IStock Photo 1318031 © Nathan Watkins

In 1958, a 39-year-old Armenian-American named Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian wasn’t looking to create a comedy classic. He was just experimenting with a tape recorder in Beverly Hills, California. He’d spent $190 of his last $200 on the device, a V-M variable-speed. Setting the tape speed at 1/2, he recorded himself improvising songs about witch doctors, birds, and chipmunks. Played back at normal speed, his tapes produced a distinctive, high-pitched voice. Little did he realize that the very next year he would be the first in a long line of artists—from Bill Cosby to Peter Schickele to the cast of “The Daily Show”—to win a Grammy for Best Comedy Album.

Bagdasarian—known then by his stage name, David Seville—had 10 dollars left to his name. But he also had in pocket an instant Christmas classic, “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late).” Alvin and the Chipmunks were born (His hit “Witch Doctor” would also come out that year).

His timing was perfect. The following year, the 2-year-old National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences inaugurated the only peer-presented awards for music—musical comedy included. On the night of the first Grammy Awards, Bagdasarian’s “The Chipmunk Song” outpaced all other nominees, going home with 3 awards: Best Comedy Performance, Best Engineered Record (non-classical), and Best Children’s Recording.

The Grammy Award for comedy has a twisted history, seemingly changing in response to specific recipients or current events. Starting out as “Best Comedy Performance” (1959), today it is known as “Best Comedy Album.” In most years, both musical and spoken performances have been eligible, but from 1994 to 2003, after a 4-year winning streak from Peter Schickele for his P.D.Q. Bach recordings, the award was given solely for spoken word—until the category requirement was suddenly reversed in 2004, allowing “Weird Al” Yankovic to win for his musical album, Poodle Hat.

A number of comedy Grammy-winners have enjoyed amazing success, including taking home multiple awards. The artist with the most consecutive wins is Bill Cosby, who from 1965 to 1970 won 6 Grammys for Best Comedy Performance or Recording. Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and George Carlin have also had multi-year winning streaks.

Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Nichols, and Mel Brooks—all recipients of the Grammy for Best Comedy Album—have each won a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony, and an Academy Award. Furthermore, Goldberg and Nichols are 2 of only 6 people to win a Grammy, an Emmy, a Tony, an Oscar, and a Golden Globe. The other 4 are Marvin Hamlisch, Audrey Hepburn, John Gielgud, and Rita Moreno.

But some recipients are not so lucky. In 1963, Vaughn Meader won Best Comedy Album for The First Family, a recording of impersonations of President John F. Kennedy and family. On November 22nd of that year, Kennedy was assassinated. Lenny Bruce famously summed up the Grammy-winner's predicament that night with his opening joke: “...Vaughn Meader is screwed.” Nearly every store in America pulled Meader's record from its shelves, and his live shows were unilaterally canceled. Battling unemployment, he went on to struggle with drug addiction before finding a late career as a bluegrass/country singer.

The awardees' demographics may be sliced many different ways. Here are a few:

Since 1959, only 4 women have received the award: Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Elaine May, and Jo Stafford. The odds that an artist winning the Grammy for Best Comedy Album is female are 1 in 14.75. The odds, by contrast, that an artist winning the Grammy for Best Comedy Album is male are 1 in 1.07, or 93 percent.

Six black artists have won the award: Chris Rock (3 times), Bill Cosby (7 times), Richard Pryor (5 times), Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Murphy, and Flip Wilson. That makes the odds that an artist winning the Grammy for Best Comedy Album is black 1 in 3.28.

The full list of Grammy Award winners can be found here.

"Every time I write a song, I keep a mental picture of a housewife with her hands in soapy water, listening to the radio. I try to figure out how to get her hands out of the dishwater to turn up the volume, to hear my song." -Ross Bagdasarian