Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him was the first comedy album recorded by The Firesign Theater. It was originally released in 1968 by Columbia Records. Side one: Temporarily Humboldt County WC Fields Forever Le Trente-Huit Cunegonde As originally programmed on vinyl, side one consisted of three short pieces: "Temporarily Humbolt County" is a compressed timeline of the European expansion into North America and the displacement of the Native Americans, a theme the group would revisit often. (The group had been told by friends in Humboldt County, California, that the local Indians added "Temporarily" to the county's name as a way of saying no one could really own the land.) "WC Fields Forever" is a plotless series of vignettes satirizing hippie culture and philosophy, through a parade of characters at a commune (referred to by a narrating character as "The 'Lazy O' Magic Circle Dudes Ranch and Collective Love Farm") who variously take drugs, eat "natural" foods, practice yoga and embrace Eastern religions. The commune's spiritual leader, "Tiny Doctor Tim", who speaks as if he is very drunk, appears to be a parody of counter culture figure Timothy Leary. The title was inspired by the American comedic actor WC Fields and the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever". "Le Trente-Huit Cunegonde" imagines what the world would be like if the counterculture of 1960s were the mainstream. People are arrested for not possessing drugs, politicians use the word "groovy" in ...
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