Will Jordan was a comedian and impersonator who is most famous for his impressions of Ed Sullivan. He actually appeared on the January 6th 1957 Sullivan show which also featured a young female comedian named Carol Burnett and the third and final appearance by some guy named Elvis Presley.
Jordan has also subsequently appeared as Sullivan in the 1983 Billy Joel Music Video of Tell Her About It and the 2003 film Down With Love.
The middle eastern character he portrays on this 45 (Sabu?) apparently inspired a character for Lenny Bruce and he was apparently a big influence for Lenny Bruce in general. The song itself is about the character going on an adventure on a Persian rug. My favorite part is near the end when he breaks character and switches to a New York accent.
Artist: Will Jordan
Label: Hanover 4529
Year: 1959
Side A: Fly Carpet Fly
Side B: Bye Bye Love
Oh yeah, though famous for his Ed Sullivan, Will Jordan loved to do the forgotten Indian boy Sabu. Also Dwight Frye and other cultish actors. Will was a huge influence on the other "sick" comedians of the day. His lone comedy album was simply called 'Ill Will," with liner notes by Hugh Hefner. It included a Hitler parody that preceded Mel Brooks, and a Frankenstein sketch done before Jonny Winters' Verve albums and monster movie routines. Through the 60's he was pretty mainstream, appearing on The Kopykats tv specials doing his excellent Bing Crosby, Groucho, Jack Benny, etc. Nice guy, too. "Bye Bye Love" was of course the Ed Sullivan parody track that was supposed to push him into the Top 40.
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