New for 2021:
End of an era... and the beginning of another!

If you're reading this, you are probably aware that the site you are viewing now has a new domain name.

After over 20 years of service, the original co-webmasters of firesigntheatre.com are handing the site reins over to Phil Proctor's daughter Kristin Campbell, and official Firesign archivist & shipping monkey Taylor Jessen. They've done a great job on site redesign.

This site now becomes an adjunct to the official Firesign site, and a place where content built up over 20+ years can still be viewed. As time and opportunity permits, we will hopefully refresh this site with updates and a bit of redesigning as well.

For more details, see this press release.

New for 2021:
FIRESIGN THEATRE LIVE AT THE MAGIC MUSHROOM!
(Updated 1/4/2022)

NEW! In psychedelic 1967, between their first and second albums, Firesign wrote a dozen original half-hour radio plays in full Goon Show mode, with puns on overdrive. Performed in front of a live audience at the Magic Mushroom club on Ventura Blvd. in Los Angeles, they were simulcast on KRLA during Peter Bergman's Radio Free Oz show. Considered lost for half a century, these mythical broadcasts are finally being officially released from the best available recordings, fully remastered and with historical appreciations from original members of Firesign and their archivist. So break off a hunk of the old 'shroom! It's like having the '60s in the palm of your mind...

48-page paperback book with DVD-ROM, including all 11 of the surviving Magic Mushroom plays, plus original promos and the 10/29/1967 episode of Radio Free Oz ("The Bridey Murphy Come As You Were Halloween Party"). Remastered audio, never-before-published photos and ephemera from the archives, and brand new illustrations by Mahendra Singh!

Price: $35 for domestic orders, $45 for International orders.

CLICK HERE to order from the Firesale Store.

STAND UP! RECORDS PRESENTS THE FIRST NEW FIRESIGN THEATRE RECORD IN 35 YEARS, “ DOPE HUMOR OF THE SEVENTIES ”

Legendary comedy group The Firesign Theatre and Stand Up! Records present a new double-LP compilation, DOPE HUMOR OF THE SEVENTIES: a two-record set including 83 minutes of previously uncollected funny bits from the Firesign Theatre’s notorious “Dear Friends” era of freeform Los Angeles radio broadcasting,1970-1972.

The new release includes soon-to-be-classic chunks of surrealism like “Pluto Water”, “Shakespeare Sunday Sunday”, and “Bob Dog Dog & Dog Hot Dog Son & Foot Tires”.

DOPE HUMOR OF THE SEVENTIES is an extremely belated sequel to Firesign’s 1972 double-LP “Dear Friends”—a freewheeling demolition derby of old-time radio tropes seen through the subversive lens of Nixon-era Los Angeles freeform radio. The record will be Firesign’s first new vinyl release since “Eat or Be Eaten” in 1985.

DOPE HUMOR OF THE SEVENTIES was curated from the giant book/DVD reissue “Duke of Madness Motors”, released in 2011, containing all 80 hours of radio shows from Firesign’s L.A. radio epoch on one data DVD with a 108-page book.

The LP contains 34 tracks spread over four record sides. Meanwhile the download version of the record is greatly expanded, and includes 46 tracks totaling two hours 22 minutes. Customers who buy the download directly from Stand Up! Records will also get a 56-page PDF which includes scans of scripts used in the original radio broadcasts. The Firesign Theatre, whose founding members were Philip Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Philip Proctor, came together on KPFK-FM in 1966 on Bergman’s program Radio Free Oz. During their time together they released over 35 albums, including “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers”, called “the greatest comedy album ever made” by Rolling Stone, described by the New York Times as “a multifaceted work of almost Joycean complexity,” and now part of the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry of historic American sound.

“So of course we decided to negate all those accolades and bona fides and just call the new record Dope Humor of the Seventies,” says producer Taylor Jessen, who will never work in this town again.

Called “The Beatles of Comedy” by The Library of Congress, the four-man Firesign Theatre wrote and performed together for over forty years, but their early studio work (1968-1975) for Columbia Records remains their best known and most influential. Innumerable phrases from their albums have entered the English lexicon: What’s all this brouhaha? More Sugar! What you don’t mean won’t hurt you! Not Insane! Forward Into the Past! Shoes for Industry! Your brain may no longer be the boss!

