None. Midnight o'clock and a half
quarter 6 7/8 Are there are birds sleeping peacefully in the
hostel, Fred? I'll say that again.
Sleeping peacefully in the Hotel Fred, Are the delightful young
newlyweds Nugent and Mrs. Dirt. Suddenly from the room we hear,
Oh, look at these bumps. Hello and welcome to Goon Pod.
My name is Tyler Adams and the Goon show is 75 years old.
Let's party like it's 1951. It's also exactly 5 years since
the first episode of Goon Pod dropped, which conveniently
coincided with the goon's 70th anniversary, and I haven't
looked back. I am denied.
For ages. I was trying to work out how to
mark both milestones, and I'm going to call it a milestone
Goon Pod being five years old. But but more importantly, the
Goon Show is 75 years old. And then it hit me what to do
because they say that the key to a a successful show is making
something you'd actually want to listen to yourself.
And if it's any good, then an audience will follow and thank
God for that, because without listeners, what's the point?
They're the the lifeblood of the show.
And over nearly 250 episodes, many of, many of them have gone
from being listeners to actual guests to, to friends in some
cases. And I've met some, some
genuinely fascinating people doing this podcast.
And so I thought, what, what better way to celebrate the Goon
Show and, and Goonpod than to invite a group of listeners
who've, who've never been on before to, to talk about and
share their Goon show stories and memories.
So simple as that. So that's, that's what we're
doing. There's no rules, there's no
structure, just a, a, a very loose freewheeling chat about
all things Goon and hopefully something entertaining will
arise from it. So I have, I have 6 new friends,
listeners who have joined me. They're all virgins when it
comes to Goon pod. They have not been guests
before. So we've only just met as well.
So it's a little bit awkward at first.
These things always are. So I thought we'd just sort of
ice break and, and go round the table.
And so I'd like to invite each of you.
I'll, I'll, I'll introduce you and invite each of you to, to
tell us who you are, where you're from and, and briefly
sort of how, where and when you first discovered the goons or
the goons show. So I thought, let's, should we
start with Martin? Martin Eggleston, I'm here.
Hello, Martin. So, yeah.
So where are you from? What's your What's your
background with the goons? Well, I'm at the moment I'm, I'm
in Abingdon, just just South of Oxford, so not in some very
exciting time zone. But I did grow up in many
different countries and that's relevant because I really didn't
have much of an education of British humour, British radio
comedy at all. But my parents were both born in
the 1940s and I can pinpoint almost exactly the moment that I
first heard The Goons. And it was a cassette.
It was the Treasure of Loch Lomond.
And we were in a car. And this was the first time that
I'd been in a car that had a tape player, that we were able
to listen to something other than the radio.
And my parents were fairly, fairly straight.
I'd never really seen them giggle.
I'd never seen them laugh. And this tape went in and those
opening 1012 seconds of the Treasure of Loch Lomond.
I was absolutely smitten. I'd never seen my father laugh
so much. It was it was just remarkable.
Is that that that I don't you? You probably talked about this
episode before, but it's when suddenly one false move and a
horse whip you with this put me down.
That moment that, that, that 2 seconds just was, it was, it was
unbelievable. I, I thought, how on earth are
they doing this? It's a cartoon.
It's a, it's a special effect. It's, it's word play, but it's
character. I, I was just absolutely blown
away. I was probably about 14 or 15 at
this point and I was there. Then I suddenly became
voracious. I grabbed all the cassettes.
I mean, it was just, it became an obsession I think for a
couple of years. I joined the Green Show
Preservation Society as a teenager and then I grew up and,
you know, life went on and then I just fell back in love with it
about probably about 4-5 years ago.
But it was for a long time and it was, it was really quite
important to me. I became a big fan of The
Beatles. I started to watch a lot of
Peter Sellers films, a lot of read the Spike Milligan war
memoirs and I and it was it. But it really was that that that
moment on a motorway on the M6, age 14, that was just
absolutely, it was a baptism of of mirth.
This is the BBC Home Service. Let that be listen to you.
I'll strike you down South. Don't you dare raise your Radio
Times to me. One first move and I will horse
whip you with this echoes. You must stop wearing those
leather suits. Shut up, both of you.
Kindly allow me. Please.
Kindly allow me to announce the highly esteem.
You come in too quick then, Mr. Conductor. close your eyes.
Get up, man. Get up.
Stop talking about that silly little hole in your head.
I was in a car once with two older cousins who who were
unaware of the Goon show and I just got the tape of I think
it's the the tape with with 1985 on one side and shifting sands
on the other I think and I insisted on playing it in the
car. I was about 1516 thinking they
would be poleaxed by it and it was Stony faced all the way
every, you know, shifting sands, even the the scene with blood
Knock and and Colonel Chinstrap Naria Titter.
So that was the most It's one of those awful situations where
you're in a trap space and no one's laughing and it's a thing
you love. You know what I mean?
Anyways, enough about me. OK, Thank you, Martin.
So Colin that we've got Colin and Colleen.
So very similar names. It could.
Be well my husband's name is Colin so we I go through this.
Oh wow, could you not have married someone called Trevor or
something? Colin.
Colin from Australia. Colin Fee.
Hello, Colin. Hello, Tyler.
Yes, I'm in Melbourne, Australia.
It's 5:00 in the morning this morning.
Yeah, it's OK, That's OK. My goon journey started when I
was a teenager as well. I'd grown up in rural Australia
in Albury, NSW, where at the time there were only two TV
stations, a commercial one and good old Auntie ABC.
And so I grew up on a diet of, of British comedy, essentially.
And my parents had a subscription to Reader's Digest
and occasionally we'd buy these box sets of records and my dad
bought the seven volume disc set of the Goons with.
The orange with the orange cover.
The orange cover and the fantastic drawings on all of
the. Yeah, I got that.
Album covers, yes. Yes.
So you know, the first one I listened to was the dreaded
Batter Pudding Hurler and like Martin I was hooked.
And, and then I discovered that the ABC radio would play a goon
show at midday on a Saturday. And so I, I would stay every
Saturday with the tape recorder recording him on to tape.
And so my collection grew. And I guess like yourself too, I
was hooked into my 20s. Then I went off to university
and, and it faded a little bit until I discovered that the
student union had a listening room where you could go in and
select a tape and get some headphones and plug yourself
into your station and lose yourself for an hour or two.
And they had a vast screenshot collection as well.
And so I managed to, let's say, obtain a few copies from there.
Yeah, we've all done it. Are we exactly right?
We've all done it. And then I started like everyone
else, reading Spikes books and the Green Show scripts and
maintaining my interest in British comedy ever since.
Very good. Very good.
OK, so from from Colin, let's let's go to Colleen.
Hello, Colleen. Colleen Dawson.
And you are. You're one of those American
people, aren't you? I'm AUS citizen, may I be
forgiven? Yeah, sorry.
Yes. Where are you based?
I am based in the roaring metropolis of Loyal Wisconsin,
population 1258. Oh wow.
OK. That's about 150 miles east of
Minneapolis, MN. OK, and how, how the Dickens did
you ever come to hear about the Goon Show?
Well, I was a little older. I was 15 years old and I was
starting to expand my horizons a little bit and got tired of
listening to the AM Top 40 radio.
So I started tuning into Wisconsin Public Radio, which is
taxpayer or was taxpayer funded. It's lost that due to our
current unpleasantness. But and I was listening to one
of the news programs and as it ended they said TuneIn tonight
for British comedy from the BBC when we air the Goon Show and
I'm going. I thought up until then the only
Bbci had heard was on this enormous transoceanic shortwave
radio that my father had that had valves.
You know it was the real. Oh yeah.
And it didn't come in very well. So I thought, well, I'll, I'll
stick around and I'll turn it on at 7:00 and listen and see what
this is all about. Well, it was turned out to be
The Sleeping Prince was the first show, and so by the 4th
time I'd heard the Yekabatul national anthem, I was obsessed.
I I have that as the ringtone on my phone.
Yeah. Yes.
Oh, brilliant. Yes, now, now I was, I was very
the the more off the wall and surreal the comedy was the
better I liked it because not only was I the class clown at
school, but I had to be the court just at home.
