He might not be making royalties from a 2009 release, yet. At least with books, you don't get royalties until you've "earned out" your advance (ie, they keep your royalties until they've paid back the advance, after which you get them). If the label fronted the recording costs, they'd probably get paid back before he gets royalties.

Those royalty checks might be from old comedy routines being played on radio, if anyone plays comedy on radio anymore.

As I said, it'd be nice to know what they're for.