- David Ossman
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David Ossman (born December 6, 1936 in Santa Monica, California) is an American writer and comedian, best known as a member of The Firesign Theatre.
Contents
Career
Ossman's roles during his Firesign years include George Leroy ("Peorgie") Tirebiter on Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers and Catherwood in the "Nick Danger" series.
In 1973, he recorded the solo album How Time Flys. During the 1980s, he left the Firesign Theatre, primarily to produce programs for National Public Radio.
During the 1990s Ossman and his wife Judith Walcutt formed Otherworld Media, through which they produced audio theatre for children, as well as a series of major star-studded audio theatre broadcasts for NPR, including We Hold These Truths (1991), Empire Of The Air, War Of The Worlds 50th Anniversary Production,[1] Raymond Chandler's Goldfish, and the 100th Anniversary audio theatre adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
His latest Otherworld Media Productions include A Thousand Clowns, Through the Looking Glass, and A Taffetas Christmas. These performances are held at Whidbey Children's Theater on Whidbey Island, a local theatre where children can come to do plays and workshops.
Otherworld Media has also taken on the task of adapting and producing half a dozen screenplays in live radio play format in 2007 and 2008 at the International Mystery Writers Festival in Owensboro, Kentucky. Ossman personally wrote the adaptation and directed the 2007 Angie Award winner Albatross (original screenplay written by Lance Rucker and Timothy Perrin).
Ossman has written a mystery novel, The Ronald Reagan Murder Case: A George Tirebiter Mystery (published by BearManor Media, 2007). In 2008, Bear Manor Media published his memoir, Dr. Firesign's Follies: Radio, Comedy, Mystery, History.
Personal life
On March 19, 2008, Mount Rainier National Park rangers found the body of Ossman's oldest son, Devin, less than two miles from the trailhead where he had parked his car two days earlier for a day hike. His wife had reported him missing the day before.
Ossman currently resides on Whidbey Island with his wife and their surviving sons, Orson and Preston.
Filmography
Actor
- Firesign Theatre: Weirdly Cool (2001) (TV)
- Nowheresville (2000)
- A Bug's Life (1998) (voice)
- The Tick: "Sidekicks Don't Kiss" (1996) TV Episode (voice)
- Below the Belt (1980) (voice)
- Everything You Know Is Wrong (1975) Sheriff Luger Axehandle/NURGI Clockwork Film narrator/Prof. Archer/Art Wholeflaffer/Gen.
- Martian Space Party (1972)
Writer
- Firesign Theatre: Weirdly Cool (2001) (TV)
- Everything You Know Is Wrong (1975)
- Martian Space Party (1972)
- Zachariah (1971)
Producer
- Everything You Know Is Wrong (1975)
- Martian Space Party (1972)
Director
- Everything You Know Is Wrong (1975)
- Through the Looking Glass (2006)
- Seven Keys to Baldpate (2007)
Editor
- Martian Space Party (1972)
Footnotes
The Firesign Theatre Performers Phil Austin · Peter Bergman · David Ossman · Philip Proctor
Albums CommercialWaiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him · How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All · Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers · I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus · Dear Friends · Not Insane or Anything You Want To · The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra · Everything You Know Is Wrong · In the Next World, You're on Your Own · Forward into the Past · Just Folks . . . A Firesign Chat · Nick Danger: The Case of the Missing Shoe · Fighting Clowns · Lawyer's Hospital · Shakespeare's Lost Comedie · The Three Faces of Al · Eat or Be Eaten · Shoes for Industry: The Best of Firesign Theatre · Anythynge You Want To · Back from the Shadows · Pink Hotel Burns Down · Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death · Boom Dot Bust · Bride of Firesign · Radio Now Live! · Papoon For President · All Things FiresignNon-commercialDear Friends - Syndicated Radio Program · A Firesign Chat with Papoon · Let’s Eat - Syndicated Radio Program · The Proctor-Bergman Report · The Cassette ChronichlesRelatedTV or not TV · How Time Flys · Roller Maidens From Outer Space · What This Country Needs · Give Us a Break · Daily Feed 1988 Newsreel - The Daily Feed · The George Tirebiter Story Chapter 1: Another Christmas Carol · George Tirebiter's Radiodaze · The George Tirebiter Story Pt.2 Mexican Overdrive / Radiodaze · A Capital Decade Daily Feed 1989 Newsreel - The Daily Feed · The George Tirebiter Story Pt.3 The Ronald Reagan Murder Case · Down Under Danger · Tales Of The Old Detective And Other Big Fat Lies · David Ossman's Time CapsulesBibliography The Firesign Theatre's Big Book Of Plays · The Firesign Theatre's Big Mystery Joke Book · The Apocalypse Papers, a Fiction by The Firesign Theatre · Backwards Into The Future: The Recorded History of the Firesign Theatre
Categories:- 1936 births
- Living people
- People from Santa Monica, California
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