IN THE KEY OF COMEDY was recorded live at the Metropolitan Room in NYC, with Tedd Firth on piano, Jay Leonhart on bass and Matt Wilson on drums. Quirky jazz cat Bob Dorough appears as a special guest, singing two of his own compositions, and Leonhart sings one of his own as well. The disc showcases the rare Maxwell/Myrow composition, "Twee, Tweet, Tweet," made famous by Cab Calloway and includes music by Frank Loesser, Zoe Lewis, Randy Newman, and Yip Harburg/Harold Arlen, among other composers in an eclectic group. Joan Crowe is " a slightly twisted and superbly talented chanteuse, " wrote Tom Staudter in The New York Times. Known as a risk taker for her gutsy inclination to combine jazz with other musical genres and comedy, Crowe's 2004 studio recording, BIRD ON THE WIRE, was universally praised in the jazz press. "Joan Crowe gets to the heart of a song's story. And she's funny and she's beautiful," said Michael Bourne of WBGO. "She gets the hat trick." Already an award winning, versatile performer, Joan opened for saxophonist Joe Lovano in 2002; her jazz chops have since landed her gigs at The Iridium, The Jazz Standard, Sweet Rhythm and Birdland, and led to her 2004 recording. She recently returned from a successful tour of Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam and the UK.