Long before stand-up comedy took America by storm, there were “party records,” produced and distributed by labels like Dooto and Laff. Popular in the 1950s through the end of the ’70s, party records were so raunchy that adults didn’t play them until the kids went to bed — or were out of the house. But their filthy content wasn’t just a for cheap laughs; they helped launch the careers of many African American comedians, like Moms Mabley, Redd Foxx, LaWanda Page, and Richard Pryor, who had previously been overlooked by major labels, mainstream audiences, or both. Foxx, for example, had recorded more than 50 albums, including Laff of the Party, which sold more than 250,000 units in 1956 — long before he starred in Sanford and Son. Yet, when Merv Griffin invited Foxx on his TV show, he told the audience, “He’s kind of a stranger to television and a stranger to me frankly, but I’m very anxious to meet him.”
“What are party records?” Griffin asks Foxx, who is dapper in a tuxedo and smoking a cigarette.
Foxx replies, “You ever been to party and it’s kind of dull and you put the records on and wait…and then the party starts?”
Griffin grins, “Are they naughty?”
Foxx sighs, “Yes.”
