Coyle and Sharpe
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Coyle and Sharpe were a United States comedy duo that appeared on American radio during the early 1960s. Composed of Jim Coyle (1932–1993) and Malcolm Sharpe (1936-2020), the duo's typical format was to satirize the "vox populi" interview, with off-the-wall questions posed to passers-by in a generally deadpan style as though it were a serious interview.
Coyle and Sharpe began their comedy team in 1958 in a boarding house. In their official website Jim Coyle is described as a "benign conman who talked his way into 119 jobs by the time he was 25". Mal Sharpe. At the time of their meeting, Mal Sharpe had just graduated college and was interested in the burgeoning scene that was happening in in the San Francisco area in that time.
In 1964, they were hired by radio station KGO in San Francisco to pull pranks, or as they jokingly referred to them, "Terrorizations". The radio show was called "Coyle and Sharpe On The Loose". Shortly after these broadcasts aired, they released two 'field recordings': The Absurd Imposters (1963) and The Insane (But Hilarious) Minds Of Coyle & Sharpe (1964), which were released on the Warner Records label.
Mal Sharpe continued to do the "Man on the Street" interviews. In the year 2000, Sharpe hosted a centennial exhibit at the Whitney Museum, called "The American Century". Coyle and Sharpe were featured in the Soundworks Exhibit for this presentation.
They have one record that re-presented their seminal comedy material in 2000 from Thirsty Ear, entitled Coyle And Sharpe-Audio Visionaries.
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On television
The duo was filmed by Tennessee Ernie Ford in their famous warbler skit.
Contemporary recordings
The Absurd Imposters (1963)
Genre: Non-Music Style: Field Recording, Comedy Year: 1963 Tracklist Armored Attack 236 Selling Insects To A Clothing Store Building A Home For Gnomes The Bread Glutton Rooftop Death Dive Carpenter, Give Us Your Lunch Used Apples For Sale Confused Canadians Mutant Zebra-Eel In Paint Store Flower People Transporting Captured People
The Insane (But Hilarious) Minds Of Coyle & Sharpe (1964)
Genre: Non-Music, Folk, World, & Country Style: Comedy, Field Recording Year: 1964 Tracklist Selling Germs Wholesale 2:26 Eating People At A Death Ritual 6:35 The Household Heroine 1:51 The Human Eagle 2:36 The Great Folk Singing Hoax 3:10 Pack Rats In An Art Gallery 2:29 The Last Sleep 0:40 The Yodeler 1:42 May We Operate On Your Brain? 2:54 The Grafted Mutant Mouse 2:14 Child Maniacs Destroy Homes 5:34 The Sloppy Dentist 0:55 Maniacs In Living Hell 5:30 Rob Bank 0:18 Putting Fungus On An Infant 2:06 Santa's Secret 1:09
Further reading
- The Best of LCD: The Art and Writing of WFMU
- Pranks! (RE/Search, No. 11) Pranks!. RE/Search Publications, 1986. ISBN 0-9650469-8-2
See also
