It's actually pretty pointless to try to describe. The two plots run parallel - or rather, are twisted like rope. There was only one track, as they followed George Leroy Tirebiter, former child star, in his film High School Madness as he tried to find out who stole Morse Science High, as it gets mixed in with a Korean war movie. They topped this with their next release, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers, a parody of the teen "let's-put-on-a-show" movies of the 40s, but with their usual twists and surreal humor. Betty Jo Bialowski!** This is the point where most people became fans. The Further Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye is a parody of radio detective shows, with the hero meeting a Peter Lorre type mysterious man. I want to order a pizza to go, and no anchovies. Nick Danger (picking up ringing phone) : Nick Danger, third eye! At 4th and Drucker he turns left, at Drucker and 4th he turns right, he crosses McArthur Park & walks into a great sandstone building! ("Oh my nose!") Groping for the door, he steps inside, and climbs the 13 steps to his office. Doggedly (dogs bark) Toward his weekly meeting with. The album was successful enough for a second one, this entitled How Can You Be Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All? It really only had two cuts: the title one, a skewed look at American consumer culture and their best known piece (and comedy classic):Īnnouncer: Los Angeles. "Temporarily Humbolt County " was a bitter satire on manifest destiny, but the true genius of the album was the title track, which took up the entire second side of the album, about a traveler lost in a country where everything is confusion. They started out in radio on the west coast, but were signed with Columbia Records, and put out their first album, Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him in 1968. It never got stale, no matter how often you listened. Their work was filled with social commentary (some prescient), slapstick, anything-for-a-joke humor, and more. They would, for instance, stop to listen if they had said thing on the other side of the record, and one half of a phone conversation on one album would have the other half showing up on another. (Yes, if you know the Firesign Theater, these are as funny as "This is an Ex-parrot!")Īt their best, the Firesign theater was far ahead of its time. "You can wait here in the sitting room, or you can sit here in the waiting room.". "And you can believe me, because I never lie, and I'm always right."."What kind of chump do you take me for?" "First class."."That's just a two-bit ring from a Crackerback jox.".The Firesign Theater created more in-joke quotes than anyone except Python: What about my pickle?" and people would go off on long riff and quotes of the absurdist dialog that were their stock in trade. In the early 70s, you could say, "Wait a minute, Danger. They took the conventions of radio drama and added psychedelic sensibilities and wove it all into a dense collection of comic brilliance. The group took its name from astrology - all four members were Fire Signs* - with a nod to the old Fireside Theater radio show. They were as big a revolution in comedy as Monty Python's Flying Circus, who were starting out around the same time. They were a group of four writers/performers who started out doing radio plays and quickly graduated to records. The record was from the Firesign Theater. But after about ten minute, the group slowly became quiet, so they could catch everything being said. People were complaining that they wanted music, and that they couldn't hear what was happening, and meanwhile the party conversations went on, ignoring everything. The record supplying the music was done, and I put another one one. Members: Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Philip Proctorīack around 1970, I was at a party.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |