MUD WILL BE FLUNG TONIGHT  -  BETTE MIDLER

YEAR:  1985
LABEL:  Atlantic
TRACK LISTING:  Taking Aim,  Fit or Fat/"Fat As I Am",  Marriage Movies Madonna & Mick,  Vickie Eydie "I'm Singing Broadway",  Coping,  The Unfettered Boob,  Otto Titsling,  Why Bother?, Soph
IMPRESSIONS:  When you think of Bette Midler, you think of a lot of things . . . but I'll bet "stand-up comedian" isn't one of them.  Which is a shame because this, her one and only stand-up album, is a gem.  I don't know why she only did this once; maybe because this was before her late 80's "renaissance" when she became a really big noise in music and movies and she just didn't have time to cram "stand-up comic" into the mix.  But actually, "MUD WILL BE FLUNG TONIGHT" can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best stand-up comedy albums you can name.  Sure, Bette breaks out into musical numbers quite often but this is still a stand-up comedy routine where the music is part of the stand-up.  This was the height of MTV and Bette pokes fun at her appearance in the "We Are the World" video and her fellow celebrities as well as the fact that she had been on MTV before . . . once.  She refers to her video for "Beast of Burden" with Mick Jagger and, since she would soon make MANY videos appearing on MTV (not least of which the future mega-hit "Wind Beneath My Wings"), this album gives a unique insight into the post-70's Bette who hadn't quite morphed into the Bette Midler we know today.  but truly, any fan of stand-up comedy owes it to him or herself to check out this hilarious album.  If you can find it.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Taking Aim,  Marriage Movies Madonna & Mick,  Coping, The Unfettered Boob,  Otto Titsling,  Why Bother?,  Soph
FACT SHEET:  MUD WILL BE FLUNG TONIGHT is Bette Midler's first and only stand-up comedy album.  The routine was written by Bette Midler with "additional material" by Jerry Blatt, Frank Mula, Lenny Ripps, Marc Shaiman, Charlene Seeger and Bruce Vilanch.  The album was recorded at Budd Friedman's Improvisation in Los Angeles, California on April 30 - May 1, 1985.  The "Otto Titsling" song would appear almost unaltered a couple years later in the feature film "BEACHES".