Briefly Noted: Psychedelic Old Time Radio
In the late 1960s, a quartet called the Firesign Theatre created a striking new species of comedy album. These records told dense, non-linear stories, with scenes linked by the logic of dreams, puns, free association, late-night channel-surfing, and a psychedelic anti-authoritarianism that wasn't so different from the libertarian politics of The Prisoner or the Illuminatus! trilogy. (At one point the Firesigns mulled the idea of optioning Illuminatus!, but they never followed through.)
The second half of their second album was devoted to the entertaining exploits of Nick Danger, a detective whose adventures, no matter how surreal, somehow kept a foot in the conventions of a 1940s radio serial. The character became a mainstay over the following four decades, and his cases are now collected in a four-CD set called Box of Danger. Danger dodges many foes in these audio plays, but you'll have to read the liner notes to discover his narrowest escape: In the '70s, New Line Cinema nearly made a Nick Danger movie starring Chevy Chase.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
tiy
is good