1
00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:01,480
On the flee. 
The flee. 

2
00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:11,960
The flee. 
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 

3
00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:16,520
Great Jupiter, mate. 
Is that thing a flea? 

4
00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:21,800
No, it's an horse, mate. 
A horse? 

5
00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,440
Take your settle. 
Yeah, you're right. 

6
00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,200
It is a horse. 
When? 

7
00:00:29,770 --> 00:00:31,970
Now, where's the flea? 
He's on the horse, Mike. 

8
00:00:33,250 --> 00:00:35,170
I thought he get here quicker 
that way. 

9
00:00:36,530 --> 00:00:39,090
I see. 
Now then, as he's not right 

10
00:00:39,090 --> 00:00:40,890
inside Satellite was room. 
He's a male flea. 

11
00:00:41,690 --> 00:00:45,210
So now will the flea. 
Will the flea raise his right 

12
00:00:45,210 --> 00:00:48,450
leg and swear to tell the truth?
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

13
00:00:49,850 --> 00:00:53,250
Now, Mr. Peeps, will you please 
take the the flea in the palm of

14
00:00:53,250 --> 00:00:55,770
your right hand and see if you 
can identify him? 

15
00:00:58,590 --> 00:01:01,870
I can honestly say I have never 
seen this three before in my 

16
00:01:01,910 --> 00:01:05,430
life. 
I claim that he is a foreigner. 

17
00:01:47,190 --> 00:01:53,550
September the 2nd, 2023 recorded
an episode of Goon Pod with 

18
00:01:53,550 --> 00:01:57,340
special guest Donna Reese. 
In which we enjoyed lively 

19
00:01:57,340 --> 00:02:01,220
discourse and debated the many 
merits of the classic Series 7 

20
00:02:01,220 --> 00:02:05,580
Goon Show episode. 
The flea later directed my steps

21
00:02:05,580 --> 00:02:09,139
to the apothecary and complained
that the ointment he saw me has 

22
00:02:09,139 --> 00:02:13,220
still not stopped the itching. 
It's one of those episodes where

23
00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:15,860
I find the plot, for some 
reason, really hard to kind of 

24
00:02:15,940 --> 00:02:19,220
absorb. 
Yeah, but I suppose it doesn't 

25
00:02:19,220 --> 00:02:20,860
really matter, does it? 
I guess but. 

26
00:02:21,020 --> 00:02:24,100
Well, no, and I don't really. 
I've never really bothered with 

27
00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:26,330
the plots. 
Or trying to understand until 

28
00:02:26,330 --> 00:02:29,170
I've been doing this podcast, 
and then you have to pay closer 

29
00:02:29,170 --> 00:02:33,490
attention to the script and to 
the actual words being spoken, 

30
00:02:33,530 --> 00:02:35,370
you know? 
Yeah, yeah, exactly. 

31
00:02:35,410 --> 00:02:38,650
Cuz it's, I mean the Greenslade 
story, the first one that I did.

32
00:02:39,170 --> 00:02:41,650
It's a very linear plot really, 
the Greenslade story. 

33
00:02:41,650 --> 00:02:45,210
It's really easy to blow cuz 
it's like a star is born at the 

34
00:02:45,210 --> 00:02:47,090
BBC. 
Exactly. 

35
00:02:47,090 --> 00:02:51,570
Yes it is, but the other ones 
are far more chaotic, so as long

36
00:02:51,610 --> 00:02:53,570
as that's. 
Had you heard the flee before? 

37
00:02:54,900 --> 00:02:59,460
No, no, I must have done. 
My dad had pretty much all of 

38
00:02:59,460 --> 00:03:03,140
them and would play them often, 
but I don't recall the flea. 

39
00:03:03,140 --> 00:03:06,700
Because I always maintain and 
you pretty won't agree with me 

40
00:03:06,700 --> 00:03:09,020
then from what you said. 
But I always maintain that this 

41
00:03:09,020 --> 00:03:12,180
would be the perfect episode to 
introduce someone to the goons. 

42
00:03:14,260 --> 00:03:18,180
Yes, it does have all the 
elements that you sort of love 

43
00:03:18,180 --> 00:03:21,620
about them, the and just the 
orchestrations. 

44
00:03:21,620 --> 00:03:26,720
You know, the Angela Morley's 
music is just fantastic. 

45
00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:31,320
It's so good and it must have 
given Spike such a lift but also

46
00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,000
a lot of pressure at the same 
time cuz everyone around them 

47
00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,120
was brilliant. 
Yes, they all seem to be on the 

48
00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:39,800
A game for this set, for this 
recording. 

49
00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,600
Yeah. 
Well, listen, I will formally 

50
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,520
introduce you and say welcome 
back, Donna. 

51
00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:48,640
Thank you. 
It's an honor. 

52
00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:53,560
I'm amazed. 
Yes, well, it's it, I'll tell 

53
00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,160
you like like you said, you 
know, last time you were here 

54
00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,840
was to talk about the Green 
State story and that episode of 

55
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:05,120
of Goon Pod went down extremely 
well, very popular and. 

56
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,800
And so I was keen to get you 
back and to talk about a show 

57
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,240
that I think is almost almost as
peerless, if that makes sense. 

58
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,160
Personally speaking. 
Anyway, I think the Flea is a 

59
00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,089
brilliant episode of the Goons. 
One of the strongest from series

60
00:04:21,089 --> 00:04:30,610
7 and it was released on LP on 
the one of the BBC Lps in 1977. 

61
00:04:30,810 --> 00:04:36,650
And the A side was the episode 
recently voted Goon Pod Listens 

62
00:04:36,650 --> 00:04:38,730
#1 goon show of all time 
Napoleon's piano. 

63
00:04:39,770 --> 00:04:42,210
That's my dad. 
Definitely would have had it on 

64
00:04:42,210 --> 00:04:43,450
vinyl. 
Yeah, definitely. 

65
00:04:43,450 --> 00:04:45,730
So I must have heard it back in 
the day. 

66
00:04:45,970 --> 00:04:48,620
Definitely, yeah. 
Oh, and by the way, I'll just 

67
00:04:48,620 --> 00:04:50,180
get this out of the way now. 
Actually I was going to say it 

68
00:04:50,180 --> 00:04:53,980
at the end, but because I'm 
talking about the listeners #1 

69
00:04:53,980 --> 00:04:57,540
goon show at the end of this 
year, probably around New Year's

70
00:04:57,540 --> 00:05:02,660
Eve, I'll be counting down 
another listeners top 20. 

71
00:05:04,500 --> 00:05:06,940
This time it's the top 20 Peter 
Sellers films. 

72
00:05:08,380 --> 00:05:11,500
Wow, did you did you give me 
yours on Twitter? 

73
00:05:11,500 --> 00:05:13,980
Did you? 
I haven't yet, because I was. 

74
00:05:14,140 --> 00:05:18,360
I was thinking about my first 
one was two way stretch popped 

75
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,040
into my mind and then you keep 
thinking all the different 

76
00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,240
characters because I think the 
early films are great. 

77
00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:29,800
The later ones, it's almost like
the character is brilliant but 

78
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,360
the film is not so brilliant. 
Sellers was such a narcissist. 

79
00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,080
It was like oh how can I show 
off in this film rather than 

80
00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,560
thinking oh this is a great 
script and a great director and 

81
00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:41,360
it's going to tell a wonderful 
story. 

82
00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,840
It was. 
I think it was all about him and

83
00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:46,460
his character. 
But the earlier films were, a 

84
00:05:46,460 --> 00:05:48,660
lot of them are much more 
ensemble pieces where you had 

85
00:05:48,660 --> 00:05:50,900
some of the greats of British 
comedy acting. 

86
00:05:51,660 --> 00:05:53,100
Yeah, absolutely. 
Yeah. 

87
00:05:53,100 --> 00:05:58,260
You got people like Bernie 
Cribbins and Irene Handel Who 

88
00:05:58,260 --> 00:06:03,220
might I love, Irene Handel and 
Lionel Jeffries and all those. 

89
00:06:03,260 --> 00:06:06,220
Margaret Rutherford. 
And also, and also the ones who 

90
00:06:06,220 --> 00:06:09,460
you can't sometimes the casual 
viewer can't put a name to you 

91
00:06:09,460 --> 00:06:15,810
like Miles Malleson, yes? 
And. 

92
00:06:16,170 --> 00:06:18,090
And Raymond Huntley, people like
that. 

93
00:06:18,090 --> 00:06:22,610
Do you know what my dad, the 
Internet Movie Database, was 

94
00:06:22,610 --> 00:06:25,850
almost created for my dad 
because he loved old British 

95
00:06:25,850 --> 00:06:28,530
character actors. 
And he'd go on there and just, 

96
00:06:29,050 --> 00:06:31,410
you know, look somebody up and 
find out all about their career.

97
00:06:31,410 --> 00:06:34,530
You know, people like Mario, 
Fabrici and all those sorts of 

98
00:06:34,530 --> 00:06:37,210
people. 
Yeah, fantastic. 

99
00:06:37,770 --> 00:06:40,250
So, yeah, so, so at the end of 
this year, we'll be doing the 

100
00:06:40,250 --> 00:06:43,850
top 20 Peter Sellers films. 
I have put out a tweet about it 

101
00:06:43,850 --> 00:06:48,930
and on Facebook as well, and so 
if you haven't already, please 

102
00:06:49,250 --> 00:06:53,090
DM me or message me on Twitter 
or e-mail me 

103
00:06:53,090 --> 00:06:58,610
tyler.adams1974@gmail.com. 
I'm still calling it Twitter. 

104
00:07:00,250 --> 00:07:01,370
Me too. 
Me too. 

105
00:07:01,810 --> 00:07:04,330
It's a good yeah, I'm tweeting 
like Matt. 

106
00:07:04,330 --> 00:07:06,770
I mean, X, What is that? 
It sounds like some sort of 

107
00:07:07,130 --> 00:07:09,050
strip club in Shirley, doesn't 
it? 

108
00:07:09,050 --> 00:07:12,590
Or something. 
It's pretty. 

109
00:07:13,430 --> 00:07:16,190
Nasty. 
It's got this deranged new owner

110
00:07:18,870 --> 00:07:21,750
I call a musky, sly old foxy 
stoat. 

111
00:07:25,430 --> 00:07:27,390
And he's taken, but he's taken. 
He's taken like, you know, he 

112
00:07:27,390 --> 00:07:31,310
has taken this beloved because 
it is beloved Twitter. 

113
00:07:31,910 --> 00:07:36,150
Very popular, beloved site which
worked really well and didn't 

114
00:07:36,150 --> 00:07:40,040
need fixing. 
And it's like he said this can't

115
00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,000
do. 
How can I make it less user 

116
00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:44,720
friendly? 
And yeah, mess about with it. 

117
00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,960
Yeah, it's perfect. 
So let's smash it with hammers 

118
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,000
and just spoil it. 
I'll just do what comes 

119
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,640
naturally to me and gnaws it up,
essentially. 

120
00:07:54,760 --> 00:08:00,600
Totally all the good he could 
do, and he chooses to spend his 

121
00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,960
time just winding people up with
sort of juvenile silliness. 

122
00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,550
It's very, it's very 
frustrating. 

123
00:08:07,870 --> 00:08:10,550
Anyway, rant over, it's still 
Twitter. 

124
00:08:10,550 --> 00:08:12,390
It's still Twitter. 
Yes. 

125
00:08:13,830 --> 00:08:18,310
So before we start talking about
the flea properly, as always, I 

126
00:08:18,310 --> 00:08:21,950
do try and I would like to 
include sort of historical 

127
00:08:21,950 --> 00:08:26,670
context and talk about what was 
going on in the wide, wide world

128
00:08:26,670 --> 00:08:31,670
of the world, the day, the day, 
the whiteness, yeah. 

129
00:08:32,510 --> 00:08:34,510
Yes, the day the episode was 
recorded. 

130
00:08:36,090 --> 00:08:41,370
So in this instance, it's the 
16th of December 1956 and as so 

131
00:08:41,370 --> 00:08:46,250
often I find there's not a lot, 
there's not a lot of of of meat 

132
00:08:46,250 --> 00:08:49,650
on the bone, so to speak. 
Not a lot that I could find out 

133
00:08:49,650 --> 00:08:54,290
in terms of significance that 
happened on the 16th of December

134
00:08:54,290 --> 00:08:56,450
1956. 
I guess people were gearing up 

135
00:08:56,490 --> 00:09:00,370
for Christmas and whatnot, but 
yeah, bit of a slow Newsday was,

136
00:09:00,530 --> 00:09:01,890
was it Tyler? 
Slow news. 

137
00:09:01,890 --> 00:09:03,770
Yeah, yeah. 
There's a couple of things. 

138
00:09:03,770 --> 00:09:07,170
There's a couple of. 
Interesting things to me. 

139
00:09:07,770 --> 00:09:10,970
Maybe not to anyone else, but 
anyway, OK, might be to me what 

140
00:09:11,770 --> 00:09:14,810
happened. 
OK, now, are you a fan of 

141
00:09:14,810 --> 00:09:18,490
peanuts? 
A fan is quite a strong word, 

142
00:09:18,490 --> 00:09:21,810
but I don't mind them. 
No, no, I do not mean the 

143
00:09:21,810 --> 00:09:24,450
comestable. 
I mean, you mean the cartoon? 

144
00:09:24,490 --> 00:09:27,090
The comic strip Peanuts, Right. 
OK. 

145
00:09:27,090 --> 00:09:27,730
Yes. 
Yeah. 

146
00:09:27,810 --> 00:09:28,410
Very. 
Yeah. 

147
00:09:28,450 --> 00:09:29,250
Very sweet. 
Yeah. 

148
00:09:29,370 --> 00:09:32,690
I was from a very young age. 
I got into Charlie Brown and 

149
00:09:32,690 --> 00:09:35,390
Snoopy. 
They've always been very dear to

150
00:09:35,390 --> 00:09:38,470
my heart. 
Those comic strips, okay. 

151
00:09:39,910 --> 00:09:43,150
And they there are in the world 
of Peanuts. 