My parents relationship was contentious bit mildly and it
was up to me to sort of de escalate any drama that happened
to be going on. So anything funny I would just
latched on to. So that was how I got Yeah and I
was 15, it was 1974. So you do the math.
Wow, I assume you'd have. Yeah, that was a year before
Return of the Pink Panther, but I assume you'd heard of Peter
Sellers. We'll get put a pin in that.
We'll get to that later. OK, All right.
All right. Well, let's let's come back to
you then. Colleen, let's move on.
Ted, Ted Webb, are you there? Yes indeed, Yes I am.
Hello Ted. Hello.
Who are you and how are you and where are you and what are you?
Well, I was. I grew up in Portsmouth in
Hampshire on the South Coast of England and I now live in
Hastings further along, which is a a great place for the several
sort of show titles that mentioned places around here.
Bexhill on Is it the fireball of Milton?
Street. Yeah, that's, that's just,
that's just along the 259 here and and oh.
Sorry, sorry, Ted, sorry, sorry. Is Milton St.
Because we did that show relatively recently.
Is Milton St. an actual place? Yeah, very small.
Very small, yeah. Why is it called Bilton St.
If it's a village or whatever, what?
I don't know. This country, this country.
Sorry, Ted, you carry on. That's right now, yeah.
There's obviously Pevensey Bay, a disaster which I think was
redone as the Hastings flyer. Rob.
Yes, those ones were those people look back on.
And yeah, so there's quite a few links to to.
And obviously the he's he's buried in the the graveyard in
Wind Chelsea, which is sort of like a place to go to, to see.
But yeah. But as a lot of people have said
on your podcasts, it was my dad that got me into it and my
sister with a random C60, which for modern people, if it was a
cassette with 30 minutes of stuff on each side, I can't even
remember what was on the other side.
But on the first one I ever heard, and it's my favorite, not
necessarily the best, but my favorite was the the great
regions Park swim show 8. I don't think you've done this
one yet. I'm, I'm just a hope.
No, no, it's series 8 episode or I think I've done a little bit
of research because I thought you're the king of research and
stuff like that. So I've got to up my game a
little bit. Keep up the growling, Mario.
Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow.
Look here, my good man. It is imperative that I house my
tiger here tonight. You'll see.
It's his evening off, and I want him to spend it among friends.
Well, where you squeeze him into this Tiger's cage.
Here. And you go now to destroy Sigur
and that tiger skin. I know you growling like that at
me. I know you're a pony.
I can tell my power. I tell you, you can do very good
imitation about Tiger Underground.
I know the truth. There's only me on your tiger
cage in imitation. Tiger.
I tell you I'm I. Yes.
Ladies and gentlemen, listers are warned that the sound of
this scene is unsuitable for children.
Why? Why?
Because that animal you are
attacking is not Neddy, but a genuine Ben Gold tiger.
Steri Moriarty. Steri Mariarty.
You know that I charge 1000 lbs for using my invention, namely
the word help. Not quite sure where that would
have got this the cassette from because from looking on the on
the web it was only broadcast in 1982 and wasn't released before
that. But I don't know if he wouldn't
have recorded it off the air beforehand, but.
That's intriguing, yeah. I seem to remember I was about
10 or 8, but looking at when that show was broadcast it was
on radio 4/19/82, so maybe it was a long maybe I was a lot
older. It probably is likely that it
was that he was slightly older and it was from that 1982
repeat. I guess, I guess so.
Which would make sense. Yeah.
And yeah, I just just love the the I don't think I've ever seen
the 4th wall being smashed before in books or films where,
you know, they stopped talking and they talk out of count and,
you know, as themselves. And they make themselves giggle
and they talk about the show, you know, and Nettie Segan
refers to, you know, all these fans of the show, and I've never
seen that before. And Titan did it as well, which
again, I wouldn't have, I guess I would have seen at that point.
And I just loved it. Yeah, I've got, I've got a
feeling that's that's a show that a number of people, not a
number, but maybe two or three people have said, oh, you should
do that. I think it's one of those, even
though it's never really talked about, it's one of the strongest
shows from Series 8. Yeah.
So I definitely would like, in fact, maybe one day, Ted, you
could come on and talk about that show.
About that, that'll be fun. I'll I'll hold you to that.
I'll be very nervous, but I'll give it a go.
Well, let's let's let's go to Ian.
Ian Richards, Are you there, Ian?
I am. Hello.
Hello, Ian. I'm from near Portsmouth funnily
enough there's Ted Milton teams from Randy.
I am from Waterlooville, originally from London.
I'm from Waterlooville as well. Oh.
Really. God, I was trying to make this a
diverse show. I originally came across the
Goons when I was, I think I've been thinking about this.
I was probably around 5 or 6 and my dad sat me in front of a
massive tape to tape machine that he's had since he was a
teenager and he recorded episodes of the Goons from the
radio on to said machine. In in the 50s.
Yes, yes, indeed. Yeah.
So I have recently discovered that machine in my mum's house.
And the tapes. So I'm hoping that you never
know, there may be. Some.
There might be some gold in there.
It could well be. I honestly, I've been trying to
think what those episodes were that I can remember listening to
over and over again. And I know the dreaded batter
Pudding Hello was on there. I can't honestly think.
I think everything I can remember I've listened to
recently I think was probably on those tapes.
I don't think there's anything rare, but you never know.
I've yet to My mum moved recently, that's why I found the
machine. So I've I've yet to plug it in
and give it a go. So fingers because.
Even if back to putting her there was the episode of series
5 and we've got everything from series 5 onwards, more or less.
But we got a lot from series 4, but not everything.
So even if there was, you know, the odd show from Series 4
that's missing that you could turn up, that would be that
would be brilliant. It could be.
I don't, no pressure. I will make a point.
I actually got the machine out the other day when I visited my
mum to so yes I shall. I shall do that shortly and I
will keep you informed and obviously you'll you'll be aware
of it when the auction comes up at highest bidders win.
So that that was my initial Goons entry and I would say it's
probably about 5 or 6 years later and I was listening to
those tapes over and over again. But like many people, I went to
the library and I found more Goons tapes and I vaguely
remember listening to them in the car on my way to my
granddad's travelling to London Radio 4 on a Saturday.
I think there was some repeats after new episodes of I'm sorry
I Haven't a Clue. Oh, wonderful.
Well, well, what a what a treat. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely
comedy gold for at least an hour on a Saturday afternoon.
And that sparked off my I was particularly interested even at
that young ages. I was, it was Spike that was
always my my centre of attention, more so than Harry
Seekum and Peter Sellers, and that's lasted me a lifetime.
I've been a a lifelong Spike fan.
I was been lucky to meet him and see him.
Oh. Wow and.
We'll, we'll come back to you on meeting Spike because I'm, I'm
conscious of the fact there's, there's one more person to to
bring in and he's been waiting very patiently and it is someone
else's stateside. It's Fred Velez.
I presume it's pronounced Fred. Is it?
Yes, it is Tyler. Fred Velez from the colonies,
like Colleen. Absolutely, absolutely.
We got, we got 111 Australian and two Yanks, if you'll excuse
it. But Fred, so yes, explain
yourself please. OK, well, I'm Fred Velez.
I'm an author. Actually.
I've written a couple of books on the Monkeys TV series and
their music, but I became aware of the Goons back in the 1970s.
I was like about 20 and because of my interest in The Beatles, I
had attended a Beatles convention back in 1974 in New
York City. I'm currently living in
Pennsylvania here in the States. And there was a fanzine by the
of The Beatles called Strawberry Fields Forever.
And I picked up a couple of issues.
And one of the issues was a mention of a review that John
Lennon gave of the Goon Show scripts that that just been
published. And I said, oh, this looks
interesting. And I decided to investigate it
and I was able to find copies of the books.
I thought, wow, this is interesting stuff.
A public radio station in New York City was playing The Goon
Show as well as episodes of I'm sorry, I'll read that again.
So I started listening to it and I was like, wow, this is amazing
stuff. No, this was definitely where
The Beatles got their humor. And as you understand it, Davy
Jones of the Monkeys, he was, he is from England, so he was
obviously aware and was of the of the Goon show there.
Well, he, he worked with Harry. He was on, he was in Pickwick,
wasn't he? Yes, he was.
