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Peter Bergman, Firesign Theatre founder, dies at 72
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A promotional photo from the Firesign Theatre, featuring Peter Bergman second from left.
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Courtesy Firesign Theatre
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Peter Bergman, founder of the surreal comedy group Firesign Theatre, and the man who coined the term "Love-In," died Friday morning in a Santa Monica hospital. He was 72, and had been suffering from leukemia.
Firesign grew out of a radio show Bergman hosted at KPFK in the late 1960s. The group made two dozen popular comedy records — the most popular of which included “We’re All Bozo’s on This Bus,” and “Don’t Crush that Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers” — and continued performing live into last December.
On his own, Bergman produced a political satire series for KPCC called “True Confessions of the Real World,” which ran in 2002 and 2003.
We've posted two pieces of audio, a full episode of "True Confessions of the Real World," and Off-Ramp host John Rabe's conversation with Firesign co-founder Phil Proctor.
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