Laff Records
Encyclopedia
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
specializing in comedy and party records originating on the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Amongst their artists were Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
, Redd Foxx
Redd Foxx
John Elroy Sanford , better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life:...
, LaWanda Page
LaWanda Page
LaWanda Page , born Alberta Peal, was an American actress and comedienne best known for her portrayal of Aunt Esther in the 1970s TV sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life and career:...
, George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
, black ventriloquist duo Richard And Willie, Kip Addotta
Kip Addotta
Kip Addotta is an American comedian notable for often being featured on The Tonight Show and the syndicated show Make Me Laugh. He was also featured on "The Dr. Demento Show" for his novelty music, the biggest hits of which are "Wet Dream" and "Life in the Slaw Lane", a series of fish puns and...
, Belle Barth
Belle Barth
Belle Barth , née Annabelle Salzman, was a Jewish-American comedian who worked primarily during the 1950s and 1960s. She was known for her bawdy, irreverent humor.-Comedy career:...
, Rex Benson, and Skillet & Leroy.
Releases on Laff were notorious for their raunchy content both on the record and its album jacket. Many of these titles have had to be denoted with an "Adults Only" warning on the front cover and sold under the counter, decades before the infamous Parental Advisory
Parental Advisory
Parental Advisory is a message affixed by the Recording Industry Association of America to audio and recordings in the United States containing excessive use of profane language and/or sexual references. Albums began to be labeled for "explicit lyrics" in 1985, after pressure from the Parents...
sticker was a fixture on album covers. Many Laff album covers featured topless
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
models.
Laff also became notorious for both the questionable quality of their record pressings and for their frequent repackaging of previously released titles with new titles and artwork. Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
's vast quantity of releases issued by Laff is a case in point. Pryor released only one album for Laff, Craps (After Hours)
Craps (After Hours)
Craps is an album by Richard Pryor, released in 1971 on the Laff Records label. His second overall release , it was released during the comedian's transitional period from a middlebrow Cosbyized comic into a more improvisational, socially conscious, controversial brand of raw humor that Pryor would...
, with his direct participation, then later signed a deal with the larger Stax
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
label. Laff sued Pryor after Stax released That Nigger's Crazy
That Nigger's Crazy
That Nigger's Crazy is the third official album release by Richard Pryor. It was recorded live at Don Cornelius' Soul Train nightclub in early 1974. This album won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album for 1974....
in 1974; the case was settled when Laff gave Pryor his freedom in exchange for being allowed to compile albums from recordings they made with Pryor between 1969 and 1973.
Laff went out of business sometime in the mid-1980s, with their last "hit" recording being Kip Addotta
Kip Addotta
Kip Addotta is an American comedian notable for often being featured on The Tonight Show and the syndicated show Make Me Laugh. He was also featured on "The Dr. Demento Show" for his novelty music, the biggest hits of which are "Wet Dream" and "Life in the Slaw Lane", a series of fish puns and...
's "Wet Dream" (a favorite of fans of the Dr. Demento
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
radio show), but many of their more profitable recordings still circulated through other labels for sometime afterward. In 1993 Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
briefly re-released on cassette and compact disc some Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
and Redd Foxx
Redd Foxx
John Elroy Sanford , better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life:...
titles that had been originally issued by Laff, including Pryor's Craps (After Hours)
Craps (After Hours)
Craps is an album by Richard Pryor, released in 1971 on the Laff Records label. His second overall release , it was released during the comedian's transitional period from a middlebrow Cosbyized comic into a more improvisational, socially conscious, controversial brand of raw humor that Pryor would...
. These releases disappeared from store shelves after Island's parent company PolyGram was absorbed by Universal Music.
In 2002 Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
and his wife/manager Jennifer Lee Pryor won the rights to all of Richard's Laff masters and raw tapes in a court case. The Pryors then gave free rein to Rhino Records to go through the tapes and make an anthology that included the entire Craps (After Hours)
Craps (After Hours)
Craps is an album by Richard Pryor, released in 1971 on the Laff Records label. His second overall release , it was released during the comedian's transitional period from a middlebrow Cosbyized comic into a more improvisational, socially conscious, controversial brand of raw humor that Pryor would...
album and the best of other Laff releases. The results were released in 2005 on the 2-CD set Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966–1974).
Some of the remaining Laff masters have been reissued by Uproar Entertainment.
Note that there were several earlier, unrelated companies that issued 78 RPM discs under the name Laff Records in the late 1940s. Of these, one was based in New York, a second was allegedly from Chicago, and a third released titles under the name Laff-Disc, later abbreviated to L D. All were probably defunct long before the Los Angeles label began operations.