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The Firesign Theatre

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bubbas Brain (talk | contribs) at 14:02, 18 July 2006 (→Official Firesign Theatre Commercial Releases: corrected link to radio now live). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Left to right: Phil Proctor, Peter Bergman, Phil Austin, and David Ossman in 2001

The Firesign Theatre is a comedy troupe consisting of Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Philip Proctor. The troupe began as live radio performers in Los Angeles, California on radio stations KPPC and KPFK during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The name is an astrological reference: The members consist of an Aries (Austin), a Leo (Proctor), and two Sagittarians (Bergman and Ossman). The name also is intended as a pun on "Fireside Theatre," a popular radio show from the nineteen-thirties. It also puns on the "Fireside Chats" of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930's, and "firesign" was also the name for neon lights in the early 20th century .

Called "The Beatles of Comedy" by their admirers (a title that is also and somewhat more frequently applied to England's Monty Python troupe), the Firesign Theatre specialize in audio recordings, having had comparatively little presence in stage performance, television or movies. Their first four albums in particular are considered classics of recorded comedy. (Each of those four albums features a different one of the four members in a leading role.)

While their free-flowing, stream of consciousness style has the feel of improvisational comedy and may derive from improvisational processes, most of it actually is tightly scripted and memorized (a situation not unlike that of the Monty Python troupe, to whom Firesign are often compared). They have employed a writing method that demands the consent of all four members before a line can be included. Much of their work has been copyrighted under the name "4 or 5 Crazee Guys," reflecting their collective sentiment that there is a "fifth guy in the room" who actually is doing all the writing.

Because of their complexity, Firesign recordings tend to become funnier with repeated listenings as new jokes are revealed, and their high production values provide an additional layer of aesthetic interest that endears them to audiophiles. Similarly, Firesign Theatre productions take place in a satirical world with many subtle and oblique references to music, literature, politics and other aspects of pop culture which fans enjoy decoding. See A Firesign Theatre lexicon for the perplexed.

In 1972 and 1974, Straight Arrow Press published two books authored by The Firesign Theatre. These books, The Firesign Theatre's Big Book Of Plays and The Firesign Theatre's Big Mystery Joke Book, contain scholarly information, satirical introductions, and parodic histories, as well as transcriptions of many of the performances from their first seven albums. A later work, also authored by the group and published by a small press, was titled The Apocalypse Papers and was limited to an edition of only 500 copies.

The group cowrote the screenplay to the offbeat comedy Western Zachariah, released in 1971. The film was loosely inspired on the novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.

During the mid-1970s, the group more or less split in half: Firesign productions continued, but Proctor and Bergman also performed as a duo, and Austin and Ossman worked individually and together in a few stage shows and most notably in the writing and production of In the Next World, You're on Your Own. In the mid-1980s, Ossman temporarily left the group to produce shows for National Public Radio.

Their recordings through 1975 were originally released by Columbia Records and most of their current and back catalog is available from Laugh.com.

Discography

Official Firesign Theatre Commercial Releases

Non-Commercial Releases such as Radio Program Releases and Promo LPs

  • The Cassette Chronichles
    • (Rhino RM-73 - 1980)
      • (A six cassette collection of The Firesign Theatre’s presidential and campaign commentaries which aired on NPR during the 1980 election season.)
  • TV or not TV
    • (Columbia Columbia KC-32199 - 1973)
      • (an album by the team of Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman)
  • How Time Flys
    • (Columbia Columbia Kc-32411 - 1973)
      • (a “solo” album written and presented by Ossman, but with all members performing, among others)

Bibliography

  • Firesign Theatre. The Apocalypse Papers, a Fiction by The Firesign Theatre. Topeka: Apocalypse Press, 1976.

References

  • Firesign Theatre. Firesign Theatre. 19 Jan. 2006 <http://www.firesigntheatre.com/>.
  • "FIREZINE: Linques!." Firesign Theatre FAQ. 23 Jan. 2006 <http://firezine.net/faq/>.
  • Marsh, Dave, and Greil Marcus. "The Firesign Theatre." The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. 175-176.
  • Smith, Ronald L. The Goldmine Comedy Record Price Guide. Iola: Krause, 1996.

Miscellaneous

  • In September 1967 The Firesign Theatre performed an adaptation of Jorge Luis Borges's short story entitled "La Muerte y La Brujula" ("Death and the Compass") on Radio Free Oz.
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