Annamill: That's Redd Foxx you're talking about, right? (Don't forget the extra consonants.) This web site says he recorded 50 "party" records that sold 20,000,000 copies. I have one called "You Gotta Wash Your A**!"

Another maker of "party records" was Jackie "Moms" Mabley.

Lest anybody be confused, we're talking about stand-up comedy here, not music.

Naemanson: Getting back to your original question: I have no idea whether there was more or less sexual humor in the 50's than in any other era. Maybe our perception (in the US anyway) has been distorted by the fact that TELEVISION during that time was extremely puritanical. Lucy and Desi slept in separate beds (even though married people in real life usually didn't); the word "pregnant" couldn't be used (but euphemisms like "expecting" could be); toilets or bathrooms couldn't be mentioned or seen. Remember, television was a new medium, the networks were owned by the same companies that were manufacturing TV's, and they were eager to get televisions into as many households as possible. They didn't want to risk offending or even mildly embarrassing ANYONE.

My guess is that other media that weren't under such economic pressure to conform, were never so repressed.

And McCarthyism was NOT about sex. It was about COMMUNISM!