1. "John & Marsha": A radio soap-opera parody that's nothing but three minutes of two people saying "John" and "Marsha," it's a testament to the power of audio, telling a story without even using verbs. It's also hilarious.
2. "The Great Pretender": Of the many '50s Freberg pieces that lampooned pop-music trends, this may be the best. Freberg plays the lead singer and the pianist who constantly interrupts him because he can't believe he got stuck with a one-chord part.3. "Heartbreak Hotel": Freberg amps the echo to absurd proportions and rips his jeans in a letter-perfect takeoff on the Elvis Presley hit.
4. "Incident at Los Voraces": A surreal 21-minute sketch about warring casinos looking for the ultimate in entertainment and finding it in the hydrogen bomb. This drove CBS censors bonkers and laid the groundwork for such other audio comedy acts as "Firesign Theatre."
5. "Stretching the Imagination": To demonstrate the power of radio, Freberg concocted this bit in which a giant mountain of whipped cream is moved onto Lake Michigan, and airplanes drop a 10-ton maraschino cherry on it to the cheers of a thousands of extras. Freberg did this all without multitracking, using seven overlapping tape machines. According to the liner notes of "Tip of the Freberg," this commercial was an influence on Stephen King and David Mamet.