The Firesign Theatre: Difference between revisions

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* [[Culture Police]]: "Le Trente-Huit Cunegonde", on ''Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him'', describes a hippie-run future where drug use and rebellion are rigorously enforced by the Establishment. See [[Government Drug Enforcement]] below.

* [[Curse of the Ancients]]: In the episode of "Mark Time" heard on ''Dear Friends'', Dr. Technical says "Dad ding blast it to blazes! ... If I could just get this dad blame water pump to turn over."

* [[Dawson Casting]]: Parodied on ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'', when high school hero Porgie's best friend, Mudhead, admits he's 30 years old.

* [[Deadly Game]]: "Beat the Reaper", "Stab from the Past"

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{{quote|"It's like in the Army, you know? The great prince issues commands, founds states, vests families with fiefs. Inferior people should not be employed."|Nick Danger, from the album ''How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?'' This is {{spoiler|a hexagram from the ''I Ching''}}.}}

** Another example would be things such as the cover art for [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/FT_dctdbmap.jpg Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers]. {{spoiler|They are done up as their respective astrological signs, which are all ''"Fire Signs"''.}}

** "[[wikipedia:Zeno's paradoxes#Dichotomy paradox|Antelope Freeway, one mile. Antelope Freeway, one half mile. Antelope Freeway, one quarter mile.]]"

* [[The Goon Show]]: Early Firesign was under heavy Goonish influence. The original Hemlock Stones adventure, ''By The Light of the Silvery'', is done in perfect Goons style, right down to the voices.

* [[Government Drug Enforcement]]: "Le Trente-Huit Cunegonde", on ''Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him'', describes a hippie-run future where drug use and rebellion are rigorously enforced by the Establishment. It opens with two police officers accosting a girl because she's not wearing a mini-skirt, and when they discover she doesn't have any drugs on her, they send her in for "re-grooving".

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* [[Inner Monologue]]: Frequently parodied, particularly with Nick Danger: ''"How do I make my voice do this?"''

* [[Inventing the Wheel]]: On ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers'', the host of a "this day in history" TV show claims that the wheel was invented by Mr. George Antrobus on the 38th of Cunegonde, 1938 BC. ("And just in time!" chirps his female co-host.)

* [[Klatchian Coffee]]: "Ersatz Bros. Coffee" from ''Don't Touch That Dwarf'', which contains Brazilian soya beans, Syrian chicory nuts, and [[Love Potion|Spanish flies]].

* [[Larynx Dissonance]]: Being all men, they do male and female characters. Some of the female ones, especially those voiced by Phil Austin, are downright eerie.

* [[Least-Common Pizza Topping]]: "No anchovies? You've got the wrong man. I spell my name...Danger!"

* [[Left the Background Music On]]: In "Nick Danger", a character demonstrates that all they have to do to time-travel is "to fade out the sound and cue the organist!"

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses|Listeners Are Geniuses]]: A core value of their comedy.

* [[Long Title]]: Most of their albums, although most notably ''How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?''

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* [[Mushroom Samba]]: In ''W.C. Fields Forever'', listeners are guided through a utopian hippie commune. Pretty much everyone can be assumed to be on drugs here, but the only one overtly taking them is Tiny Dr. Tim, Keeper of the Sacred Tablets (here, have a tablet). When [http://www.davyking.com/LearyHorse.jpg a horse enters the scene] he exclaims "Whoah! Nice paisley horsie! Give the nice paisley horsie some sugar cubes!" The horse runs off trumpeting like an elephant.

* [[N-Word Privileges]]: On ''How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?'', there is this song [[Refuge in Audacity|"What makes America Great?"]]:

{{quote|It's candied apples and ponies with dapples

{{quote|''It's candied apples and ponies with dapples

~~you~~ can ride all day!

''You can ride all day!

It's girls with pimples

''It's girls with pimples

And cripples with dimples

''And cripples with dimples

~~that~~ just won't go away !

''That just won't go away !

It's spics and wops and niggers and kikes

''It's spics and wops and niggers and kikes

~~with~~ noses as long as your arm!

''With noses as long as your arm!

