Peter Bergman — Firesign Theater

Peter Bergman, one of the founding members of Firesign Theater, passed away this past Friday.

I never knew the names of any of the members of Firesign Theater.  But their records were just a total mindfuck.  Their skits were a rapidfire barrage of puns, puns within puns, puns segueing into further puns, non sequiturs and obscure references that would have you laughing yourself into a knot and simultaneously going “Huh?  What was that?  Wait, what?”

If Cheech and Chong were “hard rock comedy” (as rock critics described them back then), Firesign Theater were avant-garde jazz comedy; stream-of-consciousness comedy.  Or something.

The only album of theirs I had was “I think we’re all Bozos on this Bus.”  I could practically lip-synch along with it from playing it so many times.

Their other works included “Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him,” “How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All?” and “Everything You Know is Wrong.”

R.I.P.