I guess I knew about this somewhere in the rarely-visited recesses of my mind but the Library of Congress has this thing called the National Recording Registry which — well, it'll be simpler if I just steal a description off its website…
Each year, the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress chooses 25 recordings showcasing the range and diversity of American recorded sound heritage in order to increase preservation awareness. The diversity of nominations received highlights the richness of the nation's audio legacy and underscores the importance of assuring the long-term preservation of that legacy for future generations. Currently, there are 600 works/titles on the National Recording Registry.
I'm not sure if some of the million-selling records in it are in any danger of not being available for future generations but I guess it's a noble program. Today, they added another batch of records to the list and one of them is This is a Recording, Lily Tomlin's first record. It's the thirteenth comedy album to be inducted (I guess that's the right word) and the first one by a female.
There are 650 records in the National Recording Registry and it strikes me that there oughta be more than 13 comedy records in there but the other twelve aren't bad choices. There are records by Tom Lehrer, Mort Sahl, Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks, Bob Newhart, Stan Freberg, Vaughn Meader, Bill Cosby, The Firesign Theater, George Carlin, Groucho Marx, Richard Pryor and Steve Martin. If it were up to me, I'd add in records by Robert Klein, Mike Nichols & Elaine May, Jonathan Winters, Shelley Berman, Allan Sherman, Monty Python and about forty others.
But if I had to pick just thirteen, it's not a bad thirteen…though I don't think Groucho's record is there because it's a great record but because it's Groucho. The whole list of 13 is here for your inspection and the link above will show you all 650 honored records.