I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus
Encyclopedia
I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus is the fourth comedy
recording made by The Firesign Theatre
for Columbia Records
. It was released in 1971 and is the last of a tetralogy, comprising their first four albums. In addition to standard stereo
formats, the album was released as a Quadraphonic
LP
and Quadraphonic
8-Track.
, is one complete narrative
that covers both sides of one LP
.
Side One starts with an audio segue from Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers
— the sound of an ice cream truck moving off down the street and out of earshot.
The piece opens as a bus appears on a typical suburb
an road identified as "Dutch Elm Street
" in "Fifth Area". When it stops, vegetable-shaped holograms pop out of thin air and sing a song inviting people to board the bus and visit "The Future Fair" ("A fair for all and no fare to anybody!"). The main character, a young man named Clem (Philip Proctor
), boards and takes a seat next to his soon-to-be companion, Barney, who is one of many circus clowns (called bozos
) who already on the bus. They are taken to the Future Fair, where they hear an announcement that they are "about to experience a period of simulated exhilaration" presented using a technique called "technical stimulation", and encounter several virtual-reality-like, quasi-educational rides and exhibits similar to those at Disneyland and the 1964 World's Fair
.
They exit the bus and Clem enters "The Wall of Science", a science-themed exhibit featuring recreations of historical events. The presentation includes two men, "The Honorable Chester Cadaver" and "Senator Clive Brown", demonstrating a "model government" (which runs on electricity). When one of them asks Clem his name, hesitantly responds "Uh... Clem" and the central computer stores his name as "Ahclem", addressing him as such. Later in the recording, the computer addresses Barney, who honks his nose horn when stating his name, as "Barney (honk sound)". This is the first in a series of attempts by the computer to interact with the pair as another human would, but failing because inaccurate pattern recognition
is a poor substitute for genuine understanding.
Clem and Barney join other tourists in various exhibits and rides, and eventually encounter a simulation of then-President Richard Nixon
similar to the "audioanimatronic" President Lincoln at Disneyland. But instead of merely making a speech, it answers visitors' questions with vague, positive-sounding replies only remotely related to the questions and completely unrelated to the citizens' concerns. When Clem reaches the front of the line, he puts the President simulator into maintenance mode by saying, "This is worker speaking. Hello." The computer responds with "Systat: uptime" and the length of time the it has been running. Clem then attempts to crash the system by confusing it with it questions it can't understand, or sometimes, even parse. For example, "Why does the Porridge Bird lay its egg in the air?" is interpreted in several ways, such as "Why does the poor rich Barney (honk) delay laser's edge in the fair?", but the computer's speech-recognition software rejects them all as probably erroneous. This finally causes the "President" to put itself out of service and shut down, but the attack fails to bring down the Fair's entire network.
As Clem meets up with Barney on the Funway (a collection of carnival style attractions and games of skill), he discovers that the Fair's security is looking for him. The loudspeakers repeatedly page for a "Mr. Ahclem" and the hologram of "Artie Choke" informs him that "Deputy Dan" will come for him. Clem then uses the hologram of Artie Choke to create a holographic image of himself and sends it into the system a-la Tron
, to confront the central computer, "Dr. Memory". His confusing questions cause this computer to crash too, bringing the fair to a halt.
The entire experience then revealed to be a vision of the future as seen in the crystal ball
of a Gypsy telling the fortune of someone with the same voice and name of Barney.
Clem is one of the first "computer hacker
s" mentioned in pop culture, and his dialog with the fair's computer includes messages found in the DEC
PDP-10
, a popular minicomputer at the time. An identification followed by the word "hello" initiated an interactive session on contemporary Univac, General Electric, and university timesharing systems.
This album was one of the inspirations for Ivan Stang
's 1973 film Let's Visit the World of the Future.
The Lagunitas Brewing seasonal beer 2009 Correction Ale pays homage to this album.
It has been re-released on CD at least three times:
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
recording made by The Firesign Theatre
The Firesign Theatre
The Firesign Theatre is an American comedy troupe consisting of Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman and Philip Proctor. Their brand of surrealistic humor is best known through their record albums, which acquired a cult following in the late 1960s and early '70s.The troupe began as live radio...
for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. It was released in 1971 and is the last of a tetralogy, comprising their first four albums. In addition to standard stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
formats, the album was released as a Quadraphonic
Quadraphonic
Quadraphonic sound – the most widely used early term for what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another...
LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
and Quadraphonic
Quadraphonic
Quadraphonic sound – the most widely used early term for what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another...
8-Track.
Synopsis
This album, like its predecessor Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the PliersDon't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers
Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers is The Firesign Theatre's third comedy recording for Columbia Records, released in 1970. In 1983, The New Rolling Stone Record Guide called it "the greatest comedy album ever made"....
, is one complete narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
that covers both sides of one LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
.
Side One starts with an audio segue from Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers
Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers
Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers is The Firesign Theatre's third comedy recording for Columbia Records, released in 1970. In 1983, The New Rolling Stone Record Guide called it "the greatest comedy album ever made"....
