Peter Bergman (Firesign Theatre) has passed

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

Source: Firesign Theatre Facebook

We are sad to report the passing of Firesign Theatre founding member and Radio Free Oz host, Peter Bergman. He left us this morning due to complications from leukemia.

Read more: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Firesign-Theatre/282668140208

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RIP,another great one gone to a more peaceful place.

[WheelWalker]

1. Man, that is a bummer. And the wheel turns.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. I will have to listen to "don't crush that dwarf" and "everything you know is wrong"

in memorium. Just brilliant, brilliant (and often unbelievably weird!) stuff!

maybe go find and eat some blue moss....

don't forget - your brain is not the boss! dogs flew spaceships!

and...our forefathers took drugs!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

32. "Everything" is THE ONE.

I know that everyone (including critics) has a "favorite" Firesign album. "Everything You Know Is Wrong" is THE ONE.

They actually filmed a full version of it in which they LIP SYNCHED TO THEIR OWN RECORD.

If you go on YouTube, you will find the whole thing, broken up into YouTube-friendly chunks.

[NRaleighLiberal]

34. Happy Harry Cox. Call me happy, because I AM!

Superb stuff.

[slackmaster]

3. Ultra-uncool megabummer, man!

Worse than a hair in the hot tub!

Which end of this thing do you light?

(I'm a MAJOR Firesign fan since about 1972.)

[Paladin]

15. I Knew We Had A Few Things In Common, Slack.

RIP, Mr. Bergman.

[lark]

22. Loved Waiting for the Postman, or Someone Else Like Him

We used to have Firesign parties back in the early 70's. We'd toke up, turn on the album and fall on the floor laughing at their utter zaniess.

RIP brilliant man, you brought laughter and lightness to many!!

[12AngryBorneoWildmen]

56. Electrician nt

[WCGreen]

4. A lot of them were involved with National Lampoon

as well as writers for SNL...

[solara]

5. Very sad news

Rest in Peace and thank you for your contribution to the collective consciousness.

And for the laughter that never dies

[longship]

6. Nobody beats the reaper

Sorry to hear this. He was brilliant satirist.

Give the wheeze a squeeze; many people like to.

[Doc_Technical]

7. He's no fun he fell right over.

Q. Are we on tape?

A. If I was at home watching, I could tell you.

Thanks for the many hours of brilliant humor that brightened
my days, and the laughs that I most desperately needed to
see me through to another day.

[woofless]

9. First thing that popped into my head as well.

[Newest Reality]

8. I was really into Firesign!

Another icon crosses the divide, as if not going from two places at once to not anywhere at all.

Shoes for industry! More sugar! Laughing cow cheese.

Koo-koo-katchu! Bless you, Peter.

[Roy Rolling]

10. Maybe now...

Peter "can be in two places at once and not anywhere at all."

[Lifelong Protester]

12. YES! My first thought also

that and my worry about Betty Jo Bialoski...

And "All Hail (John) Lennon and (Groucho) Marx!!!"

[nolabear]

11. *sigh* Another brilliant mind stilled. RIP.

I fell in love with them when everybody did, back when we were kids and thought we hung the moon. The smart, quick wit of Firesign made us feel cool. We got it. I hope that kind of smarts comes into fashion again.

[Lifelong Protester]

13. Me too!!

[I hate liars]

14. He's back in the shadows again...

Fudd's first law of opposition, Teslacle's deviant, a balcony you could do Shakespeare from, and of course, Ruthlessly. . ."I wonder where Ruth is?"...

Peter, you left an unforgettable legacy. Thanks for corrupting my formative years. Rest in peace.

[Major Hogwash]

16. He may have passed away, but he will never die.

He'll just start his routine on a different channel now.

I remember their Starchy and Mudhead routine very well because of Mr Tirebiter's habit of watching tv.
Well before Archie Bunker was introduced on tv, they were ripping at those stereotypes on their albums and performances.

And of course, their take on Evil Kneivel's failed attempt to jump over the Snake River was completely hilarious to those of us who lived in Idaho at the time and witnessed that spectacle.
"He's going to jump the biggest gawd damned hole that leads to the center of the earth."

