#1 Comedy Record of All Time!

“What It Was, Was Football” is a monologue by actor-comedian Andy Griffith. This is the bit that put Any Griffith on the map. It explains college football from a country boys perspective who had never seen a football as seen by a naive country preacher who attends the game by accident and is entirely puzzled by it.

At Griffith’s request, Milton Alderfer (who was only 19 at the time), recorded and produced the original master tape in Greensboro, North Carolina. The master was then sent to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and in 1953 was mass-produced by Colonial Records. Nearly 50,000 copies of the record were sold quickly. Capitol Records took over distribution and ultimately sold nearly 800,000 copies. It also shot into the Top 10 in the Billboard record charts, peaking at #9 in February 1954. “What It Was…” (which remains one of the biggest-selling comedy records of all time) was instrumental in launching Griffith’s career in television, stage, and film.

Griffith made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954, in large part due to the popularity of the record