The Goon Show

[Cowley]

Evening everyone (runs flag up trouser leg and waits for applause. Hmm, not a sausage...)

I had (still have actually) my dads old book of the Goon Show scripts (complete with drawings of the characters by Spike Milligan) as a child which I absolutely loved.
I read them to my kids and did the best I could with the voices when they were little as well.

They’ve been repeating episodes each week on Radio 4 Extra, the next episode is ‘The Secret Escritoire’ on Thursday...

Anyway since November I’ve had Spotify Premium and the other day I discovered that there were about twenty or thirty episodes on there that I’ve spent much of this weekend listening to while I got on with jobs around the house.

What absolute joyous and genius lunacy it is to listen to. I can only imagine what it must have been like tuning into the radio to listen to each new episode when they were first aired...

Are there any other fans out there?
I’d be interested to hear from some of our esteemed older forum members that loved it at the time. Or even from anyone born after it’d finished who hasn’t heard it before but fancies giving it a try?
And if you did/do like it, who were your favourite characters?

 

[DaleCooper]

I've got quite a collection of tapes, records and books. One of my favourite bits is (if I remember correctly):

Neddy Seagoon - "I'm from Wales"
Eccles - "I didn't think you were from sardines."

There was also a series of puppet shows featuring the same characters called "The Telegoons" shown on BBC.

 

[John Webb]

I've got three script books, having enjoyed the Goons in my youth (and still do when I remember the repeats are on). Interestingly my father, who otherwise had a good sense of humour, found the Goon shows incomprehensible! Michael Palin, on a programme on BBC2 last night, made a similar comment about his enjoyment of the Goons.

 

[341o2]

I'm a Goon fan, although being born around the time the shows ended. Not sure of copyright issues, but several are selling CD's of this and other old time radio shows on that site. Goons had their origins in the Popeye cartoons, the term was used by POW's for their guards - thus seeing them as rather stupid than malicious.
Eccles is based on Goofy, Grytpipe Thynne on George Saunders, and it is believed he and Moriarty were homosexual, but the BBC did not permit direct reference to this - even between consenting adults in dustbins. In fact, several attempts were made to stop the show on the basis of "bad taste",such as the Baroness Boyl de Spudswell (sounding like HRH) in The Starlings, the Goons retaliated by quoting punchlines from dirty jokes "It's your turn in the barrel" or innuendo - such as Captain Hugh Jympton or a pink oboe player

Bluebottle is a "spotty herbert" who fancies himself such as in the Wild West episode
Eccles "I'm calling you fellows
BB "Coo, he's calling us all fellows....chews Hopalong Cassiidy cardboard and string tobacco....spit, spit,,oh its gone down the frount of my shirt.
They then get into an argument about the cards they are holding, or rather their hands
BB "Eccles, I'm running you in"
E "I've been run in, done 10,000 miles

Bluebottle also regularly gets "deaded"
Harry Secombe was principally Neddie Seagoon, based on himself, and much humour in the Goons relates to being unable to fool him, because he's too stupid. In Insurance, the White Man's Burden, Grytpipe and Moriarty pose as "strolling insurance agents of no fixed percentage" trying to get their hands on Neddie's 18 shillings in his bank account, offering him freedom of the English Channel, providing he insures it against fire. The payout would be £48,000 and on closing the deal comments "These people think I'm a fool, as soon as their backs are turned, I'll go down to the channel, set fire to it and collect the £48,000!"

The Goons are also very audio. Spike Milligan's sound effects, such as the "jelly splosh" He experimented with a sock filled with custard, eventually paper bags half filled with water were used

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Never, ever, forget the gang tunnelling into a gas holder and striking a match to see where they were.

"It's OK" said Neddy (?) "It's a safety match!"

 

[Busaholic]

I enjoyed them at the time, but I wouldn't listen to them now. TBH I got very fed up with Spike Milligan and his antics post-Goon Show. Genius he may have been, but he had a dark side and could be very nasty, and conducted vendettas against people, often 'ordinary' people who couldn't hit back. I can think of a particular instance of a bookseller who earned his displeasure for some innocuous reason. However - world scoop- I can reveal that he 'outed' Cyril Smith as a 'pederast' on the live Simon Dee BBC TV show (Smith was the guest appearing after Milligan) but was shushed up quickly.

 

[DaleCooper]

I've got quite a collection of tapes, records and books.

I've just realised I've got a Goons CD as well (a steam powered cardboard CD of course).

 

[Bevan Price]

Apparently, Peter Sellers could voice all the "Milligan" characters if Spike Milligan was "unwell".
My favourite "Goon" saying was "He's fallen in the water..."
I found The Goons very funny - the best radio comedy at the time, but as commented by others, my parents seemed unable to comprehend it. I think that both Monty Python & The Goodies must have been inspired by The Goons.

