[78-L] Live Comedy.

[Elizabeth McLeod]

Standup comedians in the form of vaudeville/Broadway monologists were 
commonly featured on Rudy Vallee's radio program during the thirties -- 
with many surviving recordings of their performances. Maybe the most 
definitive is a performance by Richy Craig Jr. from November 1933 -- he 
was the performer who inspired Bob Hope's style and manner, reacting to 
the audience in a very casual, offhand way rather than simply reciting 
jokes. There are some Frank Fay performances on the Vallee program from a 
few years later that show the same self-aware approach, and are very 
clearly pointing the way to modern standup style. None of these are 
commercially-released recordings, but they're recordings nonetheless.

Elizabeth