The clout of a major label secured a spot in the record bins, and a path toward their rightful and continuing place in the history recorded comedy. Firesign's rock and roll manager Jim Guercio, the genius behind such bands as The Buckinghams and later Chicago, began to steer the group in the right directions and started to receive offers for outside projects. An elusive single Station Break/Forward Into The Past was released with a picture sleeve that saw little airplay before it was withdrawn. It was the only record produced by Guercio himself, and is an extremely funny mini-album with the fake commercials and TV channel switching that became hallmarks for the group.

The Firesign Theatre was contracted to help write a screenplay for the first psychedelic western, Zachariah (1970), produced by ABC Pictures and it was their official introduction to Hollywood, and the world of control. Originally conceived by Joe Massot, the man who directed the movie Wonderwall (1967) featuring the music of George Harrison, Zachariah was pitched as a vehicle to star Bob Dylan, Bridget Bardot and Ginger Baker, it ended up with Don Johnson, his first movie, John Rubenstein, son of world class pianist Arthur, the rock groups Country Joe and The Fish and The James Gang, jazz drummer Elvin Jones, and fiddler Doug Kershaw. For the first time Firesign were being told what to do and the project slipped out of their grasp, producing mixed results. Although 90% of the remaining dialogue is in their own words, most of the hippie concepts and the scene they wrote for themselves as Doctor Firesign's Antique Theatre of The Plains and Eclectic Buffalo Show, singing "Marching to Shibboleth" fell to the merciless power of the well known, unsuitable, veteran director George Englund. How could the establishment understand The Firesign Theatre? Austin walked, but the remaining three traveled to Mexicali, Mexico for on-location rewrites and smoke-ins. Only Proctor and Bergman actually appear with the cast in the film (Bergman as a robbed bank teller and Proctor as a priest). A soundtrack album was released with music from the groups featured in the movie, and some bits of dialogue written by Firesign as well. These inspiring experiences and the relatively big money, allowed them to concentrate on developing their third album concept that was destined to take up the entire disc.

Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers (1970) was a masterpiece in all respects, and is considered by many to be the best concept comedy album ever produced. It is the life story of a man, George Leroy Tirebiter who sells his soul to the TV set, becoming forever young and forever old on the reruns of late night movies. Tirebiter, named after the unofficial canine mascot of University of Southern California's athletic squads, is trapped in a Dantesque Hell of perpetually watching his life unfold on the electronic screen. The Firesign Theatre uses the audio effect of channel surfing, clicking from station to station, developed on previous records, to tell the story of the four ages of man, and the constant sell-out of his ideals to make it in the modern world. Some of the ideas worked up during the Zachariah writing sessions as well as the current event of the Kent State student massacre were incorporated into the script. It was released with a poster insert comprised of Polaroid snapshots of the group providing clues to the secret life of the comedians. A one sided six-minute promo single, "This Side" was edited out of the LP and sent out to radio stations in a picture sleeve with a black-and-white version of Robert Grossman's jacket design. Dwarf is undoubtedly the personal favorite album of the members of the group and the majority of fans as well.

The record was a smash hit, spawning many spin-off comedy groups, and even college courses on Firesign material and concepts. The follow up LP was in part inspired by a 1939 World Fair souvenir booklet showing an amusement ride on the Funway. I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus (1971), was a perfectly flawless science fiction of a disgruntled employee - citizen, who was able to get into the system and destroy the masters of control and bring down the evil phoney government of Big Brother disguised as a benevolent amusement park. It was the culmination of their early years at Columbia, and the pinnacle to which none of their subsequent recordings were ever able to measure up to. Another DJ single was pulled out of the album featuring a song by the group that has remained a Firesign anthem. "The Holy Gram's Song" better known as "Back From The Shadows Again", sung by the projected programmed vegetables of Bozo land, and was backed with "Mr. President", the Nixon voiced computer mask of Dr. Memory, the true villain behind the scenes.