I saw them live onstage a number of times - The Principal of More Science High School's speech was always a high point if they performed it, with lots of audience participation. Marvelous shows!
They had some poor sap of a folk singer open for them once, and when the curtain went up, he sees the first two rows are filled with Firesigners with Bozo noses and other accoutrements of Bus Riders, and he almost couldn't speak for a second. Then he said, "I sure hope you all aren't here for me!"
They would do local radio interviews leading up to the shows, and at one point, they were on KDKB in Phoenix, a counterculture rock station, riffing off of everything they could think of, and signed off with a salute that became a local expression for the station, "That's Krazy Dog, Krazy Boy, at 93.3 FUMMMM, or 1510 if you am. And we am!"
Vera Ellen up a post or so coulda been "working" in Nick Danger's office: "My secretary was asleep on the floor, her long, beautiful gams pinioned under the couch."
I mentioned their interview with Susskind earlier, it was a surreal and marvelous moment of improv.
"It sounds so dangerous. Could you go for me?" "If you put on a little weight." "I'll wait forever!" "Wait here." "Waiter?" "Oui, monsieur?" Still cracks me up.
I was probably 10 when I first heard Firesign (thank you Dartmouth Regional Library, Woodlawn Branch!), it took another decade to get half the jokes and references but it was worth the effort.
If you're a Firesign fan who hasn't heard much of the Goon Show, it would be a good idea to seek them out. I'd always heard of the Goons as an influence on Beyond the Fringe, Monty Python, and those funny guys the Beatles, but after hearing some of their full shows it was obvious how much of an influence they were on FT as well. And of course Peter Bergman worked with Spike Milligan around 1965. Google will direct you to their website, and every month there's a free MP3 of a complete show from the 1950s.
The Goons and FT were both products of radio, with an anarchic glee that would be apparent in just about every word out their mouths. The Goons were amazingly influential, and still sound dangerous today, but FT had their own brand of weird, patented it, practically. One of my favorite things they did was to connect some of their albums by little bits of dialog on one record that would would be answered on another. The album cover for "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers", by Robert Grossman, is one of the greatest covers ever, a work of brilliant caricature. Even their short films were great!
25 comments:
You can wait here in the sitting room, or sit here in the waiting room...
hoorah. we are all bozos on THIS bus. honk!
Holy Mudhead, Mackerel! More Science High, it's, it's disappeared!
Don't follow the balls when they make the street.
Come in out of the cornstarch and dry your mukluks by the fire.
I saw them live onstage a number of times - The Principal of More Science High School's speech was always a high point if they performed it, with lots of audience participation. Marvelous shows!
They had some poor sap of a folk singer open for them once, and when the curtain went up, he sees the first two rows are filled with Firesigners with Bozo noses and other accoutrements of Bus Riders, and he almost couldn't speak for a second. Then he said, "I sure hope you all aren't here for me!"
They would do local radio interviews leading up to the shows, and at one point, they were on KDKB in Phoenix, a counterculture rock station, riffing off of everything they could think of, and signed off with a salute that became a local expression for the station, "That's Krazy Dog, Krazy Boy, at 93.3 FUMMMM, or 1510 if you am. And we am!"
Vera Ellen up a post or so coulda been "working" in Nick Danger's office: "My secretary was asleep on the floor, her long, beautiful gams pinioned under the couch."
I mentioned their interview with Susskind earlier, it was a surreal and marvelous moment of improv.
They were just plain the best.
David lives just up the road -- we see him around sometimes. Very tragic when his talented son died a few years back.
David co-hosted a short-lived local radio show: 'Live from the Island' along with local celebrity Jim Freeman. George Tirebiter was a regular 'guest'.
Ah, the boost you get from Loosners.
Who am us anyway?
I could really go for a Bear Whiz beer right about now.
Roll up your sleeve and bend over!
That's shoes for industry.
*sigh* -- all the good quotes are taken.
I say leave it, or live with it.
"It sounds so dangerous. Could you go for me?"
"If you put on a little weight."
"I'll wait forever!"
"Wait here."
"Waiter?"
"Oui, monsieur?"
Still cracks me up.
How about some of that old Phillipino Creamy, coming in shorts & quarts?
I was probably 10 when I first heard Firesign (thank you Dartmouth Regional Library, Woodlawn Branch!), it took another decade to get half the jokes and references but it was worth the effort.
*sigh* -- all the good quotes are taken.
Don't worry about it, care to join us in a quick game of spin the pickle?
...or tubs of slaw
Yeah, gimme two!
Sorry, only one tub per family.
"We're going to Greece!"
"And swim the English Channel?"
He's no fun, he fell right over.
If you're a Firesign fan who hasn't heard much of the Goon Show, it would be a good idea to seek them out. I'd always heard of the Goons as an influence on Beyond the Fringe, Monty Python, and those funny guys the Beatles, but after hearing some of their full shows it was obvious how much of an influence they were on FT as well. And of course Peter Bergman worked with Spike Milligan around 1965. Google will direct you to their website, and every month there's a free MP3 of a complete show from the 1950s.
The Goons and FT were both products of radio, with an anarchic glee that would be apparent in just about every word out their mouths. The Goons were amazingly influential, and still sound dangerous today, but FT had their own brand of weird, patented it, practically. One of my favorite things they did was to connect some of their albums by little bits of dialog on one record that would would be answered on another. The album cover for "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers", by Robert Grossman, is one of the greatest covers ever, a work of brilliant caricature. Even their short films were great!
http://easydreamer.blogspot.com/2009/10/dont-crush-lex10-hand-me-pliers.html
Post a Comment