THE BRIDE OF FIRESIGN

These counterculture comics of the '60s are now IN their 60s, but are just as silly, swift, sly, and esoteric as they were in their youth. You no longer have to be high on illegal substances to enjoy their humor (though it still helps), but otherwise it's the same kind of iconoclastic satire, just more technically polished. The "four or five crazy guys," starting out with a campfire punfest on the male member, free-associatively gambol through turn-of-the-century American culture in scenes so rapid-fire and multilayered that one must hear the whole thing two or three times before it begins to make sense. Note the word "begins," for the material never completely makes sense--which is intentional. As a matter of principle, I think, the Firesign Theater will never hit complete lucidity until 1) the boys discover the true nature of reality and 2) agree among themselves about what it is. In their own immortal words, "We're all bozos on this bus." Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]