History Creator / TheFiresignTheatre

* ''VideoGame/{{Pyst}}''

* AnchoviesAreAbhorrent: On the album ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'', stoner George Tirebiter tries to order a pizza, saying "I want to order a pizza to go and no anchovies." But he gets hung up on. On the other side of the album, private eye Nick Danger gets a phone call from somebody who sounds suspiciously like Tirebiter, saying, "I want to order a pizza to go and no anchovies." Danger replies, "No anchovies? You've got the wrong man. I spell my name Danger!" and hangs up on him.

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

* ImmoralRealityShow: ''Waiting for the Electrician (or Someone Like Him)'', has a segment with a game show called "Beat the Reaper", where participants are injected with deadly diseases, and must guess the disease from the symptoms before it kills them. That said, it seems most of the population of the country the show is being filmed in are DeathSeekers who rush at the chance to die of plague, so maybe it isn't all that immoral.

* AnchoviesAreAbhorrent: On the album "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers", stoner George Tirebiter tries to order a pizza, saying "I want to order a pizza to go and no anchovies." But he gets hung up on. On the other side of the album, private eye Nick Danger gets a phone call from somebody who sounds suspiciously like Tirebiter, saying, "I want to order a pizza to go and no anchovies." Danger replies, "No anchovies? You've got the wrong man. I spell my name Danger!" and hangs up on him.

The Firesign Theatre (sometimes credited as The Firesign Theat''er'') is an American comedy group; its members are (left to right) Philip Proctor, the late Peter Bergman, the late Phil Austin, and David Ossman. Their albums parody the usual radio and comedy album tropes.

[[caption-width-right:350:Four Or Five Crazee Guys [[note]] Appearing as the characters from the Nick Danger series of sketches. Left to right: Philip Proctor as Rocky Rococo, Peter Bergman as Lieutenant Bradshaw, Phil Austin as Nick Danger, and David Ossman as Dan Catherwood. [[/note]]]]

* ImmoralRealityShow: ''Waiting for the Electrician (or Someone Like Him)'', has a segment with a game show called "Beat the Reaper", where participants are injected with deadly diseases, and must guess the disease from the symptoms before it kills them.

* CulturePolice: "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.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: On the 1980 album ''Fighting Clowns'' they have a song called "Reagan" which includes the line "and it's never too late to lose again". This song was later released as a single, with, as its B-side, a song called, "Carter", where they talk about UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter winning re-election, then being followed by eight years of Mondale.

* HistoricalCharacterConfusion: All hail Marx and Lennon!

* HistoricalCharacterConfusion: [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/caveman_92223/3056916340/ All hail Marx and Lennon!]]

* FormerChildStar (George "Porgie" Tirebiter, on ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'')

** Another example would be things such as the cover art for ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers''. [[spoiler:They are done up as their respective astrological signs, which are all ''"Fire Signs"''.]]

** 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"''.]]

* BulletDancing: Done in "Temporarily Humboldt County", from the album ''Waiting for the Electician'': someone fires a gun (presumably) at a native American Indian's feet.

After working briefly in local radio in the 1960s, they started releasing albums in 1968, debuting with ''Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him'' and followed in successive years by ''How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All?''; ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'', ''I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus'' and others. Their comedy was based around improvisation and surrealism, with a touch of social commentary buried deep below the surface. Many of their longer pieces seem to be set in a bizarre and somewhat darker AlternateUniverse that still somehow manages to bear a direct relevance to our own.

* BaldOfAwesome (Cast member Peter Bergman)
* BreastExpansion: Booby Chew.
* BrickJoke

* CloudCuckoolander: All of them.
* ClusterFBomb

* SherlockHolmes (Parodied by "Hemlock Stones")

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Numerous rapidfire instances throughout their works. Just a sample, from the movie-within-an-album "High School Madness", on ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'':
-->'''Dad:''' Where is Porgie, anyhow?
-->'''Mom:''' He's upstairs, helping Porcelain make the bed.
-->'''sfx:''' squeaksqueaksqueaksqueaksqueak
-->'''Porcelain:''' Oh, Porgie! Oh my, oh my, oh my!
-->'''Mom:''' (off) Porgie! Porgie Tirebiter!
-->'''Porgie:''' C... c... c... coming, Mother!
** This opening sequence is a very direct parody of the opening of the 1940s radio/TV show ''Radio/TheAldrichFamily''.

* ShoutOut: Numerous, often buried in parody. For instance, the quote under GettingCrapPastTheRadar is a reference to movie/radio character [[Radio/TheAldrichFamily Henry Aldrich]]; OnceAnEpisode his mother would call him — "Henry, Henry Aldrich!" — and in a voice cracking with adolescence he'd respond, "Coming, Mother!"

* [[FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Other}} Funny Aneurysm Moment]]: On the 1980 album ''Fighting Clowns'' they have a song called "Reagan" which includes the line "and it's never too late to lose again". This song was later released as a single, with, as its B-side, a song called, "Carter", where they talk about UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter winning re-election, then being followed by eight years of Mondale.