Firesign Theatre — Shakespeare’s Lost Comedie

They hinted at an attempt at Shakespeare spoof on the back side of “Not Insane,” with the piece titled “Anything You Want To.” That is the name of the play captured here and presented as Shakespeare’s lost comedy, and it shows the team was very capable of lampooning even the Bard, and doing it well. The wordplay in this is worthy of the subject matter, but all of it is so contextualized that it’s a little hard to present here. It is endlessly more successful than their initial attempt at recording this, and in the end, it’s an epic bit of Shakespeare, with witches, kings, fools, malaprops, a graveyard scene, and either ghosts or goats upon the battlements. But among their later works, this is probably the record that made the most lasting impression on me and provided the most phrases that filled my brain.

Bought this new when it came out in 1982, the same year as “Lawyer’s Hospital.” In their arrangement with Rhino, they were putting out material at a pretty fast pace, but it was nice to see them getting some recognition, even if it was on a label that specialized in ‘60s rereleases and very odd novelty records

Something I say all the time, whether it fits the situation or not: “Methought you spake of goats upon the battlements.” “Well, be he ghost or goat or ghost of goat or both…”