guest's unsettling Mr. Roberts (a dead-on, way-too-kid-friendly take on the late Fred Rogers) to Bill Murray's obnoxiously whining public radio fundraiser and jabs at Nadia Comaneci, mindless radio fodder, hotlines, Mel Brooks' 2000-year old man, and even a Paul Shaffer-produced musical epic, "The Height Report Disco." Though not quite reaching the sublime level of some of the radio show's more surreal moments, it's consistently irreverent, wildly funny, and delivered with machine-gun efficiency, remaining one of the troupe's best satirical collections. --Jerry McCulley« less
Though it ran for only a year in the early 70's, The National Lampoon Radio Hour remains one of the most influential?-and consistently hilarious-?efforts at audio sketch comedy. The core of that show became the inaugural class of SNL's "Not Ready For Primetime Players," and many of the performers on this 1977 album (that recycles some material from the radio show to great effect) also went on to fame there, as well as SCTV. The material here is as rapid-fire as it is pointed, ranging from recurring installments of Richard Belzer's prophetic, acid-tongued radio talk show host Dick Ballantine and Christopher Guest's unsettling Mr. Roberts (a dead-on, way-too-kid-friendly take on the late Fred Rogers) to Bill Murray's obnoxiously whining public radio fundraiser and jabs at Nadia Comaneci, mindless radio fodder, hotlines, Mel Brooks' 2000-year old man, and even a Paul Shaffer-produced musical epic, "The Height Report Disco." Though not quite reaching the sublime level of some of the radio show's more surreal moments, it's consistently irreverent, wildly funny, and delivered with machine-gun efficiency, remaining one of the troupe's best satirical collections. --Jerry McCulley
CD Reviews
CD has been re-mastered
David F. Drozen | 02/14/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In response to consumer feedback, we have re-mastered (as of February 11, 2005) this CD to eliminate noticeable tics and pops. The quality is vastly improved. Any Amazon.com customer who has purchased this CD and wishes to have it replaced with the new, improved version, should contact David Drozen, President of Uproar Entertainment at uproarcd@aol.com for instructions on what to do."
Stick with your LP... that's what they did!
Scott E. Smith | Nashville, TN | 10/25/2003
(2 out of 5 stars)
"For those who remember this record, yes it's one of the funniest things National Lampoon ever did. My LP was sounding pretty worn. So much so, in fact, that I dubbed it onto a CD so I wouldn't have to put any more wear and tear on the vinyl while I waited for somebody to put out a real CD. Not only was this CD *not* made from the master tapes, it wasn't made from a tape at all. It was mastered from an LP (just like my homemade CD), apparently with no effort to clean up the surface noise or ticks and pops. 5 stars for content, but zero stars for not going back to the master tapes. Let's hope Uproar does a better job in a few months when they reissue Goodbye Pop."
Hilarious album / Poor quailty recording
Christopher Johnson | Bay Area, CA | 01/09/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If the title of this album doesn't serve as an adequate admonition of what's in store, the first track will: "Hey, look out for that s%#t on the floor... Whoops! Ha ha ha... Well, we've got a filthy show for you tonight!" If you're easily offended, deeply religious, or have an otherwise sensitive disposition, you may want to steer clear. However, If you're a real sicko, like me, you'll not only find this album laugh-out-loud funny on your first listen, you'll enjoy listening again and again as you discover its many subtleties. Some of the tracks, like Christopher Guest's spoof on Mr. Rogers, I simply never grow tired of listening to.
I must however, express my disappointment with the quality of this recording. When this album was released in 1977, it only existed on vinyl. (I don't believe that it was ever released on cassette or 8-track.) Since then, fans have tolerated the crackles and pops. I was thrilled to see that this album was finally released on CD. Unfortunately, not only is it NOT digitally re-mastered, its source material is a vinyl record, complete with the same old crackles, pops, and surface noise! While the source vinyl is in pretty good condition no one even bothered to go back and remove the pops. I spent about an hour doing so with some inexpensive software and it made a real difference. Another disappointment with this CD is that the track markers aren't accurate. When you rip this CD to your computer for listening on your portable device, you'll notice that at the beginning of each track there's a little chunk of the end of the previous track... very annoying but fixable with basic audio editing software.
More info about this album:
Starring Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Murray, Christopher Guest and featuring Richard Belzer, Rhonda Coullet, Gracie Whitebread, Pat Bright, Bob Dryden, George Agoglia, Tony Hendra, Sid Davis, Larraine Newman, Anna Uppstrom, John Dunn, and John Weidman. Written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Bill Murray, Richard Belzer, Christopher Guest, John Weidman, Bob Tischler, Tony Hendra, Harold Ramis, Doug Kenney, and Bruce McCall. Produced and engineered by Bob Tischler. Cover illustration by Sam Gross."
Essential !
xanax001 | France | 09/08/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
""That's Not Funny, That's Sick" is the best comedy album ever made. Period."
National lampoon's "that's not funny, that's sick"
Mark J. Gallagher | 07/31/2006
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I purchased this CD, new, on July 17th,2006. It is a great collection of classic comedy, however, Amazon is still shipping the copies made before 2005, mastered from vinyl with scratches, hisses and all. I solely wanted to listen to 'Mr. Roberts 1" with the egg-a-muffin' skit and it skips over most of this skit. The promise by Mr. David Drozen to replace it, rings hollow. Neither from him or Amazon can I get a 'clean, remastered', 2005 version. So, I'll send it back for a refund. It's a shame because the material is so classic. I was going to buy the box set, next. Oh, well."