152
00:09:43,150 --> 00:09:48,630
There are recurring motifs, 
recurring gags that you know 

153
00:09:48,670 --> 00:09:51,750
year after year after year. 
Charles Schulz would would trot 

154
00:09:51,750 --> 00:09:54,910
out if you like. 
And there's a recurring gag in 

155
00:09:54,910 --> 00:09:57,990
Peanuts where Charlie Brown is 
trying to kick a football. 

156
00:09:57,990 --> 00:10:02,070
Lucy is holding the football. 
The the American football. 

157
00:10:02,150 --> 00:10:04,870
And he goes, he goes to kick it 
and she always pulls it away. 

158
00:10:04,870 --> 00:10:07,510
Just as he's about his foot's 
about to connect and he ends up 

159
00:10:07,510 --> 00:10:11,190
on his ass. 
And that's that's a recurring 

160
00:10:11,190 --> 00:10:13,750
gag in in the water, peanut. 
Anyone who's got, you know an 

161
00:10:13,750 --> 00:10:15,070
interest in Peanuts will know 
that gag. 

162
00:10:15,830 --> 00:10:20,070
The the first strip with that 
gag appeared on this day. 

163
00:10:21,430 --> 00:10:24,950
So very niche. 
But I thought I'd point that out

164
00:10:24,950 --> 00:10:26,790
because they may well be, they 
may well be. 

165
00:10:27,030 --> 00:10:29,030
Big Charlie Brown, Snoopy fans 
out there. 

166
00:10:29,030 --> 00:10:31,030
Listen to this course. 
I mean, it was huge. 

167
00:10:31,070 --> 00:10:33,070
I mean, there was a big 
resurgence, wasn't there, in the

168
00:10:33,590 --> 00:10:37,190
late 70s, early 80s, I recalled.
Like Peanuts was like 

169
00:10:37,230 --> 00:10:38,630
everywhere. 
Yes, it was. 

170
00:10:38,670 --> 00:10:43,430
And well, yeah, I don't think it
ever lost popularity, but it 

171
00:10:43,430 --> 00:10:47,230
Yes, you're right, I seem to 
remember Snoopy was being used 

172
00:10:47,230 --> 00:10:49,590
to promote jogging. 
Do you remember when jogging was

173
00:10:50,390 --> 00:10:53,750
trendy for a brief period? 
Oh yes. 

174
00:10:53,750 --> 00:10:55,670
Yeah. 
And the guy who popularized 

175
00:10:55,670 --> 00:10:57,030
jogging, I don't think he 
invented jogging. 

176
00:10:57,030 --> 00:10:58,870
I don't think you can invent 
jogging, but whoever whatever 

177
00:10:58,870 --> 00:11:02,530
his name was. 
There was a guy who really 

178
00:11:02,570 --> 00:11:06,410
promoted jogging in a big way in
the early 80s and he had a heart

179
00:11:06,410 --> 00:11:08,170
attack and died in each. 
That's right. 

180
00:11:08,170 --> 00:11:11,250
Yeah, I think Bill Hicks does a 
bit about that in his act, isn't

181
00:11:11,250 --> 00:11:14,930
he about? 
All right, Jim. 

182
00:11:14,970 --> 00:11:18,730
Jim Fix is the guy's name. 
I was thinking Tom Mix, but Tom 

183
00:11:18,730 --> 00:11:21,290
Mix is the actor, isn't he? 
Cowboy actor or something. 

184
00:11:21,730 --> 00:11:23,730
Yeah, yeah, it rhymes. 
It rhymes. 

185
00:11:24,210 --> 00:11:26,610
But it's Jim Fix. 
Yeah, it's just popped into my 

186
00:11:26,610 --> 00:11:29,000
head, cuz. 
Bill Hicks does a bit about him 

187
00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:33,400
being, you know, guru of jogging
and dies of a heart attack. 

188
00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:36,560
It's a bit like the guy who 
popularized the Atkins diet. 

189
00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:38,200
I don't know. 
What was his name? 

190
00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:39,040
Atkins. 
I don't know. 

191
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:44,280
But didn't he die of some heart 
related issue? 

192
00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,000
Yes, he did. 
Yeah, he did. 

193
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:49,840
On the day, no, not on the day 
that the show was recorded. 

194
00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:54,000
But the day the show went out, 
which was the 20th of December 

195
00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,760
56, there was a radio recording 
made. 

196
00:11:59,010 --> 00:12:03,290
It was an adaptation of the HG 
Wells story The Man Who Could 

197
00:12:03,290 --> 00:12:08,050
Work Miracles Now. 
It was produced for BBC Radio by

198
00:12:08,650 --> 00:12:14,490
Dennis Mayne Wilson, who was the
initial first Goons producer. 

199
00:12:14,570 --> 00:12:16,490
Yeah, big part of the Goons 
story. 

200
00:12:16,530 --> 00:12:17,410
Absolutely. 
Yep. 

201
00:12:18,330 --> 00:12:22,010
But interestingly, it featured 
the vocal talents of Kenneth 

202
00:12:22,010 --> 00:12:26,170
Williams, Tony Hancock. 
Jakes. 

203
00:12:27,590 --> 00:12:29,510
Oh my God, how come I've never 
heard? 

204
00:12:29,550 --> 00:12:31,550
This Wow. 
Miriam Carlin, Warren Mitchell. 

205
00:12:33,750 --> 00:12:36,110
It was right. 
I've not read the story and I'm 

206
00:12:36,110 --> 00:12:38,350
not aware of the story. 
It's a short story by HG Wells 

207
00:12:38,350 --> 00:12:42,430
and it's a sort of satire on 
altruism, I think. 

208
00:12:43,990 --> 00:12:46,190
And Tony Hancock was playing the
central role. 

209
00:12:47,470 --> 00:12:49,710
And fortunately no recording 
exists. 

210
00:12:50,350 --> 00:12:53,710
Oh, no. 
That's what a tragedy that 

211
00:12:53,790 --> 00:12:54,790
sounds. 
I know. 

212
00:12:54,950 --> 00:12:56,950
Fascinating. 
What a listen that would be. 

213
00:12:58,630 --> 00:13:01,430
But it seemed to get. 
I mean, I've seen a contemporary

214
00:13:01,430 --> 00:13:06,550
review from when it went out so 
in one of the newspapers, and it

215
00:13:06,550 --> 00:13:10,670
said Tony Hancock in the title 
part was superb. 

216
00:13:11,630 --> 00:13:13,950
But of course, there was the 
danger that listener's pleasure 

217
00:13:13,950 --> 00:13:16,510
might be marred by the 
comedian's voice constantly 

218
00:13:16,510 --> 00:13:20,390
recalling Hancock's half hour. 
It was therefore surely a 

219
00:13:20,390 --> 00:13:24,230
mistake to include theme music. 
From Tony Hancock series and 

220
00:13:24,230 --> 00:13:27,270
also having the plays cast. 
Another actor with a distinctive

221
00:13:27,270 --> 00:13:29,670
voice heard regularly in 
Hancock's half hour. 

222
00:13:30,390 --> 00:13:33,030
These fadings apart, the man who
could work miracles made for 

223
00:13:33,110 --> 00:13:36,150
very good listening. 
So, so obviously he's referring 

224
00:13:36,190 --> 00:13:39,070
to Kenneth Williams, I guess 
there being, yeah. 

225
00:13:39,390 --> 00:13:42,910
But why would they use theme 
music from Hancock's Half hour? 

226
00:13:43,230 --> 00:13:45,270
I mean, that is really weird, 
isn't it? 

227
00:13:45,270 --> 00:13:49,550
Playing on with a trout like 
that is very strange, yeah. 

228
00:13:50,110 --> 00:13:52,430
I do have one SEC, One SEC. 
I'm just gonna. 

229
00:13:53,530 --> 00:13:56,090
I've got Kenneth Williams 
Diaries here actually, as every 

230
00:13:56,730 --> 00:14:00,290
sensible person should have to 
hand. 

231
00:14:01,410 --> 00:14:03,490
There's a little. 
He briefly mentions it in his 

232
00:14:03,490 --> 00:14:09,690
diary. 
So he says Thursday 20th of 

233
00:14:09,690 --> 00:14:12,610
December 1956. 
Tony didn't. 

234
00:14:12,610 --> 00:14:15,410
I wish I could do the voice. 
I'm not going to try. 

235
00:14:16,050 --> 00:14:18,930
Tony didn't do as well as I did 
as I anticipated. 

236
00:14:18,930 --> 00:14:21,990
He failed to come up at the end.
And I know it was because he 

237
00:14:21,990 --> 00:14:23,470
didn't believe in what he was 
saying. 

238
00:14:24,070 --> 00:14:27,630
If he is philosophically opposed
to the script idea, he doesn't 

239
00:14:27,630 --> 00:14:30,710
seem to be able to perform it. 
He has got sincerity for life 

240
00:14:30,710 --> 00:14:34,190
and sincerity for work, 
hopelessly intermingled and 

241
00:14:34,190 --> 00:14:35,790
merged. 
So there you go. 

242
00:14:36,950 --> 00:14:38,870
That's a very harsh criticism, 
isn't it? 

243
00:14:38,870 --> 00:14:43,630
But I suppose, you know, acting 
and being a comedian, that they 

244
00:14:43,630 --> 00:14:47,110
are very different disciplines 
and it's a very different 

245
00:14:47,110 --> 00:14:50,330
mentality. 
I think comedians have a very 

246
00:14:50,330 --> 00:14:55,490
kind of lone wolf mentality and 
actors have a kind of communal 

247
00:14:55,650 --> 00:14:58,490
mentality. 
So it's it's very, very 

248
00:14:58,490 --> 00:15:02,290
different. 
Maybe that's why it was kind of 

249
00:15:02,290 --> 00:15:06,530
easy for Hancock to sort of shed
all those people, which he 

250
00:15:06,530 --> 00:15:09,290
should never have dropped 
Gordman Simpson. 

251
00:15:09,770 --> 00:15:12,810
But you know, getting rid of Sig
James and he thought, you know, 

252
00:15:12,850 --> 00:15:15,690
I don't want to be seen as a 
double act and all of this and 

253
00:15:15,850 --> 00:15:18,970
I'm going to go alone. 
But he I suppose he could bounce

254
00:15:18,970 --> 00:15:21,730
off other people. 
But Sid was such a good foil for

255
00:15:21,730 --> 00:15:23,570
him. 
Well, I don't know enough about 

256
00:15:23,570 --> 00:15:29,050
Hancock to speak with any degree
of knowledge, but my feeling is 

257
00:15:29,050 --> 00:15:36,090
that it was egotism and he felt 
that he was the star. 

258
00:15:36,090 --> 00:15:39,610
He didn't need those people. 
You felt that that face to face 

259
00:15:39,610 --> 00:15:43,450
interview was the turning point 
that gave him this sort of sense

260
00:15:43,450 --> 00:15:48,310
of importance, which maybe 
inflated the ego a bit too much.

261
00:15:48,350 --> 00:15:51,550
And yeah, that was. 
I think that was the first time 

262
00:15:51,590 --> 00:15:56,350
a comedian had been taken 
seriously like that in a kind of

263
00:15:56,350 --> 00:15:59,150
very yes in depth, very serious 
interview. 

264
00:15:59,590 --> 00:16:02,030
You'd expect. 
I mean, obviously they wouldn't.

265
00:16:03,350 --> 00:16:05,030
I know that. 
It was John Freeman, wasn't it, 

266
00:16:05,030 --> 00:16:08,950
that did those interviews, Yes. 
And he had Gilbert Harding 

267
00:16:08,950 --> 00:16:11,670
famously and others. 
But it would have been 

268
00:16:11,670 --> 00:16:13,230
interesting if Spike had been on
that. 

269
00:16:13,390 --> 00:16:17,900
You could imagine. 
The fireworks or the revelations

270
00:16:17,900 --> 00:16:21,100
or the sort of naked honesty 
that Spike would have brought to

271
00:16:21,100 --> 00:16:25,700
that as well. 
Just on Hancock, I gather you're

272
00:16:25,700 --> 00:16:27,460
a big fan generally, is that 
right? 

273
00:16:27,820 --> 00:16:32,340
Yeah, I do love the Do love 
Hancocks Half Hour. 

274
00:16:32,380 --> 00:16:36,020
Yes, very much so. 
See, I still think even today, 

275
00:16:36,820 --> 00:16:40,340
those scripts and everything 
that the best episodes have just

276
00:16:40,820 --> 00:16:43,460
still stand up so well. 
They're so good. 

277
00:16:44,230 --> 00:16:45,870
See, I've got it. 
I've always said this. 

278
00:16:45,870 --> 00:16:48,830
I've got a tin ear for 
Hancock's. 

279
00:16:48,910 --> 00:16:51,190
Well, for Hancock's half hour, 
I've tried. 

280
00:16:51,670 --> 00:16:54,430
I've really tried. 
And I love step toe and son. 

281
00:16:54,430 --> 00:16:58,270
So it's not that I'm against 
Gorton and Simpson material or 

282
00:16:58,270 --> 00:17:00,110
anything like that or they don't
make me laugh. 

283
00:17:00,110 --> 00:17:02,070
I just, I've struggled with 
Hancock's Half hour. 

284
00:17:02,070 --> 00:17:04,990
I mean, everybody's different, 
everyone has different taste, so

285
00:17:04,990 --> 00:17:08,270
it's just doesn't appeal to you.
But I was a very strange child 

286
00:17:08,270 --> 00:17:11,150
because when I was at school 
there was a boy in my class 

287
00:17:11,150 --> 00:17:14,970
called Justin and I I went to a 
performing arts school. 

288
00:17:15,050 --> 00:17:18,810
So everybody came from all over 
London and I'd I'd get get on 

289
00:17:18,810 --> 00:17:21,290
the Central Line and go to his 
house on the weekends. 

290
00:17:21,290 --> 00:17:23,730
And I lived in West London in 
Ealing. 

291
00:17:24,250 --> 00:17:27,210
He lived in Theid and Boyce, 
which is at the end in Essex, at

292
00:17:27,210 --> 00:17:29,530
the end of the Central Line, 
pretty much, which we used to 

293
00:17:29,530 --> 00:17:31,770
call Theid and Bois to make it 
sound exotic. 

