Proctor and Bergman was a

comedy duo A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases fo ...

consisting of

Philip Proctor Philip Proctor (born 1940) is an American actor, comedian and a member of the Firesign Theatre. He has performed voice-over work for video games, films and television series. Career Of the four members of Firesign Theatre, Proctor has had t ...

and

Peter Bergman Peter Michael Bergman (born June 11, 1953) is an American actor best known for his portrayals on soap operas, such as Cliff Warner on '' All My Children'' (1979–89) on ABC as well as Jack Abbott on ''The Young and the Restless'' (1989–prese ...

. The two started performing in 1973 while taking a break from the four-man comedy act

The Firesign Theatre The Firesign Theatre (also known as the Firesigns) was an American surreal humour, surreal comedy troupe who first appeared on November 17, 1966, in a live performance on the Los Angeles radio program ''Radio Free Oz'' on station KPFK FM broad ...

, with the

comedy album Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

TV or Not TV ''TV or Not TV'' is the debut album by the comedy duo Proctor and Bergman. It was originally released in 1973 by Columbia Records. Unlike most Firesign Theatre albums, it included songs ("Communist Love Song" sung by Proctor at the end of side ...

", on which they based a short film in 1978. They reunited the Firesign Theatre in 1974, but resumed their duo act in 1975 during a second temporary split of the Firesigns, and continued to perform as a duo during several breaks of the Firesign Theatre until Bergman's death in 2012.

History

and

met while attending

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in the late 1950s, where Proctor studied acting, and Bergman edited the Yale comedy magazine. Bergman studied playwriting and collaborated as lyricist with

Austin Pendleton Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. He is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen who has appeared in films including ''Catch-22'' (1970); '' W ...

on two Yale Dramat musicals in which Proctor starred: '' Tom Jones'', and ''

Booth Booth may refer to: People * Booth (surname) * Booth (given name) Fictional characters * August Wayne Booth, from the television series ''Once Upon A Time'' *Cliff Booth, a supporting character of the 2019 film ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' ...

Is Back In Town''. Proctor was in Los Angeles in 1966, looking for acting work and watching the

Sunset Strip curfew riots The Sunset Strip curfew riots, also known as the " hippie riots", were a series of early counterculture-era clashes that took place between police and young people on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California in 1966. History By the mid- ...

. When he discovered he was sitting on a newspaper photo of Bergman, he called his college buddy, who recruited him as the fourth man for the comedy group he formed, along with

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Phil Austin Philip Baine Austin (April 6, 1941 – June 18, 2015) was an American comedian and writer, best known as a member of the Firesign Theatre. Early life and education Austin was born in Denver, Colorado and later grew up in Fresno, California, att ...

and

David Ossman David Ossman (born December 6, 1936 in Santa Monica) is an American writer and comedian, best known as a member of the Firesign Theatre and screenwriter of such films as '' Zachariah''. Early life Ossman attended Pomona College, where he starre ...

. Bergman christened the group the Firesign Theatre, as all four were born under the three astrological fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius). In 1972, the Firesign Theatre combined parts of a live stage show, the

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

parody ''The Count of Monte Cristo'', with a live KPFK broadcast, ''Martian Space Party'', plus some new studio material to produce their sixth album ''

Not Insane or Anything You Want To ''Not Insane or Anything You Want To'' is the sixth album released by the Firesign Theatre on Columbia Records. It was released in October 1972 and includes some material that was recorded in the studio as well as some material that was recorded ...

''. But before releasing the album in October 1972, they had discarded their original story line idea and some newly written scenes. The album performed poorly, and the Firesigns decided to take a break and perform in separate directions for a while. Proctor and Bergman decided to perform as a duo, and made a separate record deal with Columbia, producing ''

: A Video Vaudeville in Two Acts''. They turned this into a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

-type show which they played on tour. While promoting the show, they did a radio interview with disk jockey

Wolfman Jack Robert Weston Smith (January 21, 1938July 1, 1995), known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey active from 1960 till his death in 1995. Famous for his gravelly voice, he credited it for his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes ...

