About Stand Up! Records

Stand Up! Records had humble beginnings as the spinoff of “-ismist recordings,” the musical labor of love created by a 20-year-old physics major in a University of Nebraska dorm room. No, Dan Schlissel would not go on to become a physicist. But he’d become a Grammy winner, and that’s awesome, too. But first, -ismist would have to become a (corn)palace of Midwestern punk, issuing Slipknot’s first recording along with numerous releases from  Killdozer, House of Large Sizes, and Season to Risk. The little label even put out Polecat’s “Saddle Creek,” such an influential single that Connor Oberst (frontman of Bright Eyes) would cop the name for his own massively popular record label.

By 1998, Schlissel was over the whole anti-Semitic Nebraska livin’, and he headed off to Minneapolis. In short order, he’d met Lewis Black, a comedy upstart and a regular on the reformatted Daily Show, now helmed by Jon Stewart. Schlissel would go on to produce and release Black’s first album, as well as six subsequent releases, three of which were nominated for Grammy’s and one of which took home the gold phonogram (because that’s the best way to listen to comedy: gold phonogram). Within months of meeting Black, Schlissel had released “Sicko,” Doug Stanhope’s second record. Comedy stole Schlissel’s blackened heart, and from the ashes of -ismist, Stand Up! Records was born.

Now boasting over 100 releases, Stand Up! is America’s top independent comedy label. Taking cues from the golden age of comedy records and the broadcloth of American humor represented by labels like Verve and Buddha, Schlissel blends them with the modern vanguard of rock labels like Sub Pop, Amphetamine Reptile, and Touch and Go. Armed with an iconic logo by no less a luminary than Shep Fairey, a stable of artists from Maria Bamford to Patton Oswalt and Greg Proops, and an award-winning producer with an award-winning beard, Stand Up!’s an unstoppable force in comedy.

A statement of our beliefs:

• Comedy is art at its highest and lowest levels. It’s a mirror that tells our difficult truths and reveals our blemished selves. Comfort is good, but challenge is better.
• Comedy comes in every flavor. We pride ourselves on a diverse roster from one-liners to revealing story-telling. We promise to bring only the best, funniest, and most thought provoking in comedy onto our recordings.
• Comedy deserves pretty. Not only do we have the best comedians on the planet, we also bring you some of the coolest art and design from every realm.
• Comedy is be collectable. We pride ourselves on limited editions, one-offs, and just plain goofy stuff, and we put as much care into those as into any of our releases.
• Vinyl is rad. Everything sounds better at 33 1/3 RPM (occasionally at 45).
• Curation is key. If you like one comic on our roster, chances are pretty good you’re going to find more to your liking. Some won’t fit the bill, but we’re happy to make recommendations.
• Political correctness, hack comedy, and polite laughter are over. STAND UP! COMEDY IS CALLING!