 

[DaleCooper]

Just to prove I'm a Goons completist I have a small handrail on my stairs - it's a mini-banister.

 

[Cowley]

Just to prove I'm a Goons completist I have a small handrail on my stairs - it's a mini-banister.

I’d put a smiley face but I know you don’t like them.

Thanks for the replies folks, especially the interesting extra little bits of detail that I hadn’t heard before. Much appreciated.

A couple of questions for those that know these things:
Eric Sykes is mentioned in some episodes as helping with the script writing.
I know that Spike at times found the pressure of writing the scripts too much with his own mental health problems. Was Sykes then bought in during these times or was he just someone that was generally involved?
Also, The Goon Show ran for a good few years. In others opinions what was the best year/series do you think?

 

[Cowley]

Just to add, I’ve been listening to a repeated series on BBC Radio Player called ‘Dad made me laugh’ which had had Michael Sellers talking about growing up with his father Peter Sellers* (an absolute tyrant), and also Jenny Secombe talking about her dad Harry Secombe who seemed like a genuinely lovely guy (even though he was a silly twisted boy).
I’ve yet to hear the one about Spike Milligan but it was interesting to hear what Busaholic had to say about Spike.**

* A chap I’ve got to know recently used to do catering at various film sets but has retired now.
The other day he caught me with my headphones on laughing to myself while I was working and I explained to him that I was listening to the Goon Show which he also loved, but he’d come across Peter Sellers whilst catering on a filming job in the seventies and confirmed that he was an absolute nightmare to deal with. He was still a genius though and remains to him and me one of the funniest people that have ever walked this earth.

**Spike Milligan to me still holds the record for the most hilarious thing ever said at any awards ceremony ever, when on being presented by Jonathan Ross with a lifetime achievement award Ross said he had a special message from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. Spike responded by saying “The little grovelling bast**d!” At which point everyone in the audience nearly fell off their chairs from laughing.
For younger readers give it a watch on YouTube, it’s well worth it.

 

[Busaholic]

Don't forget Michael Bentine was the fourth Goon.

There's certainly a bit of Eric Sykes's 'This Is Your Life' TV appearance on YouTube: maybe the whole show, but I found the Tommy Cooper guest spot under TC's name and Spike manages to heckle Tommy for being too long-winded. Eric Sykes was the comedian's comedian (just see some of those guests) and, but for his profound deafness, would be up there in the pantheon.

 

[Busaholic]

Just to add, I’ve been listening to a repeated series on BBC Radio Player called ‘Dad made me laugh’ which had had Michael Sellers talking about growing up with his father Peter Sellers* (an absolute tyrant), and also Jenny Secombe talking about her dad Harry Secombe who seemed like a genuinely lovely guy (even though he was a silly twisted boy).
I’ve yet to hear the one about Spike Milligan but it was interesting to hear what Busaholic had to say about Spike.**

* A chap I’ve got to know recently used to do catering at various film sets but has retired now.
The other day he caught me with my headphones on laughing to myself while I was working and I explained to him that I was listening to the Goon Show which he also loved, but he’d come across Peter Sellers whilst catering on a filming job in the seventies and confirmed that he was an absolute nightmare to deal with. He was still a genius though and remains to him and me one of the funniest people that have ever walked this earth.

**Spike Milligan to me still holds the record for the most hilarious thing ever said at any awards ceremony ever, when on being presented by Jonathan Ross with a lifetime achievement award Ross said he had a special message from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. Spike responded by saying “The little grovelling bast**d!” At which point everyone in the audience nearly fell off their chairs from laughing.
For younger readers give it a watch on YouTube, it’s well worth it.

Sellers was so insecure you could hardly believe he could function, but the man was so clever and THE most brilliant mimic, better than anyone I've ever heard. I can imagine he would be a nightmare to have dealings with, though, as per Milligan, whereas Secombe was said to have no side whatsoever. Opposites attract!

 

[bspahh]

Eric Sykes is mentioned in some episodes as helping with the script writing.
I know that Spike at times found the pressure of writing the scripts too much with his own mental health problems. Was Sykes then bought in during these times or was he just someone that was generally involved?

In the 50s, Eric Sykes was principally a script writer. At one time he shared an office with Spike Milligan, but they had an heated argument the construction of a single sentence. Spike threw a heavy glass paperweight at Eric. It missed him, but flew out of an upstairs the window onto the street. At that point Eric moved out. For a bit, they would write alternate weeks of the show.

In music halls, a comedian could reuse a lot of their material over and over again, because they would move on each week. However, when you broadcast a joke on radio or TV, then you couldn't then tell the same joke a week later.

It was a time when there were relatively few professional comedy script writers, and the good ones were kept busy. They didn't always get recognition. There was an interview with Eric Sykes where he asked to be named as a script writer for Frankie Howerd, who was the most popular comic of the day. The producer refused, saying that the audience assumed that the stories that Howerd were his own work, and that it would spoil the effect if people realised that it came from a script.

