Dope Humor of the Seventies
Dope Humor of the Seventies is a compilation album by the Firesign Theatre, released by Stand Up! Records in November 2020. Background. A sequel to the "Dear Friends" album, it consists of short, highly improvisational sketches distilled from the 80-hour archive set "Duke of Madness Motors", originally recorded from 1970 to 1972 as part of the group's nationally syndicated "Dear Friends" radio show. The album was released on vinyl and digital formats, and includes liner notes with an archive of handwritten scripts and other material from the era. Reaction from members. Firesign member  David Ossman called "Dope Humor" a sort of "dark side" to the "Dear Friends" album, since both were compiled from the same source, but the sketches on "Dope Humor" had not been constrained by the desire to keep the material radio-friendly, as had been the case for "Dear Friends". Phil Proctor called it a tribute to late founding members Phil Austin and Peter Bergman. Reception. Mark Lynch, host of the WICN radio program "Inquiry", praised the album as "wicked funny" and said that the humor was both a snapshot of its era and surprisingly timely in the modern era . Rich Kimball of Bangor, Maine radio station WZON said the album was full of "lost gems" that still seemed resonant: "So much of it holds up ... I feel like I could hear it on some cable news networks today and it would fit right in."