The iconic comic voices of the counter-culture generation, Firesign chronicled pop, politics, media, and technology in a tense one listener called “the Future Inevitable.” The Firesign Theatre has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut, Ken Kesey and Bob Dylan in their original use of language, and to the surrealists in their psychedelic story-telling methods, including the time-and-space altering concept of “channel-switching.” The original albums, intricately produced in multi-track recording, were designed for multiple listenings and meanings—an audio Theatre of the Absurd. The Firesign Theatre’s Peter Bergman passed away in 2012. Philip Austin died in 2015. Remaining Firesigns Phil Proctor and David Ossman have worked since then to preserve the long heritage of their partnership. Their classic scripts were gathered in the book Marching to Shibboleth in 2013. All their major albums are still in print, and two matching volumes preserve their early radio plays (Exorcism In Your Daily Life) and stage plays (Profiles in Barbeque Sauce). A fourth book, Anythynge You Want To, captures three decades of variations of their epic Shakespeare send-up, plus an extensively annotated “scholarly” historical account of the adventures of Ye Olde Firesygne Theatre from 1600 to 2000.

Firesign’s Philip Proctor has written an autobiography, Where’s My Fortune Cookie, and co-stars in the podcast and YouTube series “Boomers on a Bench” with comedy partner Jamie Alcroft. Multi-hyphenate David Ossman recently published his second novel, The Flying Saucer Murder Case, and second memoir, Fighting Clowns of Hollywood, featuring a collection of Firesign performance scripts 1979-1981. Several new Firesign reissues are due in 2021.

DOPE HUMOR OF THE SEVENTIES is available for order directly from www.StandUpRecords.com and from better record shops everywhere. Images are available for download from Firesign’s Website, www.FiresignTheatre.com. The latest Firesign news can be found at Firesign’s Website and on the Firesign Theatre’s Facebook page. The members of Firesign are available for interviews—please direct inquiries to orders@firesigntheatrelegacy.com
BUY IT HERE

It was twenty years ago today
Four or Five crazy guys started to play,
They've been going in and out of style,
But they're guaranteed to raise a smile,
So may I introduce to you,
The act you've known for all these years,
Sergeant Pepp-- The Firesign Theatre!
On October 27, 2001, "Fools in Space" debuted on XM Satellite Radio.
For the first time, here's the "Best Of" the first two-hour show.

More weirdness at the Firesign Theatre Youtube Channel!

Not Insane 2020!

Show how Not Insane you are with the Not Insane 2020 Campoon!
Now with T-shirts!

Fighting Clowns of Hollywood
Seven hours of live Firesign Theatre
Most never before released
80-page supplemental PDF
Download it at Bandcamp

You're On the Airlie: A History of the Art of Radio, written and performed exclusively for the Airlie public radio conference in Virginia on 4/22/1979. Revisit radio's greatest moments –The Egyptians invent the wireless society! FDR reads the funnies by the fire! And the glorious Hindenberg lands safely in New Jersey!

Joey's House: a channel-switching fantasia featuring Joey Demographico and his family watching (and making) a full day of TV. Yves Sanstoul goes up against American celebrity fashionistas, Bosun Bob teaches the kiddies to draw a dead cat, Nick Danger stars in "Frame Me Pretty", and the whole household shills for God on "Pay the Lord".

Fighting Clowns: The complete 1980 album based on their Roxy stage show. Firesign goes into full Brecht mode as they rip hell out of America's presidential candidates in The Year The Brain Stood Still. Songs galore! Plus a slew of bonus tracks including the never-released "Meanwhile in Billville", their one-act play about the town fathers who put drugs in the milk so their kids could take home the gold at the Billville Alternate Olympics (an idea they later stole from themselves to form the kernel of their 1999 CD Boom Dot Bust)!

American Pageant 1981: Live on tour in the first months of the Reagan administration, Firesign unpacks and re-builds their "American Pageant" piece from 1969's How Can You Be album, taking it down new roads never travelled in the original. Featuring those classic new old folk songs "The Four John Browns", "No One Came Marching Home" and "Dropping Those Bombs Again".

By the Light of the Silvery: Firesign reprises their classic 1967 Magic Mushroom play at the Sherlock Holmes fan convention Sherlockon in Los Angeles, 1/24/1981. Hemlock Stones and Batson return from chasing the Giant Rat of Sumatra only to face a new, more challenging plot – the moon has disappeared!

Lawyer's Hospital: In 1981 Firesign captured two killer live performances on tape, one in Denver and one in San Francisco, that formed the backbone of the 1982 Rhino LP Lawyer's Hospital. Featuring the soap opera of the same name, singing group The Eight Shoes, and TV matinee host Ben Bland, this expanded version includes all the live material from the LP plus much more from the original tapes.

And there are more extras, including bits rescued from the only known recording of their 1979 live show "The Owl & Octopus Show" and Firesign radio appearances from their 1981 tour. Meanwhile the included PDF features 80 pages of photos, posters, drawings, LP artwork, liner notes, articles, interviews, and more.

Fighting Clowns of Hollywood: Live 1979-1981 is available exclusively from Firesign's store on Bandcamp. A 9-track, 34-minute free promo album and promotional JPGs are available for download now from this link.

