Do you have any evidence to suggest that the Firesigns were aware of the Situationists? Much of what you're describing reminds me of Guy Debord's concept of "detournement".
Thanks for the great question. If you check out my book, you'll see that a British fan group made the connection between Firesign and the Situationists very directly in 1973 or 74, and did a quite interesting riff on it in their fanzine (there's a great image reproduced in the preface).
I don't know any *direct* connections between Firesign and the Situationists, though the Situationists were inspired by Provo, and Peter Bergman was close to some of the key people who would form Provo, as I mentioned. The closest other connection that I noticed was that Bergman and Ossman read some excerpts from Michel Foucault on one of their radio shows, circa 1969: I think it was from Order of Things or Discipline and Punish (I can find out if you're super interested). Foucault was not a Situationist of course but was definitely an engaged intellectual in Paris at the time and swimming in the same water.
Do you have any evidence to suggest that the Firesigns were aware of the Situationists? Much of what you're describing reminds me of Guy Debord's concept of "detournement".
Thanks for the great question. If you check out my book, you'll see that a British fan group made the connection between Firesign and the Situationists very directly in 1973 or 74, and did a quite interesting riff on it in their fanzine (there's a great image reproduced in the preface).
I don't know any *direct* connections between Firesign and the Situationists, though the Situationists were inspired by Provo, and Peter Bergman was close to some of the key people who would form Provo, as I mentioned. The closest other connection that I noticed was that Bergman and Ossman read some excerpts from Michel Foucault on one of their radio shows, circa 1969: I think it was from Order of Things or Discipline and Punish (I can find out if you're super interested). Foucault was not a Situationist of course but was definitely an engaged intellectual in Paris at the time and swimming in the same water.