[Waiting For Everyman]

17. We're all bozos on this bus.

Sad to hear this, I've been a fan of Porgy Tirebiter since '72. I remember them too on the radio in Los Angeles - as crazy as it sounds now, they even did the regular news on one station for a while during the Nixon era... that was some funny stuff!

[lark]

23. Guess so

[graham4anything]

18. what a week

the head of Firesign theatre and the leader of the Monkees both pass in the same week

life is sad today

[GeorgeGist]

20. We're all Bozos on this Bus.

RIP

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

61. I like to think that

[Richardo]

21. "Hiya friends! Ralph Spoilsport here from Ralph Spoilsport Motors...

...The world's largest new used and used new automobile dealership: Ralph Spoilsport Motors here in the city of....Emphysema.

Let's just look at the extras on this fabulous car! Wire-wheel spoke fenders and two-way sneeze through wind vents, star-studded mud guard, sponge-coated edible steering column, chrome fender dents - and factory air conditioned air from our fully factory-equipped ... air conditioned factory!

It's a beautiful car friends, with doors to match! Birch's Blacklist says this car was stolen but for you friends a complete price: only two-ninety-five hundred dollars in easy monthly payments of twenty dollars a week twice a week and never on Sunday! "

RIP Peter... I laughed my way through junior high and high school with you guys.

[bluescribbler]

24. He's no fun, he fell right over.

RIP

[Bossy Monkey]

25. Farewell, Lt. Bradshaw. Hope you finally get your own show. n/t

[Doc_Technical]

44. Lt. Bradshaw was perpetually pissed off...

because everyone kept calling him "sergeant".

Things are not the same now that I'm old and stupid.

"Don't worry about the flies, we won't weigh 'em."

[lastlib]

26. :sadness: Man, that's depressing.

Truly another gret one gone. I will have to pull out my old vinyl copy of "All Hail Marx & Lennon" to console my grief.....



(wish I could find it on CD.....)

[Octafish]

27. Oh, no!

We have lost one of the lights.

[AlbertCat]

28. Damn.... how sad.

I feel old. Oh Peter! I'll never forgive you!

"And I'll never forget you neither, Nancy"

I'm gonna have to confer with Gabby, my sacred cowboy.

What... grubs again?

I'm bummed.

[Pab Sungenis]

29. He's no fun.

He fell right over.

[MzNov]

30. 4 guys, all fire signs

An Aries, a Leo and 2 Sagittarious

Some of the funniest albums ever made, you had to listen many times to catch all the layers!

RIP Peter Bergman.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

31. Saw them at Stanford in the late 70s.

One more piece of my youth, gone. R.I.P., Peter.

[6000eliot]

33. Just remember, "A mighty hotdog is Our Lord."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. "Antelope Freeway, 1/2 mile...Antelope Freeway, 1/4 mile...Antelope Freeway, 1/8 mile"

[GliderGuider]

48. Zeno's paradox. God they were a smart bunch of guys.

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. Damn

I was just listening to them the other day.

[unionworks]

37. Goodnight Dear Brother

Thanks for all the laughs. You will never be forgotten.

[IDemo]

38. Didn't the Teabaggers steal their motto from Firesign?

"Stepping forward....INTO THE PAST!"

[mac56]

43. I think they're all bozos on ths bus.

[rug]

39. Unlocking but please add a non-facebook link.

Here's one:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/03/09/peter-bergman-founder-of-firesign-theatre-troupe-dies-at-72/

[rug]

40. Kick.

[DinahMoeHum]

41. "For the 2nd best in drugs and sex, it's Dr. X Second-hand Drug Store"

"I'm Doctor X, practicing medicine until I get it right" - "Doctor X"

- from the Proctor and Bergman days and their album Give Us A Break

also on the album:
"Carumba" (spoof of the Chrysler Cordoba commercials by Ricardo Montalban)
"Consumer Watchdog"
"Nukes In The News"
etc.

Boy howdy, what memories!

Think I'll drag it out of my collection and fire up the turntable this weekend.

Thanks for the laughs, Peter Bergman.

[mac56]

42. To ancient Greece

where burning Sappho loved and sang and stroked the wine-dark sea, in the temple by the moonlight, wa da doo dah..

