Nichols & May: Monitor Radio 1962-1967

 

If you're a comedy head, you like Nichols and May, because they didn't do comedy sketches so much as character-based improvised riffs with a button on the end: hilarious little scherzos whose conversational tone make them some of the only comedy that still works 60+ years after it was made. 

WFMU recently hipped me to MonitorBeacon.net, a tribute site for NBC's Monitor Radio, the network's news magazine that ran from 1955-1975 and for whom Nichols and May had a long-running gig making comedy bits—including all the material that became their third album Nichols and May Examine Doctors. 

MonitorRadio.net is basically a three-man operation, whose moderators have been amassing old Monitor airchecks for over 20 years as a labor of love. Their archival recordings come to them from a variety of home-taping saviors, including a guy named Warren who recorded Monitor with a microphone next to a radio in his home in Queens, and whose estate of recordings was delivered to the webmasters in two refrigerator-size boxes. As of 6/12/2024 the team has rescued 740 hours of Monitor, and they suspect at least as many hours remain to be digitized.

All the site's audio is available free for listening and accompanied by a thumbnail description of the contents, so of course I immediately downloaded every show with a Nichols and May bit, then separated out the bits and did some minor restoration of clicks/pops/hum. None of the pieces had a title (except "Mr. and Mrs. Style"), so I've provided them. They're mostly in chronological order, although I did move a telephone-operator bit to the top and close with a doctor-and-nurse bit, because, I mean, it's a Nichols and May joint.

The idea of a new Nichols and May album is already catnip to me, but this is practically a double: 40 pieces that range from 90 seconds to 4 minutes in one 93-minute bucket. There's a lot of brilliant stuff here, but to my mind, "Some Seculuded Rendezvous", "Madame Pinocchio", "Joint Custody", "We Welcome Your Comments", "Get the Glass Heels", and "Arthur" are as good as anything they ever released on vinyl. Enjoy!

Answering Service (2/13/1966)
Embassy Party (10/7/1962)
Tallest Man in the World (9/26/1964)
Rigby and Madame (2/27/1965)
Teeth (7/10/1965)
Mr. and Mrs. Style (11/14/1965)
I Want a Divorce (12/25/1965)
Holiday in Brooklyn (1/1/1966)
Some Secluded Rendezvous (1/2/1966)
Madame Pinocchio (1/29/1966)
The Washingtons at Home (2/5/1966)
Tattoo Parlor (2/6/1966)
Fat Face (3/19/1966)
Expecting (3/20/1966)
Diet (4/23/1966)
Hollywood Notes (5/1/1966)
The Talk (7/10/1966)
Breakfasty-Poo (9/18/1966)
The Martian (9/24/1966)
We Welcome Your Comments (9/25/1966)
End of the World (9/25/1966)
That Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi (10/9/1966)
Mrs. Claus' Day (12/17/1966)
Christmas Card (12/24/1966)
She's Coming Home (12/25/1966)
Arthur (12/31/1966)
The Painter (5/14/1967)
Nymph and Satyr (5/20/1967)
Joint Custody (6/3/1967)
Under Arrest (6/4/1967)
Checkbook (6/11/1967)
Get the Glass Heels (6/11/1967)
Flaps Up (6/17/1967)
Transference (6/24/1967)
Businessmen's Lunch (7/8/1967)
In the Balcony (7/15/1967)
Wrong Number (7/15/1967)
Crossing the Street (7/22/1967)
Calling Mrs. Fweem (8/19/1967)
Don't Take That Tone (4/3/1966)

Album download link