Stocking Stuffers
For Your Consideration

Phil Proctor has alerted us to the availability of two books from Bear Manor Media, which may be of interest to fans this holiday season:

Americathon: The Skits Behind The Screenplay

Return with Proctor and Bergman through their memories of the surreal silliness that resulted in the creation of their famous comedy albums, TV or Not TV, Give Us a Break, and What This Country Needs, and the films, J-Men Forever (1979) and Americathon (1979).

Available in either hard cover or soft cover editions, from Bear Manor Media.

POWER: Life On the Edge in L.A.

In the summer of 1990, working as a producer for NPR's Heat – with John Hockenberry, Ted Bonnitt contracted Proctor and Bergman to create a weekly five-minute comic serial lampooning the culture of Hollywood. This book contains the original audio scripts, which are as pertinent now as ever!

Available in soft cover from Bear Manor Media.

Firesign Theatre (Or What's Left Of It!)
Library of Congress Lecture - Available For Viewing!

On Thursday September 28, 2017, Phil Proctor and David Ossman presented "An Evening with the Firesign Theatre (Or What's Left Of It!)" at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. They presented their sketch titled "The History of the Art of Radio, Revised," and they discussed the history and impact of the Firesign Theatre with video clips, slides and reminiscences.

The event was captured on video, and we are pleased to announce that the Library of Congress has just made it available for viewing on their web site:

http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=8134&loclr=eanw

Extra added bonus: the day before the event, Proctor & Ossman participated in a radio interview with Larry O'Connor on WMAL radio. Here's the link:

http://www.wmal.com/2017/09/27/listen-phil-proctor-and-david-ossma-of-firesign-theatre-to-be-honored-by-the-library-of-congress/

Phil Proctor's Memoir, Where's My Fortune Cookie?
Available Now on amazon.com!

Phil Proctor, co-founder of the legendary, surrealist comedy group The Firesign Theatre, has fashioned the most outrageous, eclectic autobiography intergalactically conceivable. It covers his Amish/Irish origins, leading inexplicably to work on Broadway, radio, TV, film, and with the Firesign Theatre, creating the most revolutionary comedy recordings ever made. Phil, with Peter Bergman, Phil Austin and David Ossman, predicted reality TV, hackers, computer viruses, virtual reality, the fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11 and more.

Details on this Firesign Theatre Press Release page.

Everything You Know Is Wrong
The Declassified Firesign Theatre
2-DVD Set

Read all about it in the PRESS RELEASE

UPDATE: The DVDs arrived from the manufacturer just before Christmas. As of 12/27/16, all pre-orders have been shipped. New orders can be placed in the FIRESALE STORE

Trepany House presents:
The Firesign Theatre's "Surprise!" 50th Birthday Party!

Join the legendary LA based comedy group The Firesign Theatre, as they celebrate their 50th Birthday. Born at local radio station KPFK on November 17, 1966, the Firesign Theatre, including original members Peter Bergman, Phil Austin, David Ossman and Philip Proctor, are widely regarded as one of the most influential groups in the history of recorded humor.

Founding members Ossman and Proctor will be joined by "surprise" celebrity guests, and will play and perform highlights of their amazing career, as well as exciting new material.

This program will be recorded for broadcast/podcast purposes. This show at the Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry will be history in the making. Don't miss it!

More information: http://trepanyhouse.tix.com/Event.aspx?EventCode=918757

New David Ossman Book: MARSHMALLOWS & DESPAIR

Marshmallows & Despair is David Ossman's shocking, awesome, poetic coverage of 21st Century War and Politics, tales of neo-noir nights in strange places, poems of aging, dying, and seeking refuge.

This definitive collection celebrates Ossman’s 79th birthday and features a captivating cast that includes Beat St. Jack, Banana Clip Republicans, Funny Skydivers, as well as an Elegy to Rock Snot.

You’ll be sold on Presidential Butts In Butter, exposed to Heisenberg at Holmes Harbor, visit the House of Garden Gnomes, and celebrate the Tulku’s Birthday.

Enjoy a healthy dose of Ossman's Firesign humor matched with his own outrage, anguish and hope.

Available via davidossman.com ... Autographed copies are available WHILE THEY LAST!!

Phil Austin 1941-2015

[6/19/2015 - From Phil Proctor to all our Dear Friends and Firesign Fans:]

"Nick Danger has left the office.

Our dear friend and Firesign Theatre partner for over 50 years succumbed to various forms of cancer early this morning at his home on Fox Island, Washington, with his wife Oona and their six beloved dogs at his side. It is a tremendous and unexpected loss, and we will miss him greatly; but in keeping with his wishes, there will be no public memorial.

Rest in Peace, Regnad Kcin."

Obituaries: L.A. times, Variety, Broadway World, New York Times, among others.

We have set up a Memorial Guestbook page on this site.