I have a yes in my collection of Goon stuff.
I got a program of Pickwick signed by Harry Secombe, which,
yeah, and Davy Jones's pictures in there, which is, which is
very cool. See the the the danger is Fred,
of course, because the monkeys, if we start talking about the
monkeys, we'll be here all evening.
Of course, there's a there's a clear line from the goons to the
monkeys in the sense of of Dick Lester.
You've got Dick Lester works with Sellers and and Milligan
then goes on to make well, hard day's night.
But more importantly, help in the sense that, correct me if
I'm wrong, isn't isn't help a huge influence on what became
the Monkeys TV series? Yes, both the first two Beatle
movies were huge influences, but you could see a lot of it more
from Help where you know where it was.
Help had The Beatles pretty much playing caricature versions of
themselves and that's basically what was done in the Monkeys TV
series. And they had them going through
crazy escapades like in like in Help and I yes, go ahead.
Sorry, I was just, I was just going to jump, jump in with a
thought that's just occurred to me.
But I don't want to interrupt you, Fred.
That's right. This is This is Martin by the.
Way. This is Martin I have been
pondering the the the the similarities of it's it's
nothing new to compare the goons with The Beatles and the fact
that there was this trajectory between where they started and
where they finished in the 50s with comedy and in the 60s with
with with popular music. But one of the things that I
just wanted to point out because I haven't seen this may be my
failing, but the both sets, both teams were absolutely at the top
of their game in terms of comedy and music.
No question about that. But what really strikes me is
how the technology, how the in the case of the goons, it was
the the sound effects and the, the special effects and the, the
way that they use the radiophonic resources at their
at their disposal and then pushed them to the absolute
extreme in the service of the comedy.
And The Beatles did a very similar thing with Abbey Road
with the the technology at their at their hands.
They were like, OK, what, what can we do?
How can we make everything sound different?
And it seems a very similar, you know, in the service of the end
product. They didn't care what what
traditions they were breaking, how they were, how they were
trying to get to something that was a little bit further than
anybody else had achieved. And that that's just something
that I haven't, I haven't really seen commented on.
That's very interesting, especially when you consider the
fact that their producer, George Martin had also worked with the
goons. He he recorded since their their
singles and he did work with Peter Sellers.
So yeah. And.
And Milligan. And Benteen actually.
There's a lot of interconnections there.
One mahogany bedside cabinet with flowered porcelain nature
receptacle, 1 folklum twill and leash, and Timakasha.
One hippo white telescope tripod with a tarnished brass securing
screw. One in the table.
Martian Maharam one imitation marble washed and with
purification dish and fish attachment.
One anti burglar self preservative head bludgeon sand
filled in hand sewn brown leather 2 cleverly and Quandric
hand operated brown oak candle holders with additional string.
One stuffed Galapagos giant turtle on wheels with clockwork
revolving iron who bottles of imitation wax fruit.
One banana ruefully chipped. Once the property of the late
Lord Frederick Crapton Lee of Monmouth.
OK, well one of the questions that I always ask or tended to
always ask on the show when discussing goon shows was did
you or do you now even skip the ray and Max numbers when you
have to do the shows? No, neither do.
I. No, never.
Never. Never.
No. Never.
I I had just, I had just finished reading Max's, Max
Gilray's autobiography, Go Goon with the Wind.
I just finished reading that. What a fascinating life that man
LED and just before the goons. But he was in the resistance,
Dutch resistance, wasn't he? I think and.
He was, yeah. Performing at the Glasgow Empire
probably had the edge on on defeating the Nazis, but but no,
I used to I for my sins, I think you probably have heard me say
there's a number of occasions when I was a callow youth.
I did used to sometimes. Well, always Fast forward Ray
and Max. I don't anymore because I think
I've, I've really grown to appreciate them and I did a show
with Neil Brand very, very recently and preparing for that.
I, some of you may have contributed.
I, I asked on Facebook on the group, what you know, what Ray
and Max songs do people enjoy the most.
And I got enough responses that I was able to put together a
good hour long playlist of, of Max and Ray numbers.
And I'm listening to that in the car, you know, now I'm, I'm
listening to, you know, I used to Fast forward through them.
Now I'm actually choosing to listen to them in the car.
You know, without goons. I was thinking about this
question and I can't honestly because there's so many songs.
I'm terrible at remembering titles and what have you.
But in thinking about the question, I would say I became a
writer and a musician playing Blues and jazz, and it's
possible that their music was an influence on my choices in in
musical genres when I got older. This is Ian listeners, by the
way. Ian Richards So what sort of
music do you play in? And do you do jazz and.
Blues generally is, would be the Blues particularly, but jazz as
and when I can, it's not the easiest type of music to play,
especially to the Ray Ellington standards.
But I, I was, I was listening to those, as I say, from sort of
the age of 5. And unconsciously I think they
probably did make make that decision for me.
Yeah, fair enough. Is there a particular piece of
music in the Goon Show that you enjoy?
Anyone. For me it's the joint Navy
orchestra bit that's. Snap free.
That's just going to say the same thing, yeah.
Yes, me too. That is dishonored.
I love it, especially the first version of it that was recorded
because when they do the whole Navy tunes and everything and
then Harry just comes right in to give the punchline and the
later required 1, the audience applauds after it and then he
gets the punchline and I like I like the earlier version better.
Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, Echoes has got a he.
He asks. He says, you know, I'm going to,
I've joined the Army. And then Echoes says why?
Or Spike. And then he says it's too damn
noisy in the Navy. And it doesn't, it doesn't need
that. It breaks the flow of it.
Yeah. But yeah, I've got the naval
medley. It's on it again.
Yeah, it's yeah, it's fantastic. The the the Wally stop.
I think you did a face on this, Tyler, that you know the amount
of songs that are in there and you can hear the musicians who
just having a whale of a time because they're not just doing
just not just doing blood knots thing or little intros.
It's a fool. Just just a 1 1/2 minutes.
I think just for a just a gag like that, it's it's brilliant.
They're not just playing, going through the motions on Take It
From Here or whatever. They they they can let RIP.
Anyone else got a particular favorite piece of music?
Well for me my favorite Max Gildray number is a big band
tune called 1-2 Buckle Your Shoe.
That's he does in the Greenslade story.
Oh yeah. And my favorite Ray Ellington
piece is, I reckon it's love. And that deal is an insurance,
The white man's burden. Yeah, I cannot believe that that
was never issued as a as a record.
You know, I, I would love to get a copy of it, but it's it's
nowhere. The only place you can find it
is in that episode. Oh.
OK anyone else got a particular piece of music they want to?
Unchained Melody, I don't know if it counts, but I love.
I'll just love the idea of them just banging away here.
Unchained Melody, totally tunelessly.
Going home. Colin Yeah.
So Tyler, when you asked on Facebook for pieces and I
nominated long black nylons and I still do now.
I don't know why whenever I think of the Goon Show, it
starts playing in my head and OK, it's lives for rent free in
my head, as they say. Yes, but, but I never used to
appreciate all of the link music that Angela Morley did until you
started listening to shows like yours or reading about it and
thinking of just how good it was.
And I think you've discussed with other guests that the band
itself wasn't very big, but it sounds enormous.
It does, isn't it? One of the earliest goon shows I
heard was The Lost Emperor. That was probably the, I want to
say maybe the third. I think the first I know the
first one I ever heard was the last smoking sea good, which was
the last one. And then the second one was
Phantom head head shaver. I always get mixed up with
Phantom Raspberry blower. And almost definitely the third
one was the lost Emperor, which no one talks about.
I think it's a brilliant goon show and the music in that, the
Wally star arrangements and the the cinematic, the heft of it,
if you like, it's amazing. I was just thinking you've got
to take the context that that, that the light program and the
home service were really playing very dull music and, and Max the
Eldray and Ray Ellington, really very exciting.
They were really laying the foundations for rock'n'roll to
come. I feel if you listen to some of
the jazz guitar and on both of them, but, but particularly Ray
Ellington's work, there's there's, there's so much
excitement going on in in the music that, that you can't help
but feel this was all part and parcel of the education of the
young minds of Britain during the 50s that suddenly everyone
was waking up. There's new, new music out
there. There's stuff that we that and
they were hearing it every week, week after week.
