or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
March 23, 2006
Fascinating New Information For Everyone Inside My Head
Here's something that will certainly be of keen interest for every person reading this who is me: according to a recent interview with John Flansburgh, the Firesign Theatre was a key influence on They Might Be Giants. I'd never heard this before.
The Firesign Theatre, for those who unfamiliar with them, was arguably America's Monty Python. Except they almost exclusively did records instead of TV, and their material is much less accessible. I wrote my college thesis on them (at Stutts!), and it may be you can only really enjoy them if you are forced to produce a fifty-page paper examining their work in minute detail. But if you do, you might agree with the Rev. Ivan Stang that they are the "greatest mutant artists since Shakespeare."
Posted at March 23, 2006 07:09 PM | TrackBackI think we're all bozos on this bus, but who is Firesign Theatre?
Posted by: spiiderweb at March 23, 2006 08:58 PMYou're a spy! (And a girl-delighter.)
Posted by: Simbaud at March 23, 2006 09:00 PMI love Firesign, but my wife can't take their humor -- it just comes too fast. Now, Monty Python she can wrap her head around.
"Pass the Lord, and praise the Ammunition!"
Posted by: Chan at March 24, 2006 07:28 AMLet's see if we can refrain from turning these comments into one long Deadheadish splat of quotes half-remembered through a haze of seeds & stems & Red Mountain, okay?
On the other hand:
It's a beautiful car with doors to match.
Posted by: Tirebiter in Sector R at March 24, 2006 08:21 AMI would've gone for "Bear Whiz Beer," Tirebiter, but I think you're right. Who has enough energy here to talk about important things-- like Christopher Hitchens?
Posted by: Sully at March 24, 2006 09:50 AMHmmm...has anyone ever seen Christopher Hitchens and Porgy Tirebiter together?
Posted by: Maud at March 24, 2006 12:22 PMIt's Hardcore Quiz Time!
Identify the following and add your own.
The Zeppelin Tube
The Hawaiian Hallucination Song
Eat leaden death, media pigs!
Bonus point:
Where the freeways meet in Hooverville.
the Loosner's Drug Store ad: "sanitary napkin rings in Little Miss, Moon Maid, and Stuck Pig strengths"....
The ad parodies were particulary rapid fire.
Whenever forced into situations where I have to drink coffee with "non-dairy creamer" powder, my mind returns to the FS bit about "artificial substance surrounders" that hold coffee and "coffee lightener: chalk dust, salt, and water!"
Posted by: Nell at March 25, 2006 03:23 PMEd aims to please and so does Louis, so don't hide arms, buy side arms at Ames Guns...there is/was actually an Ames Guns on one of those east/west streets in Santa Monica in those days. Special place for us Clems...I mean, Barneys.
Firesign Theater used to perform live...saw them at USC [didn't go there or to Stutts]. Does anyone know if Monty Python performed live, or just do TV? It was natural to compare the two, though they were both incomparable. But at least now we can make whisky. Been waiting hundreds of years for this.
Posted by: SiegeState at March 25, 2006 04:26 PMWe were so into FST in college (early '70s)! Have you ever heard anything by Conception Corporation? Talk about inaccessible! At least FST is on CD, but I haven't seen anything on CD by CC. The "album" we loved was entitled Conceptionland and used the amusement park scenario (A side) as a backdrop for some really scathing social commentary of the time. They were more era-specific than FST; probably wouldn't be as funny today.
Posted by: Gerard at March 27, 2006 01:49 PM
