Dear Friends was a live radio program performed by the Firesign Theatre on KPFK radio in Los Angeles. Twenty-one episodes aired between September 16, 1970 and February 17, 1971. These programs were recorded and later edited into one-hour shows distributed on 12" LPs for national syndication. In January 1972, the group released a Dear Friends double album, a compilation of what they considered to be the best segments from the radio program. The original broadcasts were released in 2010 on the group's Duke of Madness Motors DVD compilation. Another album distilled from the Duke of Madness Motors set, Dope Humor of the Seventies, which also collected material from the Dear Friends radio shows, was released in 2020.
Episodes
Episode #1 – Live At The Ash Grove Originally aired live on KPFK on November 15, 1970
Tracks – side one Intros P.B. Intros Freddy Earth Vegetables Dr. Memory Animals Tongue Exercises (P.P.) Religious Items Whales Rap On Cartoon Men Dagwood & Jigs Segue > Drunks Arms Letter From Tokyo American Koan Egyptians (P.B.) Skeleton Pirates F.T. Anniversary Joke Contest P.B.'S Close Last Chord Of Music
Tracks – side two Shaky Open Music Break (Silhouettes) Applause P.P. Bit Hole Earth Estates Teenie Weenies Animals Vaudeville Act Georgia Island Story Don G. O'vanni Spot (40 Great Unclaimed Melodies) Thanksgiving Piece (The P.A. Encore) Leary-Duck President's Names Rap Thank You
Episode #2 – Power Is Trouble and Trouble's Not Funny Originally aired live on KPFK on November 1, 1970
Tracks – side one Satie Opening Animals In Army Glaubner's Disease Dr. Spitz and Dog Commerce Dying Pig Party Lecture Dr. Memory Show Citizen X Reviews Firesign Theatre Album Giant Toad Mark Time Mission Inn Early Farming P.A. – P.B. Coal D.O. Coal Coal Improv Moon Worms Amoeba To Oil P.P. Speech
Tracks – side two Duck Winter BBQ Chanters Police Records Leg O Crow "What's So Funny" Jokes Willie Sutton Morning T.V. Guide D.O. Book Report P.B. -P.A. On Book Reports Questions For Kids Presidents Names P.P. Announcement Harmonica Solo More Kids Questions News Items P.A. Reading D.O. Whole Earth Poem Indian Land Power Fanfare
Episode #3 – I Could Always Shoot Him With The Camera Originally aired live on KPFK on October 4, 1970
Tracks – side one Equipment Trouble Japanese Miniature T.V.S Surrogate Mothers Hair Drunks President and Committee (Live From The Senate Bar) The Greening Of America Discussion
Tracks – side two Orson Welles Bit Punter's Girls Sound Effects War Fresh Chef Sex Jail Sex Movies W.C. Fields FDR And Hitler P.P.'S The Mutt and Smutt Show
Episode #4 – Somebody Put A Mickey In The Ground Zero Originally aired live on KPFK on October 11, 1970
Tracks – side one Yale Distorts Tape – 8:15 Conk's Coal Ad Rocket Scientists's Lunch "Chucko" News Items: Sophia Loren, Fires, Agnew Famous Comic's School Child And Models At Mott's Miniatures Can You Stop This
Tracks – side two Hitler Opinion Research The Chinchilla Show Real America Items Mixville Rocket News Spud Commercial Disaster Reports Rocket-Fags Us Census Crabs(?) Writer's School Spot Mutt and Smutt Music Bit The Compromise ATC Warning Blast-Off
Episode #5 – All We Have To Fear Is Me Originally aired live on KPFK on December 9, 1970
Tracks – side one D.O. Intro Toad Away Hymn Book Of Punter Sermonizing "They Heard Us Talking" Pudy Valee President's Songs Lomesome Beet Song(O:14) Navy Dress Regs Heaves Of Hoove P.P. As FBI Agent P.B. Kicks On Nix Music Break D.O. – Ad Billboard P.P. Zen Story P.B. Andalusion Dog P.P. Poem Ufos Sodom And Jubalee 2 Idiots For Peace Pauser's Manifesto Dr. Tim In Algeria Youthful Folly