It's very interesting that you mentioned that because you
remember that the young Beatles were listening to the Goon Show
and not only picking up on the humor, but I'm sure the music as
well. And this was during the early
days of rock'n'roll in the 1950s, so I'm sure they must
have picked up on that as well. And then you're right.
Ray Ellington, while he's playing jazz, it's on the very.
He's just on the cusp of rock'n'roll right there.
And he throws in something like that.
One of my favorite moments in the Goon Show was, I think, the
beginning of the canal where they introduced Wallace
Greenslate as Wallace the pelvis.
Hell yeah. And he's doing.
See you later, Alligator, he says.
Put that pelvis back. What a screenslate.
Perfect foil for the goons. Perfect announcer for the goons
from the very. I mean, have have we all heard
the very limited available shows that have Andrew Timothy as the
announcer? It's colony.
I've only heard one and for the moment I can't recall what it
is, but you're right, it just with with wall in there, there's
a different spark to it all and he just fits.
Yeah, I've only heard the last goon show of all, which has
Andrew Timothy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I love the I love the the fact that Wallace Greenslade was
the was the foil, the straight lace, supposedly the straight
lace BBC announcer and the goons are like doing things to him,
which adds to the fun. Andrew Timothy, I've said this
before, sounds like he's there at gunpoint.
He doesn't sound like he's enjoying it at all.
Whereas Wallace Green say he's having a whale of a time And and
you know, I love the fact that he got his own show as well.
Oh yeah, that's one of my favourite Goon shows, the Green
Slate story, especially the interaction between Wallace and
and John Snag or. Snag Yes.
Yeah, I look here. What is?
There's a rumour going around the corporation that you're
thinking of leaving. Well, John, I have been getting
offers. But what is?
You're not going to leave us, remember?
You're British, dear John. What can I say?
What's the matter, Wallace? Aren't you happy with us?
Isn't isn't £3.10 a week enough? Not quite John, but man alive
you were. Free copy of the Radio Times
every week. I, I, I don't know, I hope that
for the rest of his life people used to come up to Alice
Greenslade and say winds like to variable.
That was his Canterbury. Yeah, but yeah, he didn't have
much of A life after the game show.
He died in 1960, sadly. Oh, gosh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, sorry, I'm always the one to put put a downer on things,
aren't I? Oh.
So you're the one. OK, Let me ask you Colleen, do
you have a particular stand out favorite show I do?
I've been Oh. Sorry, Colleen.
Colleen. Yeah, that's yeah, this is going
to be a problem. I think it's the Sahara Desert
statue. I love that.
I don't know why it's it. I don't think it was even one of
the first ones that I heard, but I just, I love the Music Hall
banter at the beginning of the show.
The first section is is taking up with, you know, crosstalk and
and I don't know why I but it's just it's just always really
made me laugh about poor Nettie standing in the Sahara.
With holding a rice pudding in. The yes, yes, yes.
And there must be something about the American Water.
I don't know, because the only other person I know who who
loves that show is that's his favorite show is one of your
compatriots, Sean Gaffney, who will be listening, who's been a
guest on the show. And and then when the number 8
touring company of the desert song comes along, it's it's I
just roll on the floor. It's I just love that show.
It's all over the place, but it's great.
Yes. Yeah, Colin, you came in.
Before. What were you?
What? Were you gonna?
Sorry, what? Were you gonna Say was your
favorite? I don't actually have a favorite
that I'm pinpoint. I've been mulling this over.
There's two that kind of stand out, and one is called the West.
Oh yeah. Because this the way Spike pokes
fun at the whole Western genre and I have a soft spot for the
lamppost. Evils A bushy spot.
Yeah, Oh, sorry. Yes, yes.
Evils A bushy spot. Yeah, that's it.
Yes, the bitch at the end with AE Matthews where it just
descends about chaos. A lot of people don't like that.
A lot of people find that annoying.
I think it's wonderful. Yeah, I love it.
Ted, you've been very quiet. That's right.
Yeah, I was. I was going to chip in with some
stuff about Wallace Greenslade. Oh, go ahead, go ahead.
Like you say, he doesn't take himself seriously at all.
He sends himself up in the way that Andrew Timothy didn't.
And he best of all, he can't act when he does.
He's he's he's, he's playing a dying Frenchman.
And I won't try and do the impression of it, but it's it's
and he's getting raspberries from the, the, the people behind
him and hoots of laughter and. That's in Napoleon's piano,
isn't it? Yes, must be, I suppose.
Yeah, I die. I die and.
What? I fought as he groaned.
Yes. Yeah.
You've, you've just reminded me of something, a story I heard.
It was on the Radio 4 show about 30 years ago.
It was probably someone like Frank Mueller or Dennis Norton
or someone like that. You know, he knew, he knew
Wallace Greenslade. And they were talking about
Wallace Greenslade for some reason.
And, and let's say it was Frank Muir.
And he said, well, he said Wallace was a huge Francophile.
He loved France. He loved and he thought he was,
he was able to speak French faultlessly, but he couldn't.
And of course he was also, as well as goon show announcer.
He was, he would read the the news on the radio as well.
And he said there was one time when he he was reading the news
and there was a story that was, had a particularly French slant
to it. So it gave Wallace the
opportunity to do lots of sort of very, very French
pronunciations. And then the following story was
about some old lag who'd been banged up in prison.
But he said, he said that this, this prisoner had been sent down
for five years at Pontonville. Pentonville.
Yes. Pentonville, yes.
You can imagine Wallace Wallace saying, and he's in Pontonville.
Pontonville Anyway, so Fred, I'm going to ask you this.
Your favorite character in the Goon Show?
Echols, definitely. I love him because of his what
they used to call illogical logic.
Even just the the 8:00 on a piece of paper that is, is
brilliant. It's a classic bit.
And I look at Echols as sort of like a version of Gracie Allen.
I'm sure you know who. Gracie Allen.
Yes, yes, Burns and Allen and Gracie Allen did the same thing,
illogical logic. So I see echoes in the same
light. You ever built bridges before?
I don't know, I just finished the 4th bridge.
When did you build that? After the first tree fell down?
Well, if it's as old as that gag, I'm not surprised.
Ian, what about you particular favorite?
I would say Blue Bottle myself. I think he was probably the most
developed character overall just just by his dialogue and his
jokes would kind of tell his story.
He, he knew where he was from, what he enjoyed and things he
didn't like, things like that. And I, I think that added a, a,
a dimension to him that other characters didn't have.
And obviously, Seller's portrayal was genius.
Oh, take us there. Silly boy, Silly boy.
I'm only the announcer. What are you doing in a field in
Kent? I'm not really in a field in
Kent. It's just so happens that I was
merely announcing in. Shut up announcing in the studio
the next Will You Shut Up, which happens to be a.
Will you be? Oh I'm fed up with this worry,
idiot. Do not be angry at Bunto.
I was only doing my best type acting because Gladys Bowles is
listening tonight. May I ask who is Gladys Bowles?
She's my mistress at school. Hello Miss Mouse.
This is me talking on the electric wireless.
It's. It's a hard, hard, hard question
because they're all great. I mean Colonel Bludnock.
Major. Major.
Sorry, Major.
Common error. Major Bloodbath.
They didn't get promoted in all the films, did he?
No, no, Said Said. Betty was Colonel.
It's it's every time he enters the room and his explosions go
off. I mean bits, oh, absolute bits.
So, but I think it's Blue Bottle for me.
You know Blue Bottle and everyone will know.
Be aware of the origin of the Blue Bottle voice, yes?
Yeah, Roxton Haywood. Yes.
Yes, and sellers famously talked about this with on Parkinson in
72 I think, isn't it I? Believe so.
I've heard an interview from 1960 with Peter Sellers where he
more or less tells the same story.
Not verbatim, 100% verbatim, but it's the same beats to the
story. And I've seen it in a newspaper
interview from the late 50s where he more or less tells the
same story. So what I'm glad of that it, it,
it holds up. It's not, you know, it it, it's
obviously accurate, but he's using the same lines, the same
build up and all the rest of it. It's a story that he's obviously
honed over the years and and chopped it out on a regular
basis. But Colleen, what about your
favorite? Do you have a particular
favorite character? Or, well, I love Mini Banister.
