Jonathan Winters - The Complete Albums 1959-62 (CD)

Jonathan Winters was an American comedian, actor, broadcaster, TV presenter, artist and author who received eight Grammy nominations for Best Comedy Album during his career. He had a troubled childhood and developed his comedy persona as a response to his emotional traumas, and won a talent competition which led to a job as a DJ where his comedy gradually took over the show. He was a constant sufferer from nervous breakdowns and bi-polar disorder, which contributed to his approach as a pioneer of improvisational stand-up comedy, with a gift for impressions and mimicry, developing a range of characters that he used in his act - as he said himself: "I was fighting for the fact that you could be funny without telling jokes". This 3-CD set comprises the complete contents of his first five albums, all on the Verve label - "The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters", "Down To Earth", "Jonathan Winters In Concert: Here's Jonathan", "Another Day, Another World" and "Humor Seen through the Eyes of Jonathan Winters", all of them recorded in front of a 'live' audience. It naturally includes many of the routines which made him famous on TV. For those unfamiliar with his work, it's a great introduction to a highly individual entertainer, and for those revisiting his work from those times, it's a feast of comedy very much of it's era, but which laid the groundwork for later performers

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Medley: Introduction, Flying Saucers
2. Western
3. Football Game
4. Airline Pilots
5. Used Pet Shop
6. Hip Robin Hood
7. Medley: Super Service Station, Marine Corps
8. Introduction, Horror Movies, Amateur Show, Commercials, Great White Hunter

Disc: 2

1. Introduction, Scratchy, Broadway Musical, Interviews, Prison Scene
2. Opening
3. Test Flight
4. Billy The Kid
5. New Flying Saucer
6. Opening - Portugese Pirate Ship
7. Oldest Airline Stewardess - Maude Frickert
8. Child Psychiatrist
9. Driving On The Turnpike - Thoughts Of A Turtle
10. Opening - California
11. The Lost Island

Disc: 3

1. Igor And The Monster
2. New Frontiers, Civil War
3. TV Commercials, American In Paris
4. Moon Map / Ivy Leaguer
5. Human Torpedo
6. Sail Cat
7. My School Days
8. Hungry 'i' Opening
9. Moby Dick ; Capt. Arnold
10. Elwood P. Suggins' Automobile
11. Dr. Werner: German Scientist
12. S.S. Robert E. Lee
13. Chief Running Fox
14. Maude Frickett ; The Funeral
15. International Folk Singers - Terry Thai (Thailand)
16. International Folk Singers - Lonesome Tom (Western)
17. International Folk Singers - Ivan Korkoffskinovki (Russian)