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 Friendsdouble 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 MotorsDVD 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.[1][2]
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
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, white 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.[3]