In the Next World, You're on Your Own
Encyclopedia
In the Next World, You're on Your Own was the last comedy
album recorded by The Firesign Theatre
for Columbia Records
. It was released in 1975.
's detective fiction
(Austin being best known as the detective character Nick Danger
). The highlight sketch is "Give It Back," a mock game show
in which losing contestants have to surrender their parents' material possessions to the Native Americans. In surreal
fashion, the police satire
also plays out a family drama. In this drama the main characters are: the hard-boiled Lieutenant Detective Random Coolzip; his wife, Peggy, who is also his dispatcher; their son, Skip Coolzip, a junior policeman; and their daughter, Kim, a pornographic film actress.
Several side sketches are interwoven with the police drama. In the first, a commercial for Dead Cat Soap segues into a soap opera
spoof, starring Peggy. We learn that Random is rarely home, Peggy is having an affair, and Skip's ("Skipper" to his mother) sexual orientation
is a scandal. In the second, Kim Coolzip presents a seductive commercial for liquid meat, which segues into her appearance on a charity fund-raising telethon. The third is the game show, in which Skip Coolzip "gives back" to Native American
s his family's car, then his father's squad car ("the black screamer"), and finally, "everything." He is also assigned, with his sister, to take over the Academy Awards
celebration "with these stirring words: 'Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs.'"
The second side of the album, "We've Lost Our Big Kabloona", culminates in the hostage
situation, on stage during the live broadcast of the Academy Awards
. While accepting an award for a police/family drama called "Squat!," which stars their parents and seems identical to the show on the first side of the album, Skip and Kim Coolzip reveal a gun. They demand that the President of the United States
appear in Hollywood "with a plane full of cash and all those broken treaties," or they will shoot the nominees one by one in alphabetical order. This sketch was inspired by Sacheen Littlefeather
's appearance at the 1973 Academy Awards
.
In the liner notes, thanks are given to authors Jorge Luis Borges
and Raymond Chandler
.
This album was the only commercial album during the group's Columbia Records period that was released under the group name but not crediting all four members as writers. The script is formally credited only to Phil Austin
and David Ossman
, although the other two members, Peter Bergman
and Philip Proctor
, honed their parts further during recording. The result did not sell well, and the label declined to renew the group's contract.
This album was recorded in the same Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, California
, where John Lennon
and Harry Nilsson
recorded Pussy Cats
. The same engineer worked on both albums.
It has been re-released on CD at least once
references many of Firesign Theatre's previous albums.
Also appearing on the back cover are all four members in cartoon form.
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...
album recorded 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 1975.
Detailed track information and commentary
The first side of the album, "Police Street", features a group of sketches interconnected by the kind of police show satire reminiscent of Phil AustinPhil Austin
Phil Austin is a comedian and writer. He was born in Denver, Colorado and later grew up in Fresno, California, attending Fresno High School...
's detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
(Austin being best known as the detective character Nick Danger
How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All
How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All is the second comedy album recorded by The Firesign Theatre. It was originally released in 1969 by Columbia Records.-Side one:...
). The highlight sketch is "Give It Back," a mock game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
in which losing contestants have to surrender their parents' material possessions to the Native Americans. In surreal
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
fashion, the police satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
also plays out a family drama. In this drama the main characters are: the hard-boiled Lieutenant Detective Random Coolzip; his wife, Peggy, who is also his dispatcher; their son, Skip Coolzip, a junior policeman; and their daughter, Kim, a pornographic film actress.
Several side sketches are interwoven with the police drama. In the first, a commercial for Dead Cat Soap segues into a soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
spoof, starring Peggy. We learn that Random is rarely home, Peggy is having an affair, and Skip's ("Skipper" to his mother) sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
is a scandal. In the second, Kim Coolzip presents a seductive commercial for liquid meat, which segues into her appearance on a charity fund-raising telethon. The third is the game show, in which Skip Coolzip "gives back" to Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
s his family's car, then his father's squad car ("the black screamer"), and finally, "everything." He is also assigned, with his sister, to take over the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
celebration "with these stirring words: 'Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs.'"
The second side of the album, "We've Lost Our Big Kabloona", culminates in the hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
situation, on stage during the live broadcast of the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. While accepting an award for a police/family drama called "Squat!," which stars their parents and seems identical to the show on the first side of the album, Skip and Kim Coolzip reveal a gun. They demand that the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
appear in Hollywood "with a plane full of cash and all those broken treaties," or they will shoot the nominees one by one in alphabetical order. This sketch was inspired by Sacheen Littlefeather
Sacheen Littlefeather
Sacheen Littlefeather is a Native American activist who donned Apache dress and presented a speech on behalf of actor Marlon Brando, for his performance in The Godfather, when he boycotted the 45th Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, 1973, in protest of the treatment of Native Americans by the...