294
00:17:32,530 --> 00:17:36,650
And we just used to go rap and 
watch comedy videos all the 

295
00:17:36,650 --> 00:17:39,210
time. 
And we're about 1314 and we've 

296
00:17:39,330 --> 00:17:44,230
watched Laurel and Hardy and 
Freeze Frame and the bit where 

297
00:17:44,390 --> 00:17:47,910
in Sons of the Desert where 
where the wives are in the 

298
00:17:47,910 --> 00:17:51,710
cinema and they see them on the 
screen, we just be on the floor 

299
00:17:51,710 --> 00:17:54,430
crying with laughter. 
And he was the one that 

300
00:17:54,430 --> 00:17:57,070
introduced me to Hancock. 
I'd never seen Tony Hancock 

301
00:17:57,070 --> 00:18:00,710
before and the first episode I 
ever saw was Lord Byron lives 

302
00:18:00,710 --> 00:18:03,550
here. 
And that's still my favorite. 

303
00:18:03,550 --> 00:18:06,150
I mean cry, just crying with 
laughter. 

304
00:18:06,350 --> 00:18:09,850
It's just weird to think that 
214 year olds watch. 

305
00:18:10,290 --> 00:18:13,370
I got half hour. 
Yeah, a program that was at that

306
00:18:13,370 --> 00:18:16,490
point, you know, like 30 years 
old, black and white. 

307
00:18:17,050 --> 00:18:18,970
Yeah, but we absolutely loved 
it. 

308
00:18:19,370 --> 00:18:20,810
Well, I absolutely loved it. 
I used to. 

309
00:18:20,810 --> 00:18:23,930
I mean, I grew up and my dad was
a big fan of comedy. 

310
00:18:23,930 --> 00:18:27,810
And mine too. 
Yeah, I get it all from my dad. 

311
00:18:27,810 --> 00:18:29,370
Yeah. 
Yeah, but then I had a friend 

312
00:18:29,370 --> 00:18:35,290
when I was probably about 1314 
and he'd come to mine or I'd go 

313
00:18:35,290 --> 00:18:38,370
to his and we'd watch videos of 
we'd rent. 

314
00:18:39,380 --> 00:18:43,380
There was, there was the one 
video shop or rental store in 

315
00:18:43,380 --> 00:18:46,380
the town and yeah that that 
would let you have really 

316
00:18:46,380 --> 00:18:48,180
inappropriate things as well. 
I. 

317
00:18:48,820 --> 00:18:54,060
Wouldn't know about that. 
I really violent a horrible 

318
00:18:54,340 --> 00:18:56,460
like. 
Oh no, no cuz we because we 

319
00:18:56,460 --> 00:18:59,700
would go in and instead of I 
don't know trying to rent, I 

320
00:18:59,700 --> 00:19:04,700
don't know Rambo First Blood or 
whatever like most 14 year old 

321
00:19:04,700 --> 00:19:07,420
boys and Evil Dead. 
We'd be renting. 

322
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:14,200
Oh, nurse on wheels, I remember.
Oh my God. 

323
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:17,680
Can you believe it? 
Which was a I haven't seen that 

324
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:19,720
since I was a kid. 
Oh my gosh. 

325
00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,240
It was um. 
Juliet Mills. 

326
00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:25,440
Juliet Mills, Yeah. 
John Mills's daughter. 

327
00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:27,960
Yeah. 
It's like, I think it's made by 

328
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:29,640
the same team as the carryon. 
Yeah, yeah. 

329
00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:32,760
It was like a carryon film, kind
of, yeah, in all but name. 

330
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,150
Yeah, and and and. 
Things like that and and and 

331
00:19:36,150 --> 00:19:39,510
Water the The terrible Michael 
Caine film. 

332
00:19:41,430 --> 00:19:43,350
Billy Connolly. 
Billy Connolly any. 

333
00:19:43,430 --> 00:19:45,550
Any film that was a that was a 
comedy. 

334
00:19:47,150 --> 00:19:49,270
Brackets British. 
Yeah. 

335
00:19:49,270 --> 00:19:50,670
I mean more runs from outer 
space. 

336
00:19:50,670 --> 00:19:55,150
Oh my. 
Gosh, all sorts of things. 

337
00:19:55,270 --> 00:19:57,070
All sorts. 
And I mean, and we yeah, we 

338
00:19:57,070 --> 00:19:59,990
would we would get some good 
stuff out like Monty Python and 

339
00:19:59,990 --> 00:20:01,310
the Holy Grail and stuff like 
that. 

340
00:20:01,310 --> 00:20:06,930
But but we just we'd spend. 
Weekends and summer holidays, 

341
00:20:06,930 --> 00:20:09,530
just inside watching videos of 
comedy. 

342
00:20:11,170 --> 00:20:15,090
So yeah, it's it's and I wonder,
you know, I got into the goons 

343
00:20:15,090 --> 00:20:17,770
by accident and instantly loved 
them. 

344
00:20:18,010 --> 00:20:21,210
I wonder if it had been instead 
of the Goon Show that I heard 

345
00:20:21,850 --> 00:20:24,050
that day by accident. 
It was a Hancock's Half hour. 

346
00:20:24,050 --> 00:20:27,610
Maybe today this would be a Tony
Hancock podcast, you know? 

347
00:20:28,610 --> 00:20:31,150
Who knows? 
Weird things happen in life. 

348
00:20:32,190 --> 00:20:34,270
It's just meant to be Tyler. 
It's just meant to be. 

349
00:20:34,270 --> 00:20:38,830
It is. 
So let's talk about the flea. 

350
00:20:39,550 --> 00:21:00,120
This week the Flea is entitled. 
Forgot what it was. 

351
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,800
Now allow me, allow me. 
We present. 

352
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:14,280
We present the flea. 
The flea. 

353
00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:25,760
What's your Do you have any sort
of knowledge of Samuel peeps as 

354
00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:27,480
such? 
Not. 

355
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:31,320
Really. 
A vague, A vague idea. 

356
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,320
Was he sporting with a lot of 
women imply in the play, yes. 

357
00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,480
I mean I haven't read the 
Diaries, but I've, you know, 

358
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,360
I've read bits here and there 
over the years. 

359
00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:45,720
Or you just sort of absorb 
stuff, don't you? 

360
00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:53,430
And I gather he was a sly old 
dog with servants and maids and.

361
00:21:53,510 --> 00:21:55,790
Oh, right, Are they all written 
in code? 

362
00:21:55,790 --> 00:21:58,270
Those bits? 
I don't think so. 

363
00:21:58,270 --> 00:22:03,390
I think he was quite open. 
I'm sure that there's a passage 

364
00:22:04,510 --> 00:22:09,070
sequence where how do I put this
delicately? 

365
00:22:09,070 --> 00:22:17,970
He's got the maid in a position 
and his wife walks in and I 

366
00:22:18,010 --> 00:22:21,730
think he just gets the 
equivalent of like a belt around

367
00:22:21,730 --> 00:22:23,970
the head and that's that's his 
punishment. 

368
00:22:23,970 --> 00:22:27,890
And then he just carries on with
his day, you know, it's it was 

369
00:22:27,890 --> 00:22:30,250
kind of she just kind of his 
wife, just his wife just kind of

370
00:22:30,250 --> 00:22:32,610
accepted it. 
I might be wrong, but I've got 

371
00:22:32,610 --> 00:22:35,490
that, I've got that. 
I've got a feeling that's one of

372
00:22:35,490 --> 00:22:36,970
the sort of thing. 
And, of course, famously, he 

373
00:22:36,970 --> 00:22:42,500
buried his his Camembert cheese.
Oh yes, that's a yeah, that's a 

374
00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:44,660
very famous fact about about 
him, isn't it? 

375
00:22:44,700 --> 00:22:47,180
Yeah, cuz it was during the fire
of London I think and he didn't 

376
00:22:47,180 --> 00:22:50,900
want the cheese to perish. 
Or was that a euphemism for 

377
00:22:50,900 --> 00:22:55,300
something else? 
I'm burying the cheese. 

378
00:22:55,340 --> 00:22:59,940
Burying my cheese. 
I read a very good book on 

379
00:22:59,940 --> 00:23:05,620
holiday recently by author. 
I'm very fond of Robert Harris, 

380
00:23:06,390 --> 00:23:10,590
who wrote Fatherland and and it 
was. 

381
00:23:10,790 --> 00:23:12,550
I can't even think of the name 
of the book now. 

382
00:23:13,030 --> 00:23:15,230
I read it on my Kindle. 
It was set in this period that 

383
00:23:15,350 --> 00:23:20,790
that this, this it was, it was, 
it was the restoration of the 

384
00:23:20,790 --> 00:23:22,830
monarchy. 
It was when Charles the second 

385
00:23:23,110 --> 00:23:26,430
returned to the throne or came 
to the throne and the monarchy 

386
00:23:26,430 --> 00:23:29,470
was restored. 
And it was about the search for 

387
00:23:29,470 --> 00:23:32,270
what they called the Regicides, 
the the man who had signed 

388
00:23:32,390 --> 00:23:34,350
Charles the First's death 
warrant. 

389
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,600
They were to be hunted down and 
executed, right? 

390
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,960
It was basically, it's a 
thriller about the manhunt for 

391
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:47,120
two of the sort of leading 
regicides, and it mentions peeps

392
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,200
in passing. 
So whatever the book's called, I

393
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,680
can't think what it's called. 
But lookout for Robert Harris's 

394
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,000
latest thriller, folks. 
So it's like a mix of fact and 

395
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,040
fiction? 
It is, yes. 

396
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,280
I love those sorts of books. 
I love like. 

397
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:03,560
What's the guy who writes lots 
of things about London? 

398
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:04,840
Peter Accrod. 
Peter Accrod. 

399
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:06,800
That's like, quite. 
I love his books. 

400
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:07,480
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

401
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,320
So yeah. 
So this episode, it's a strange 

402
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:16,680
story, the flea, and it's set. 
It's got a definite historical 

403
00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:21,400
setting. 
It's December 1665, but I like 

404
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,040
at the beginning. 
You've got sellers on the piano.

405
00:24:25,330 --> 00:24:27,010
I love that bit. 
I love. 

406
00:24:27,210 --> 00:24:30,730
I love anything that's slightly 
strange that goes on slightly 

407
00:24:30,730 --> 00:24:33,490
too long. 
Yes, something about it always 

408
00:24:33,490 --> 00:24:35,410
makes me laugh. 
It's so funny. 

409
00:24:35,410 --> 00:24:39,490
It's really out of tune. 
Terrible piano sound. 

410
00:24:39,890 --> 00:24:41,730
Like I'm walking backwards for 
Christmas piano. 

411
00:24:42,010 --> 00:24:44,930
Well, yeah. 
And he played the piano a lot. 

412
00:24:45,010 --> 00:24:48,610
And I'm not sure how 
accomplished on the piano he was

413
00:24:48,610 --> 00:24:51,810
in real life. 
I mean, he was a musician, he 

414
00:24:51,810 --> 00:24:54,490
was a very good drummer, so. 
He was a brilliant drummer. 

415
00:24:54,490 --> 00:24:57,290
Yeah, really good drummer. 
Yeah, jazz drummer, yeah. 

416
00:24:57,290 --> 00:25:00,850
But if he was, if he was a good 
pianist or pianist, he was quite

417
00:25:00,850 --> 00:25:05,570
happy to send up as playing. 
He's quite happy to play lousily

418
00:25:06,690 --> 00:25:10,050
for the for the comedy. 
And then of course he gets a 

419
00:25:10,050 --> 00:25:13,650
name check and and seller says 
that he's waiting for his new 

420
00:25:13,650 --> 00:25:18,050
car to be delivered, which is a 
nod to seller's car. 

421
00:25:18,210 --> 00:25:19,880
Yeah. 
Yeah, he was a petrol head, 

422
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:21,080
wasn't he? 
Yeah, yeah. 

423
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,120
The Super Splon Reversal Center 
Pod, 12 horsepower convertible. 

424
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,360
Of course, you probably had two 
of them. 

425
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:32,640
Yes. 
Well, he would get it in the 

426
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:34,000
morning and then return it in 
the afternoon. 

427
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,360
Ted, did that music do something
to you, Wallace? 

428
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:53,320
No, but I'd like to do something
to that music. 

429
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,880
You realize, of course, you're 
talking of Peter Sellers, the 

430
00:25:57,880 --> 00:25:59,560
world's greatest outdoor 
pianist. 

431
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,000
And though did Mr. Carr, 
Catalogue of 1956. 

432
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,480
Did you hear that, Phil? 
If I give you Mr. Sellers, I 

433
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:10,840
say, don't tell me you're down 
to that in motor cars. 

434
00:26:12,370 --> 00:26:16,090
No, I just ordered a new Super 
Splum Reversal Centerpod 12 

435
00:26:16,090 --> 00:26:19,690
horsepower convertible. 
I was only making that noise 

436
00:26:19,690 --> 00:26:23,570
until it arrived, then it can do
it for me. 

437
00:26:23,570 --> 00:26:30,130
Oh, Jolly for you, Fred Zeller. 
Thank you. 

438
00:26:30,130 --> 00:26:34,650
That story about him making 
Spike get in the boot of his car

439
00:26:34,650 --> 00:26:36,410
because he could hear a noise, 
wasn't it? 

440
00:26:36,610 --> 00:26:39,130
That was hilarious, that So 
drive around. 

441
00:26:39,540 --> 00:26:40,980
And it was stopped by the 
police. 

442
00:26:41,540 --> 00:26:44,540
When the police and opened the 
boot and saw Spike, he went, oh 

443
00:26:44,540 --> 00:26:48,300
I thought it might be you. 
Well that was it cuz a given 

444
00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:50,460
spike a bit of chalk put him in 
the boot. 

445
00:26:50,500 --> 00:26:52,460
That's right. 
Yeah, to put a little mark where

446
00:26:52,460 --> 00:26:53,900
he could hear the squeak or 
whatever. 

447
00:26:53,900 --> 00:26:55,300
Yeah. 
And he'd be there Driving over, 

448
00:26:55,460 --> 00:26:57,420
Driving over. 
I don't know. 

449
00:26:57,420 --> 00:26:59,820
Did they have speed bumps in 
those days or he'd be. 

