I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus

Firesign Theatre | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 4, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sbme Special Mkts.
• ASIN: B002HMHS72
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,344 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #55 in Music > Miscellaneous > Radio Shows

Track Listings

1. Side . 001

2. Side . 002

Editorial Reviews

Their highest-charting LP, this 1971 release ponders man's place in a world dominated by technology. One of comedy's all-time best concept albums! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hi-fi, sci-fi comedy classic from Firesign!, December 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus (Audio CD)

'Bozos" is another in a series of classic albums put out by the Firesign Theatre during their late-60s - '70s heyday. It is the most science-fiction-influenced of their albums and was inspired by the (then) dawn of the computer age and old World's Fairs from the past. Set at the "Future Fair," it presents a very funny re-thinking of the history of Man as viewed through a Disneyland-esque interactive amusement park ride which culminates with a visit to a robotic version of "The President," which our computer-hacker hero promptly de-programs. Power and goverment are very much themes of this album. The lead character's (Phil Proctor) motives are a bit more cloudy than on other Firesign albums, but this does not mar the laugh quotient one bit. Highlights include frequent appearances from the Theme Parks "mascots" (Phil Austin's the Whisperin' Squash, David Ossman's the Lonesome Beet, & Peter Bergman's Artie Choke) and a group of academics' theories of evolution presented to a classroom of bored students. Oh, did I mention that it was really funny? Grab this comedy classic before it goes out of print again (it's just now been re-released after nearly a decade in moratorium) and check out laugh.com for other classic Firesign re-releases like "Everything You Know Is Wrong" and "In the Next World, You're On Your Own").

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stuck in my head, September 11, 2005

By 

Wayne A. (Belfast, Northern Ireland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus (Audio CD)

I don't think I've heard this album from top to bottom in 20 years but barely a week goes by when some line or other from it doesn't pass through my head and often out my mouth without my even realizing the source. Firesign's take on the "Brave New World" future was--like nearly everything they've done--a bit too accurate as prophesy. The world we live in today, from Bush to Wal-Mart to Prozac to what today is the anniversary of, comes straight out of this album and it's a wonder back then that more of us didn't see this as inevitable. This work predates a movie actor as President by many years; Arnold as governor of California was a foregone conclusion to these guys in 1970; Most cable TV and film look like Firesign pieces.

Some smart arse once said that in decadent and declining times the only job left for intelligent people to do is satire. No, this album isn't a laugh riot, and it's not intended to be. It's a very humorous, witty, and often brilliant commentary on the end of an era. This group will be remembered in the distant future as one of the best chroniclers of the Fall.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joke For Brains, December 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus (Audio CD)

This album stands as one of the finest audio theatre productions ever and represents a peak in the work of this seminal troup of actor/writer/comedians. Of their early albums, this is the most coherent in the sense that it is one continuous story from start to finish ("Don't Touch That Dwarf..." is too, but not in an obvious way).

All of the Firesign's best work is dense and multi-layered requiring many listenings to get all the jokes and decipher all the plot elements and this album is no exception. Don't let that put you off, though - even the first pass will be funny and fascinating, but unlike most comedy albums the second pass will be funnier and the third even funnier. Although some of the humor is downright silly, much of it makes use of both high- and low-cultural references (often juxtaposing the two for comic effect) in a very artful and literary way. The more you think about it the more of the jokes you'll get.

This record is also a great piece of science-fiction and like the best science-fiction part of the fun is trying to figure out the nature of the world in which the story takes place. Who are the Bozos and what is the Future Fair really? The great thing about the Firesign Theatre is that all their works are open to multiple interpretations.