A comedy album is an audio recording of comedic material from a comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 or group of comedians, usually performed either live or in a studio

Studio

A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...

. Comedy albums may feature skit

Sketch comedy

A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...

s, humorous songs, and/or live recording of stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...

 performances, but the most common type of comedy albums are stand up

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...

, and are often made in conjunction with a DVD with recorded video of a particular comedy show.

Some of the earliest albums recorded for popular commercial distribution were comedy albums. For example, various collections of humorous short stories recited by Cal Stewart

Cal Stewart

Cal Stewart was a pioneer in vaudeville and early sound recordings. He is best remembered for his comic monologues in which he played "Uncle Josh" Weathersby, a resident of a mythical New England farming town called "Punkin Center."Born in Charlotte County, Virginia in 1856, Stewart spent his...

 were released by Edison Records

Edison Records

Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...

 as early as 1898.

A number of record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

s specialize in the comedy genre, including AST Records

AST Records

ASpecialThing Records is a stand-up comedy record label started by Matt Belknap , creator of aspecialthing.com, an internet message board especially popular with west coast comedy fans...

, Comedy Central Records

Comedy Central Records

Comedy Central Records is a record label founded by Jack Vaughn and Comedy Central that puts out comedy albums by comedians that have appeared on their network....

, Partee Records

Partee Records

Partee Records was a daughter label of Stax Records which was specialised in comedy music....

, Stand Up! Records

Stand Up! Records

Stand Up! Records is an American independent comedy record label founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota by former -ismist Recordings label head Dan Schlissel...

, and Stereolaffs

Stereolaffs

Stereolaffs is the comedy record label run by Jon Wurster and Tom Scharpling of the longform radio comedy duo Scharpling and Wurster.-Discography:*Rock, Rot and Rule *Chain Fights, Beer Busts and Service with a Grin...

.