Tracks – side two D.O. Luie's Ad P.P. Pavlov's Dog Pooche's Beer Hall Afternoon T.V. Guide Watching T.V. I Am An American Luci and Desi C.B. Demille Movie Beer Ads Music Break Food Ad Hoove's Dogs Lavender Hoove Fish War Weather Report Carozzi Pot Garden Beaner Dealers Gym Hs Fod On T.V. Nightinjail JHS G. Canyon Suite Fudd Johnny Marvin Ratman Recruiting For FBI Zen Story Squash Outro
Episode #6 – Deputy Dan Will Find Us No Matter Where We Go Originally aired live on KPFK on November 8, 1970
Tracks – side one Savings and Loan Spot Beer Drinking Tri-City Spot Education Cock Teasing Bears and Boars Baliol Bros. Spot Mudslide The F(L)Ag Police Aliens Spot Hanging Athenian Gardens Criogenics – Foster Freeze Rabbits Lucky Duck News Items Plane Bombings Boys Books Chicanos Baliol Deputy Dan Police Car Accident Amos and Andy
Tracks – side two Baliol Spot G. Washington Letter Dr. Memory Baliol P.B.-Operation Bootstrap Fuse Of Doom Baliol Spot Tongue Exercises
Episode #7 – Was There A Cow On The Moon? Originally aired live on KPFK on November 29, 1970
Tracks – side one Barn Dance Opening Peter's Birthday P.P.'S German Movie Score Mars–Marsh Motorcycle Bird-Dog Song Dik-Dik Story Pears-Paris Tarzan Copper Smelting Sex Problems T.V. Guide Girl P.P.'S "Bluff" Piece Pain Pills Brautigan Poem Golgotha Discussion Basket Boys War GI Bills
Tracks – side two Businessman's Lunch Three Questions Homosexuals And Doctors Copper Smelting Badges Armegeddon War With The Cows "Hell" Message In Rocket Sequence Rose In Spanish Harlem Music Trip Men On The Moon Film-Makers Horse-Players Silence 2-Minute Light Money 45 Seconds To Go...
Episode #8 – Being On Radio Is More Fun Than Watching TV side one originally aired live on KPFK on October 18, 1970 side two originally aired live on KPFK on December 6, 1970
Tracks – side one Columbia School Of Broadcasting Women City Of The Future Sermon "Can't Say That On The Air" Women's Shoes Steel Hat Dr. I.Q.'S Announcing School The Curbfront Shysters Pluto Water Census Taking Serman Continues A Letter Disappears Hitler's Umlaut Discipline P.B. Spills The Coffee Playback Of Spill Sermon Continued Lick-A-Boot
Tracks – side two Negros A Go Go P.A.'S T.V. Guide Winnie The Pooh – "Eeyore's Birthday"
Episode #9 – Dr. Memory's Laff-A-While News Originally aired live on KPFK on January 10, 1971
Tracks – side one Good News Items News Opening Production Code Bear Story Cops Broadcasting Hippie Words Newscasters Offensive Words More Cops Old Postman Jackie Globenfelt Story Selma W. Selma Song The Morgans Gump Door(?) Rocket Mixville Bringing Up Father Baxter Ward On Fiji Famous Speakers School Car Wash Ad Dr. Memory
Tracks – side two Fiji Islanders Welsh Accents Prohibited Words Exercises Greaso Practice Cigarette Ads Ecology Army Recruiting Garden Club News French Mother Goose Song And Story Production Code Standards Russian Book Children's Zoo Disappearance Of Animals P.P.'S Grandfather's Letter Mixville Rocket George Put-Put News Ad Dr.Memory
Episode #10 – All Nite Images Originally aired live on KPFK on January 17, 1971
Tracks – side one P.B.'S Voice Prints Of The 60s Spot P.P. On Concerts Sleep Researchers Truck Stop Cafe' Cell Meeting Mental Illness Statistics Fighter Ace Dall Show Bottomless Hot Dog Stand Professional Digester Glutton's Church The Pause Trains Roman Games Trip "Doing His Thing" Bit P.P.'S Ed's Restaurant Spot Broadcaster's School Jew In Palm Springs Yale And Bimidji Business Meeting: Priests Help The Hoove Fund Dialset Story Negro Records Duke Of Madness Motors Spot
