# Hamburger on the street in Mystic Conn.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980 "2007-10-17T00:49:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chrismoody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Chrismoody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chrismoody)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/1 "2007-10-17T00:49:16Z")
What does this mean? Google didn’t help me… I saw it in the Indian disease article by Cecil and also in a bunch of random blogs and stuff through google… but no origin is listed. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/2 "2007-10-17T01:02:16Z")
It’s a reference to an old Firesign Theatre quote, “there’s hamburger all over the highway in Mystic, Connecticut.” If you’re too young to remember Firesign Theatre, it’s hard to explain why this is funny. You kinda had to be there. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/3 "2007-10-17T01:05:19Z")
> [@](#): > > If you’re too young to remember Firesign Theatre, it’s hard to explain why this is funny. You kinda had to be there. And even then it might not help. I was there, and never found Firesign Theater particularly funny. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/4 "2007-10-17T01:11:07Z")
It’s from The Firesign Theatre, the legendary psychedelic comedy group. It’s a line on their early album, “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.” That same album gave us The Department of Redundancy Department, among other lines which have been repeated for over 30 years. The original line has a radio announcer saying, “and there’s hamburger all over the highway in Mystic, Connecticut.” followed by a newscaster saying, “Good morning. Those are the headlines; now the rumors behind the news.” [This site](http://www.dern.com/ng_burgr.shtml) says it was based on a real incident: > [@](#): > > which in turn was based on an actual highway accident involving a meat delivery truck. More to the point, the album in set in an alternate world in which the U.S. is under a dictatorship (remember that Nixon was President and the Vietnam War was going on) and the citizens were starving. Most of the first half of the album is full of surrealistic food references. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/5 "2007-10-17T01:12:08Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] And even then it might not help. I was there, and never found Firesign Theater particularly funny. [/QUOTE] Then you weren’t there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/6 "2007-10-17T03:19:36Z")
We’ll be Hieronymus Bosch in Jest a Minute, but Faust . . . Shoes For Industry! Shoes For The Dead! With counter-subversive educational priorities the way they are today, it really helps our side to re-enlist. So wake up, and look at your only _real_ option: Tirebiter for Dogkiller, Sector R. Paid for by Morse Science Communist Martyrs, friends of Leroy Tirebiter. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/7 "2007-10-17T03:44:45Z")
Rocky Rococo at your cervix! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/8 "2007-10-17T17:26:09Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] More to the point, the album in set in an alternate world in which the U.S. is under a dictatorship (remember that Nixon was President and the Vietnam War was going on) and the citizens were starving. Most of the first half of the album is full of surrealistic food references. [/QUOTE] I don’t know if everyone was starving, but George sure had a case of the munchies, probably from buying dope from Ralph Spoilsport at the end of the previous album. Poor Cambridge pizza guys had to deal with “pizza to go, no anchovies” orders for a long time back when Nick Danger came out. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/9 "2007-10-17T18:44:30Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] Rocky Rococo at your cervix! [/QUOTE] With this line you’ve managed to make [this pizza](http://www.rockyrococo.com/) even more unappetizing, and I didn’t think that was possible. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/10 "2007-10-17T19:18:37Z")
We’re all bozos on this bus. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/11 "2007-10-17T19:26:55Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Poor Cambridge pizza guys had to deal with “pizza to go, no anchovies” orders for a long time back when Nick Danger came out. [/QUOTE] And they’d never deliver to the hills after curfew. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/12 "2007-10-17T19:28:33Z")
This could go on for a LONG time. For those of us who remember it, Firesign Theater probably generated more quotable non-sequitors and catch phrases than anything before or since. Now go upstairs and help Porcelain make the beds. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/13 "2007-10-17T19:34:05Z")
What are you people doing in my car? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/14 "2007-10-17T19:41:45Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] This could go on for a LONG time. For those of us who remember it, Firesign Theater probably generated more quotable non-sequitors and catch phrases than anything before or since. Now go upstairs and help Porcelain make the beds. [/QUOTE] Coming, Mother! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/15 "2007-10-17T20:05:05Z")
He’s so good with the help, Fred. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/16 "2007-10-17T20:33:02Z")
Don’t eat with your hands, son. Use your entrenching tool. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/17 "2007-10-17T20:43:46Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] He’s so good with the help, Fred. [/QUOTE] Stop calling me Fred, my name is Adolph! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/18 "2007-10-17T21:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] What are you people doing in my car? [/QUOTE] The Foxtrot! ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/19 "2007-10-18T03:58:44Z")
Look! The Steam-powered pushover! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980/20 "2007-10-18T05:16:40Z")
It goes in and out like anything! (A quote from Eeyore, actually.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamburger-on-the-street-in-mystic-conn/422980.md?page=2)