Looking for a good laugh while you're higher than a kite? |
Try these guys out. Phil Proctor, Phil Austin, David Austin and Peter Bergman were the leading act when it came to putting the pun in its place. AMG explains it better than me: By fusing the high-concept comic vision of Stan Freberg with the expansive studio experimentation of the Beatles, the Firesign Theatre singlehandedly dragged the comedy album into the psychedelic era. Creating densely layered montages of improvisational routines, overheard dialogue, media manipulation, commercial parodies, and sound effects, the four-man troupe devised a hallucinatory brand of surrealist comic performance and Joycean satire laced with puns, metaphors, and obscure literary allusions that redefined the very concept of recorded comedy.The also helped out many of their Columbia labelmates by adding their touch to the proceedings (The Byrds, Chad & Jeremy, for example). These first four albums are without a doubt the best they did together, with Dwarf (released this month) at the tippy top. |
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Waiting For The Electrician Or Someone Like Him |
Columbia CS-9518 | |
1/68 [UK: N/R] | |
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Temporarily Humbolt County | 9:12 | |
WC Fields Forever | 7:39 | |
Le Trent-Huit Cunegonde | 7:21 | |
![]() | Waiting For The Electrician Or Someone Like Him | 21:47 |
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How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All? |
Columbia CS-9884 | |
7/69 BB [UK: N/R] | |
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![]() How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All? | ||
Drink To Me Only With Thine Fox (Mr. Catherwood And Ensemble) | 28:27 | |
The Policemen's Brawl (Officers Bradshaw And Henderson) | ||
Yankee Doodle Came To Terms (All Fecal People's Chorus) | ||
Uber Dubbing Over Alice ('Arry 'N' Friends) | ||
You Ain't Got No Firends On The Left (Babe And The Unknown Soldiers) | ||
"We're Bringing The War Back Home!" From Babes In Khaki" (Lilly Lamont) | ||
![]() The Further Adventures Of Nick Danger | From The Archives Of The Original Firesign Theatre Radio Hour, As First Broadcast December 6, 1941 Rebroadcast Courtesy Of Loostners Bros Soap Co |
28:11 |
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Station Break¹ / Forward Into The Past¹ The Firesign Theatre (2:15) / The Firesign Theatre (6:00) Columbia 4-45052, 11/69 |
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Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers |
Columbia C-30102 | |
7/70 BB [UK: N/R] | |
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This Side | 22:16 | |
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The Other Side | 24:12 |
Note: The album was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (sci-fi)—no award was given
More about the cover art and the zodiacal interpretations @ wiki .
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I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus |
Columbia C-30737 | |
8/71 BB [UK: N/R] | |
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Side .001 | 20:55 | |
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Side .002 | 18:15 |
Note: The album was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (sci-fi)—lost to A Clockwork Orange
Radio Daze The crazy guys started their assualt on your senses on radio: Radio Free Oz on KPFK-FM (listener-supported radio in LA) in November 1966. They branched out doing surrealistic ads for Jack Poet VW. Live shows from Ash Grove lead to a Columbia contract. This album features high-lights from their radio series, Dear Friends, heard on KPFK-AM from Sept 70 to Feb 71. They split up after the 1972 album Not Insane, but reunited for three more great discs, including Everything You Know Is Wrong. During the 80s and 90s the revolving door of members contributed to new albums and a gig at NPR. All of the Dear Friends radio shows (plus others—80 hours worth) were released on a DVD set in 2010. |
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Dear Friends |
Columbia KG-31099 | |
1/72 BB [UK: N/R] | |
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Toad Away | 3:19 |
Sodom And Jubilee | 3:15 |
Freezing Mr Foster | 2:38 |
I Was A Cock-Teaser For Roosterama! | 3:05 |
Deputy Dan Has No Friends | 2:28 |
The Someday Funnies | 1:56 |
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Inqusition | 1:42 |
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The T B Guide | 5:50 |
40 Great Unclaimed Melodies! (Live From The Ash Grove 11/15/70) | 2:27 |
The Chinchilla Show | 2:39 |
Live From The Senate Bar (If You Call That Living) | 2:55 |
Minority Street | 1:11 |
Dr Whiplash | 3:24 |
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Echo Poem | 2:02 |
The Small Animal Administration | 1:54 |
The Giant Toad | 1:04 |
The TV Glide | 3:34 |
Balliol Bros | 0:45 |
Poop's Principles | 2:25 |
International Youth-Sex On Parade | 1:41 |
Brickbreaking | 2:03 |
Coal! | 3:00 |
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Duke Of Madness Motors | 1:23 |
Mark Time! | 3:52 |
Driving For Dopers | 4:29 |
Praise The Hoove! | 2:22 |
Bob's Brazerko Lounge | 0:57 |
$100.00 Ben | 3:19 |
Sleep | 1:07 |
Note: Subtitled "Some Of The Best From Their Avant-Garde Radio Religious Series"