Aspecialthing Records | |
---|---|
Founded | 2006 |
Founder | Ryan McManemin, Matt Belknap |
Genre | Comedy |
Country of origin | U.S. |
Location | Los Angeles, California |
Official website | astrecords |
Aspecialthing Records is a stand-up comedy record label started by Matt Belknap and Ryan McManemin. Belknap was the creator of aspecialthing.com, an internet message board especially popular with West Coast comedy fans. McManemin was an executive at Sony/MGM and longtime member of the message board.
Using the site as a launching pad, in late 2006 they announced to the web community that they would be starting their own record label, Aspecialthing Records. In February of the following year, comedian Jen Kirkman's Self Help was the first album released on the new label.
In addition to making comedy albums, Belknap and McManemin are active podcast producers. Belknap produces and co-hosts Never Not Funny, the Jimmy Pardo Podcast, and with McManemin produces Doug Benson's Doug Loves Movies and Greg Proops's The Smartest Man in the World, among other shows.
In 2017 Aspecialthing won the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album and both McManemin and Belknap received award statues. They also received certificates that stated that they were not to melt down their statues nor charge admission to see them.
Gregory Everett Proops is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his guest appearances on the U.K. and U.S. versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He has also voiced the titular character on the U.S. version of Bob the Builder: Project: Build It in series 10 to 14.
Paul Francis Tompkins is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as Mr. Show with Bob and David, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Best Week Ever, later renamed Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins.
James Ronald Pardo, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the comedy podcast Never Not Funny. From the show's inception until mid-2015, he performed as the Conan O'Brien program Conan's warm-up comedian and cast member, after which he received a general development deal with O'Brien's production company. He last hosted the game show Race to Escape on the Science Channel.
Douglas Steven Benson is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television and podcast host, and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series Doug Loves Movies (2006–present), The Benson Interruption (2010-2013), Getting Doug with High (2013-2019) and The High Court with Doug Benson (2017). As a comedian, he has released 10 comedy albums, starting with Professional Humoredian in 2008, and has regularly appeared on TV shows including Comedy Central Presents, Best Week Ever and @midnight. In 2007, he was a contestant on the 5th season of the reality competition show Last Comic Standing.
Wayne Federman is an American comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian, producer, and musician. He is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book on The History of Stand-Up; and supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crashing, Silicon Valley, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Step Brothers. He was the head monologue writer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in its first season. He won a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for producing the HBO documentary George Carlin's American Dream.
Scott David Aukerman is an American writer, actor, comedian, television personality, director, producer, and podcast host. Starting as a writer and performer in the later seasons of the sketch series Mr. Show, Aukerman is best known as the host of the weekly comedy podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! as well as the IFC original television series of the same name. Aukerman is the co-creator of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis and co-founder of the Earwolf podcast network.
UnCabaret is a Los Angeles–based alternative comedy company that produces live, TV and web projects.
Stand Up! Records is an American independent comedy record label founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Grammy-winning producer Dan Schlissel. It has been called "the country's most respected indie comedy label." Stand Up! has released more than 200 comedy albums and videos since its founding in 2000, including albums by Lewis Black, Patton Oswalt, Greg Proops, David Cross, Maria Bamford, Hannibal Buress, Judy Gold, the Sklar Brothers, and Eddie Pepitone. Comedian and actor Marc Maron, who released his first three albums on Stand Up!, described Schlissel as "a guy who loves comedy, and is very attentive to the process of recording comedy," and, referencing the large number of noteworthy comics who were given important exposure in their early careers by the label, joked that "you've done everybody's first two records."
Never Not Funny is a podcast hosted by American comedian Jimmy Pardo, since spring 2006, currently releasing two episodes a week. He and producer/co-host Matt Belknap have appeared in every episode. Comedian Mike Schmidt appeared as co-host for season one, except for the final episode of the season, when his departure was announced.
Comedy Death-Ray is a two disc CD collection of highlights from the weekly comedy showcase Comedy Death-Ray, released on September 11, 2007, on Comedy Central Records. Disc one was recorded January 15, 2007, at Cobb's Comedy Club in San Francisco. Disc two was recorded at Comedy Death-Ray's twelve-hour fourth anniversary show September 30, 2006, at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.
Comedy Bang! Bang! is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009. Popularly known as Humanity and the Animal Kingdom's Podcast, it is hosted by writer and comedian Scott Aukerman, best known for his work on the 1990s HBO sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David, creating and hosting the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series, and co-founding the weekly Comedy Death-Ray stage show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Hollywood.
Jennifer Ann Kirkman is an American stand-up comedian and screenwriter, podcaster, and actress. She is known for her regular appearances as a round-table panelist on Chelsea Lately for 70 episodes from 2008 to 2014.
Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die. It merged with podcast advertising network The Mid Roll in 2014, a separate company founded by Ullrich, to form Midroll Media. Midroll was acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company in 2015. In July 2020, Sirius XM acquired Midroll Media, which includes Stitcher Radio and Earwolf, for $325 million.
Walking the Room was a comedy podcast hosted by American comedians Greg Behrendt and Dave Anthony. The free, hour-long weekly show debuted via web and iTunes on May 24, 2010, and was recorded in Behrendt's closet in Los Angeles, California. Each episode was broken into three segments that typically involve rants and banter between the hosts, but occasional guests have included Patton Oswalt, Karen Kilgariff, Brian Posehn, Jimmy Pardo, Jonah Ray, Brendon Walsh, Jen Kirkman and TOFOP hosts Wil Anderson and Charlie Clausen. Anthony produced and edited the show. Behrendt originally created the opening theme, “Estoy Podcuddle,” under the name HoboTang, and most of the music played on the show is performed by his band, The Reigning Monarchs. The podcast ceased regular production in October 2014 following an extended hiatus. In April 2015, a final episode was recorded from the Melbourne Comedy Festival and released a few days later.
Jackie Kashian is an American stand-up comedian.
Cole Stratton is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, writer and producer, best known as one of the Co-Founders of SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival and the co-host of the Pop My Culture Podcast.
No, You Shut Up! is an American news talk show on Fusion TV that was created by David Javerbaum, hosted by Paul F. Tompkins, and produced by The Jim Henson Company under its Henson Alternative banner.
The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is a stand-up comedy festival located in the Hawthorne district of Portland, Oregon that took place every spring from 2008 to 2017, featuring standup comedy showcases, live podcasts, panel discussions and improv comedy. It was created in October 2007 by comedians Andy Wood and Matt Braunger and filmmaker Kimberly Brady.
The Dead Authors Podcast is an improvised comedy and faux-historical podcast hosted by Paul F. Tompkins in character as H.G. Wells, with special written material provided by Ben Zelevansky. The show ran from 2011 until 2015. In each episode, Wells collects a deceased author via his "time machine" to discuss his or her life and work. The podcast was created in support of 826LA, and all proceeds from the show are donated to the organization.