The last few days, I've been discussing the Mort Sahl event with friends, especially the hilarious appearance by Albert Brooks. I was privileged to see one of the last stand-up dates Mr. Brooks had before he abandoned that stage of his career and I don't think I've laughed more at anything in my life. I understand that he wanted to do other things and that for some, "stand-up" is merely a means to an end. Still, the other night reminded me of how good he was on a stage in front of a live audience and made me wish he was still doing it. There was a time when we eagerly watched for him to turn up on a talk show because he was always funny and, amazingly, he usually had something that was utterly fresh and original. I described my favorite in this posting some time ago here.
The last few days also got me to thinking: There's a videotape that makes the rounds of most of Brooks's talk show appearances when he used to do the rough equivalent of stand-up comedy. The original source of this tape is said to be Albert's own personal copy which he dubbed for friends who pestered him into it. All the copies I've ever seen are copies of copies of copies of copies, etc. They're so fuzzy that you can't even be sure it's Albert Brooks in there. It could be Myron Cohen.
Does anyone reading this have a decent videotape or DVD or anything of those appearances?