The Alt Comedy Gift and Buying Guide
Records, books and box sets that actually exist, the indie labels behind them, and how to spend your money so more of it reaches the comedians.
The best gift for an alternative comedy fan is something made by a comedian they love: a record, a book, a box set or a ticket to a live show. This guide lists the real ones worth buying, explains which independent labels put out alt comedy, and shows you how to buy in ways that send more money to the people who made the work.
To be clear about what this page is: AltComedy.com doesn't sell anything, and nothing here is an affiliate link. We don't list prices because they change and vary by country and edition. Everything below is a real release you can find through the label, the publisher, the comedian or a normal shop, new or second-hand.
Comedy albums: vinyl, CD and digital
For a lot of alt comedians, the album was the special before streaming existed, and plenty still record them. Vinyl makes a particularly good gift. Our guide to essential alt comedy albums goes much deeper; these are the records we'd buy first.
Steve Martin, Let's Get Small
The Grammy-winning live album that captured Martin's anti-comedy at its peak. Easy to find on vinyl, new or used, and a great entry point for anyone who only knows his films.
David Cross, Shut Up You Fucking Baby!
The double album that made a rock label a home for alt comedy. Furious, political and still very funny. Read our David Cross profile.
Patton Oswalt, Werewolves and Lollipops
Oswalt at his most inventive. Sub Pop's comedy releases are generally easy to find through the label's own store.
Mitch Hedberg, Strategic Grill Locations
Hedberg's first album of perfect, strange one-liners. A gift that works for people who don't think they like stand-up.
Tig Notaro, Live
The set Notaro performed days after her cancer diagnosis, and a landmark in stand-up history. It is widely available from digital stores. See our Tig Notaro profile.
Flight of the Conchords
The songs from the HBO series, from Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Musical comedy that works for the whole family, mostly. See our Flight of the Conchords guide.
Andy Kaufman, Andy and His Grandmother
Released by the indie rock label Drag City, this album is assembled from Kaufman's own microcassette recordings: pranks, conversations and private experiments. A strange and essential document. See our Andy Kaufman profile.
Bo Burnham, Inside (The Songs)
The soundtrack to the pandemic special, released as an album and widely available. For the fan who already knows every word. See our Bo Burnham profile.
The indie labels behind alt comedy
If you want to buy from the source, these are the labels to know. Buying from a label's own store or Bandcamp page usually returns more to the artists than buying through a big marketplace.
- Sub Pop: the Seattle label best known for grunge also built one of the great comedy catalogues, with albums by David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman and Flight of the Conchords.
- Drag City: the Chicago indie label has put out records by the anti-comedian Neil Hamburger and the Andy Kaufman archive album above.
- Kill Rock Stars: the Pacific Northwest punk label has, since 2013, released albums by comedians including Cameron Esposito, Hari Kondabolu, W. Kamau Bell, Kurt Braunohler, Emily Heller and Ian Karmel.
- 800 Pound Gorilla: a comedy-only label and production company that releases albums and full specials, many of them free on YouTube.
- Comedy Dynamics: one of the biggest independent producers and distributors of comedy specials and albums, founded by Brian Volk-Weiss.
- Stand Up! Records: a long-running independent comedy label with a deep catalogue of albums.
Thinking of making a record yourself? Our guide to recording a comedy album covers the process from booking the room to choosing a label.
Books for comedy fans
Comedy memoirs and oral histories make some of the best gifts, because they tell you how the work got made. Our full list of essential alt comedy books has more. Start here.
Memoirs and essays by comedians
- Steve Martin, Born Standing Up (2007). The best book ever written about learning stand-up.
- Bob Odenkirk, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama (2022). From Mr. Show to Breaking Bad, with a lot about sketch writing.
- Maria Bamford, Sure, I'll Join Your Cult (2023). Funny and frank about mental illness and the groups she's joined.
- Hannah Gadsby, Ten Steps to Nanette (2022). The story behind the special.
