Woody Allen is a waltz.  Richard Pryor is R&B.  Groucho Marx is a march.  It’s all rhythm,  whether it’s the . . . space between the words coming from a comedian’s mouth, or the space between notes on a staff.  In fact, one could argue that comedy is music without instruments.  Listen to any good comedian – the way certain words are emphasized, the way the whole thing can hang on a pause here or a break there – and it is clear that it is music.  Go beyond the comedian.  Listen to the give and take between the torrent of words and the audience’s laughter, words, laughter, words, laughter – rhythm.  This, too, is music.

This issue of Thriller examines the connection between comedy and music as it relates to two particular comedians:  Lewis Black and Reggie Watts.  Black, famous for his twitchy political rants on The Daily Show, and his seven comedy albums, two HBO specials and four Comedy Central specials, is certainly rock ‘n’ roll.  His rhythm is intense, loud, harsh.  It has earned him just about every award a comedian can win, and rightfully so.

Watts is a comedian at the beginning of his career.  He is much weirder and harder to classify.  His act contains very few traditional jokes.  Instead, Watts relies on music as the backbone of his comedy.

After reading the interviews, check out the article Comedy and Music Through the Years.  Then, spin on by the Get Hip section to read about Harpo Marx’ Harp by Harpo [Get on Thriller's monthly email list to receive a free stream of the album - Thrillermag@gmail.com].

As always, make sure that while you read, you are listening to the carefully hand-crafted Playlist, courtesy of Grooveshark.