Alen Robin was a comedy writer when Earle Doud-- who produced the "First Family" John Kennedy comedy records-- picked him to create a series of "press conferences" featuring the (wildly) edited voices of our national leaders. The album, "Welcome to the LBJ Ranch", was a hit-- apparently the live performance was attended by a still-unknown John Cleese--
and Mr Robin went on to release a few other records based on the same idea.
It's a surprisingly simple concept. The "interviewer" acts as a straight man for the "subject", and the whole thing's based on altered context.
Today's first offering is from the 1971 "Supershrink" album (available on YouTube), the Nixon psychiatric interview (4:39).
Alen Robin- Nixon 1971
He used most of this routine in his 1974 "Funnyfarm", but added a new bit about the President's king-hell social life (1:17)...
Alen Robin- Nixon 1974 excerpt
...which might have made the producers nervous enough to include this disclaimer at the end of the record (0:25).
Alen Robin 1974 disclaimer
And for those of you interested in audio detritus, here's that twisted, pained little chuckle, one more time--
nixon chuckle
the one minor detail that speaks volumes. He was a strange man.