450
00:27:00,220 --> 00:27:02,460
I don't think they did in this 
driving through driving through 

451
00:27:02,460 --> 00:27:08,000
potholes and things, yeah, yeah.
Or turning up in the middle of 

452
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,320
night naked and saying, do you 
know a good Taylor? 

453
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:14,080
Another thing was that, well, 
that see, we discussed that that

454
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:18,640
story on the episode I did with 
Walter Dunnell on Adolf Hitler. 

455
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:20,440
My part in his downfall. 
Oh, that's. 

456
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,480
Fantastic, yes. 
Because one of Spike's comrades 

457
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,360
in Bexhill would do that. 
You know, turn up naked and say,

458
00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:29,560
do you know a good Taylor and 
you wonder. 

459
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:35,010
We sort of theorized that Spike 
must have told sellers about 

460
00:27:35,010 --> 00:27:38,170
that. 
And yeah, sellers being sellers 

461
00:27:38,170 --> 00:27:41,530
would obviously nick it. 
Nick, the idea. 

462
00:27:41,530 --> 00:27:45,250
Yeah, yeah. 
He just absorbed so much stuff, 

463
00:27:45,250 --> 00:27:46,490
didn't he? 
Big sellers. 

464
00:27:46,490 --> 00:27:54,050
He just yes, he was a sponge. 
But now did you listen to the LP

465
00:27:54,050 --> 00:27:56,890
version of the flea, the LP edit
or did you? 

466
00:27:56,890 --> 00:27:58,330
Which how did you listen to 
this? 

467
00:27:58,710 --> 00:28:01,470
I listened to on YouTube 
versions. 

468
00:28:01,510 --> 00:28:03,030
Yeah. 
Is there a all right? 

469
00:28:03,070 --> 00:28:04,550
Was there stuck? 
Cut out? 

470
00:28:04,870 --> 00:28:07,070
Well, yeah, the LP had quite a 
bit cut out. 

471
00:28:07,270 --> 00:28:11,710
No, I'll say quite a bit. 
Just bits in some cases. 

472
00:28:11,710 --> 00:28:15,670
Just single words, you know, 
here and there, a few sequences 

473
00:28:16,310 --> 00:28:20,310
and a few topical references. 
I'm not quite sure. 

474
00:28:20,310 --> 00:28:24,590
I grew up listening to the LP 
version and then I've listened 

475
00:28:24,590 --> 00:28:30,050
to the most complete Ted Kendall
restored version which puts back

476
00:28:30,050 --> 00:28:33,890
all the stuff that was removed. 
Right. 

477
00:28:34,370 --> 00:28:36,650
And there's little references. 
There was a reference to Lou 

478
00:28:36,650 --> 00:28:38,370
Grade. 
Did you hear that? 

479
00:28:38,450 --> 00:28:40,530
I heard the Lou grade reference,
yeah. 

480
00:28:40,570 --> 00:28:45,970
They had to dig at Lou Grade. 
Yeah, Okay cuz he tells Sellers 

481
00:28:45,970 --> 00:28:48,210
to stop sticking pins in a clay 
model of Lou Grade. 

482
00:28:49,650 --> 00:28:52,050
And I and obviously Sellers at 
the time was being represented 

483
00:28:52,050 --> 00:28:54,450
by the grades. 
And I and I tried to find out if

484
00:28:54,450 --> 00:28:57,570
there was, if there was some 
particular issue at that time 

485
00:28:58,090 --> 00:29:01,410
that they were referring to, you
know, but there didn't. 

486
00:29:01,530 --> 00:29:02,650
I checked with Mark Cousins as 
well. 

487
00:29:02,650 --> 00:29:05,250
He said No, there's the I think 
it was just a throwaway gag, 

488
00:29:05,610 --> 00:29:11,450
really. 
Right, so the the scene is set. 

489
00:29:11,930 --> 00:29:16,530
It's December 1665. 
Seek him as Ned as Samuel Peeps,

490
00:29:18,700 --> 00:29:21,820
and we we hear the first mention
of of of someone doing sport 

491
00:29:21,820 --> 00:29:24,340
with Mrs. Fitzsimmons. 
Yes, the sport. 

492
00:29:24,380 --> 00:29:29,300
But yeah, which I don't know 
what to say about that doing 

493
00:29:29,300 --> 00:29:32,340
sport is obviously, you know one
of those euphemisms. 

494
00:29:33,020 --> 00:29:36,700
Yes, I'm something something 
about. 

495
00:29:36,820 --> 00:29:38,660
I'm still surprised that they 
got away with it. 

496
00:29:39,460 --> 00:29:40,380
I don't know. 
What? 

497
00:29:40,820 --> 00:29:43,420
There are so many things in the 
goons that you hear, you think. 

498
00:29:43,420 --> 00:29:45,540
How the hell did they get away 
with that? 

499
00:29:45,540 --> 00:29:49,420
You know, under the red. 
These things were not really 

500
00:29:49,420 --> 00:29:52,500
checked, were they? 
Were they ever sort of hauled 

501
00:29:52,500 --> 00:29:56,820
into management and said to me, 
you can't use Hugh Jabson and 

502
00:29:56,820 --> 00:29:59,300
things? 
Oh, there was plenty of. 

503
00:29:59,460 --> 00:30:02,620
Reprimanded for it and I think, 
I think in the end they just, I 

504
00:30:02,620 --> 00:30:06,860
think there was a lot of effort 
in the first few years. 

505
00:30:06,860 --> 00:30:10,300
There were a lot of efforts to 
cancel The Goon Show, or at 

506
00:30:10,300 --> 00:30:13,740
least, yeah, there were so many 
complaints and from from 

507
00:30:13,740 --> 00:30:14,300
seniors. 
I was. 

508
00:30:15,420 --> 00:30:16,940
And I was so shocked to hear 
that. 

509
00:30:16,940 --> 00:30:20,140
I remember hearing that not that
long ago and thinking really, I 

510
00:30:20,140 --> 00:30:24,980
mean, it was so popular that why
would they want to get rid of 

511
00:30:24,980 --> 00:30:26,220
it? 
Because it was just too 

512
00:30:26,220 --> 00:30:28,540
anarchic. 
BBC management, senior 

513
00:30:28,540 --> 00:30:33,140
management just didn't get it, 
thought it was unseemly. 

514
00:30:33,140 --> 00:30:37,660
Maybe it was still very much the
BBC was still very much wreathed

515
00:30:37,740 --> 00:30:40,300
in wreathy in values. 
Yeah. 

516
00:30:40,780 --> 00:30:43,180
And of course senior management 
were all sort of X. 

517
00:30:43,630 --> 00:30:46,030
An officer class and it was 
disrespectful. 

518
00:30:46,230 --> 00:30:51,190
This was absolutely, you know, 
fighting, you know, pricking 

519
00:30:51,190 --> 00:30:54,830
pomposity and looking at these 
people and taking the piss. 

520
00:30:55,230 --> 00:30:56,990
Just saying these people are 
ridiculous. 

521
00:30:57,030 --> 00:31:00,190
So they obviously maybe felt 
personally they were being 

522
00:31:00,190 --> 00:31:03,550
attacked perhaps, I don't know. 
Absolutely. 

523
00:31:03,950 --> 00:31:07,950
Absolutely. 
Yeah, Insufficiently respectful.

524
00:31:08,510 --> 00:31:10,480
Yeah, that will do. 
Yeah. 

525
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:14,720
So we've got Samuel, Peeps Ned. 
He goes to Ward's coffee house. 

526
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,080
Of course, coffee houses were 
all the rage at that period. 

527
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:23,600
And in the script it says that 
you know the character that 

528
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,480
Sellers plays called Flower Jew.
Yes, which is the. 

529
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:28,720
I love that character. 
Yeah. 

530
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:30,280
Now in the script it says Flower
Jew. 

531
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:36,810
For this we've got Daisy, who's 
like the waitress at the yes, at

532
00:31:36,810 --> 00:31:39,810
the coffee shop. 
Brilliant, but but in the script

533
00:31:39,850 --> 00:31:42,810
it's down as flower Jew. 
But it doesn't it it's kind of A

534
00:31:43,210 --> 00:31:46,170
to me it just sounds like 
Sellers doing a sort of blousey 

535
00:31:46,810 --> 00:31:47,930
woman. 
Woman voice. 

536
00:31:48,050 --> 00:31:49,530
Yeah, yeah, it does. 
Yeah. 

537
00:31:49,930 --> 00:31:53,290
I yeah, I'm surprised when you 
said flower Jew, because I know 

538
00:31:53,610 --> 00:31:56,170
what that voice sounds like. 
And it it isn't like that, is 

539
00:31:56,170 --> 00:31:58,410
it? 
It is a yeah, as you say, a kind

540
00:31:58,410 --> 00:32:05,530
of slightly fruity lady. 
Oh, good motto, master peeps. 

541
00:32:06,300 --> 00:32:10,900
Cappuccino. 
Yeah, just coffee. 

542
00:32:10,900 --> 00:32:12,340
Daisy. 
Black or white? 

543
00:32:12,340 --> 00:32:15,580
White with a dash of milk. 
You tease. 

544
00:32:17,940 --> 00:32:20,260
I love that. 
And I suppose it was all the 

545
00:32:20,260 --> 00:32:24,340
rage where the Soho coffee bars,
cuz it was like, did they 

546
00:32:24,340 --> 00:32:27,580
mention froth or something? 
What do you ask for Cappuccino? 

547
00:32:28,220 --> 00:32:29,420
Cappuccino. 
That's it, yeah. 

548
00:32:29,500 --> 00:32:31,980
Cuz obviously that was happening
at the time, yeah, yeah. 

549
00:32:32,660 --> 00:32:40,210
In London and it's I'm just 
gonna say seek and peeps runs 

550
00:32:40,210 --> 00:32:43,890
through the runs the gamut of 
goon show catchphrases such as 

551
00:32:44,810 --> 00:32:48,010
needle nod or new splints plans 
blonding Tommy like pirates, 

552
00:32:48,010 --> 00:32:50,610
cetera. 
And then he says you now did you

553
00:32:50,610 --> 00:32:53,330
pick up on the fact there's a 
lot of owing in this. 

554
00:32:53,330 --> 00:32:55,290
A lot of. 
Yes, owing. 

555
00:32:55,850 --> 00:32:58,650
Why do you think that was I? 
Have no idea. 

556
00:32:58,650 --> 00:33:02,330
I was if there is an awful of 
that in there, what was what was

557
00:33:02,330 --> 00:33:04,680
going on there? 
I couldn't work it out. 

558
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:11,280
Well, see this the same month. 
So December 56, the single you 

559
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:15,680
Got to go OW was released into 
the shops produced by George 

560
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,480
Martin. 
And it was, it was, it was 

561
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,600
Milligan is basically a Moriarty
single. 

562
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,920
Really it was Milligan. 
I don't think Sellers was 

563
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,680
involved. 
Larry Stevens I think is is 

564
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,640
playing the piano and I think 
Eric Sykes is involved and I say

565
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,440
George Martin produces it and 
it's just and it's just it's 

566
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,960
just a throwaway little 
disposable single saying you got

567
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:46,160
to go owl okay. 
And so obviously Milligan is 

568
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:52,120
trying to promote it quite 
shamelessly in this show because

569
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:57,920
Grit Pipe and Moriarty appear 
there in the coffee pot, and 

570
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,120
Grit Pipe introduces himself and
and and Moriarty. 

571
00:34:01,770 --> 00:34:05,890
And again, this is a bit that 
was cut from the LP version cuz 

572
00:34:05,890 --> 00:34:10,050
he introduces Count Jim Thighs, 
Moriarty Minister Without 

573
00:34:10,050 --> 00:34:13,090
Underpants to the principality. 
Of Monte Carlo. 

574
00:34:15,290 --> 00:34:18,489
Minister Without Underpants, but
it's just brilliant. 

575
00:34:18,489 --> 00:34:22,610
Well, on the LP there's a clunky
edit, so he doesn't actually say

576
00:34:22,610 --> 00:34:24,730
that they cut out the bit. 
Minister without underpants. 

577
00:34:24,770 --> 00:34:28,120
The Principality of Monte, Yes, 
that's. 

578
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:30,880
You know what? 
A gag, what that is. 

579
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:32,800
That's criminal to do that 
because underpants. 

580
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:36,040
Underpants might offend somebody
in 1977. 

581
00:34:36,199 --> 00:34:37,120
I don't. 
Know. 

582
00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:41,199
Thank God. 
That's ridiculous, isn't it? 

583
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,000
It must ruin the flow of the 
show. 

584
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,159
Having all these cuts. 
I didn't realize they were cuts.

585
00:34:45,159 --> 00:34:48,159
So yeah, so much so messed up 
out with. 

586
00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:50,840
It's terrible. 
Yeah, it reminds me of that. 

587
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,699
Summarizing Proust. 
Sketch that Monty Python did and

588
00:34:54,699 --> 00:34:57,620
they were holding to senior 
management cuz it like one of 

589
00:34:57,620 --> 00:35:00,540
the contestants said their 
hobbies were cat strangling and 

590
00:35:00,540 --> 00:35:01,660
masturbation. 
That's right. 

591
00:35:04,540 --> 00:35:07,340
And they were really anti the 
masturbation. 

592
00:35:07,340 --> 00:35:09,660
But cat strangling was fine, 
didn't they? 

593
00:35:09,900 --> 00:35:12,900
Wasn't there a huge wolf of 
audience response? 

594
00:35:14,430 --> 00:35:15,390
To that yeah. 
Yeah. 

595
00:35:16,430 --> 00:35:20,110
Oh dear. 
I I even like if I ever I watch 

596
00:35:20,110 --> 00:35:21,750
the chase or something I just 
long for. 

597
00:35:22,230 --> 00:35:24,150
So what do you do? 
What are you joining? 

598
00:35:24,910 --> 00:35:32,670
Ah yes. 
And it's very similar. 

599
00:35:32,670 --> 00:35:36,030
It's like this is crazy. 
You object to this thing and 

600
00:35:36,110 --> 00:35:39,270
because Terry Jones said to this
old duffer at the BBC. 

