Robert Klein – Child Of The 50’s

Robert Klein has been around for a while and now mostly appears in secondary roles in comedy movies. He was, and still is, a good stand up comic, and Child Of The 50’s is probably the best of his early stand up comedy CDs.

In Child Of The 50’s, Robert Klein takes us on an autobiographical journey of his formative years in New York City and through a few funny stories in and around NYC.

Child Of The 50’s may be a little hard to follow track wise as there is no real chronological logic from track to track but overall it is a very funny and, yes, at times charming stand-up comedy CD. This is not a very long comedy CD, twenty-four tracks that clock in at an average of 2 minutes each. Amazingly, this album has an all-studio feel yet it still works. On this funny CD, Klein mines the same comedic ground many stand up comics have mined before and after him: public school, commercials, substitute teachers, cars, and so on. His take is different and fresh, worth listening to. Unfortunately, Klein’s next few comedy albums were not and are not as good or as interesting. Mind Over Matter and New Teeth (although New Teeth does have its fans) do not have the same charm as Child Of The Fifties.

A good companion to Child Of The 50’s would be Robert Klein’s HBO special A Child In His Fifties. It is a clear reference to his best comedy cd and also a very interesting sort of follow up to it. Child Of The Fifties is released by Rhino Records, home of the hard to find and why didn’t anybody do it before reissue and also home of limited release specialty cds of just about any kind. Rhino Records is where you will find Tom Lehrer, Bob Newhart, Woody Allen, and the 2000 Year Old Man series by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. All of these reissues of comedy cds (and other kinds of CDs) are lovingly made and not just industrially processed dump it out on the market product.

Robert Klein
Child of the 50’s
Stand-up comedy CD
Rhino Records

TRACK LIST
1- Civil Defence (No Talking)
2- Public School
3- School Lunch
4- The Sea Impulse
5- Fabulous 50’s
6- Substitute School Teacher
7- Starting Your Car
8- F.M. Disc Jockey
9- New York City Animals
10- All Night Groceries
11- The Panhandler
12- The Foreigner
13- Public Service Commercial
14- My Little Magpie
15- Commercials
16- Our Gang
17- Musical Instruments
18- Athletics
19- Words
20- My Last Movie
21- Childhood Myth
22- Middle Class Educated Blues
23- School Assembly
24- James Abram Garfield

Related Posts