Brother Dave Garner?

[darkcool]

I was at a friend of a friends house last night and he played this comedy LP by a guy named ( if I remember right) Brother Dave Garner. Apparently he was big in his day - went on to play Vegas. The album was entitled “Rejoice Dear Hearts”. All the guy new about him was what his dad had told him which was not much. But this cat was INSITEFUL, HIP and FUNNY!!! (I have a feeling Ray Stevens stole his shtick from this guy- but was no where NEAR as funny.) I couldn’t find anything about him in my searches. From the 50’s maybe (WAG). Anybody got a line on this guy or where I can get this album (CD) ?

Thanks

[Bear_Nenno]

Who Is This Brother Dave Gardner?

Dave Gardner’s peak of popularity was in the early 1960’s, fueled by frequent appearances on “The Tonight Show.” Brother Dave suffered a heart attack in 1983 and died in South Carolina where filming had just begun on his new movie, “Chain Gang.” For some wonderful essays on Brother Dave, be sure to visit The Brother Dave Congregation at Jimbo’s site. Here are a few quotes about the man from his album liner notes that sum up his comedic style.

From It’s Bigger Than Both Of Us

“Dave is a true son of the South, born in Columbia, Tennessee. After completing his education he followed a musical bent as a drummer/vocalist of relative note. The wild Gardner sense of humor could not remain subdued, however, and soon he was scoring with comedy bits which were so successful that he was appearing with regularity on the Jack Paar “Tonight” TV program.”

From The Very Best of Brother Dave Gardner

“The slim, cigarette-smoking comedian was sometimes given to off-color and racial humor. He frequently targeted politicians and their friends in the post-Eisenhower days, but also found ways to rework everyday miseries into colorful anecdotes.”

From Kick Thy Own Self

"Dave Gardner, talking a smooth Southern-hip-universalist line, is about as think-y as they get. Or, to put it another way, he is stimulating, relevant, pointed – all the things that true wit has always been. Gardner is more succinct about it. He flashes a huge smile, opens his big blue eyes, looks at you with this impossibly innocent face, and says, “I stir up snakes.”

From Ain’t That Weird

“In an era of comedy when practicioners of the art stand up, stand still and complain, Brother Dave’s spirit is glad.”

Here check this out too… http://www.brotherdave.com/

[Wendell_Wagner]

You’re talking about Brother Dave Gardner. He has a Greatest Routines Tape/CD available, as well as one which consists of his two first (and best) albums put together. Look at http://www.brotherdave.com for further information about him. (I’ve listened to the second of the two available tapes, and I wasn’t impressed.)

Oh, shoot. In reviewing my post, I just noticed that this is going to be a simul-post. Oh, well.

[darkcool]

If anyone visits, "Julius Caeser " comes closest to what I heard. He’s one of those either-you-get-it-or-you-don’t guys.

[Doug_Bowe]

Brother Dave came across as a Southern evangelist preacher…until he opened his mouth.
“Brothers and Sisters I want you to go out an buy my new book called ‘What Will The Preachers Do When the DEVIL is Saved?’”
His humor was train of thought. And some of it is political and time-specific. He was one of the first comics to deliver racial and “sensitive” humor to national audiences via The Jack Paar Show. Today his stuff would seem pretty passive.
He was considered hip for his time. Some of his influence can be seen in Ray Stevens.