601
00:35:40,470 --> 00:35:42,510
Well, we all masturbate. 
Don't you masturbate? 

602
00:35:42,550 --> 00:35:47,590
And he was so flubbest, like, 
well, I, you know, just like, 

603
00:35:48,070 --> 00:35:51,310
didn't know what to say. 
He's arguing and we know that. 

604
00:35:51,670 --> 00:35:54,310
Violence towards cats was fine. 
It's brilliant. 

605
00:35:55,950 --> 00:35:58,990
Well, that's the thing. 
I mean, in America, you can't 

606
00:35:58,990 --> 00:36:01,360
show breasts on American. 
Well, you couldn't. 

607
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,360
Any years ago, you couldn't. 
You couldn't show breasts on 

608
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:05,560
television. 
But you could watch. 

609
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:07,880
You could see somebody being 
shot dead. 

610
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:09,840
Or have their head, yeah, blown 
off. 

611
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,920
Yeah, it is absolutely crazy. 
Everything's just completely the

612
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:15,320
wrong way around, isn't it? 
Yeah. 

613
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,480
And they managed to persuade 
peeps to put them up for the 

614
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,040
night, and they discover he's a 
secretary to the Navy. 

615
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:26,160
And they they evolved this 
scheme involving Francois the 

616
00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:30,230
Flea, who was chained to 
Moriarty's night shirt and the 

617
00:36:30,230 --> 00:36:33,310
plot. 
Is the the images that go off in

618
00:36:33,310 --> 00:36:36,310
your brain when you listen to 
them are just extraordinary. 

619
00:36:36,310 --> 00:36:38,710
It's fantastic, isn't it? 
It's a. 

620
00:36:39,110 --> 00:36:45,310
Chain to a fleece, Yes. 
Mariotti will contrive to get 

621
00:36:45,310 --> 00:36:47,870
bitten and sue pizza for 
damages. 

622
00:36:47,870 --> 00:36:50,510
And it could also escalate to 
become war between England and 

623
00:36:50,590 --> 00:36:54,430
Monte Carlo, I think. 
I think that's the idea anyway. 

624
00:36:56,150 --> 00:36:59,090
And so we have, we have Max 
Galdrey. 

625
00:37:17,290 --> 00:37:00,650
Yeah, that is brilliant. 
Then the ruse is put into effect

626
00:37:00,650 --> 00:37:04,650
and we hear Mariati screaming. 
Peeps comes in and Grit Pipe 

627
00:37:04,650 --> 00:37:08,170
claims that he's been that the 
bedding is flea ridden, and 

628
00:37:08,170 --> 00:37:15,570
Peeps says the bedding's burned 
twice a day, which which is just

629
00:37:15,570 --> 00:37:17,010
a throwaway line, which I've 
always. 

630
00:37:19,210 --> 00:37:23,570
That's a Corker, isn't it? 
That's so good we go to the law 

631
00:37:23,570 --> 00:37:28,720
courts with Lord Chief Justice 
Jim Spriggs and and get Wallace 

632
00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:32,640
doing a fairly rotten French 
accent as the plaintiff's 

633
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:35,440
council. 
My Lord, we claim damages of 

634
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:40,320
40,000 Golden Crowns for a 
savage attack by an English flea

635
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,640
residing on the roof of Mr. 
Samuel Pips, Secretary to the 

636
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:47,520
Navy. 
Oh, well, like that. 

637
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:55,440
Not in what is a Navy. 
A baby is an army entirely 

638
00:37:55,440 --> 00:38:05,510
surrounded by water. 
Fans, fans, please. 

639
00:38:05,510 --> 00:38:10,790
I'll have the court clear. 
Thank you very much. 

640
00:38:11,030 --> 00:38:13,590
You know, everybody sort of pays
a lot of attention to piece 

641
00:38:13,590 --> 00:38:16,390
sellers and Spike Milligan and 
quite rightly, but I mean, Harry

642
00:38:16,390 --> 00:38:20,070
Seeker is fantastic. 
His energy levels are just 

643
00:38:20,070 --> 00:38:23,110
through the roof for every 
single show and he is like the 

644
00:38:23,110 --> 00:38:25,550
glue. 
Yeah, he's just fantastic. 

645
00:38:25,910 --> 00:38:29,470
Earlier in the show. 
I think it's when just as grit 

646
00:38:29,470 --> 00:38:31,990
pipe is is introduced. 
I think Seekin says something 

647
00:38:31,990 --> 00:38:33,870
like what what what what, You 
know, does his what, what, what 

648
00:38:34,710 --> 00:38:38,350
and grip. 
And again with such energy and 

649
00:38:38,550 --> 00:38:40,910
grit pipes as I was only nearly 
saying that myself the other 

650
00:38:40,910 --> 00:38:45,270
day, which. 
I love when things go wrong and 

651
00:38:45,270 --> 00:38:48,110
they and they throw lad libs 
like that in it. 

652
00:38:49,190 --> 00:38:51,390
Brilliant, isn't it? 
Just just trying to make him 

653
00:38:51,390 --> 00:38:52,390
like each other laugh. 
Yeah. 

654
00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,080
And we have. 
So they need to establish 

655
00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,320
Francois the fleas nationality 
because that's been bought into 

656
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:03,480
doubt. 
And so William brings, brings 

657
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:09,160
him into court on a horse. 
You're right, it is a horse. 

658
00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:14,560
Pete's testifies that he's never
seen such a flea and and in 

659
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:16,320
claims, as I say, claims that he
is a foreigner. 

660
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:21,450
And if the flea is proven to be 
French, I think that will 

661
00:39:21,450 --> 00:39:23,890
scupper grip pipe's plans. 
I'm not quite sure. 

662
00:39:23,890 --> 00:39:29,130
But anyway, somehow or other 
grip Piper Moriarty must find an

663
00:39:29,130 --> 00:39:33,930
English flea to substitute for 
Francois and they when? 

664
00:39:34,130 --> 00:39:36,490
They get the flea to swear. 
Did they say raise your right 

665
00:39:36,490 --> 00:39:38,290
leg or something? 
Oh, yes, of course. 

666
00:39:38,290 --> 00:39:40,370
We haven't mentioned the sound 
effect of the flea, have we? 

667
00:39:40,370 --> 00:39:43,650
Which? 
Is the boying noise? 

668
00:39:43,650 --> 00:39:46,530
Yeah, I mean the sound effects 
department. 

669
00:39:46,930 --> 00:39:50,690
It must have been heaven to work
on these shows for them. 

670
00:39:51,180 --> 00:39:57,100
It's just and of course Angela 
Morley's orchestrations, just 

671
00:39:57,260 --> 00:39:59,860
incredible as well. 
I mean, everybody is on the top 

672
00:39:59,860 --> 00:40:03,940
of their game helping to make 
this show, but the sound 

673
00:40:03,940 --> 00:40:06,380
effects, they must have been 
like rubbing their hands, like 

674
00:40:06,460 --> 00:40:08,940
raw. 
I cannot wait to do this. 

675
00:40:08,940 --> 00:40:11,620
This is, you know, all these 
crazy things they have to do. 

676
00:40:12,100 --> 00:40:15,740
Well, in the original script, 
Spike is quite clear that he 

677
00:40:15,740 --> 00:40:21,310
wants the the sound effect of 
the flea to be very loud, very 

678
00:40:21,310 --> 00:40:24,990
clear. 
He doesn't want it to be, you 

679
00:40:24,990 --> 00:40:29,630
know, drowned out by music or 
cast conversation or anything 

680
00:40:29,630 --> 00:40:31,470
like that. 
So he's very clear about that. 

681
00:40:32,750 --> 00:40:35,710
So grit, Piper, Moriarty, attend
Minnie and Henry's Flea Circus, 

682
00:40:36,350 --> 00:40:39,390
where there's a performance of 
War and Peace with flea dialogue

683
00:40:39,590 --> 00:40:46,070
and human subtitles. 
Oh my dear of that is so funny. 

684
00:40:46,870 --> 00:40:52,240
Oh God. 
And it's just an excuse. 

685
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:56,160
It's an excuse to have shoehorn 
in Minnie and Henry because it 

686
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,320
could have been anything with 
that flea circus. 

687
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:05,400
But they they bring along a dog 
and somehow kidnap a British 

688
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:09,240
flea and put it on the dog and 
then go and substitute him for 

689
00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:12,960
Francois. 
Francois, who is kept in 

690
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:18,250
protective custody and is being 
guarded by echoes in Blue 

691
00:41:18,250 --> 00:41:19,450
Bottle. 
Blue bottle. 

692
00:41:19,450 --> 00:41:22,810
Yeah, yeah. 
Oh, and Wallace assures the 

693
00:41:22,810 --> 00:41:25,570
audience that all the flea parts
are played by small grasshoppers

694
00:41:25,570 --> 00:41:27,970
painted black. 
Yeah, yeah. 

695
00:41:29,570 --> 00:41:33,770
Now the blue bottle in echoes 
sequence is hilarious. 

696
00:41:34,450 --> 00:41:40,330
Yeah, as we would expect, 
Milligan really milks that. 

697
00:41:40,330 --> 00:41:42,570
You know when he, when he makes 
his introduction as Echoes, he 

698
00:41:42,570 --> 00:41:43,810
really milks the audience, 
doesn't he? 

699
00:41:44,740 --> 00:41:46,900
Oh yeah, because Blue Bottle 
gets a round of applause and 

700
00:41:46,900 --> 00:41:49,100
Echo speaks and gets a round of 
applause. 

701
00:41:49,100 --> 00:41:51,820
And it sort of yells, hey, you 
know, have. 

702
00:41:51,900 --> 00:41:53,660
You ever guarded a flea before? 
Echo 

703
00:42:04,500 --> 00:42:14,420
No. 
The first big job I heard. 

704
00:42:15,340 --> 00:42:17,540
Well, do you think Blue Bottle 
was the only character? 

705
00:42:18,860 --> 00:42:21,300
There were a few characters used
to get applause when they used 

706
00:42:21,300 --> 00:42:24,100
to appear, but I think he seemed
to be the most popular. 

707
00:42:24,100 --> 00:42:25,700
Blue bottle, Yes, mainly blue 
bottle. 

708
00:42:26,180 --> 00:42:27,180
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

709
00:42:28,140 --> 00:42:31,060
Do you think that obviously 
there was a little bit of a 

710
00:42:31,060 --> 00:42:34,060
competitive edge between the two
of them? 

711
00:42:34,620 --> 00:42:38,260
You can argue that Eccles was 
the most popular character in 

712
00:42:38,260 --> 00:42:40,660
the but Blue Bottle was the one 
that seemed to get the applause.

713
00:42:41,780 --> 00:42:46,860
And I don't know it's it's. 
I suppose it's because Blue 

714
00:42:46,860 --> 00:42:50,980
Bottle, Blue Bottle would never 
was never driving an episode. 

715
00:42:50,980 --> 00:42:54,420
He was always. 
Yeah, it was suddenly just pop 

716
00:42:54,420 --> 00:42:55,900
up. 
And he would, he was one of us. 

717
00:42:55,940 --> 00:42:58,980
Randomly, yeah, yeah. 
And he'd often, he would often 

718
00:42:59,020 --> 00:43:03,060
be announced in the sense of 
Seagum would call Blue Bottle or

719
00:43:04,140 --> 00:43:06,780
whatever, you know what I mean? 
He wouldn't just arrive and 

720
00:43:06,780 --> 00:43:09,460
introduce himself, he would, he 
would be, he would be announced 

721
00:43:09,460 --> 00:43:11,620
almost. 
And so it's kind of natural for 

722
00:43:11,620 --> 00:43:14,420
the audience to applaud. 
And I wonder, Yeah, Milligan. 

723
00:43:14,660 --> 00:43:18,060
I think there are occasions, of 
course, when Eccles gets a round

724
00:43:18,060 --> 00:43:19,500
of applause as well, but Blue 
Bottle? 

725
00:43:19,940 --> 00:43:24,300
Much, much more. 
I mean, you could argue that 

726
00:43:24,300 --> 00:43:28,700
Eccles probably embodies the 
spirit of the goons the best out

727
00:43:28,700 --> 00:43:31,300
of all the characters, possibly.
Yeah, Yeah. 

728
00:43:31,460 --> 00:43:33,020
Yeah. 
Well, he was the original goon, 

729
00:43:33,020 --> 00:43:37,140
I think as well they call him. 
Yeah, definitely. 

730
00:43:37,700 --> 00:43:40,790
And you know, I've listened, 
I've been listening to quite a 

731
00:43:40,790 --> 00:43:43,870
few late period goon shows 
recently, sort of Series 9 and 

732
00:43:43,870 --> 00:43:49,430
Series 10 and Sellers kind of is
phoning it in. 

733
00:43:49,430 --> 00:43:52,390
When he plays Blue Bottle in 
those shows, I feel he's the the

734
00:43:52,470 --> 00:43:56,830
the voice is slightly hoarser, 
if that's if I could describe it

735
00:43:56,830 --> 00:43:58,910
that way. 
This is real. 

736
00:43:58,910 --> 00:44:02,430
But but Blue bottle here is is 
brilliant. 

737
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,320
I will teach this not a man of 
lesson. 

738
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:16,440
Lesson raise rightly. 
OK, narrate Lipley. 

739
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:26,040
How do you do that? 
Three legs? 

740
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:45,800
Three legs. 
How is it that you've got three 

741
00:44:45,800 --> 00:45:18,400
legs ago or the 4th 1 fellow? 
Minute by minute. 

742
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:27,480
What? 
Do you laugh in it? 

743
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,720
I don't know on the again, I 
don't know on the recording that

744
00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:34,160
you heard on on YouTube whether 
this was included or cut out. 

745
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:37,720
But there's the bit where Blue 
Bottles is trying to teach 

746
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,000
Echoes a lesson. 
So he says raise, raise right 

747
00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:45,120
leg and now raise left leg. 
Yeah. 

748
00:45:47,150 --> 00:45:51,070
Now in the original show, Blue 
Bottle says, oh, how do you do 

749
00:45:51,070 --> 00:45:54,710
that? 
And echoes kind of Mumbles. 