Of course, by association I also have to love Henry Crund too,
which I do. But Men is just so so she just
has a way with her. And my probably my favorite
episode with the Min and Henry routine is the great Tuscan
Salami Scandal, which of course was the one without the
musicians due to the musician strike.
So Spike had to write quite an extended Min and Henry skit to
fill in time and and at one point they're having an argument
about going downstairs to let someone in who's knocking.
It gets so intense that Min goes and then she says once around
the room does me good, You know, that's just hysterical.
I. Was asking.
Don't you start shouting at me again.
I'm once round the room. Does me good, you know.
Can I ask actually, can I ask you and Fred?
Yes. The the sort of stock depiction
of an American in the show is embodied.
How? Do you feel about that?
Oh, I'm fine with it. I love it.
It's it's so it's so on the nose.
It's absolutely spot on. Well, you can tell that Peter
Sellers is having a blast doing that.
And and where's your Buffalo hide?
You know that's. How you open air mate?
Yeah, no, that I, I, yeah, no, that's that doesn't bother me in
the least. I always thought it was quite,
quite remarkably funny. Yeah, and in the same episode
trying to do an American accent. That's that's hysterical.
Oh. Yes, yes, I think.
Is that the gold mine? The gold mine of Charlotte is
that. No, that's, that's the call of
the wild, right? All the West.
Right.
Yeah, the call, right. That's right.
Yes, yes. Would it be would it be unkind
of me to say how he seek? I'm trying to do any kind of
accent other than other than that he seek.
We were all thinking that. We.
Love him, bless him, but yeah. Yeah, Colin.
Colin in Melbourne. Are you there, Colin?
Yes, I am, yes. Obviously there's a there's a
big connection with Spike in Australia, of course, as we
know, but Australia as depicted in the Goon show, it gets
mentioned, but there is there isn't the voice that Sellers and
or Milligan does occasionally sort of late in the late period
Goon show where they got this, this Australian character
saying, I don't know what he's saying Pat or something like
that. I was just thinking it was
exactly the same quote, yes. Yes, when we've talked about
that on the on the show, that was based on some Australian
senator who was calling for the Goon show to be banned on
Australian radio at the time because it was because he felt
it was inappropriate to be played on the Sabbath or.
Whatever, I'm not sure. Something like that.
Oh dear. But what I mean in terms of Goon
Show references, Australian references in the Goon Show, do
any, can you think of any or apart from that or do any jump
out at you? No, they don't.
And, and I was going to say that's the only thing that I can
think of is that that accent that I assume sellers puts on
and. Yeah.
I can't think of any other references in there.
I think if the Goon Show had gone on a lot longer because
because I think Spike only went to Australia for the first time
in what, 58 was it? And was that for him to perform
or because his parents had moved there?
I think a bit of both. Probably a bit of both.
Yes, because there's some famous clips here from the ABC radio
where he was in the Sydney studio being interviewed and
that led up to the news, which at the time they read live in
the studio and he kept interjecting.
Australia's national international airline Qantas has
been awarded a trophy by the British Guild of Air Pilots and
Navigators for its safety record and 33 crashes.
Qantas is the second Australian airline to win the Cumberbatch
Trophy. TAA won it in 1958.
The Australian Post Office is doing good business.
In the United in the United States.
While we're on Spike, Ian, you you tantalisingly hinted that
you had met Spike once. Yes, indeed.
It was at the University of Surrey in Guildford in the early
to mid 90s, I can't remember. It's when Black Beauty,
according to Spike Milligan came out in, he was doing a signing
there. And I had tried to meet him many
times in the previous years and he was due to do signings for
various books in the area many, many times.
But he he, I always got contacted by the bookstore say
he wasn't coming because he was poorly.
So this was the first one that he actually did show up.
And he he was very frail. He had half his dinner down his
front, lots of crumbs. He was led in led in by his
assistant. And at the time I was doing
stand up and a couple of my friends had come with me and
they were saying, well, you got to be you got to say something
funny to Spike because it is. So how do you say something
funny to Spike Milligan? Who who he pretty much invented
funny for me. It's not an impossible.
I'm not doing that. But I finally got in front of
him with with my book and he asked me.
He said, well, what do you do? What do you want to do?
And he said, I said, well, I'd like to be a writer.
He said well don't write for the bloody BBC, They got no writers
there. Get over it, Spike.
Oh, come. On Yeah and.
I tried very badly to make a few little jokes and he told looked
at me and he signed my book and I just looked at the book now
actually and and the signature is very shaky.
And he looked to me, gave me my book and he and he said to me
what I consider my personal Spike Milligan joke old.
I'm sure he said it to every person that ever said to him he
wanted to be a writer. I wish you every luck in your
chosen profession as a vagrant and a bum.
Very good. And my friend said oh that was a
bit rude. I said that was brilliant.
That made my life I could end up.
Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
Here we go. I've got a question for the
group. Who was the most underrated
member of the Goons and why was it Harry Secombe?
You've got to have a straight man.
You have to have that, that, that foil off which all the
brilliance can bounce. Yeah, you've got to.
You've got to have the guy without whom you know the the
the so many little interchanges require the run up of Harry
Secom of Neddy Seagoon before you get the gag.
That's very true that that's the same of many comedy
partnerships. As geek of Abbott and Costello
and Morecambe and Wise, it's it's always the straight man,
Abbott or Wise, who considers us the lesser of the two.
And yeah I agree but but but Harry's.
Harry's funny in an in and of himself as well though, isn't
he? He's not just a straight man.
A goon show with just Sellers and Milligan would be great, but
it needs Harry to give that. He's the heart of the show, I
think. Yeah.
He's all of us. There's a few occasions where
he's not there and someone's deputising for him and it's
just. Not.
Quite the same is it? No, we at at time of recording,
we've just put out an episode of Goonpod about case of the
Mukhneys battle horn, which famously had sellers Milligan
and Dick Emery and and he Dick Emery works really well in I
think anyway, in in muckin his battle horn and and I actually
think Harry might have struggled a little bit because he's
playing different characters. Dick Emery in this visually as
well. But anyway, but the point is
Dick Emery in that series 8 episode of the Goon Show where
he stands in for Harry, it's not very good.
It's not very good, Harry, just when Harry's so full of life and
vitality and you know, you need that, I think, to to keep
Milligan and Sellers from killing each other.
It's always a gem of a moment when you hear Harry giggle that
he just can't control it, that he's laughing along with us.
You know that he is one of us. It's a highlight for me just to
hear it. Harry giggle.
The way he does. I mean it.
Just like you said. He, he is one of us.
He's all of us. He's got enough flesh for it,
that's for sure. Yeah, I think he's not so much.
I think somebody says he's a straight man, but he's he's like
an every man, isn't he? He's he's you know, he plays the
character that you think that you would be.
You got all this madness going on around you and he's trying to
be saying here, but when he when he giggles, there's like he in
one's and he says in each beat instead of in each boot that all
the soldiers are lined up. I can't remember that you have
to remind me but and then just starts giggling and that that's
what I like about. You know that a man who never
was from series 8. That's it.
Yeah, Well done. Yeah, of course.
Yeah, yeah, in each beat. I love the fact that for no
reason, around series 8 he decides to take up what he calls
a speaking trumpet where he just.
He just is talking into the microphone through this loud
here. Calling folks I.
Suspect it was, and occasionally it becomes a cupped hand,
doesn't it? Yes, that's.
My cue. Thank you Wol.
Now where's my chin speaking trumpet?
Do you think his later work might have affected his legacy
from the Goons? Because I always remember
watching him on a Sunday afternoon on ITV doing Highway
Highway and I, I as much as I knew it was the same Goons
person, I didn't even relate that.
I think maybe it's somebody different when I was younger
because he wasn't funny. So maybe that just gave the edge
to a sort of more serious side for a for a generation of
people. Yeah, I always think of that
cringy interview that Spike did with Jonathan Ross in 1991.
I think it was. We've established where Spike's
both grumpy and arrogant. It doesn't come across very
well. And I think Jonathan Ross says
something like it doesn't belittle Harry, but he he kind
of says, well, he's you know, I think he kind of implies, well,
he's the highway man, isn't he? Now you know, he's not, you
know, it's not like you and and Peter Sellers you, you were the
cool guys, you know, that's the implication, I think.