This is Eric Sykes on Desert Island Discs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009447g
I also have an MP3 file of a documentary called Eric Sykes - The Radio Years

 

[341o2]

Don't forget Michael Bentine was the fourth Goon.

Originally the show was titled "Crazy People", and Bentine was indeed one of the originals until he decided to go his own way

 

[Cowley]

Originally the show was titled "Crazy People", and Bentine was indeed one of the originals until he decided to go his own way

I listened to a program on iplayer radio today about surreal comedy and there was a twenty minute section of Michael Bentine on stage talking about his time in The Goons which was very interesting and funny.

 

[DaleCooper]

I have heard (although it may be apocryphal) that in the early days of The Goon Show a BBC announcer introduced "The Go On Show".

 

[Cowley]

I have heard (although it may be apocryphal) that in the early days of The Goon Show a BBC announcer introduced "The Go On Show".

that was said in the program today. I just tried to find it again but can’t now unfortunately.

 

[341o2]

Sellers was so insecure you could hardly believe he could function, but the man was so clever and THE most brilliant mimic, better than anyone I've ever heard. I can imagine he would be a nightmare to have dealings with, though, as per Milligan, whereas Secombe was said to have no side whatsoever. Opposites attract!

One of Seller's characters was Cynthia, or "Breathy Kensington Thing", a deep, husky, incredibly sexy voice as in The Scarlet Capsule - one of the best Goon Shows (in my opinion), a send up of Quatermass and the Pit. I felt that towards the end, the last shows creaked somewhat, and it would have been better to get out while on top,

Anyway - From the Scarlet Capsule

announcer - for miles around, people had to be evacuated
FX - knocking
Seagoon - I'm sorry to have got you up so late
Cynthia - They all say that
SG - I'm afraid, you will have to be evacuated
Cynthia Oh...Come in, I'll just pack a few things
SG...(overwhelmed)...garbles a reply

Announcer...at this point, the script was heavily censored, but we leave listners to imagine what took place
(pregnant pause)....

Bloodnock (furious) You filthy swine. Back to your own beds!

 

[341o2]

Apparently, Peter Sellers could voice all the "Milligan" characters if Spike Milligan was "unwell".
My favourite "Goon" saying was "He's fallen in the water..."
I found The Goons very funny - the best radio comedy at the time, but as commented by others, my parents seemed unable to comprehend it. I think that both Monty Python & The Goodies must have been inspired by The Goons.

Indeed, a group of students began sketches known as the Cambridge Circus. An episode was broadcast in 1964, becoming ISIRTA (I'm Sorry, I'll Read that Again) and had the trio which eventually formed the Goodies, John Cleese (when he was not involved with Monty Python) and I believe Eric Idle helped with some of the scripts. A repeat episode was announced as "undoubtably inspired by the Goons...."

From fairly mild humour, the show became what has been described as a radio custard pie with awful jokes and puns and mildly smutty humour, complete with audience participation, after all, the Goons got away with

Harry (German) Now zen, zis my plan of attack
Spike (German) Looks like a nail
Harry (German) No, it's a tack, ha ha, who says ze Germans have no sense of humour! (Tales of Men's shirts)

While from ISIRTA (Tales of the Circus) with Rudi Jester, and Tanya Hyde, the trapeze artists

Rudi, we believe you are responsible for these accidents - the human cannonball, the rogue mouse, and now I understand when the elephant was fed sennapods - you were behind it!

ISIRTA parodied Tony Blackburn,Rolf Harris, the OBE, gibbons, retired senior Army personell, the Common Market and the new BBC radio - nos 1,2,3 and 4, eventually with Full Frountal Radio Prune

Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke Taylor also took part in I'm Sorry, I haven't a Clue - billed as the antidote to panel games

 

[Bevan Price]

Although not my type of music, Harry Secombe was a very good singer, and had he so desired, I suspect he could have become one of the top classical / opera singers of his age.

 

[341o2]

Although not my type of music, Harry Secombe was a very good singer, and had he so desired, I suspect he could have become one of the top classical / opera singers of his age.

Indeed, but he admitted that his sense of humour would have got the better of him. The sort of thing would be,for example, the end of La Boheme is meant to be tragic as Mimi dies of consumption. My mother and a friend earned disapproving looks at a performance because Mimi was a traditional opera singer - rather larger than life - and they got the giggles.

Going back to Spike Milligan, it is reckoned that his wartime experience turned him into what would be diagnosed today as manic depressive. Analysts of Goon humour note the amount of violence in the show - characters regularly blown up - such as Bluebottle's "You rotten swine, I've been deaded again" It has been suggested that he was trying to get over the trauma by creating this idiot world. Subsequentially, he claimed that the strain of writing the Goon show gave him a breakdown and ruined his first marriage