Urban Encounters with a Cosmic Sense of Humor
01/20/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"James P. Coyle and Mal Sharpe are men whose cosmic sense of humor was well ahead of the time in which they instigated these humorous urban encounters. In the early '60s Coyle and Sharpe spent their days on the streets of San Francisco armed with mic and taperecorder posing ridiculous situations to the people they met. The resulting interviews are still incredibly funny - they have withstood the test of time. This CD is only a small portion of their archive, but a representative sample. My favorite? "3ism" a classic in which they recruit a man waiting for the 6 Masonic bus to sacrifice his individuality and become their "3ist" partner "now and forever more". "You have come into our destiny, and henceforth you shall remain with us". The man plays along wonderfully as they join him on the bus and ask him "what's for dinner?" If you enjoy this CD check out Coyle and Sharpe "On the Loose" which was released 5 years ago."
Not quite what you'd expect, but in the positive sense.
Andrew Gilmore | Philadelphia | 06/09/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I recieved this CD on my birthday last year. It seemed like your typical Allen Funt-type man-on-the-street pranks. But once I actually listened to it, I was delightfully surprised. It IS Funt-like in concept, but part of what makes it work is that there are two pranksters who work as a team, instead of one person. Funt concepts with the comic sensibility of Bob and Ray, or, perhaps, the wry subtlety of Mark Twain, if you stretch it. I wish there were more CDs like this available. Coyle and Sharpe just go out into the street with tape recorder and mic and play mental badminton with their victims! It's weird, but hilarious. The "Maniacs in Living Hell" cut is outstanding, as Sharpe offers a job picking up objects in a snake-(and bat)-pit to a young man who only objects to having to cook his own lunch. He MUST have been playing along, because, as dumb as human beings admittedly are, I can't imagine anyone beleiving something so crazy! one warning though: if you listen to this CD, you'll never trust anybody you meet on the street again."
Coyle & Sharp
petearmenini | Rocky River, OH USA | 01/27/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Coyle & Sharp, two normal-seeming white guys in conservative suits and ties, went into the streets of San Francisco in the early 1960's with a tape recorder, a microphone each, and a folder of releases, and from this simple premise, all Hell breaks loose. After brainstorming over coffee in the morning, they'd hit the streets, pulling hilarious pranks on unsuspecting pedestrians. Best targets seemed to be vacationing Brits, whose stuffy incomprehension made them ideally suited for fictional cults, offers to submit to mind control, and polite, persistent demands that each victim of their pranks define precisely how gullible (or not) he or she is. What becomes clear, after a second listen, is that the fun here is not in the premise of the pranks, because any disgrunted undergraduate can riff prodigiously along the lines of an Alan Funt. The fun of Sharpe & Coyle is that they had a peculiar mastery of their own brand of verbal tomfoolery. It's a combination of fake erudition and matter-of-fact improvisation. There is something slightly dated about the material now, but when this stuff works, it works so well that if you aren't laughing, you aren't human. Pete sez, give it a try."
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1