Tracks – side two Latin-Rocket Trip First Buffalo Extinct Animals Ike Speech State Of The Union Race Big Bomb Scare "The Young Polluters" Hoove T.V. Series Sex Mailer And Dirty Pix Sex On T.V. Review Of "Trash" Homosexuals The Talking Porpoise Blind Kids Sniff Pot Lady Driver Russian Driver Kidnappers Reminisences Of T.F.T. Alchemy Summer Police & Doctors Festival Outdoor Sales Beaners Crucified TV Truck Stop Reprise
Episode #11 – Welcome To Microorganism State Park Originally aired live on KPFK on January 24, 1971
Tracks – side one Jiver Intro Melon Mtn. Opening Technical Breakdown Popularization Of Art Saigon Yale Club Jewish Times Story Kung Fu Ad Dr. Dog As Brickbreaker Pet Pills At Fair Kid Roundup Kids In The Street Gravity On Reds Merc. In Fish Pres. Punter & Color T.V.S Rabbit Pellets Beaners Scoring Weed Cow Trip (The Cows Are Not Afraid Of The Dr.) Dr. Whiplash Show Bazerko Lounge Spot Dear Nominee Set P.B. In Holiday Inns Sheep 4th Record – Jim & Spade Nixon Dr. Memory Set
Tracks – side two Jefferson And The Mason (From the October 18, 1971 live broadcast) P.P. On Sheep D.O.'S Ecology Pitch Tenner's Guide Whiskey Law Voices, Forest Growing Witches Brew Conquistador Club Animals You Won't See Earthworms (Etc. A Mix Of All These To:) Forest Fire Stories "We'll Never Forget" Clock Striking Rent Parties Chinese-Spades Robert Kelly Reading Talk About The Poem Dirty Words Marijuana Scare – Replay 5 Min Light Hollow Trees Where Trees Come From & What They Are Made Of Russian Poem To Sleep Dr. Memory Tag
Episode #12 – Is This The Machine That Answers No "N" Yes? Side one originally aired live on KPFK on February 3, 1971 and October 18, 1970. Side two originally aired live on KPFK on February 17, 1971.
Tracks – side one "Dead Air" P.B.'S Mick Jagger Story – 1:20 Fanfare Old Men-Vegetables Rain Falling & Plants Growing Judgement Of The Birds Arm Band Plays "Rudolph" Ascap Financial Report Agnew Plastique "La Condicion Humaine" Propane Car Bing Crosby On Teens Youth-Sex Games On Parade "Paranoia" Piece P.B.'S Andalusion Dog Poem P.P.'S Statement Of Principals P.A.'S Monte Cristo D.O.'S Swing Music (From the February 17, 1971 live broadcast) Station Break (The Firesign Theatre's "Single" release – side A)
Tracks – side two "Rainin" Music Out Cabin Rest. Spot Yes and No Machine Quotes And Questions Ben Hur Women In Wwii New Money Monastery In White House Elkheart Trains Laugh Track Stanford Train Trip Computors On Acid Subway Tour Guide "Mr. Prominent" Bundles Forward Into The Past (The Firesign Theatre's "Single" release – side B) Termites Eat Steel US Seal Old Cars Statistics Earthquake Farewell
Issues and reissues These shows were distributed to radio stations on 12 inch, colored label LPs.
Selected parts of these shows were released by the group on the Columbia Records label as the double album Dear Friends in 1972. Other parts were released — without mention of their origin — as parts of the group's Just Folks... A Firesign Chat album on Butterfly Records in 1977.
Between June 15 and September 28, 2010, New York radio station WFMU (with the cooperation of the Firesign Theatre) aired a 16-week series of archival shows which included all but episodes 1, 8, 10, and 12 of the syndicated Dear Friends in chronological order along with an unsyndicated Dear Friends episode broadcast on September 16, 1970 ("Big Brother Is Washing") and episodes of their other KPFK series, The Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour and Let's Eat. As of October 2010, the individual programs from this run are available for streaming via the WFMU website, and a selection of the shows rebroadcast by the station are also available via iTunes.
References
Firesigntheatre.com, January 19, 2006 Firezine.net, January 20, 2006 Smith, Ronald L. The Goldmine Comedy Record Price Guide. Iola: Krause, 1996.