# Remind me what stuff is on what Firesign Theater album **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919 "2005-06-12T02:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/1 "2005-06-12T02:07:40Z")
I come to you, cap in hand, to ask what stuff is on what Firesign Theater album. There was a sale at a local record shop today of FT CDs, so I picked up _We’re All Bozos on this Bus_ and _How Can You Be Two Places at Once when You’re Not Anywhere At All_. (I had pretty well memorized the former in college, and wanted the second for “Nick Danger.”) Now that Pianola and Banjo are reaching a Certain Age, I need to brace them with the Classics. But it’s been soooo long since I’ve sitten down with a reefer five feet long and all the FT albums… ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/2 "2005-06-12T02:25:25Z")
[http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Firesign%20Theatre:1927000131](http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Firesign%20Theatre:1927000131) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/3 "2005-06-12T03:42:26Z")
Oh, I don’t want people Googling websites. I want witty SDMB banter, accompanying a _precis_ of each album. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/4 "2005-06-12T04:25:28Z")
**Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him** : “Nice paisley horsey! Give the nice horsey some sugar cubes!” **How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere at All** : “What a groove! A tropical paradise!” **Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers** : “Ah, but it’s really _great_ shit, Mrs. Preskey!” **I Think We’re All Bozos on This Bus** : “You broke the president!” **Dear Friends** : “Isn’t that byooteeful? It’s by a great eye-talian composer.” **Not Insane** : “That duck was never meant to be a sailor!” **The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra** : “Why, without your clothes, you’re naked, Miss Dudley!” **Everything you Know Is Wrong** : “They’re in…_everybody’s_ eggs.” **In the Next World You’re On Your Own** : “Eat fascist death, flaming media pigs!” **Just Folks** : “If you char a caterpillar, they get real stiff.” **Fighting Clowns** : Sausages with eyes. **The Three Faces of Al** : “Oh you poor man. Are you selling brooms made by the insane?” **Eat or Be Eaten** : “You choose death? Wise. But first, a little chi-chi!” **Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death** : “We own the idea of the idea of America.” **Boom Dot Bust** : “Billville: the town that nature forgot to hate.” **Bride of Firesign** : “That Louise Wong’s got a homepage she can hardly compress her yahoos on!” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/5 "2005-06-12T04:29:00Z")
Sorry, a couple of those aren’t 100% accurate. But it was all off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/6 "2005-06-12T04:38:57Z")
And what do you think they took? Oil from Canada, gold from Mexico, geese from the neighbor’s back yard, boom boom. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/7 "2005-06-12T16:22:44Z")
I only hope that this generation has the ability to laugh and think at the same time. It would be a shame to have this great humor lost to the Age of Ignorance. If you’re going to introduse newbies to the sweet dementia that is FT, for my money, the two essentials are **Don’t Crush That Dwarf** and **Giant Rat of Sumatra**. DCTD was my first exposure, and absolutely got me hooked! These two albums contain some of their finest material, such as **Porgy and Mudhead in High School Madness** (“Aw heck no! As soon as I graduate, I’m gonna take off my shoes, sit in a tree, and learn to play the flute!”) and, of course, **The Giant Rat of Sumatra** (“Would you show her up, please?”“Oi’d be happy to…MR. STONES WILL SEE YOU NOW, YA CHEAP WHORE!!!”).DCTD also has excellent examples of one of FT’s signature bits–playing out the same scene from two different PsOV on different parts of the album (or even on different albums–the “pizza to go with no anchovies” bits from DCTD and How Can You Be…). Great stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/8 "2005-06-12T18:54:17Z")
Excellent, thank you, people! So I’ll need **Don’t Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers** in order to get Porgy and Mudhead, and I definitely want **Everything You Know is Wrong** for “Benjamin Franklin…the only President of the United States…who was never…President of the United States.” ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/9 "2005-06-12T19:18:56Z")
“And remember; Abraham Lincoln didn’t die in vain, no, Abraham Lincoln died in Washington D.C.” ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/10 "2005-06-12T20:10:45Z")
There are also a few movies, one of which was released on DVD. **J Men Forever** takes parts of Republic serials from the 1940s(Captain Marvel, Captain America, Spy Smasher, and Captain Cody) and puts new dialogue to them with new footage to connect it all together. I first saw it on USA’s Night Flight when I was a kid. It was funnier to me back then, but still has amusement left to it for me now. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/11 "2005-06-12T20:15:19Z")
Actually, the best entry point is **How Can You Be Two Places at Once** , especially, side two: **The Further Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye**. Nick Danger is the most accessible FT cut and the best one to hook a newbie. ---
**Author:** ![DirtyHippy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtyhippy/32/107_2.png) [@DirtyHippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirtyHippy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/12 "2005-06-12T21:43:31Z")
She’s no fun, she fell right over… wait a second, didn’t I say that on the other side of the album? Which has less relevance on CD, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/13 "2005-06-12T22:09:34Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > There are also a few movies, one of which was released on DVD. > > **J Men Forever** takes parts of Republic serials from the 1940s(Captain Marvel, Captain America, Spy Smasher, and Captain Cody) and puts new dialogue to them with new footage to connect it all together. > > I first saw it on USA’s Night Flight when I was a kid. It was funnier to me back then, but still has amusement left to it for me now. Rocket Jock rules!![ul] [li]“Now let’s see, I wanna turn on, I wanna go up, and I wanna go fast. I hope this works or I’ll run into my car…Oh my God, I’m FLYINNNNNG!”[/li][/ul] Which I always thought was funnier than MST’s “nipple nipple tweak tweak” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/14 "2005-06-12T22:11:39Z")
So where do I find “Young Guy, Motor Detective” ? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/15 "2005-06-12T22:21:56Z")
“Bear Whiz Beer. It’s in the water … that’s why it’s yellow.” Yet another reason to get **Everything you Know Is Wrong**. You know, I’m still convinced that the _real_ name of Coors is Bear Whiz Beer. And who can forget the exciting end to the Giant Rat of Sumatra: “No, no … Violins, doctor, _violins!!!_.” ---
**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:** [June 12, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/16 "2005-06-12T23:09:05Z")
“Los AnGeles. He walks again by night.” “I wonder where Ruth is\>” “That’s just a two-bit ring from a crackerback jox.” “Wait a minute, Danger. What about my pickle?” ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/17 "2005-06-12T23:19:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Los AnGeles. He walks again by night.” > > “I wonder where Ruth is\>” > > “That’s just a two-bit ring from a crackerback jox.” > > “Wait a minute, Danger. What about my pickle?” “You’re lucky you still have your brown paper bag, small change!” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/18 "2005-06-12T23:32:02Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > So where do I find “Young Guy, Motor Detective” ? On **Not Insane**. And allow me to slip in a plug for Phil Austin’s solo effort, **Roller Maidens from Outer Space** , which is as brilliant and dense as classic Firesign. Proctor & Bergman’s **TV or Not TV** is similarly fantastic. Dave Ossman’s solo offering from the same period, the sci-fi epic **How Time Flys** [sic.], is wonderful, too, but more subtle and laid back in its pleasures. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remind-me-what-stuff-is-on-what-firesign-theater-album/307919/19 "2005-06-13T04:44:54Z")
My memory is very poor but when I was a teen used to listen to the Oidvoid Radio Network play cuts from Monty P, National Lampoon, Firesign T and the Great Zappa. Who did what is now a 😕