I am posting this blog anonymously, under the nom de plume: Sir Sydney Fudd.  It seems a high-falutin' name, and I wonder if people think I chose it for agrandizment.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Sir Sydney Fudd is a character in the Firesign Theater recording: "I Think We Are All Bozos on this Bus!"  This is one of the strangest, most interesting and funny recordings ever made, although it is not my favorite of theirs.  FT is something of an aquired taste, and each of their recordings must be listened to many times before one starts to "get it".  This takes some interest and patience.  But each one contains a fully realized story, hidden amoung the seamingly random events, strange characters, funny noises and other sound effects, and things heard dimly in the background.   They call what they do: "Theater of the Mind", and it is.  Some say you have to be stoned to fully appreciate them, but I wouldn't know about that ;-).

Sir Sydney appears part way through side one of the record (or side 0.001 on the MP3).   The main character, Clem, a Bozo of inactive status (known throught the record as Uh-Clem, because when he was asked to speak his name, that's what he said, and the computers of the FUTURE insert his spoken name into every dialog where he has to be identified.), is visiting an amusment part of the FUTURE, in particular, the attraction known as The Wall of Science.  Imagine one of those Disney anamatronic president things on acid, only heard, not seen (well, Uh-Clem sees it, but you can't).  Sir Sydney is eavesdropped upon as he accidentally knocks his new porcelain astrolabe down the kitchen stairs whilst seized by a state of rapture, only to have it land upon his faithful wife Spunky.  As a result, he has an epiphany, and realizes that a devilishly simple principle of  science has revealed itself to him:  If you push something hard enough, it will fall over!  Thus is formulated Fudd's first law of opposition.

It's a joke.  Perhaps you have to be a scientist to get it.  If you have not yet gotten it, he's a send-up of Sir Isaac Newton.

While I'm talking about Firesign Theater, my favorite record of theirs is called "Everything You Know Is Wrong!"  This is also one of their most accessible recordings.  SPOILER ALERT!  If you want to figure it out for yourself, don't read the rest of this paragraph.   The plot, basically is that dogs are really aliens from outer space that came here millions of years ago (from the Dog Star, of course) to rule the earth (a thesis that is actually revealed in the first 30 seconds of the record, but you don't get it the first time).   It is, a little dated, but if you've ever watched one of those travelogues that used to be on TV on Sunday afternoons when there were only 10 channels on VHF, or watched local news, or read Carlos Casteneda, or lived through the Cold War, there are parts of the record that will make you howl.   There are myriad little mysteries to solve (why did he do that?).  After at least 200 listenings (most of them in college), I still can't figure out why why Nudist Trailer Park Manager, Art Holflaffer, having left 3 messages on Harry Cox's answering machine, waits all the way through the outgoing message the 4th time before hanging up.  This record contains (IHMO) the single funniest line of comedy every produced on Earth: "That's a good idea Chuck!  But syrup won't stop 'em!"   Of course you need the context for it to be funny.

So anyway, the name Sir Sydney Fudd, is a joke.  A very inside joke to the 2,439 people in this world who have actually listened to "I Think We Are All Bozos on this Bus!"   I hope I have expanded your world in some small useless way.  It's my reason for being.