- Tig Notaro, I'm Just a Person (2016). The year that produced Live.
- Patton Oswalt, Silver Screen Fiend (2015). Oswalt's years of movie obsession in the LA alt scene.
- Jacqueline Novak, How to Weep in Public (2015). Novak's funny book about depression, years before Get On Your Knees.
- Aparna Nancherla, Unreliable Narrator (2023). Essays on impostor syndrome.
History and craft
- Stewart Lee, How I Escaped My Certain Fate (2010). Full transcripts of his shows with long, footnoted commentary on how they work.
- Mike Sacks, Poking a Dead Frog (2014). Interviews with comedy writers about craft.
- Yael Kohen, We Killed (2012). An oral history of women in American comedy.
- Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, Live from New York (2002). The oral history of SNL.
- Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, Hollywood Said No! (2013). Unproduced scripts and pitches from the Mr. Show team.
Box sets and physical media
Streaming catalogues come and go; a box set stays on the shelf. Many classic alt comedy series have been released on DVD, though some editions are now out of print and easiest to find second-hand. Look for:
- Mr. Show with Bob and David: the complete series has been released on DVD. See our Mr. Show guide for what's inside.
- The Kids in the Hall: complete-series DVD sets of the original run have been issued. See our Kids in the Hall guide.
- SCTV: Shout! Factory released multi-volume DVD collections of the show.
- Monty Python's Flying Circus: complete sets have been released on DVD and Blu-ray.
- Chappelle's Show and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!: both had season and complete-series DVD releases.
Buying directly from comedians
The best way to support a comedian is to pay them directly. A few ways to do it:
- Their own website. Some comedians sell specials straight to fans. David Cross, for example, sold his 2026 special The End of the Beginning of the End on his own site before it reached YouTube.
- Bandcamp. Many comedians and small labels sell albums on Bandcamp, where artists set their own prices and keep a larger share than on most stores.
- The merch table. At a live show, buying a shirt, a poster or a record at the table is often the best-paid sale a touring comedian makes.
- Subscriptions. Patreon pages, Dropout and pay-per-special platforms like Veeps fund work that the big streamers won't.
Why it matters: streaming pays comedians very little for audio. In late 2021, Spotify removed the work of many comedians from its service amid a dispute over royalties for the writers of spoken-word recordings, which shows how thin the economics are. Our page on the business of comedy explains more.
Gift ideas by type of fan
- The newcomer: Born Standing Up and a copy of Let's Get Small.
- The sketch obsessive: the Mr. Show DVD set and Hollywood Said No!
- The British comedy fan: How I Escaped My Certain Fate and a Python box set.
- The music fan: anything from Sub Pop's comedy catalogue, or the Andy Kaufman album on Drag City.
- The aspiring comedian: Poking a Dead Frog plus our guide to starting in alt comedy.
- Anyone at all: tickets to a live show. A night at a small independent room is the most alt comedy gift there is; read about the rise of micro-venues for the kind of place to look for.
Frequently asked questions
Does AltComedy.com sell merchandise?
No. We don't sell anything and we don't use affiliate links. This page is an independent guide to albums, books and box sets you can buy from labels, publishers, comedians and ordinary retailers.
Which record labels release alternative comedy?
Sub Pop has released albums by David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman and Flight of the Conchords. Drag City has released records by Neil Hamburger and Andy Kaufman, and Kill Rock Stars has released albums by comedians including Cameron Esposito, Hari Kondabolu and W. Kamau Bell. 800 Pound Gorilla and Comedy Dynamics are the biggest comedy-only labels.
What is a good gift for a comedy fan?
A comedy album on vinyl from a comedian they love, a well-written comedy memoir like Steve Martin's Born Standing Up, or tickets to a live show at a small independent venue. A live show is often the best gift of all.
How can I support comedians directly?
Buy albums and specials from their own websites, Bandcamp pages or labels, buy merch at the table after a show, and pay for their Patreon or subscription content if they offer it. Direct purchases usually return more to the comedian than streaming does.