Severn Darden (1929–1995)

LP comedy album from 1961 produced with Second City, the troupe that later influenced Saturday Night Live. It consists of 4 skits by Severn Darden (1929-1995) whom was a founding member of Second City. He was also an actor in Planet of the Apes movies [original] and partied with the Merry Pranksters during early acid tests. The skits are intellectual in character with the main skit being a clever faux lecture by a German professor on subject of The Universe because "there isn’t anything else!" It's funny in parts with a few memorable lines, and most impressive when he begins to improv on audience call outs - we think of "comedy improv" today as a distinct genre, Darden was inventing its form. His NYT obit says the skit "influenced two generations of comic performers". You get a sense from the audience reactions how novel this was at the time. Freely available to listen at the Internet Archive.… (más)