750
00:45:54,710 --> 00:45:59,870
He says 3 legs and then there's 
audience laughter and then he 

751
00:45:59,870 --> 00:46:01,470
sort of says that again, three 
legs. 

752
00:46:02,510 --> 00:46:06,030
And I don't know if it's 
implying something rude or it's,

753
00:46:06,110 --> 00:46:11,470
I don't know. 
But that bit got cut out of the 

754
00:46:11,590 --> 00:46:16,740
LP and probably the pick of the 
Goons version because then we've

755
00:46:16,740 --> 00:46:18,580
got the the bit where echoes 
blue bottles. 

756
00:46:18,580 --> 00:46:20,940
How have you got three legs? 
And he says the 4th one fell off

757
00:46:21,660 --> 00:46:30,460
which and Sean Gaffney who 
friend of the show he's been on 

758
00:46:30,460 --> 00:46:34,380
a number of times. 
He pointed out that in the 

759
00:46:34,380 --> 00:46:37,220
script. 
But it it, it wasn't recorded or

760
00:46:37,220 --> 00:46:40,620
it wasn't performed, but it was 
in the script that at this point

761
00:46:40,620 --> 00:46:45,700
Echoes is still laughing at, at 
the Why did the chicken cross 

762
00:46:45,700 --> 00:46:49,340
the road joke, Okay from the 
show? 

763
00:46:49,380 --> 00:46:52,540
So the show before this, the 
episode the week before, was 

764
00:46:52,540 --> 00:46:57,380
called The Telephone, and in 
that, Eccles is laughing at the 

765
00:46:57,380 --> 00:47:00,180
wrong bit of the Why did the 
chicken cross the road joke? 

766
00:47:01,540 --> 00:47:05,260
And so in this week's the Flea 
script they've written in there 

767
00:47:05,260 --> 00:47:07,340
that's Eccles are still laughing
about it, which shows a bit of 

768
00:47:07,340 --> 00:47:09,340
continuity, you know what I 
mean? 

769
00:47:09,790 --> 00:47:12,910
But they even decided not to 
record it, or they just cut it 

770
00:47:12,910 --> 00:47:17,310
out or whatever. 
But and so we have this whole 

771
00:47:17,310 --> 00:47:19,910
leg sequence and then Blue 
Bottle says we've given them 

772
00:47:19,910 --> 00:47:24,550
enough Terence Rattigan type 
dialogue, I'm sure. 

773
00:47:24,710 --> 00:47:26,670
Are you aware of the work of 
Terence Rattigan? 

774
00:47:27,390 --> 00:47:28,910
Yes, Yeah. 
Play right. 

775
00:47:28,910 --> 00:47:29,590
Yeah. 
You lived it. 

776
00:47:29,630 --> 00:47:32,030
I think you lived it, Brighton. 
Yeah. 

777
00:47:32,030 --> 00:47:34,230
You got the lovely house on the 
seafront? 

778
00:47:34,230 --> 00:47:37,550
Yeah, Well, I guess. 
Yeah, wins the Browning version 

779
00:47:37,550 --> 00:47:38,910
and the wins Lowboy and all 
that. 

780
00:47:39,070 --> 00:47:41,550
Yeah, well, the Winslow. 
The only thing I remember from 

781
00:47:41,550 --> 00:47:45,030
the Winslow Boy is one of the 
characters saying I've just 

782
00:47:45,030 --> 00:47:48,950
moved in next door and this 
woman saying yes, I know we were

783
00:47:48,950 --> 00:47:55,350
admiring your sideboard. 
I just love all those sort of 

784
00:47:55,550 --> 00:48:00,150
rather trained actresses that 
play Cockneys in in film, but 

785
00:48:00,150 --> 00:48:02,990
they they all talk like that. 
They go to the foot of my 

786
00:48:02,990 --> 00:48:04,350
stairs. 
I really would. 

787
00:48:07,090 --> 00:48:09,370
It's like nobody in their life 
really spoke like that. 

788
00:48:10,090 --> 00:48:12,170
Perry Enfield sends it up 
brilliantly. 

789
00:48:12,490 --> 00:48:15,010
You know those Chumley Warner 
sketches? 

790
00:48:15,050 --> 00:48:17,730
Oh, yes. 
Oh, I've been upended, isn't it?

791
00:48:17,730 --> 00:48:23,010
And all that. 
Those sort of tugging, the four 

792
00:48:23,010 --> 00:48:25,890
lot characters. 
Yes, I'm perishing, hungry or 

793
00:48:25,970 --> 00:48:28,170
something like that. 
Yeah, that's right. 

794
00:48:29,650 --> 00:48:32,490
For this Lady Ville repute, it's
our busiest night of the week. 

795
00:48:32,490 --> 00:48:34,970
Hello, Nellie. 
What you judging tonight then? 

796
00:48:35,580 --> 00:48:38,780
Six friends hate me for acts of 
appalling depravity. 

797
00:48:39,060 --> 00:48:42,380
One in six, the faddle daddled 
with me watch and record it, and

798
00:48:42,380 --> 00:48:44,620
two shillings to what locked me.
Whoops a day. 

799
00:48:46,220 --> 00:48:55,300
What do I get for Tappans, Man, 
but something I've always wanted

800
00:48:55,660 --> 00:48:57,580
to do. 
The working classes in the East 

801
00:48:57,580 --> 00:49:00,060
End smell. 
Yes, most frightfully. 

802
00:49:00,820 --> 00:49:02,100
Thank you. 
You'll reassured me. 

803
00:49:02,140 --> 00:49:03,900
I won't go there. 
Good night, Chris. 

804
00:49:04,380 --> 00:49:07,940
Good night, Miss Shamla Warner. 
Or should I say Tora governor, 

805
00:49:08,660 --> 00:49:14,180
No, They decide to exercise 
Francois, give him some exercise

806
00:49:14,940 --> 00:49:19,340
and they take his leg shackles 
off and then we have a lot of 

807
00:49:19,380 --> 00:49:22,540
boinging. 
And then following Ray's number,

808
00:49:22,540 --> 00:49:26,500
they have for some reason the 
1812 overture, but obviously 

809
00:49:26,500 --> 00:49:31,930
it's it's 1665, so that's the 
only reason for that cake. 

810
00:49:33,810 --> 00:49:36,410
Blue Bottom informs Peeps that 
the two villains crept up on 

811
00:49:36,410 --> 00:49:39,650
them and over palled them with 
1/4 of Pontefract cakes. 

812
00:49:41,410 --> 00:49:43,410
I've never had a Pontefract 
cake, but I gather that they 

813
00:49:44,090 --> 00:49:46,010
bake basically licorice. 
Is that right? 

814
00:49:46,770 --> 00:49:47,650
That's right. 
Yeah. 

815
00:49:47,810 --> 00:49:50,370
Pontefract is famous for 
licorice, which I don't really 

816
00:49:50,370 --> 00:49:51,810
like. 
So I've never tried one. 

817
00:49:52,170 --> 00:49:53,530
I've never. 
I've never been there. 

818
00:49:54,010 --> 00:49:57,730
And there's another kind of 
reference to the laxative 

819
00:49:57,730 --> 00:50:01,600
qualities of licorice, because 
since they almost had you on the

820
00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:06,240
run, I'll. 
Bet Mary Whitehouse would have 

821
00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:10,840
taken that one out, yes, yes. 
A grip by the Moriarty switched 

822
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:14,920
fleas and made off with Francois
and and peeps realizes that 

823
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:16,640
Francois is a foreigner. 
Must not be allowed to leave the

824
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:18,520
country or the crown will lose 
the case. 

825
00:50:18,880 --> 00:50:22,000
Again doesn't make sense. 
He goes to the military barracks

826
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:24,520
commanded by Bloodnot and asks 
him for an update on the hunt. 

827
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:28,260
And we have Spike doing that 
very dithering. 

828
00:50:28,260 --> 00:50:31,580
Captain Carruthers, which is a 
brilliant occasional character 

829
00:50:31,580 --> 00:50:39,660
that Spike would do the sort of.
Is that based on his wartime 

830
00:50:39,660 --> 00:50:41,380
experiences? 
That must have been probably 

831
00:50:42,100 --> 00:50:46,020
exaggerated, but obviously it's 
based in reality somewhere, like

832
00:50:46,060 --> 00:50:50,820
a lot of these things are. 
But it also wastes time. 

833
00:50:50,820 --> 00:50:54,380
It means he doesn't have to 
write gags for that bit. 

834
00:50:55,130 --> 00:50:57,850
He must have sat there with his 
stopwatch while he was writing, 

835
00:50:57,850 --> 00:51:00,330
you know because it's obviously 
got to fill up a certain amount 

836
00:51:00,330 --> 00:51:01,170
of time. 
Yeah. 

837
00:51:03,410 --> 00:51:07,330
And then grip of Mariachi 
apprehended by a company of 

838
00:51:07,330 --> 00:51:13,210
Highlanders. 
And they've but they've hidden 

839
00:51:13,850 --> 00:51:16,330
the flea on a sheepdog and we 
get the I think we get the 

840
00:51:16,330 --> 00:51:19,850
orchestra members of the 
orchestra as dogs or certainly 

841
00:51:19,850 --> 00:51:25,500
maybe the rail into quartet. 
And the the dog's number with 

842
00:51:25,500 --> 00:51:30,540
the with the final Yelp of pain 
dog number 7 and Peeps believing

843
00:51:30,540 --> 00:51:32,660
he's got the upper hand and 
forms grip pipe that his plan 

844
00:51:32,660 --> 00:51:35,220
has been thwarted. 
And then Grip Pipe reveals he's 

845
00:51:35,220 --> 00:51:39,660
been reading Peeps's diary and 
December the 3rd, whilst the 

846
00:51:39,660 --> 00:51:42,580
king was away, did sport madly 
with Nell Gwyn of. 

847
00:51:45,500 --> 00:51:48,820
Course he did. 
Which? 

848
00:51:48,940 --> 00:51:54,090
Which then the show ends with 
Seeking delivering a mighty owl.

849
00:51:55,650 --> 00:51:58,650
There we go. 
Shameless plug again. 

850
00:51:58,650 --> 00:52:01,890
Yeah, Yeah. 
So All in all, I mean, we've 

851
00:52:01,890 --> 00:52:05,730
whipped through that, but a 
really, really strong show. 

852
00:52:06,010 --> 00:52:08,010
I did struggle following the 
plot. 

853
00:52:08,130 --> 00:52:11,490
Sometimes it's like it's almost 
like, am I hallucinating? 

854
00:52:11,490 --> 00:52:15,450
What's happening here? 
Well, it's not exactly linear, 

855
00:52:15,450 --> 00:52:18,290
but they're never linear, are 
they So? 

856
00:52:18,820 --> 00:52:21,100
That's absolutely fine. 
You just have to just go with it

857
00:52:21,140 --> 00:52:23,420
and just let it kind of wash 
over you. 

858
00:52:23,580 --> 00:52:27,980
And yeah, you do. 
Again, Sean Gaffney is surmised 

859
00:52:27,980 --> 00:52:30,260
that Spike must have been 
reading about peeps around this 

860
00:52:30,260 --> 00:52:33,140
period. 
So you think Spike was a bit of 

861
00:52:33,140 --> 00:52:36,420
an autodidact? 
He was reading a hell of a lot. 

862
00:52:36,420 --> 00:52:41,020
And yeah, and I gather he was 
just obviously probably reading.

863
00:52:41,100 --> 00:52:43,460
Maybe he's reading Peeps's 
Diaries and decided, hey, let's 

864
00:52:44,450 --> 00:52:45,610
yeah, let's turn this into a 
goon show. 

865
00:52:45,770 --> 00:52:47,170
Now, why the flea? 
I don't know. 

866
00:52:47,170 --> 00:52:50,090
I mean, I suppose because the 
plague, of course, was around 

867
00:52:50,090 --> 00:52:51,490
this time. 
And the flake? 

868
00:52:51,490 --> 00:52:54,290
The plague was carried by fleas,
wasn't it? 

869
00:52:55,610 --> 00:52:57,090
Yes, yeah. 
Yeah. 

870
00:52:57,170 --> 00:53:01,010
So maybe he just incorporated 
those two elements, decided 

871
00:53:01,010 --> 00:53:02,050
let's turn that into a goon 
show. 

872
00:53:02,170 --> 00:53:03,370
Maybe. 
Maybe. 

873
00:53:03,850 --> 00:53:06,010
There's also a lot of like in 
the theater, a lot of sort of 

874
00:53:06,490 --> 00:53:09,970
surrealist writing coming into 
like loved in theaters. 

875
00:53:09,970 --> 00:53:11,370
And I don't know whether you 
know. 

876
00:53:12,090 --> 00:53:13,650
B. 
And Esco had an influence on 

877
00:53:13,650 --> 00:53:15,770
Spike or? 
And it did, yeah. 

878
00:53:15,770 --> 00:53:17,170
And in a. 
Rhinoceros. 

879
00:53:17,610 --> 00:53:20,570
Yeah, Yeah. 
So that was happening at the 

880
00:53:20,570 --> 00:53:23,210
time as well. 
So that could have been an 

881
00:53:23,210 --> 00:53:26,930
element of that. 
But oh, did I tell you that 

882
00:53:27,050 --> 00:53:32,570
after The Greenslade Story was 
released online on that day, I 

883
00:53:32,570 --> 00:53:37,090
went to Winchell Sea and I got 
some flowers and I put flowers 

884
00:53:37,090 --> 00:53:40,290
on Spike's grave. 
That's lovely. 

885
00:53:41,310 --> 00:53:44,230
I just felt I'd been wanting to 
do it for a long time, sort of 

886
00:53:44,230 --> 00:53:47,870
on behalf of my dad as well as 
myself, Just to say thank you. 

887
00:53:48,150 --> 00:53:51,310
I thought, well, today is just 
as good a day as any. 

888
00:53:51,510 --> 00:53:54,230
I must do it. 
The day the Greenslade story 

889
00:53:54,230 --> 00:53:58,510
went out, I drove to Winchell 
Sea and and paid my respects to 

890
00:53:58,510 --> 00:54:00,230
Spike. 
Were you on your own? 

891
00:54:00,310 --> 00:54:01,670
It's. 
Not that far from me with the 

892
00:54:01,710 --> 00:54:04,480
other people I took my son. 
There was, there was no. 

