Another Trip With Doctor Memory

"Just like real life..." Another live slice of radio history from October fourth, 1970, as we re-live the second half of the episode: I Could Always Shoot Him With the Camera, as presented by the Firesign Theater in the white label version of their delirious Dear Friends series.

The tracklist for the second side (my recorded-off the-radio version is missing the last sketch)----

1 Orson Welles bit  2 Punter's Girls   3 Sound effects war    4 Fresh chef    5 Sex jail    6 Sex movies    7 W.C. Fields    8 FDR and Hitler    9 PP's The Mutt and Smutt Show

 

Someone would be wise to release all of the Dear Friends shows that exist in a new edition. The group themselves might not be too thrilled with their old material and airchecks, but there are so many brilliant and telling moments when hearing them riffing and supporting each other live on the air that these recordings really deserve a wider audience, as well as just being dissected and savored by the many existing fans of their work. It would file nicely alongside of Goon Shows on the radio and other such classic fare. Or perhaps some lucky collector who owns all of these records would be kind enough to post them all on their blog at high quality...ha ha ha..."dream on, laughing boy!"

Enjoy this little dollop of live surrealism.

I Could Always Shoot Him With the Camera

Comments

[Michigan J]

Excellent post. I completely agree about releasing all the Dear Friends shows. A while back they had a post on their website asking fans to send them copies of any and all live recordings they may have, so who knows, maybe they'll make something available. One thing you can say about the Firesign Theatre is that, like $100 Ben, they were the only presidents of the United States who were never presidents of the United States.

[YETI]

This is so amazingly funny. I'd love to hear more.

[chromiumswitch.blogspot.com]

I have all the 'Dear Friends' syndicated shows. You can find excerpts on my Firesign Theatre site 'fireheads.org' under the category 'Dear Friends'

[Taylor Jessen]

Hey Mindwrecker & wrecking crew, Firesign's archivist Taylor Jessen here. The Firesign has some verrrry good news in store for their fans on this subject, hopefully early next year, but meanwhile a question and a plea: The question is - WFMU being one of the few radio stations in the U.S. that would actually play this malarkey on the air - to whom at WFMU should we send a promo copy, if and when the time comes, so's to make sure it doesn't get chucked with the junk mail?

And now the plea: Home tapers, we could really use copies of the following airchecks (not syndicated versions, but original unadulterated airchecks) for the following shows:

Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour, May 10 1970 (no idea of the content, sorry)
Dear Friends, Oct. 18 1970 (begins with the Columbia School of Broadcasting record, includes "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Inquisition")
Let's Eat, Feb. 17 1972 (includes "Earth Penguin" and "Oh Blinding Light")

If ya got em, tell us: http://www.firesigntheatre.com/cgi-bin/gotfiresign.cgi

[Mindwrecker]

Hello Taylor! Kudos on the use of "malarkey"! Ha. Thanks so much for the note, and yes, I will ask my point man at WFMU about your question and get back to you! I was hoping that these postings (I actually had ONE more planned, at least, dealing with rare Firesign) would bring helpful responses like this and not indignant orders to cease and desist from Columbia Records and the like. I'm thrilled that you've caught these threads, for as I've said before, these fellas are a big influence on my writing and recording and life philosophy in general, along with a whole big disreputable bunch of maniacs. Many aspects of MY life's body of work can be traced and blamed on Firesign-isms that I absorbed in my teen years. Talk to you soon, cheers

[Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan]

Awesome blog