And then and Spike kind of plays along with it and starts going I
walk with God and all this sort of thing, you know, to.
So I think, yeah, Harry got a bad rap.
Didn't Spike once make a comment that he hoped that Harry died
before Spike did because he didn't want Harry singing at his
funeral? But you're that.
Oh, that's a bit harsh. There's there's a series that
was on on BBC Radio that made me laugh.
They had the episode with his daughter and she was talking
about how, you know what it was like living in that household
and all that, and the thing that made her miss him the most.
And you could hear the tears in her, the emotion.
Her voice was just his laughter, his giggles.
She missed that the most. Was that Jennifer?
I think it was. Because I've I've interviewed
Katie, who's his youngest daughter.
It might have been Katie. I think it might have been
Jennifer actually, from memory. The thing about seek him, nobody
had a bad word to say about him in the, you know, in the
business. He was just, I suppose a bit
like Roy Castle for those who remember Roy Castle, but but
particularly Harry, he was just, he was what you saw was what you
got. And he was so generous and
loving to his family. And then and, and, and The thing
is, I mean, Spike loved his fam, loved his kids and, and, but he
could be so brittle and. Yeah, on a bad.
Day we'll gloss over sellers, but Harry was Harry was just
such a wonderful human being. Yeah, of all the of all the
goons, he's the one I would have wanted to have met the most.
He was the one you go for a pint with as they say he can pay for
the round. OK.
I've got another question. Is there a favorite guest on the
Goon show that you have? Oh yes, yes, Charlotte Mitchell.
Charlotte Mitchell entails of month.
Yes. Oh, right she is.
She just hits all the right marks.
She's great. She's doing a a Wallace
Greenslade. She's doing that awful French
accent, isn't. She yes.
Yes. For I know that I know that she
was in the Tales of Robin Hood too, but for some reason she's
much more likeable in Tales of Mount March.
I don't know why. Yeah, no, but she got more to
do, I think. In yes, yes, yeah.
I also love I also love her in The Bandit of Four.
Show it for us. I thought she's so nice and
hammy in that. Oh yeah, yes.
Anyone else got a favorite guest?
Mine is is the the a Matthew's appearance in, you know, he
makes no attempt whatsoever to be part of the show and just,
you know, as I said, pulls it down into chaotic, into chaos.
What's going on here? He didn't want to have the grip,
did he? He didn't want the line.
I just left it blank. Yep.
For me it's still Jack Train coming in as curdle chinstrap,
shifting sands, the magnificent of coming in and out, gooning
the goons. It blows me away every time I.
Have a touch. Yes, close to the old country,
Sir. What old country?
In the old country. Well, now, Kettle, I suppose
you're wondering why you sent for me.
Yes, Sir. Just a minute.
Maybe Quiet.
Lost goldfish. They should wear slippers, you
know. Well, if you insist, trust me.
Yep. What's going on here?
Nothing more clear. Often.
Here you have the episode that the Dame is escaping Me now
where you have multiple guests so that you're filled in for
sellers. Pinkobo.
Yes, Pinkobo. Who is Pinko?
Who is Pinkobo? Graham Stark and Valentine doll
I think was in there and John Snag maybe?
Yeah, I think so. Plethora.
I don't listen to that show very much.
It's been a long time for me too.
I like to be. That's a filthy title for a goon
show as well, isn't? It isn't it just.
I think I think personally speaking I agree about a
Matthews but I also I love George Chisholm when he.
Pops up. Oh yeah.
Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, OK. You said it's to be a mangle.
Is there a line? Is there a reference in the Goon
show that you've always wanted to find an answer for?
You've not understood what it means, or it's puzzled, you
know. I've I've got something that
that has niggled me. I think it's Scarlet Capsule,
where the big reveal at the end is Minidor and it's Minidor and
it all goes wrong because the gag doesn't work.
You know the bit I'm talking about.
I know that the bit you're talking about.
It's a play on Mind the Doors. Mind the doors, but all the way
through up to this point they've been saying Minidor and you
think OK, we're going to have to go back and re record the whole
damn thing because you you know we've all been saying it wrong.
I'm. Going to have to think about
that. Isn't that because of the the
the sign that says mind the doors is is obscured so they're
reading it incorrectly? Oh.
It's a bit bits of bits of accretions of dirt over certain
letters. Yeah, there we go.
That's it answered. Thanks.
Anyone else got a got? AI think you've talked about it
on the show Tyler and it's it's one of the episodes where oh,
it's in histories of plenty of the elder and and that flower.
Do you like voice or is it Blue Bottle?
Voice says it wasn't me, Sir, it was Harold Prott.
Yes. Yeah, I've never known him how
Prott was. One, it gets a huge laugh, yes,
which makes you think that's it. There's some hidden meaning
there or whatever, but I think it's just it's just Blue Bottle
who's who's both on this galley ship and also he's he's a boy at
school, the schoolboy, yes, blaming some school, some
schoolyard rotter who's being mean to him.
There's a, a reference to Lady Docker in one of the, I think
it's dirty batter pudding holder.
And I, I think from listening to your shows, countless ones that
you've done, because your research is amazing.
There's so many jokes that I've listened to that you've
explained that it's something stupid that happened.
And it's. Just well, no, you you've put it
to life in that you've it was it's like a reference to
something that happened in the news and you'd managed to find
it. But.
But yeah, the lady docker who would want to it's not the Mr.
Attlee. I've just been hit by a batter
pudding and that. But yeah, Lady Docko is is a
reference that you may have explained before in the past.
That's what I'm saying. I forgot.
Well, she. Yeah, she she was a socialite.
Like a like a dead like this one up and coming sort.
Of yeah, she was married to head of Daimler or one of the motor
car companies. And I think she had she had like
boundless reserves of cash or access to.
And I think she was just like, you know, she was one of those
that was always on the front pages for about, you know, a 12
month period in the mid 50s and then completely forgotten about.
Right. Now for me, I was always
wondering who's Sabrina? And then I and then I saw on the
Internet who she was as, oh, that's Sabrina.
I finally got it after all these years.
Spike. Spike had a fondness for a
particular shape, yeah. Didn't he just?
Yeah. Yeah, you just have to watch the
Q shows with, what's the name, Julia Breck.
Julia Breck, Yes. I'm I'm very.
Fond of a gag in 1985 where the, the, the, the, the cricket bat
that's quite unmarked it, it really is Still, you know, it
doesn't matter that we, that we, you know, we don't know who Len
Hutton is anymore, or or at least we don't know where he was
in his batting career at that particular point in the
recording. It's like we get the gag.
It's such a lovely, lovely sort of moment.
A spot on, Martin. I I think I probably said that
when we COVID-19 85 years ago. You don't get the reference, but
you understand the gag. Yeah, 100% yeah.
And that's brilliant. That's timeless, isn't it?
I. Say, what's this old object?
That beautiful, isn't it? It's called a cricket bat.
Oh, yes, yes. Did they have Test matches way
back? Yes, that.
That's right. This bat was used in the very
last Test by Len Hutton. You can see it's quite unmarked.
OK, Is there a lost goon show that you'd love to hear?
As in pre series 5? Is there a Is there a particular
special show that you've heard about that?
You'd I've always been, I've always been intrigued by the one
in series 3 called I was a male fan dancer.
That would be very, very interesting to see to listen to.
I'm sorry. Yes, totally.
That's that's exactly what it means is stuff like that any
anyone else? I would love if they could find
Archie and Goonland. Yes.
Yeah. It would be awful, I'm sure,
because educating Archie was awful.
Siegeman worked on that, hadn't he?
Yes, he had. And Hancock, of course.
Hancock. Yes.
I just think it's a great shame that we don't have more Benteen
that we that the that one of the great founders of this show just
seems to have been because of the vagaries of of what got kept
and what didn't. We we've lost him, you know,
he's kind of not there in the way that he should be in our
imaginations. Yeah, I'm glad that.
Yeah, I'm glad that at least we have access to May, which
depends on your point of view down among the Zed men and
basically the four members of Goons and Benteen is very funny
in that. Yeah, he's probably the most
effective performer in that film, actually, of the of the
four of them. I think it's quite awkward.
What visually Michael Benteen is, you can't miss him that,
definitely. No Michael Benteen as a as AI
mean have we all seen things like It's a square world and
other Michael Benteen? So here in Australia we didn't
get a lot of it's a square world.
What we did get on one of the stations growing up in rural
Australia was potty time. Oh yes.
Yeah, potty time. I don't know about you.
I, I, I admire Michael Benteen. I don't find a lot of his stuff
particularly funny, personally speaking.
It's it's like a lot of the square world stuff I give a wry
smile to, but I certainly don't laugh out loud.
But I can, I can understand why he departed the goons in 52.
I can see that they had plenty in common.
I think that the four of them, but he was kind of, he needed to
go for them to really step up to the plate.
Yeah, they were, they were clearly going in different
directions, weren't they? And I think you said, Tyler,
that in Down Among the Z Men, Michael Benteen said he's like,
he's in another film. You know, he's, he's on another
sort of level. Yes.
But yeah, it's criminal that they know a lot more of the
early stuff doesn't exist from the, you know, crazy people,
etcetera. Unless Ian cannot unveil it.
Absolutely, Ian. I'm holding the tapes to the the
bulb now to see what it says on there.
OK, get you, get your jewellers eyepiece and look and see what's
on those. When I spoke to Ted Kendall, the
great Ted Kendall, he he said, you know, he made a very good
point. Be careful what you wish for.
So what we have heard what we what I mean, there's a there's a
scant early goon shows that exist, but what there is and and
the recording quality quality doesn't help.
But what there is, it's not great.
It's, it's OK, but it's, it certainly came into its own, the
show from about around Series 4 onwards really, I would say from
what from what we've heard. I was just reading a copy of the
Lost Goon shows and there's introduction by Spike at the at
the front and he it's a typically morose Milligan
introduction. But he says in that how he can't
understand why people found them funny when the early episodes
really weren't funny. So by his own admittance there.
Look, there may be, there may be some gold that we that Ian can
come up with no pressure. Now there's there's a video I
saw on YouTube, I don't know if it was a highway episode or not,
but it had Secombe Milligan and Benteen at a train station and
they and they were just reminiscing and things that I
found it very charming and it was sad at the same time because
Peter Sellers wasn't there. So.
But I like it. Just on Sellers, we put a pin in
him earlier, didn't we Colleen? Yes, he did.
So go on. But what?
Let's unpin Sellers. What do you want to say about
him? The first movie that I ever went
to see in the theatre, or the cinema, shall I say, was The
World of Henry Orient. Oh.
Peter Sellers, Angela Lansbury and Paul Apprentice.
And at the time we were living on a dairy farm in the back of
beyond in rural Wisconsin and I had just turned 5 years old and
my mother decided it was time to expand my cultural horizons and
started harassing my father to she wanted to take me to the
movies. Now being, you know, out in the
sticks, the nearest city with a a cinema was 15 miles away and
so it took her a few months to get my father on board with
this. But finally we all piled into
the VW Bug and drove off to Medford, Wisconsin and there was
11 cinema in town playing one movie.
This was before the days of multiplexes and it was the world
of Henry Orient. And I was, you know, it's a very
odd thing to take a 5 year old too, but I, I was able to get
most of it and I really enjoyed it.
And so 10 years later when I ran into the Goon show and they
were, were reading off the, you know, the people at the end and
Peter starring Peter Sellers. I'm like, oh, the guy from Henry
Marion. Sure.
That's that's I've I've seen that film once a couple of years
ago and. It's it's uneven.
It was directed by George Roy Hill, who went on to direct the
Sting. So he, you know, quite a good
director. You know, it, it, it, it has
moments that could have been probably left on the cutting
room floor. But on the whole, you know,
it's, it's not bad. You should.
Yeah, you should. Watch it again.
I will do on that. Yeah, OK.
Rest of you, do you have a particular the favourites?
This is a good opportunity. Solo goon project like film or.
For me, it's Doctor Strangelove called just the you know, the
the range that Sellers produces in the three characters he
plays, isn't it? Yes.
Well, I. Think I'm a horrible person that
I've never seen that just. Hang up now.
OK, no, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll watch it first chance
again. Right now it's too much like a
documentary. I was just going.
To say yeah, it's, it's a bit, yeah.
What about you, Fred? Do you have a sort of film or
something that you? My favorite goon solo project is
Harry Secom and Oliver. Yes, I think he's brilliant in
that for a man that, you know, the jolly person that he is,
playing such a mean, nasty character going tolikien's type.
And I like it for personal reasons too, because as an
actor, I performed in a couple productions of Oliver.
I played Mr. Sowerberry, the Undertaker in those productions,
so I got to interact with the Beat Mr. Bumble character so.
Harry, played by Leonard Rossiter in the film I.
Think right, right. And but like I said, Harry
Seclam is brilliant in that and a very close SEC second is Peter
Sellers on the Muppet Show. Oh yes, you know when he.
Egypt, the Violin. Right and scene with.
Him. Yes, right.
But it's just the scene between him and Kermit where he tells
the truth about himself, says there is no me.
I had him surgically removed. Yeah.
Ted, are you there, Ted? Yes, yeah.
Do you do you have a particular solo goon project that you?
I do. I managed to get it on network
video or DVD before they went under.
I've mentioned it. It's the it's the very
problematic Q series again as a small child.
It hasn't just it's not just because it's got Julie Breck in
it, but it's got us, you know, walking towards the the camera.
Stupid sketches that just just finished.
And this came out before Python. I think there's a famous line
from between Terry Jones that he called out Michael Palin after
seeing the first of the Q series and said sparked beaten us to
it. You know, he's, you know, just
sketches that don't have punch lines, don't need to have.
And yeah, it's looking back at it you you wins.
But when it when it hits the spot, it's yeah, it's.
I agree there's there's a there was a video release in the 80's
the best of Q. Yeah, I've got it somewhere.
Yeah, I had it. Spike on the cover as Batman, I
think. And, and there's, there's some
still stuff in that that you think, oh God, but there's some
really good stuff in that. Camera 3.
I've come here to tell him that I've lost an item of clothing on
the train. Oh, what was it?
The 820 from Portsmouth. That's when my uncle died.
Your uncle died on the 8/4? Was it the fish?
Pardon. Was it the fish?
No, it was the other. You told me your uncle died in
the Navy? No, no, he died in the gravy.
He died in the gravy. You see, he was on the buffet
carriage on the 9:27. You said it was the 820.
Ah, but with inflation, 927. So he's on the buffet and he
ordered a plate of British Railway gravy.
The train pulled up with a jerk. The jerk got off and Uncle fell,
faced down on the gravy and snapped it, snuffed it.
Of course. You're not supposed to snap it.
You're supposed to sip it. Ian, have we asked you?
I'd give an honourable mention to Spike in the BBC reboot of or
remake rather of Flywheel Shyster and Flywheel, the Marx
Brothers classic as he turns up as WC Fields in an episode.
You know, God awful impression. I've seen it, it's not bad.
Every sentence finishes like there.
I'm sure you heard my show or our show on Flywheel, Shyster
and Flywheel a couple of years ago.
Yeah, that was so much fun. That was.
So that's probably one of my favorite episodes because just
getting to speak to those guys was incredible.
Now one of them just passed away, didn't he?
Yeah. Frank Lazarus.
Yeah, Yeah, He used to write to me.
Up until the end he was writing well, emailing me.
Such a lovely, lovely man. But Martin, what about you?
I think we haven't asked you yet.
I've I've I have to mention that the, the, the massive works that
are that are the Pink Panther movies, particularly shot in the
dark is a is a real favorite. But I've got a I've got a
question. The Parsee as a kid, it was the
funniest thing I've ever seen in my 20s.
I was cringing and biting my fist.
I watched it again recently and actually, if you get over it, it
still stands up. Yes, it's it's bonkers 60s, but
it still stands up actually as a as a, as a work of comedy and I
and it's it's, it's sellers physicality.
I think that really makes it that that, that that I can just
relax and enjoy it. If I get away from the racism
question, I just actually, it's such a ball.
It's such a it's such a fun time and you can I don't know.
I just love the party. He gets towards the end it's it
loses itself when they all dancing around to checking
bubbles to each other. It seems like the elephant ran
out. Yeah, ran out where?
He is now Martin, just while you while you're on you.
You did indicate earlier that you would like to throw the last
Goon show of all. Into the conversation just
because I find I find the last of gun trouble, the incredibly
emotional but also a let down in a strange way.
I feel like this was an opportunity to really put you've
got cameras, you've got everyone you know reunited with such a
spirit of kind of look what we achieve whenever it is 10/10/12
years ago. Here we go.
We can make something magnificent here and it is
magnificent in parts, but it also just smacks of a missed
opportunity. And I just want to know if
everybody else feels the same or if that's just me.
No, I would. Agree.
Yeah, yeah. Very disappointing.
Yes. Yeah, just a lack of.
Coherent story. I think that probably lets it.
Down, and I say this every time as I'll say it again, Blue
Bottle should should never say the word groin.
Just it coarsens it, you know? He's wearing a long pants now,
folks. Yes, as as we begin to wrap up,
I want to ask you guys about the lasting influence or, or the
influence of the Goon Show in general, not just in terms of UK
comedy, British comedy, but even American, Australian comedy.
Any any comments? Any thoughts?
You could definitely see it in the Monty Pythons, you know, and
they've admitted that that they got a lot of it from the Goon
Show and The Beatles humour. And, and as I mentioned earlier,
the monkeys, especially Davy Jones, they incorporate a lot of
Goon humor in that. I mean, you could hear in a
couple of monkey episodes where there the monkeys join into a
football thing and you can hear Davy going rhubarb, rhubarb,
rhubarb, rhubarb. Oh, yes.
So yeah, I think it did carry over into the States where you
have like things like Ronan and Martin's laughing and shows like
that that incorporate what would be called goon humor.
Just just on the monkeys and and influences British comedy
influences. Fred, I'm sure you're way ahead
of me here. But of course, till death has
depart. Right, that was that became our
all in the family over here. Yeah, but but the the the
monkeys tune Randy Scouse get. Yes, which was called.
Influenced. Right, and was called alternate
title in in Britain because it was considered naughty at the
time. Yes.
Yeah, and Mick Dolins did not didn't realize what it meant,
you know, until until they explained it to him.
Yeah, because. Because Rand Randy's a common
male Christian name in America, isn't it?
It's. It's Yes it is.
It could. Be like Randolph, yeah.
Randy Van Warmer. Anyone else got a a sort of a
thought about the the enduring influence of the goons Well?
I'm just, I'm, I'm astonished. It's, it's a Pebble, right?
It's a Pebble at the beginning of the 50s that's turned into a
snowball by the end of the 50s. Throughout the 60s, that one
snowball sets off beyond the fringe.
It does The Beatles and the Monkeys, it does Monty Python.
And then those snowballs then become avalanches across culture
and across kind of, I don't know, everything that came in
the end of the 20th century. So for me, there's a, there's a,
you know, it all goes back to that one, that one moment in the
50s in 1951 when the, when the little pebbles started rolling.
I mean, OK, you could look back to, I don't know, the, the Will
Hay movies as, as some, some of the other great kind of Music
Hall comedy of Britain that, that it, that obviously Spike
sprang out of. But I still think the unique
kind of anarchic nature of the Goon Show is very much the
beginning of a whole new era in in in the 20th century.
It's the the very thing that Tom Solinsky and Abigail discuss in
their podcast is that that progenitor of everything and the
connections it has. And even here in Australia,
there are current comedic stars who have talked openly about
listening to the goons and discovering it.
And then many of them go off to Britain to do work over there at
the Edinburgh Fringe, get involved in other skit shows and
then come back here bringing that sense of humour with them.
Yeah, yeah. You mentioned Tom Solinsky, his
podcast All British Comedy explained.
It's worth listening to if you haven't heard it.
I was an advisor on one of the episodes, by the way, and Tom's
been a guest on Game Pod. So how did Spike Milligan Light?
Is he still alive? No.
He died in 2002 at the age of 83.
Okay, he sounds. I mean kind of like the Peter
Cook of the crew where it's like the driving force, the great
writer, the comic genius, and then after they left the show
and and his it's just like it becomes a film *.
Yeah. Yeah, it's very similar.
It's very similar. So you said you had some
predictions about what you thought future episodes of the
Goon show might hold. And I should stress again, I've
listened to a lot of Goon shows recently, but I haven't
scratched the surface because there are hundreds of them.
So when you say did they do this in the future episode, Very
likely months will be, I don't know, but we'll see.
We could. We could, maybe?
Check in with this Tyler we. Could we could ask Tyler?
So this is the one that might not have happened, but since
they ended in the 60s, that was the beginning of the space race.
So the Goon Show goes to space in search for life on Mars.
Oh interesting, I I haven't heard of a kind of science
fiction goon show, but you're right, there's lots of pulp
sci-fi knocking around in the in the 50s and then that would be
an obvious thing for them to do. I find it the goon's influence
and spikes influence and particularly is lost as as we
mentioned it, I, I ran a podcast myself devoted to a Canadian TV
show and a comedy show. And yes, indeed, yes, their
biggest TV show, full stop. Actually the the biggest TV show
nobody's ever heard of. Even their own taxi drivers
don't know what it is. But I've spoken to the cast and
crew and the writers and when I say, or you know where the
influences come from, they all immediately jump to Monty
Python. And when I meet, when I
mentioned Spike and the goons, they're they're aware of them,
but they don't understand the connections.
And I think that's sad. I actually gave the creator of
Corner Gas Guy called Brent, but one of Spike's books is
collected war memoirs to say that's where it came from.
And I'm hoping he read it and I'm hoping that it it had
further influence on his career. And I don't suppose it did, but,
and I think that's sad. I think, I think that the goons
sort of of lost because of John Cleese and his gang.
These pioneers often get overshadowed by what comes
after. I know, even though it's.
I wouldn't say The Goons is overshadowed, but in the grand
scheme of things, maybe. Right.
I mean, it's a similar thing that happened with rock'n'roll.
You got the the great rock'n'roll artists like Elvis,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and all that.
And then as you get into the 70s that's you get the Led
Zeppelin's who which are fine, but then you get later rock
bands who only go back as far as Led Zeppelin and think that's
rock'n'roll only and don't go back further than that.
And I think that's kind of sad as well.
I. Mean doing visual humour isn't
such a thing I suppose, but if you look at what does exist of
the Fred shows and and Mckinney's battlehorn, there's.
Running, jumping and stamping still.
Yeah, it's the sight gags that that I, I said very recently,
there's a, there's a, a gag in the muck in his battle horn,
which is straight out of or what would you, you would, you would
see in one of the Naked Gun films, you know.
So the, the influence is still there, but as, as every year
goes by, sadly, it, it becomes a little fainter, I guess.
Listen, everyone, thank you awfully for, for, for joining me
today. I wasn't sure how this would go
because this is the first time the seven of us have spoken.
And when you've got, you know, more than two people on a
recording, there's always that, that fear that there might be
some technical glitch or someone's microphone isn't
working or, or whatever. There's so much we didn't cover.
There's only so much you can talk about in in sort of 90
minutes or so we can do. This again on your 50th
anniversary. 50th Go for. It. 10th baby.
We'll all be in our graves, I tell you.
But listen, I want to say, I want to say Martin, Collin,
Colleen, Ted, Ian and Fred, thank you all so much for
joining me. And yes, definitely I will have
you back in five years time when I'm celebrating 10 years of Goon
Pod and all I'm talking about by that point is episodes of
Highway. I'll be here.
I'm. Walking backwards for Christmas.
I'm walking backwards for Christmas.
It's the finest. I'm fine, you know, walking the
highways and the walk of King that took over the front.
But they just look at me and say need to publicity start.
Oh, I'm walking backwards to Harare so much back across the
Ivy Sea. Ladies and gentlemen, if you
turn on your television sets, you will see me walking
backwards now across the other sea.
The Goon Chair, which was recorded, was produced by John
Brown. Peter Sellers is now appearing
in Brouhaha at the Aldridge Theatre, London.
Harry Secombe is appearing in Larges Life at the London
Palladium and Spike Milligan is appearing in a porcelain bath on
Fridays.