893
00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:06,320
I took my son, but there was 
nobody else around. 

894
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:08,680
It was very windy day, so I 
think my flowers are like 

895
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:10,800
halfway to Hastings by the time 
I left. 

896
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:16,440
But I felt I really need to do 
it because, you know, after 

897
00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:20,360
everything, all the laughs that 
spikes given me, it was the 

898
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:21,760
least I could do. 
Really. 

899
00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:22,560
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

900
00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:26,800
So Donna, is there anything else
that you wanted to say before we

901
00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:30,040
wrap up? 
Really. 

902
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:33,120
No, I just think it was a really
fun episode and. 

903
00:54:34,250 --> 00:54:36,090
It was great. 
I love, I love hearing. 

904
00:54:36,090 --> 00:54:40,530
I love it when things go wrong 
and and when they do ad Lib. 

905
00:54:40,610 --> 00:54:46,290
Like, you know, when Peter says 
to is it to Harry about nearly 

906
00:54:46,290 --> 00:54:48,490
saying yes, Very. 
It was very nearly saying that 

907
00:54:48,530 --> 00:54:52,690
myself the other day. 
Yeah, I I love all that. 

908
00:54:52,690 --> 00:54:54,970
I love it when it goes wrong. 
It's a bit like, you know, when 

909
00:54:55,130 --> 00:54:58,530
Pete and Dad, kind of when he 
Pete locks onto Dad, isn't it? 

910
00:54:58,530 --> 00:55:01,780
And looks him in the eyes that I
am going to make you laugh, yes.

911
00:55:02,620 --> 00:55:05,180
I am gonna make you corpse. 
It's like a laser. 

912
00:55:05,380 --> 00:55:08,100
Yes, I am going to. 
I am going to do this. 

913
00:55:08,780 --> 00:55:10,220
It's very. 
Let me hear it. 

914
00:55:10,860 --> 00:55:12,180
Sorry. 
Let me tell you something. 

915
00:55:12,420 --> 00:55:18,100
I'll cut this bit out next week.
Next episode that's going out, I

916
00:55:18,100 --> 00:55:22,740
recorded an episode with Nick 
Emery, who is the son of Dick 

917
00:55:22,740 --> 00:55:23,940
Emery. 
OK. 

918
00:55:24,380 --> 00:55:27,340
Wow. 
OK, and because Dick Emery's got

919
00:55:27,340 --> 00:55:31,880
a connection with the goons and 
but we're talking about his his 

920
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:35,880
dad for about 2 1/2 hours in 
total. 

921
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:39,080
He was. 
He was not a typical father, I 

922
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:40,040
don't think. 
I think they had quite a 

923
00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:42,960
difficult relationship from what
I've learned about. 

924
00:55:43,240 --> 00:55:47,200
Well he he had five marriages 
and endless affairs. 

925
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:50,800
He's he's very absent a lot of 
the time. 

926
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:56,640
Yeah, but what? 
He told me his dad made a film 

927
00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:01,450
in mid 70s called Find the Lady.
Right? 

928
00:56:01,450 --> 00:56:03,010
Well, I say he made a film. 
He was in a film. 

929
00:56:03,810 --> 00:56:05,090
Oh, yes. 
Yeah. 

930
00:56:05,290 --> 00:56:09,130
Now Peter Cook was in it. 
John Candy was in it. 

931
00:56:10,410 --> 00:56:12,930
Mickey Rooney. 
Yeah, it's really early John 

932
00:56:12,930 --> 00:56:16,010
Candy film, right? 
Mickey Rooney was in it, I think

933
00:56:16,010 --> 00:56:17,890
it was a kid. 
It was a Canadian, British 

934
00:56:17,890 --> 00:56:19,730
coproduction, I think, and it 
didn't do any. 

935
00:56:19,730 --> 00:56:23,410
It completely died, you know. 
Yeah, yeah, he said. 

936
00:56:23,410 --> 00:56:25,810
But he said it was a terrible 
film. 

937
00:56:25,810 --> 00:56:32,790
But Dick Emery got on very well 
with Peter Cook, and on the set 

938
00:56:32,790 --> 00:56:35,790
and off the set they would, they
became drinking buddies and you 

939
00:56:35,790 --> 00:56:37,550
know, they'd go out and. 
Oh my God. 

940
00:56:37,550 --> 00:56:42,150
And he said there's a there is a
tape recording that Peter and 

941
00:56:42,150 --> 00:56:46,390
Dick Emery made, which was 
basically them doing Derek and 

942
00:56:46,390 --> 00:56:48,110
Clive. 
Oh my God. 

943
00:56:48,430 --> 00:56:50,510
But what? 
There is a slight similarity I 

944
00:56:50,510 --> 00:56:51,870
think with Dick, Emery and 
Dublin. 

945
00:56:52,350 --> 00:56:54,470
They look, they looks very 
similar. 

946
00:56:54,470 --> 00:56:57,670
Don't. 
The voice is quite of weedy as 

947
00:56:57,670 --> 00:57:00,480
well, yeah. 
And Nick said he doesn't know 

948
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:03,280
where the tape is, so hoping he 
can find it. 

949
00:57:03,360 --> 00:57:06,440
But could you imagine that? 
And I said to him, would your 

950
00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:09,440
dad have been comfortable doing 
some of that sort of Derek and 

951
00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:10,880
Clive material? 
He said. 

952
00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:15,400
Oh yeah, Oh my. 
God, Oh my gosh. 

953
00:57:15,400 --> 00:57:17,080
That would be quite shocking to 
hear. 

954
00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:19,800
Dick Emery Effing and Jeff. 
It would be to Kirk, wouldn't 

955
00:57:19,920 --> 00:57:21,760
it? 
Well, Dick Emery was born in was

956
00:57:21,760 --> 00:57:26,590
born in 1915. 
So he'd have been by that point.

957
00:57:26,590 --> 00:57:29,630
He'd have been 606162, something
like. 

958
00:57:29,630 --> 00:57:35,110
That whoa, whoa, Oh my God. 
Yeah, I know people. 

959
00:57:35,350 --> 00:57:38,350
When I was at drama school down 
the road in Swiss Cottage, lots 

960
00:57:38,350 --> 00:57:41,070
of people say I've just seen 
Peter Cook walking around 

961
00:57:41,070 --> 00:57:43,350
Hampstead with a load of 
newspapers under his arm. 

962
00:57:43,350 --> 00:57:46,070
And I was like, shit, I never 
get to see. 

963
00:57:46,270 --> 00:57:49,390
I I I spotted Bill Ody once and 
that was it. 

964
00:57:50,030 --> 00:57:53,090
The lesser spotted Ody. 
But I never saw Peter Cook. 

965
00:57:53,290 --> 00:57:56,170
See, I reckon. 
I reckon you could probably 

966
00:57:56,170 --> 00:57:58,410
approach Peter Cook quite easily
and he. 

967
00:57:58,970 --> 00:58:01,050
Engaged in conversation. 
I don't think you could say the 

968
00:58:01,050 --> 00:58:03,770
same about Bill Audie somehow. 
No, I think he's quite 

969
00:58:03,770 --> 00:58:04,730
difficult. 
Isn't he? 

970
00:58:04,730 --> 00:58:09,090
A bit prickly, but yeah, I would
have been so intimidated. 

971
00:58:09,090 --> 00:58:11,570
But everything I've read about 
Peter Cook said he was pretty 

972
00:58:11,570 --> 00:58:14,890
sweet and very nice to people 
who approached him. 

973
00:58:15,370 --> 00:58:18,130
I mean, it's a famous story 
about him being in a restaurant 

974
00:58:19,210 --> 00:58:22,520
and. 
Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson 

975
00:58:22,520 --> 00:58:25,200
and all, you know, the 
Footlights people at the tables 

976
00:58:25,200 --> 00:58:26,680
before they were famous, 
obviously. 

977
00:58:26,680 --> 00:58:30,280
And they, I don't know what they
were doing there, but I think 

978
00:58:30,280 --> 00:58:34,960
they were performing their kind 
of review in London and they 

979
00:58:35,120 --> 00:58:37,120
they still be to cook and like 
oh go and talk to him, you know,

980
00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:40,920
because he's like the God of, 
you know, Cambridge Footlights, 

981
00:58:40,920 --> 00:58:43,570
you know, so. 
They got him to come over and he

982
00:58:43,770 --> 00:58:46,730
he had dinner with them. 
They went out party together and

983
00:58:46,730 --> 00:58:49,810
slightly became like a 24 hour 
party and they were like 

984
00:58:49,810 --> 00:58:52,450
nobody's at this point. 
But he just went along with it, 

985
00:58:52,450 --> 00:58:54,570
you know, he's just so lovely. 
I watched them. 

986
00:58:55,370 --> 00:59:00,410
There was this impromptu sort of
cultural festival held at Lower 

987
00:59:00,450 --> 00:59:03,250
or upper Wallop. 
Yeah, Middle wallop, Middle 

988
00:59:03,450 --> 00:59:05,450
wallop. 
Yeah, a weekend in Wallop with 

989
00:59:05,490 --> 00:59:08,890
Rick Mail, Billy Connolly, Smith
and Jones. 

990
00:59:08,890 --> 00:59:11,170
Yeah, all those people. 
Yeah, I videoed it. 

991
00:59:11,610 --> 00:59:15,130
I was obsessed with comedy then 
and videoed the whole thing, cuz

992
00:59:15,130 --> 00:59:19,730
you've got Peter Cook and now 
Smith doing. 

993
00:59:20,530 --> 00:59:25,450
Everything as lesbians. 
Lesbians synchronized swimming 

994
00:59:25,450 --> 00:59:27,210
team. 
Yeah, I wanna make this clear as

995
00:59:27,210 --> 00:59:28,490
well. 
We do not hate men. 

996
00:59:28,530 --> 00:59:30,530
No, we do not hate men. 
We feel sorry for them. 

997
00:59:30,530 --> 00:59:32,050
We pity them. 
We pity them. 

998
00:59:32,050 --> 00:59:37,730
I mean all that beer swilling 
camaraderie, a little bit 

999
00:59:37,730 --> 00:59:39,010
earlier on we were in the pub, 
right? 

1000
00:59:39,650 --> 00:59:42,330
It was teeming and it was 
boozing. 

1001
00:59:42,890 --> 00:59:48,290
Arm wrestling bar Billion bar 
billions. 

1002
00:59:48,930 --> 00:59:51,850
And frankly, it was it's gotten 
nice, wasn't it? 

1003
00:59:54,770 --> 00:59:57,290
Disgusting? 
Yeah, it disgusting is what I 

1004
00:59:57,330 --> 00:59:58,010
meant. 
Well, that's right. 

1005
00:59:58,010 --> 01:00:01,490
And just thank God, thank God, 
that we we were able to turn to 

1006
01:00:01,530 --> 01:00:03,930
each other. 
For sucker. 

1007
01:00:04,010 --> 01:00:05,930
For suffer. 
For sucker. 

1008
01:00:05,930 --> 01:00:08,690
We can always turn to each 
other. 

1009
01:00:08,690 --> 01:00:10,090
That's right, you're always 
dropping around for a little 

1010
01:00:10,090 --> 01:00:11,330
late sucker. 
Look for that. 

1011
01:00:12,370 --> 01:00:15,170
You see, we enjoy the simple 
things in life. 

1012
01:00:15,170 --> 01:00:18,930
Yeah, we we like simple things 
like nature, country rambles, 

1013
01:00:19,610 --> 01:00:24,530
synchronized swimming. 
I mean, he he squandered so much

1014
01:00:24,530 --> 01:00:25,770
of his talent. 
That's a squander. 

1015
01:00:25,770 --> 01:00:28,730
He just didn't he. 
He got involved with so many 

1016
01:00:28,730 --> 01:00:32,970
projects that just weren't. 
Yeah, I think he knew. 

1017
01:00:32,970 --> 01:00:36,040
He peaked. 
So early in life that he could 

1018
01:00:36,040 --> 01:00:40,720
never, he always said the one 
leg too few sketch was like that

1019
01:00:40,720 --> 01:00:44,000
was comic perfection and nothing
he could ever do would ever 

1020
01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:46,120
really top that. 
So once you have that 

1021
01:00:46,120 --> 01:00:50,440
realization I think it's very 
difficult and he obviously had a

1022
01:00:50,440 --> 01:00:55,560
few demons and struggled. 
I think like a lot of public 

1023
01:00:55,560 --> 01:00:59,280
school boys, I think he was 
dumped in a yeah, public school 

1024
01:00:59,280 --> 01:01:02,400
and his parents went off to. 
You know, his father was a Dick 

1025
01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:05,680
to come out and they went off to
Africa for like 18 years, 

1026
01:01:05,680 --> 01:01:09,800
whatever, just left him. 
So that's quite difficult to 

1027
01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:13,880
cope with I imagine. 
But yeah, I think it's it's so 

1028
01:01:13,880 --> 01:01:17,040
sad in the way he didn't live a 
little bit longer because Chris 

1029
01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:20,120
Morris, that stuff he did, the 
stuff he did with Chris Morris, 

1030
01:01:20,840 --> 01:01:24,320
I think it's really Chris Morris
is probably the only 

1031
01:01:24,320 --> 01:01:29,440
contemporary funny person to 
really go toe to toe with. 

1032
01:01:29,760 --> 01:01:33,920
Peter Cook and match him for 
comic invention. 

1033
01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:37,800
He had No Fear. 
I think anybody else would have 

1034
01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:41,800
been scared. 
It just would be like totally in

1035
01:01:41,800 --> 01:01:43,800
awe of Peter Cook. 
And you don't get that sense 

1036
01:01:43,800 --> 01:01:47,160
from Chris Morris. 
He just sort of went for it and 

1037
01:01:47,160 --> 01:01:49,400
some of the ideas that came out 
of those. 

1038
01:01:49,400 --> 01:01:52,840
Why bother? 
Sketches are just fantastic. 

1039
01:01:52,840 --> 01:01:55,120
And the Clive Anderson 
interview. 

1040
01:01:55,840 --> 01:01:59,520
So that was brilliant that he 
had that sort of last hurrah on 

1041
01:01:59,520 --> 01:02:01,640
television and was really on top
of his game. 

