I have been excited to write this review ever since I saw the project appear on Crowdfunder. Whenever I watch older U.S clowns they talk about when they were kids sneaking a listen to their favourite comedy albums – legends like Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce and Red Fox who they couldn’t see at a live gig (mostly because they were about 10) and because VHS wasn’t yet a thing.

I always wondered what a modern version of that experience would be like. For me comedy is such a physical thing, great clowns make use of the stage, they can break you with a facial expression or a well timed action – how does that translate when you can only listen? Does the material still, y’know, stand up?

Well the comedy purists at Monkey Barrel Records have given us the chance to find out with three original vinyl albums that could not have been designed better.

As our reward for backing the Kickstarter we picked the Ari Eldjarn album, partly because we have already reviewed the live show so could run a true comparison but mostly because the ice finish vinyl was just too cool to pass up!

As we have previously reviewed the show we grabbed a comedy critic pal (a proper newspaper one!) who hasn’t seen it to get that fresh perspective.

We set up the decks… I can’t get away with that, it’s a hipster suitcase record player! Poured a couple of drinks and dropped the needle. The vinyl scratched reassuringly to life and we settle down to enjoy the show. There are some squeaks as the needle finds its groove but that fades and before we know it our compere is announcing our clown to the audience.

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This introduction gives us the first taste of just why our Icelandic clown was such an inspired choice to record – he says hello and then instantly drops into a spot on impression of the Scottish compere fully butchering the pronunciation of his name!

Ari is a fantastic mimic and his ability to introduce characters from England, Germany, USA, Denmark etc really add a dimension to this vinyl performance – in fact I can only recall two examples of visual gags and both worked anyway because of the solid routine built around them.

Turning the vinyl over mid show does feel unusual but it gave us a natural opportunity to recharge our glasses and was well placed within the routine so as not to disturb the flow. 

As the audience applauded our clown off the stage and the sound returned to that familiar scratch of a needle on vinyl I have to call our first comedy vinyl experience a complete success. The vinyl itself is beautiful, the sleeve is simple yet effective and the routine from Ari Eldjarn is as strong on vinyl as it is live.

Long live Monkey Barrel Records.

Clown Stars: * * * *

Recorded @Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh