Comedy By the Numbers
Monday, June 21st, 2010
July 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of my signing a deal with Rhino Records for the wacky little Travesty, Ltd. skit “Rock and Roll Doctor” to be included on the Dr. Demento album Dr. Demento’s Mementos—which lead to it also being included on the Rhino box set The Greatest Novelty Records of All Time and the CD Dr Demento 30th Anniversary: Dementia 2000. Yes, Dr. Demento has been very good to me. (And the Doctor’s recent announcement that he is retiring his radio program after nearly 40 years was greeted with tears at Nutco World Headquarters. This Salon piece pretty much covers the same territory as my 2006 arts feature for City Paper, but offers a nice slide show of great novelty hits.)
Anyway, I took the liberty of compiling all of the royalty statements that have piled up over the years. In short, I have sold 161,301 albums, CDs and cassettes (a surprising number of cassettes, even into the mid-’90s) and was rewarded with $13,216.09 in royalty payments. That works out to about $528 per year. As the egalitarian members of Travesty decided to divide the spoils 10 ways, each of us has earned about a dollar a week during the last quarter century for our comedy work. You’re welcome.
Now it is true that some of those educated shoppers may have purchased the albums for a copy of Dickie Goodman’s “Harry’s Jockstrap” or “Dead Skunk” by Loudon Wainwright III, but I like to think that having that signature sketch in their collection was also a motivating factor.
If you have yet to acquire this comedy gem, you may purchase the original album on which it appeared, Teen Comedy Party, online here. Or, refresh your memory by watching these fan-made versions on Youtube. I have no idea what possessed these people, but am flattered that they took the time.




