British Comedy Guide

Does anyone remember The Goon Show? Page 4

Quote: Aaron @ February 9 2011, 1:11 AM GMT

I'm sure I've heard Sykes tell it that later that evening, after the show had actually recorded, he bumped into Sellers still in hysterics, saying it was the funniest they had ever recorded.

Indeed. From his autobiography: What a generous gesture it had been for Peter to make this admission. There were now tears in my eyes but, being a Lancashire man, I had a ludicrous stubborn streak, and I reminded him of what I had said in rehearsal - that I would never walk into a Goon Show studio again. And I never did.

Woo. For once, my memory didn't fail me. :)

The Goons at 60 and some reminiscences from producer Charles Chilton:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14342805

I like this bit from The Affair of the Lone Banana.

PASSPORT OFFICE

CRUN: Min, this man's going to South America.

MINNIE: Ohhh.........Goodbye!

I wonder if one reason it has become dated is the number of military characters in the piece-Major Bloodnok is the obvious example but also there is Grytpype-Thynne and William Cobblers seem to be as well. Although Seagoon is rarely in uniform you get the idea that he used to be-or maybe you confuse him with Harry Secombe?

Ha ha ha! I found the Goon Show Classic Vol 7 on vinyl this week! Even I can't remember how many more volumes I need for the full set! HA HA HA!!!!

"Does anyone remember The Goon Show?"

Why would you be on this website if you hadn't heard of The Goons? You might equally ask a musician if they have heard of Mozart.

I really truthfully believe and am willing to bet several hypothetical fortunes that Mrs Shakira doesn't have an arsing great clue who Mozart is.

I said musician.

Oh yes, I see your point. Now. There was a lady in a field showing off her bra and a substantial part of her pants to an Irish farmer earlier this week. The precise details elude and confuse me but could perhaps the young lady have meant it as an elaborate metaphor for a comedy fan who professed to know nothing of the Goons? You are that farmer, we are that bra.

And are you pants?

I think The Goon Show deserves a better thread than this. Perhaps someone could start one. So I can complain that the BBC has in recent years been inflicting censorship on some of these old treasures. It should be a crime, chopping out jokes on the grounds of: "This line makes a completely innocent reference to Africa - and I have the power to cut it - so I'll cut it." What absolute tossers they be at the BBC.

And I still disagree vehemently with The Goon Show being classified here as a 'sketch show'.

Well, my gob has never been so smacked!

The last time I was posting on this site and brought up The Goons I got a bit of verbal abuse (especially from one poster who called the series "shit" and another who said he didn't find it funny) and so I went off in a huff, (Don't see many of those now - the Huff, mine was a two-stoke side valve jobby) and so lost interest in posting.

The Goons was NEVER a sketch show!!

Does he mean me?

It's because you insulted Fist of Fun a sketch show so awesome it ended the cold war.

In comparison to the Goon Show a show so bad it probably started it.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ September 29 2013, 4:25 PM BST

from one poster who called the series "shit" and another who said he didn't find it funny

It's a rum do. I'll admit that a first listening of The Goon Show to the uninitiated may sound like a lot of incomprehensible daft voices and shrieking. One needs to listen to just a handful of episodes, ad nauseum, to get a feel for the characters and style. And then it's just brilliance. Never cared much for Max Geldray's music, though I enjoyed his autobiography. Unlike revisiting some old shows, which are not always funny decades later (see about 60% of The Goodies, most of Man About the House), the Goon Show remains great, some episodes better than others.

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