It's micks and chinks and gooks and geeks

''It's micks and chinks and gooks and geeks

~~and~~ honkies (Honk! Honk!)

''And honkies (Honk! Honk!)

~~who~~ never left the farm! }}

''Who never left the farm! }}

* [[Noodle Implements]] {{context}}

* [[Noodle Incident]]: Everywhere, as little throwaway "background" details.

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Police State!

Help, it's the police!}}

* [[Private Detective]]/[[Hardboiled Detective]]: Nick Danger is a classic, and often surrealistic, parody of the genre and character type.

* [[Private Eye Monologue]]: Nick Danger engages in these constantly. And how does he make his voice do that?

* [[Psycho Electro]]: "The Electrician", most prominently featured in "Hemlock Stones and the Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra".

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* [[Shout-Out]]: Numerous, often buried in parody. For instance, the quote under [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] is a reference to movie/radio character [[The Aldrich Family|Henry Aldrich]]; [[Once an Episode]] his mother would call him — "Henry, Henry Aldrich!" — and in a voice cracking with adolescence he'd respond, "Coming, Mother!"

* [[Show Within a Show]]: Nearly half of ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'' is the soundtrack of "High School Madness", a mythical teen movie made during an equally mythical version of the 1940s and/or 1950s. Another quarter is the soundtrack of the mythical Korean War and/or Vietnam War movie "Babes In Khaki"/"Parallel Hell!". Much of the rest is snippets of various TV shows "overheard" while a character is channel-surfing.

* [[Smithical Marriage]]: [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in one of their radio plays, where a ''single person'' signs in at a hotel as "Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Smith":

* [[Smithical Marriage]]/[[Mr. Smith]]: [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in one of their radio plays, where a ''single person'' signs in at a hotel as "Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Smith":

{{quote|"Surely you can't believe I'm Mr. and Mrs. John Q Smith of Anytown, USA?"

"Of course we do!"}}

:He goes by "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith" for the rest of the album.

⚫

* [[Take That]]: A sly one to [[The Residents]] in ''Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death'' with the "Guys in Eyeball Hats", described as "Mumbling, Millenial Morons"

* [[Southern Belle]]: In ''Everything You Know Is Wrong'', the wire recording of the [[Medicine Show medicine show features one of these. Celebrating that the South won the Civil War:

{{quote|'''Beulah Belle:''' Think of those balls you'll have!

'''Dad:''' You're too young to think about that, Beulah Balls. Er, Belle.}}

⚫

* [[Take That]]: A sly one to [[The Residents]] in ''Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death'' with the "Guys in Eyeball Hats", described as "Mumbling, Millenial Morons".

* [[Theme Tune Cameo]]: In "Nick Danger, Third Eye", the title character whistles his theme tune as he walks the streets by night.

* [[This Is Reality]]: Firesign uses this trope extensively in almost their entire body of audio comedy work. The layers of trope-play become extremely confusing and interesting. See the quotes page for one example.

* [[Token Minority]]: Lampshaded with the Mexican students in "High School Madness". See [[Mighty Whitey]] above.

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* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: Captain Equinox: his powers are unspecified, but true to his name, he is only Captain Equinox twice a year.

* [[What's a Secret Four]]: ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'' is full of all kinds of apparently random throwaway details that give a bizarre dystopian [[Zeerust]] feel to the setting of its action.

* [[Which Me?]]: "Nick Danger" features a flashback told by Catherwood the butler -- twenty years earlier he surprises his bride Nancy with a time machine, intending to honeymoon in ancient Greece. He tries it on himself first and when he returns minutes later he's a shaky-voiced 1,000 year old codger, to her horror. Present-day Nick bursts in unexpectedly and uses the time machine to travel forward 20 years back to the present, taking the couple and shady character Rocky Rococo with him. Back in the present they're shocked at finding there's two of all of them -- they fight with their other selves, except the two Catherwoods who enjoy having someone their own age to talk with.

* [[Which Me?]]: In one Nick Danger flashback, he and his flashback self get confused about who's the current narrator.

* [[Who Writes This Crap?]]: It's a running gag in recent releases: "Boy, those Canadians can really write!"

* [[Word Salad Title]]: Most of their albums and tracks have these.