's appearance at the 1973 Academy Awards
45th Academy Awards
The 45th Academy Awards were presented March 27, 1973 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, and Rock Hudson....
.
In the liner notes, thanks are given to authors Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
and Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
.
This album was the only commercial album during the group's Columbia Records period that was released under the group name but not crediting all four members as writers. The script is formally credited only to Phil Austin
Phil Austin
Phil Austin is a comedian and writer. He was born in Denver, Colorado and later grew up in Fresno, California, attending Fresno High School...
and David Ossman
David Ossman
David Ossman is an American writer and comedian, best known as a member of The Firesign Theatre.-Career:...
, although the other two members, Peter Bergman
Peter Bergman (comedian)
Peter Paul Bergman is an American writer and comedian, best known as a member of The Firesign Theatre. He plays Lt. Bradshaw in the Nick Danger series....
and 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...
, honed their parts further during recording. The result did not sell well, and the label declined to renew the group's contract.
This album was recorded in the same Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, where John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
recorded Pussy Cats
Pussy Cats
Pussy Cats is the tenth album by Harry Nilsson, released in 1974. It was produced by John Lennon during his "Lost Weekend" period. The album title was inspired by the bad press Nilsson and Lennon were getting at the time for being drunk and rowdy in Los Angeles...
. The same engineer worked on both albums.
Issues and reissues
This album was originally released simultaneously on LP and 8 Track.- LP — Columbia PC-33475
- 8 Track — Columbia PCA-33475
It has been re-released on CD at least once
- 2001 - Laugh.com LGH1078
Memorable quotes
- Skip Coolzip
- "Eat fascistFascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
death, flaming media pigs!"
- Commercial slogan:
- "There's a whole dead cat in every bar of Dead Cat Soap."
- Peggy Coolzip, in soap opera:
- "You owe...a lot of people...a lot of money....for--for a lot of airports.": "Oh stop it, stop it all of you! I know what you all must be thinking! That Random is never coming home. That Skipper is better off the way he is....and Kim has gone to HELL!"
- (As police helicopter, machine gun and screams are heard in background):
- Skip Coolzip (over police radio): "Dad! Klong's loaded on dope, and he's killing people!"
- Lieutenant Detective Random Coolzip: "Tell it to the Xmas Bunny, kid."
- Random Coolzip:
- "Peggy! You talk police or I'm busting you back to three-wheelers, baby."
Cover art
The album cover by William StoutWilliam Stout
William Stout is an American fantasy artist and illustrator with a specialization in paleontological art. His paintings have been shown in over seventy exhibitions, including twelve one-man shows. He has worked on over thirty feature films, doing everything from storyboard art to production design...
references many of Firesign Theatre's previous albums.
- Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the PliersDon't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the PliersDon'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"....
- Morse Science High
- Groat Cakes
- Pico & Alvarado
- More Sugar
- George Papoon (first appearance, on the back cover)
- Dear FriendsDear Friends (Firesign Theatre)Dear Friends is The Firesign Theatre's fifth album to be released on Columbia Records. It is a compilation album, collecting the best bits from the group's nationally syndicated radio program, also titled Dear Friends....
- Adult Bookstore Motel
- Old Oildale Highway
- Everything You Know Is WrongEverything You Know Is WrongEverything You Know Is Wrong is a comedy album by the Firesign Theatre released in October 1974 on Columbia Records.-Detailed track information and commentary:...
- Bear Whiz Beer
Also appearing on the back cover are all four members in cartoon form.
External sources
- Firesign Theatre. In the Next World, You're on Your Own. Columbia Records, 1975.
- Firesign Theatre. Firesign Theatre. 9 February 2006
- "FIREZINE: Linques!." Firesign Theatre FAQ. 10 February 2006
- Marsh, Dave, and Greil Marcus. "The Firesign Theatre." The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. 175-176.
- Smith, Ronald L. The Goldmine Comedy Record Price GuideThe Goldmine Comedy Record Price GuideThe Goldmine Comedy Record Price Guide is a 1996 book by Ronald L. Smith. Smith, who has written several books about comedy recordings and comedians, offers 1996 market prices for hundreds of albums ranging in date from 1915-1996. Smith also includes biographical information about the artists...
. Iola: Krause, 1996. 124-127.