Sad news. A very funny man.

[demgrrrll]

45. More Science High and Commie Martyrs High School Flap Jacks, heavy on the twenty weight.

Nicky Nicky Nicky you're such a tool. Aret these the only bags you have? sign here, and here and here..........

[mac56]

46. All right, come in out of the cornstarch and dry your mukluks by the fire.

[GliderGuider]

47. I didn't hear him enter, but my nostrils flared at the smell of his perfume...

Pyramid Patchouli. There was only one joker in LA sensitive enough to wear that scent...

And now he's gone.

Have a great trip, Peter, and give the pretty paisley horsey a sugar cube for me.

[GliderGuider]

49. BTW, if pot fucks up your memory, how come we can all quote whole albums verbatim? Hmmm??? /nt

[mac56]

50. Well, Bradshaw..

It's like in the army, you know - the great prince issues commands, founds states, vests families with thieves - inferior people should not be employed.

[saras]

51. If remembering whole Firesign Theatre albums verbatim isn't fucked up, then what IS?

[Julian Englis]

52. Proctor & Bergman--It ain't soap

N/T

[progressoid]

53. Oh blinding light! Oh light that blinds! I cannot see--please look out for me.

RIP Peter.

[kentauros]

54. "Get me Spike on the phone.

"He's a sharp agent. We'll appoint him!"
...quote shows at 2:06 in the following clip:

There is also an announcement on his Radio Free Oz page.

"All out for Fort Stinkin' Desert!"

Rest in peace, Peter. You twisted me like no other.

[eridani]

55. Just remember--

--that there's a whole DEAD CAT in every bar of Dead Cat soap. I won't ever forget. Thanks for all of it, Peter.

[12AngryBorneoWildmen]

57. My Home Country on my DU profile is a tip o' the hat to them.

Vespucciland

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

60. I should tip my hat as well.

Fine theater.

[RoccoR5955]

58. I almost spilled my bowl of "Loosner's Caster Oil Flakes."

You know the ones with real glycerine vibrafoam. They don't just wash your mouth out, they clean your whole body, right on down the line.

RIP Mr. Bergman. You were a big factor in the humor in my life!

[RoccoR5955]

59. From Radio Free Oz

“Take heart, dear friends.
We are passing through the darkening of the light.
We’re gonna make it and we’re going to make it together.
Don’t get ground down by cynicism.
Don’t let depression darken the glass through which you look.
This is a garden we live in.
A garden seeded with unconditional love.
And the tears of the oppressed,
and the tears of the frustrated,
and the tears of the good will spring those seeds.
The flag has been waved.
It says occupy.
Occupy Wall Street.
Occupy the banks.
Occupy the nursing homes.
Occupy Congress.
Occupy the big law offices.
Occupy the lobbyists.
Occupy…yourself.
Because that’s were it all comes together.
I pledge to you, from this moment on, whatever it means, I’m going to occupy myself.
I love you.
See ya tomorrow.”
- Peter Bergman from his final Radio Free Oz Podcast.

[Loudmxr]

62. Mudhead is dead. I am crying.

They were heroes of mine in high school.

So imagine the thrill when I got to meet then work with Phil Proctor.

He was happy and he brought his friend Peter along and we recorded many commercials together.

Then when "The Boys" wanted to re unite for their first show in years I was asked to mix it.

I went on to work on commercials and on art projects like "The Digital Diner." Two shows broadcast live across the country.

I worked with Proctor and Bergman for many years and then just Peter alone.

The last thing we did was co-produce the campaign for Antonio Bandaras' movie "Desperado".

So many times I have said "Like my old friend Peter Bergman used to say.." Then give quote from something he said to me personally while we were working....Politics, Life, his daughter Lily.

I'll miss you!

[progressoid]

63. +1

[thebigidea]

64. back to the shadows again

So goddamn sad.

[MrMickeysMom]

65. I'll have to listen to the live stream tonight...

RIP, Pete

[Rowdyboy]

66. So dies another piece of my youth...rest in piece man...

[mac56]

67. I can tell by the pie on your tie

you're an American, well, so am I!

Kick for Sunday

[Vidar]

68. RIP Mr. Bergman. You will be sorely missed.