Everything They Knew Was Wrong:
Firesign Theatre and the Mitchell Brothers

Mike Tiano on the unlikely intersection of
a Firesign Theatre film and a Long Beach porno theater:

"One of the great comedy teams that sprung from the 1960s counterculture is the Firesign Theatre. It was formed around Peter Bergman's show Radio Free Oz on Los Angeles station KPFK, where Phil Austin, David Ossman, and Phil Proctor came into Bergman's orbit and formed a team that created off the wall, improvisational comedy culled from popular culture, historical events, and literary works.

Having been influenced by the likes of the Goon Show, Spike Milligan and Bob and Ray, the Firesign Theatre eschewed punchline-based jokes and obvious sketch comedy. Instead what they went on to create could be best described as a cinema of the mind, as evidenced by their side-long (and later album-long) pieces released on LP by Columbia Records throughout the 1970s..."

Read More...

2014 - Four Firesign Books

There are now four - count 'em four - books of Firesign Theatre plays, scripts and related material available for purchase:

• Marching to Shibboleth: The Collected Plays of the Firesign Theatre - combines two out-of-print Firesign Books (Big Book Of Plays and Big Mystery Joke Book) in a single volume, with extras: the full script of Everything You Know Is Wrong, and a new introduction written by Greil Marcus.
• Exorcism In Your Daily Life: The Psycedelic Firesign Theatre at the Magic Mushroom, 1967 - the original scripts behind the legendary comic mayhem they unleashed live on Sunday nights throughout Fall 1967 from the Magic Mushroom.
• Profiles in Barbeque Sauce - The Firesign Theatre On Stage, 1967-1972 - the essential compilation of scripts to old familiar faves, well-traveled bootlegs, and pieces so rare even David forgot about them.
• Anythynge You Want To: Shakespeare's Lost Comedie - More than just a rousing send-up of Shakespeare! The full-length theatrical entertainment, written and re-written continually throughout The Firesign Theatre's long performing career. Filled with photographs from performances and graphics by Bruce Litz.

All of these titles, and much more, are available in The Firesale Store.

12/16/13 - Eat or Be Eaten Re-Released

One of the last remaining out-of-print Firesign titles, Eat or Be Eaten, has returned to CD! Loaded with extras, this re-release is now available exclusively from Laugh.com.

Laugh.com's new CD reissue includes the complete original album, 28 minutes of unreleased bonus tracks, a bonus Quicktime movie of EOBE with subcode graphics (part of the original 1985 CD+G release), never-released EOBE game art, and extensive new liner notes by Firesign archivist Taylor Jessen.

Available Now Through Laugh.com.

Press Release

Peter Bergman 1939-2012

We are very sad to report that Peter Bergman, a founding member of the Firesign Theatre and the driving force behind Radio Free Oz in all its incarnations, passed away in the early morning hours of Friday, March 9, 2012 due to complications from leukemia.

Obituaries: L.A. times, N.Y. Times, NPR (Fresh Air), Washington Post, Plain Dealer (Cleveland), among others.

We have set up a Memorial Guestbook page on this site.

The 2012 "Big Brouhaha" celebrating Peter's life and work, held at the Kirkland Memorial Center in Seattle, WA., was captured for posterity and a DVD of the event is in the works. Check back here for details.

Duke Duke Duke Duke of Madness Madness Madness!

For the first time ever, every Firesign Theatre radio broadcast of note from 1970 to 1972 is now available for purchase!

Duke Of Madness Motors is a book+DVD combo containing every episode of the three Firesign radio series from the era: Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour, Dear Friends and Let's Eat!

Available directly from firesigntheatrelegacy.com through the Firesale store.

It's A Beautiful Frame, Friends ...

Back by popular demand: the Ralph Spoilsport license plate frame, available exclusively through the Firesale store.

You can get it in a package deal with the Bozos bumper sticker (in honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus.

While you're in our store, take a look around. We've added a number of new and exclusive items ... and there are bigger deals to come!

Follow Firesign on Facebook and Twitter

Throughout Firesign's recording career, they've shown a remarkable ability to make prescient observations on social and technological trends, giving listeners a present of the future. So it should come as no surprise that Firesign would take advantage of current social networking platforms to keep its fans informed and tuned in to what's happening with the group.

They have a group page on Facebook where Firesign group members and their minions keep the conversation going in the digital age. Also, keep tabs on Firesign news and announcements via their @FiresignNews Twitter feed. These information outlets are in addition to the news alerts and press releases that are maintained right here on this site.

Firesign Theatre - Creative Rights

Here at Firesign Central World Headquarters, we occasionally receive requests from performance groups and organizations regarding access to Firesign plays and sketches, and how to obtain the rights to perform said Firesign works in public. We anticipate an influx of these requests now that there are three new books of Firesign plays and sketches available, in addition to Anythynge You Want To.

We therefore direct your attention to this page, which contains our policy and contact information.