...watch this flick.
I'm an old fan of The Firesign Theatre; I turned on to them at the time they released the LP "Don't Crush...". There's no getting around it; they were the *real* "head humor" of the time. They really were part of the "us" generation, they saw things with great clarity and epitomize the view that comedy can rise to the level of prophesy.
And, by prophesy, I simply mean being the one-eyed person in the land of the blind. But prophesy has a reputation for prescience because it's the folks who can see the present clearly that can also see where things are headed. So, for example, there's one plank in the Surrealist Light People's Party platform which is prophetic: "One Man, One Channel". In 1972, among people unaware of the ARPA/DARPA funding that started forming the Internet, this just sounded delightfully loony. But it was truly a harbinger of things to come.
And of course, there's just that simple sense that when people pop the tops off their heads and just let it come out with minimal filtering, there can be gems... and, IMHO, they shine out and amaze in this flick.
The material from this period also went into their LP, "Not Insane", which put a lot of the old fans off. Myself, it felt like a divine garage sale. There were just too many wonderfully loopy moments.
So, if you have a chance to see it--you can watch it in its entirety via Google video--give it a shot. It may not be yr personal cup o' tea, but if you don't try, you'll never know. And, even if it's not funny to you, it may be curious to watch as a kind of choice period artifact. It truly is a wonderful slice of the 60's/early-70's counterculture.
I'm an old fan of The Firesign Theatre; I turned on to them at the time they released the LP "Don't Crush...". There's no getting around it; they were the *real* "head humor" of the time. They really were part of the "us" generation, they saw things with great clarity and epitomize the view that comedy can rise to the level of prophesy.
And, by prophesy, I simply mean being the one-eyed person in the land of the blind. But prophesy has a reputation for prescience because it's the folks who can see the present clearly that can also see where things are headed. So, for example, there's one plank in the Surrealist Light People's Party platform which is prophetic: "One Man, One Channel". In 1972, among people unaware of the ARPA/DARPA funding that started forming the Internet, this just sounded delightfully loony. But it was truly a harbinger of things to come.
And of course, there's just that simple sense that when people pop the tops off their heads and just let it come out with minimal filtering, there can be gems... and, IMHO, they shine out and amaze in this flick.
The material from this period also went into their LP, "Not Insane", which put a lot of the old fans off. Myself, it felt like a divine garage sale. There were just too many wonderfully loopy moments.
So, if you have a chance to see it--you can watch it in its entirety via Google video--give it a shot. It may not be yr personal cup o' tea, but if you don't try, you'll never know. And, even if it's not funny to you, it may be curious to watch as a kind of choice period artifact. It truly is a wonderful slice of the 60's/early-70's counterculture.