. The Firesign Theatre reunited in 1974 and produced three more comedy albums for Columbia. The ninth one, ''

In the Next World, You're on Your Own ''In the Next World, You're on Your Own'' is the ninth and last comedy album recorded by the Firesign Theatre for Columbia Records. It was released in October 1975. Track listing Side one #"Police Street" – 21:30 Side two #"We've Lost O ...

'', was a

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

which also sold poorly in 1975, and caused the Firesigns to lose their Columbia recording contract. They effectively split in half again, and Proctor and Bergman turned their attention to producing a live show and Columbia album, ''

What This Country Needs What This Country Needs is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Aaron Tippin, released on October 6, 1998. It was his first full studio album since switching from RCA Nashville to Lyric Street Records. The album includes three ...

'', based in part on material from ''TV or Not TV''. They appeared as regulars on a 1977 summer replacement TV series hosted by the

Starland Vocal Band Starland Vocal Band was an American pop band, known for " Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest-selling singles of 1976. Career The group began as Fat City, a husband/wife duo of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. Danoff and Nivert co-wrote the s ...

. Proctor and Bergman gave up their road performances after witnessing the September 4, 1977

Golden Dragon Massacre The Golden Dragon massacre was a gang-related shooting attack that took place on September 4, 1977, inside the Golden Dragon Restaurant at 822 Washington Street in Chinatown, San Francisco, California. The five perpetrators, members of the Joe ...

, and in 1978 released another studio album '' Give Us a Break'', which lampooned radio and television. The Starland Vocal Band also performed short comic radio breaks on this album. In 1979, Proctor and Bergman produced a film, ''

J-Men Forever ''J-Men Forever'', originally titled "The Secret World War", is a 1979 comedy film by Philip Proctor and Peter Bergman of the Firesign Theatre. The film is a pastiche using film clips from Republic serials, re-dubbed with comic dialog to tell a ...

'', using clips from old

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

s with dubbed dialogue, combined with new footage of them as FBI agents tracking down a villain known as "the Lightning Bug" voiced by disk jockey M. G. Kelly. This became popular on the 1980s late-night TV series '' Night Flight''. The Firesign Theatre reunited again late in 1979, but the changing American social and political climate marked by the election of President Ronald Reagan caused a cooling-off of the Theatre's first wave of popularity. In the summer of 1990,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

producer Ted Bonnitt called Proctor and asked him if he wanted to contribute some comedy material to Bonnitt's nightly program '' HEAT with John Hockenberry''. Proctor called Bergman, and the duo agreed to write and perform a serial consisting of 13 five-minute episodes, '' Power: Life on the Edge in L.A.'' In 1993, the Firesign Theatre reunited for a ten-city cross-country reunion tour, and experienced a second wave of popularity. They produced five albums of new material and continued to perform live, until Bergman's death on March 9, 2012, from complications involving leukemia.

Media

Albums

*''

'' (1973 Columbia) *''

'' (1975, Columbia) Live, based on material from ''TV or Not TV'' *'' Give Us a Break'' (1978,

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

)

Radio

*''The Proctor-Bergman Report'' (1977–1978) *'' Power: Life on the Edge in L.A.'' (summer 1990) On NPR's ''Heat with John Hockenberry''

Films

* ''Six Dreams'' (Peter Bergman - executive producer, Phil Proctor) (13 min., 1976) * ''TV or Not TV'' (33 min., 1978) based on the Proctor and Bergman album * ''

Americathon ''Americathon'' (also known as ''Americathon 1998'') is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Neal Israel and starring John Ritter, Fred Willard, Peter Riegert, Harvey Korman, and Nancy Morgan, with narration by George Carlin. It is based on ...

'' (86 min., 1979) based on a sketch created by Proctor and Bergman * ''

'' (75 min., 1979) Proctor and Bergman; compilation of Republic Science Fiction serial clips with new dialogue overdubbed

Games

*In 1983

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

released two

Intellivision The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel, Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. I ...

video games with

Intellivoice The Intellivoice Voice Synthesis Module, commonly abbreviated as Intellivoice, is an adapter for the Intellivision, Mattel's home video game console, that utilizes a voice synthesizer to generate audible speech. The Intellivoice is a large, brow ...

: ''Bomb Squad'', with Proctor as the voice of Frank and Bergman as the voice of Boris''Voices''
Intellivisionlives.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor And Bergman American comedy duos Performing groups established in 1973