1042
01:02:01,640 --> 01:02:06,800
I mean, I think the Football 
Manager character is just 

1043
01:02:06,800 --> 01:02:10,000
really, it's just brilliant. 
He looked really healthy and he 

1044
01:02:10,000 --> 01:02:12,440
was. 
He obviously put a lot of effort

1045
01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:19,280
into that and that was wonderful
to see that definitely, and I'm 

1046
01:02:19,280 --> 01:02:22,080
very fine. 
I know he would turn up here and

1047
01:02:22,080 --> 01:02:23,710
there. 
He's, he's he's in a couple of 

1048
01:02:23,710 --> 01:02:29,550
episodes, I think, of early. 
And he's he's obviously pissed 

1049
01:02:29,550 --> 01:02:26,470
as well on those shows. 
Whose Line is It anyway? 

1050
01:02:26,590 --> 01:02:32,710
On television? 
Oh yeah, yeah. 

1051
01:02:33,030 --> 01:02:37,750
He's slightly out of control and
a very drunk and and the first 

1052
01:02:37,750 --> 01:02:39,870
episode of Black, added. 
The first series of black 

1053
01:02:39,870 --> 01:02:42,030
editors? 
He's Richard the Third. 

1054
01:02:42,150 --> 01:02:45,190
Yeah, Yes, he is, Yeah. 
He gets killed very early on and

1055
01:02:45,190 --> 01:02:50,250
he comes back as a yeah. 
But then of course he would like

1056
01:02:50,250 --> 01:02:55,170
he would do, he did that 
terrible show revolver and where

1057
01:02:55,170 --> 01:02:58,330
do I, where do I sit? 
Which was like a kind of an. 

1058
01:02:58,530 --> 01:03:00,850
Attempt. 
That was terrible chat show and 

1059
01:03:00,850 --> 01:03:04,530
he did an American sitcom. 
Was he a Butler? 

1060
01:03:04,570 --> 01:03:06,530
Butler and I'm thinking. 
Elainestrich. 

1061
01:03:06,530 --> 01:03:10,970
Elainestrich, yes. 
Elainestrich Yes, and I think 

1062
01:03:11,170 --> 01:03:13,650
it's interesting. 
It's a bit like Spy Computer. 

1063
01:03:14,180 --> 01:03:17,420
This kind of professional 
jealousy, you know were they 

1064
01:03:17,420 --> 01:03:20,580
jealous of one another? 
Obviously Peter couldn't write 

1065
01:03:20,580 --> 01:03:24,980
like Spike but Spike didn't have
the abilities that Peter had to 

1066
01:03:24,980 --> 01:03:27,020
go on and become a mega star in 
Hollywood. 

1067
01:03:27,460 --> 01:03:32,380
And similarly it's like Pete 
Cook was the the the genius 

1068
01:03:32,820 --> 01:03:37,380
comedian, but just he just on 
screen he he didn't have the 

1069
01:03:37,380 --> 01:03:40,180
kind of every man thing that 
Dudley had. 

1070
01:03:40,180 --> 01:03:43,390
Dudley was the better actor. 
Because Peter, I think, had 

1071
01:03:43,390 --> 01:03:45,470
these really dead eyes. 
You know, you've got to be able 

1072
01:03:45,470 --> 01:03:46,830
to convey emotion through your 
eyes. 

1073
01:03:46,990 --> 01:03:50,350
And Peter Cook's eyes are like a
great white shark's eyes. 

1074
01:03:50,390 --> 01:03:52,790
They just don't admit, emit 
emotion. 

1075
01:03:54,310 --> 01:03:57,390
But so I think it was a little 
bit of, and some people, I think

1076
01:03:57,390 --> 01:03:59,150
Stephen Fry said, oh, he wasn't 
jealous of me. 

1077
01:03:59,150 --> 01:04:01,430
He was happy for him. 
And a lot of people thought he 

1078
01:04:01,430 --> 01:04:06,190
was that, you know, it seemed a 
bit unfair in a way that they 

1079
01:04:06,190 --> 01:04:09,910
were both hugely talented. 
I mean, that'd be more, you 

1080
01:04:09,910 --> 01:04:12,440
know, musical genius and very 
funny. 

1081
01:04:19,560 --> 01:04:23,960
Yeah, I think the later ones, 
there's a real nastiness to them

1082
01:04:23,960 --> 01:04:13,800
that isn't funny. 
Well, absolutely, yeah. 

1083
01:04:13,800 --> 01:04:16,520
But you hear those, some of 
those Derek and Clive sketches. 

1084
01:04:16,560 --> 01:04:19,120
Dudley Moore is being battered 
verbally. 

1085
01:04:25,520 --> 01:04:31,640
It's particularly the film. 
I think there's a I love all the

1086
01:04:31,640 --> 01:04:35,100
really stupid ones like. 
I saw this bloke the other day 

1087
01:04:35,220 --> 01:04:37,780
and he goes, you saw this bloke 
and he's just attacks him for 

1088
01:04:37,860 --> 01:04:40,460
no. 
I think that's my favorite one 

1089
01:04:40,460 --> 01:04:45,260
because it's so strange and it's
Cook's voice is croaky because 

1090
01:04:45,260 --> 01:04:47,980
it's like, yeah, it's loased 
with elf fags. 

1091
01:04:48,100 --> 01:04:52,940
Yeah, drinking and smoking 
millions of fags and it's like I

1092
01:04:52,980 --> 01:04:54,420
wasn't in a leaf, but 
interested. 

1093
01:04:55,700 --> 01:04:58,100
And then he switches it up and 
goes. 

1094
01:04:58,740 --> 01:05:00,580
Then I saw this woman then, 
because that's better. 

1095
01:05:00,700 --> 01:05:07,220
Now you talk. 
I love the the dead Pope. 

1096
01:05:07,820 --> 01:05:11,180
The bit he thinks he's he 
believes he's turned on. 

1097
01:05:11,780 --> 01:05:14,500
Yeah, only catapult turned on by
dead popes. 

1098
01:05:14,660 --> 01:05:17,900
Like, Oh dear, yeah, some of 
them. 

1099
01:05:17,900 --> 01:05:21,260
Some of the Derek and Live stuff
is really kind of, but it's. 

1100
01:05:21,780 --> 01:05:25,900
I love the little touches that 
Cook brings to those to those 

1101
01:05:25,900 --> 01:05:30,880
dialogues where he he would just
toss out random little things 

1102
01:05:30,880 --> 01:05:33,960
like he he name checks Verity 
Lambert for example. 

1103
01:05:35,960 --> 01:05:39,120
It's the it's the little details
the old word thrown in. 

1104
01:05:39,120 --> 01:05:45,320
It's a bit like when he did that
here comes the judge for the 

1105
01:05:45,320 --> 01:05:49,560
secret placements ball and he 
went they they were the first 

1106
01:05:49,560 --> 01:05:50,880
show. 
They were criticized for not 

1107
01:05:50,880 --> 01:05:54,360
being satirical enough, and 
Peter went away that night, 

1108
01:05:54,480 --> 01:05:58,120
wrote that monologue. 
And it just took off. 

1109
01:05:58,240 --> 01:06:00,360
The next night he did it and it 
was amazing. 

1110
01:06:00,600 --> 01:06:04,000
And I remember Michael Palin 
actually saying that it's the 

1111
01:06:04,000 --> 01:06:05,640
little deep, that the words that
he had. 

1112
01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:10,280
It was like a self confessed, 
Self confessed, Yes, the play of

1113
01:06:10,280 --> 01:06:16,640
the pink oboe. 
It's the self confessed thing 

1114
01:06:16,640 --> 01:06:20,960
that just somehow makes it so 
funny. 

1115
01:06:21,640 --> 01:06:28,490
Yeah, with straight off into we.
Have totally cook podcast, Okay.

1116
01:06:28,490 --> 01:06:31,330
Well, Donna, Donna, listen, I'm 
gonna keep all that in, by the 

1117
01:06:31,330 --> 01:06:37,170
way, cuz I think you know, no. 
Well, it's okay. 

1118
01:06:37,650 --> 01:06:39,210
Do what you have to edit. 
I'll edit it. 

1119
01:06:39,250 --> 01:06:39,850
Bits. 
Yes. 

1120
01:06:40,090 --> 01:06:42,610
Yes. 
So, Donna, listen, it's been 

1121
01:06:42,610 --> 01:06:44,770
brilliant. 
I can't remember. 

1122
01:06:46,250 --> 01:06:49,680
Did we agree that you were gonna
come back sometime and do a film

1123
01:06:49,720 --> 01:06:51,760
or what? 
Did we what did we say? 

1124
01:06:51,760 --> 01:06:54,640
I can't remember this. 
I think we mentioned about, I 

1125
01:06:54,640 --> 01:06:58,320
sort of mentioned about Peter 
Sellers Sketches with Irene 

1126
01:06:58,320 --> 01:07:00,320
Handel and things like that. 
That's right. 

1127
01:07:01,280 --> 01:07:01,960
Yes. 
Yeah. 

1128
01:07:02,400 --> 01:07:07,480
So we could maybe next time next
year sometime come back and talk

1129
01:07:07,480 --> 01:07:13,160
about sellers and handle. 
Listen, handle this just sounds 

1130
01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:17,040
like a solicitor. 
Oh, that would be important. 

1131
01:07:17,080 --> 01:07:19,240
I'd love to because because we 
could. 

1132
01:07:19,240 --> 01:07:21,280
We could, Yeah, we could 
because, you know, obviously 

1133
01:07:21,280 --> 01:07:23,920
there was, there was the Lps 
that she was on. 

1134
01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:26,960
But also, you know, he worked 
with her a lot in film. 

1135
01:07:26,960 --> 01:07:30,920
Obviously she's Mrs. Kite. 
Oh yeah, I love that picture of 

1136
01:07:30,920 --> 01:07:34,040
them on the mantelpiece. 
Their wedding photo is just 

1137
01:07:34,040 --> 01:07:35,960
priceless, isn't it? 
It's so funny. 

1138
01:07:38,800 --> 01:07:41,160
I just love it. 
One of the few people I have an 

1139
01:07:41,160 --> 01:07:43,840
auto, I actually have signed 
picture of Irene Handel. 

1140
01:07:45,220 --> 01:07:48,140
Yeah, well, last time you're on,
I think I told that story about 

1141
01:07:48,140 --> 01:07:51,420
the metal Mickey. 
Yes. 

1142
01:07:51,500 --> 01:07:55,380
Oh my God, that's hilarious. 
I love stories like that. 

1143
01:07:55,420 --> 01:07:58,820
That's so funny. 
I have to tell you, my son who 

1144
01:07:58,820 --> 01:08:03,580
is, he's wonderful, he's 
autistic, He really loves. 

1145
01:08:04,460 --> 01:08:06,780
It's funny cuz he doesn't always
take two things. 

1146
01:08:06,780 --> 01:08:09,420
You think when you think, oh, 
he'll find this hilarious and 

1147
01:08:09,420 --> 01:08:12,420
he's just completely blank. 
But he loves Spike Milligan. 

1148
01:08:12,420 --> 01:08:16,930
Singing yesterday No. 
OK. 

1149
01:08:16,930 --> 01:08:18,729
Have you seen that clip of him? 
Yeah. 

1150
01:08:19,810 --> 01:08:22,170
He thinks it's hilarious, you 
know, And it's like, you know, 

1151
01:08:22,170 --> 01:08:24,450
it goes, I'm the half a man I 
used to be and it's just like 

1152
01:08:24,450 --> 01:08:27,569
half of him and he's he, it 
looks like he's invented glam 

1153
01:08:27,569 --> 01:08:29,090
rock because he's got a big wig 
on. 

1154
01:08:29,090 --> 01:08:33,250
He's got like, like, so shiny 
stickers on his face or 

1155
01:08:33,250 --> 01:08:34,010
something. 
Yes. 

1156
01:08:34,130 --> 01:08:36,850
Yeah. 
Well, so, I mean, I know that 

1157
01:08:36,850 --> 01:08:38,210
was Spike's favorite Beatles 
song. 

1158
01:08:38,210 --> 01:08:41,529
That was, in fact, I think it 
was one of his favorite songs, 

1159
01:08:41,649 --> 01:08:43,319
full stop. 
He would. 

1160
01:08:43,319 --> 01:08:44,200
Oh, really? 
Yeah. 

1161
01:08:44,319 --> 01:08:48,359
Yeah, he would often. 
He would often hum it or sing it

1162
01:08:48,520 --> 01:08:50,760
here and there, you know? 
I heard him before singing. 

1163
01:08:50,760 --> 01:08:53,359
I think it was on like the Des 
O'Connor show or something going

1164
01:08:53,560 --> 01:08:55,439
yesterday. 
Someone came and took my stove 

1165
01:08:55,439 --> 01:08:59,920
away. 
He does a routine about on one 

1166
01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:02,960
of the chat shows he was moaning
because one of his pet peeves 

1167
01:09:02,960 --> 01:09:06,600
was muzak or hold music on when 
you when you phone a ohh yeah 

1168
01:09:07,840 --> 01:09:11,240
phone a company and and I know 
he's used yesterday to 

1169
01:09:11,319 --> 01:09:13,270
illustrate hold music you know 
oh. 

1170
01:09:13,590 --> 01:09:17,149
OK, but but he No. 
But he does love the the song. 

1171
01:09:18,029 --> 01:09:19,670
So your sons, what is he? 
He's 13. 

1172
01:09:20,270 --> 01:09:25,069
He's 13 and he loves. 
He loved that seeing Spike 

1173
01:09:25,069 --> 01:09:26,750
singing yesterday. 
Brilliant. 

1174
01:09:28,710 --> 01:09:31,710
Good, good. 
OK, Donna, well, it's been a 

1175
01:09:31,710 --> 01:09:33,510
blast. 
Thank you so much. 

1176
01:09:33,550 --> 01:09:38,310
And we will return next year and
talk about sellers and handle. 

1177
01:09:38,990 --> 01:09:40,670
Wow, lovely. 
I can't wait. 

1178
01:09:40,670 --> 01:09:41,830
Thank you so much, Tyler.