— the sound of an ice cream truck moving off down the street and out of earshot.
The piece opens as a bus appears on a typical suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an road identified as "Dutch Elm Street
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...
" in "Fifth Area". When it stops, vegetable-shaped holograms pop out of thin air and sing a song inviting people to board the bus and visit "The Future Fair" ("A fair for all and no fare to anybody!"). The main character, a young man named Clem (Philip Proctor
Philip Proctor
Philip Proctor is an American actor, voice actor and a member of The Firesign Theatre. He plays Rocky Rococo and Nancy in the Nick Danger series. He is from Goshen, Indiana...
), boards and takes a seat next to his soon-to-be companion, Barney, who is one of many circus clowns (called bozos
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
) who already on the bus. They are taken to the Future Fair, where they hear an announcement that they are "about to experience a period of simulated exhilaration" presented using a technique called "technical stimulation", and encounter several virtual-reality-like, quasi-educational rides and exhibits similar to those at Disneyland and the 1964 World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
.
They exit the bus and Clem enters "The Wall of Science", a science-themed exhibit featuring recreations of historical events. The presentation includes two men, "The Honorable Chester Cadaver" and "Senator Clive Brown", demonstrating a "model government" (which runs on electricity). When one of them asks Clem his name, hesitantly responds "Uh... Clem" and the central computer stores his name as "Ahclem", addressing him as such. Later in the recording, the computer addresses Barney, who honks his nose horn when stating his name, as "Barney (honk sound)". This is the first in a series of attempts by the computer to interact with the pair as another human would, but failing because inaccurate pattern recognition
Pattern recognition
In machine learning, pattern recognition is the assignment of some sort of output value to a given input value , according to some specific algorithm. An example of pattern recognition is classification, which attempts to assign each input value to one of a given set of classes...
is a poor substitute for genuine understanding.
Clem and Barney join other tourists in various exhibits and rides, and eventually encounter a simulation of then-President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
similar to the "audioanimatronic" President Lincoln at Disneyland. But instead of merely making a speech, it answers visitors' questions with vague, positive-sounding replies only remotely related to the questions and completely unrelated to the citizens' concerns. When Clem reaches the front of the line, he puts the President simulator into maintenance mode by saying, "This is worker speaking. Hello." The computer responds with "Systat: uptime" and the length of time the it has been running. Clem then attempts to crash the system by confusing it with it questions it can't understand, or sometimes, even parse. For example, "Why does the Porridge Bird lay its egg in the air?" is interpreted in several ways, such as "Why does the poor rich Barney (honk) delay laser's edge in the fair?", but the computer's speech-recognition software rejects them all as probably erroneous. This finally causes the "President" to put itself out of service and shut down, but the attack fails to bring down the Fair's entire network.
As Clem meets up with Barney on the Funway (a collection of carnival style attractions and games of skill), he discovers that the Fair's security is looking for him. The loudspeakers repeatedly page for a "Mr. Ahclem" and the hologram of "Artie Choke" informs him that "Deputy Dan" will come for him. Clem then uses the hologram of Artie Choke to create a holographic image of himself and sends it into the system a-la Tron
Tron (franchise)
The Tron franchise began in 1982 with the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron. It was followed by various film tie-ins, a comic series and the 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy...
, to confront the central computer, "Dr. Memory". His confusing questions cause this computer to crash too, bringing the fair to a halt.
The entire experience then revealed to be a vision of the future as seen in the crystal ball
Crystal ball
A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball believed by some people to aid in the performance of clairvoyance. It is sometimes known as a shew stone...
of a Gypsy telling the fortune of someone with the same voice and name of Barney.
Clem is one of the first "computer hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
s" mentioned in pop culture, and his dialog with the fair's computer includes messages found in the DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
PDP-10
PDP-10
The PDP-10 was a mainframe computer family manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation from the late 1960s on; the name stands for "Programmed Data Processor model 10". The first model was delivered in 1966...
, a popular minicomputer at the time. An identification followed by the word "hello" initiated an interactive session on contemporary Univac, General Electric, and university timesharing systems.
This album was one of the inspirations for Ivan Stang
Ivan Stang
Rev. Ivan Stang, born Douglass St. Clair Smith August 21, 1953 in Washington, D.C., raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended the St. Mark's School of Texas. He is best known as the author and publisher of the first screed of the Church of the SubGenius...
's 1973 film Let's Visit the World of the Future.
The Lagunitas Brewing seasonal beer 2009 Correction Ale pays homage to this album.
Issues and reissues
This album was originally released simultaneously on LP, Cassette, SQ Quad LP, and Quad 8-Track.- LP - Columbia C-30737
- Cassette - Columbia CA-30737
- Quad LP - Columbia CQ-30737
- Quad 8 Track - Columbia CAQ - 30737
It has been re-released on CD at least three times:
- 1989 - Mobile Fidelity MFCD-785
- 2001 - CBS/Epic
- 2001 - Laugh.com LGH1073