Comedy
Dr. Kenneth McFarland – The Best of Ken McFarland’s Humor (1966)
I love collecting old comedy records. When I first heard Bob Newhart’s “Button Down Mind” and Bill Cosby’s “Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Guy….Right?”, I was hooked. They’re both classics that I measure other comedy albums against, even 40 years after they were released. What I enjoy most about older comedy albums is that they were clean. (Ok, maybe not Redd Foxx). I’m not talking hygiene here. I mean they lacked profanity. People could entertain without dropping F bombs every ten seconds. For me, there’s just nothing funny about most comedians who work blue. Once in a great while you’ll see an exception. I think Sam Kinison’s early stuff was brilliant. And let’s face it, Sam never worked clean. I’m not a prude. It doesn’t offend me. I just don’t think that it takes a creative mind to swear.
Ken McFarland wasn’t actually a comedian by trade. Most of the albums that he released were motivational or patriotic. This LP just happens to compile some of his funny bits from years of speeches. Personally, I found the majority of the stories a bit dated but what do you expect for a record that’s 44 years old. There’s some rapid-fire stories here. Sort of like Henny Youngman with longer bits. A few of the stories made me chuckle but there’s definitely some high mileage stuff here.
- Nurse – “Doctor, you’re signing that prescription with a rectal thermometer”.
- Doctor – “Well now I know where I left my pen”.
Ummm…yeah.
Where Dr. McFarland does excel is as a public speaker, something that I’ve always found very difficult to do. If you’re interested enough, you can listen to some of his better known speeches at a website devoted to preserving his works: mcfarlandspeaks.com
I decided against posted audio files of this album for two reasons. There’s an active fundraising effort at the above mentioned website to help preserve Dr. McFarland’s speeches and it’s quite possible that the contents of this album may be part of that effort. That being said, sharing them for free would be a foolish move on my part. Secondly, and this is the biggie, his daughter who is actively involved in preserving his works, was on the Kansas Supreme Court for 32 years, including 14 years as Chief Justice. Now….I may not necessarily be the brightest bulb on the tree……but I do know not to dangle my fingers in the piranha tank.
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