The Goon Show

The Goon Show

File:Lastgoon.jpg DVD of The Last Goon Show of All, aired by the BBC in 1972.
Genre	Comedy
Running time	30 minutes
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Starring	Michael Bentine (1951-1953) Spike Milligan Harry Secombe Peter Sellers

The Goon Show was a popular and influential British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1951 to 1960 on the BBC Home Service.

The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of silly and surreal sound effects. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, many of which were reused by other shows for decades afterward.

Many elements of the show satirised contemporary life in Britain, parodying aspects of showbusiness, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, the military, education, class structure, literature, and film.

Background

The show was enormously popular in Britain in its heyday; tickets for the recording sessions at the BBC's Aeolian Hall studio in London were constantly over-subscribed and the various character voices and catchphrases from the show quickly became part of the vernacular. The series has remained consistently popular ever since – it is still being broadcast once a week by the ABC in Australia, as well as on BBC 7 – and it has exerted a singular influence over succeeding generations of comedians and writers, most notably the creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus and the Beatles' movies.

The series was devised and written by Spike Milligan with the regular collaboration of other writers including (singly) Larry Stephens, Eric Sykes, Maurice Wiltshire and John Antrobus, under the watchful eye of Jimmy Grafton (KOGVOS - Keeper of the Goons and Voice of Sanity). Many senior BBC staff were bemused by the show's surreal, left-field humour and it has been reported that senior programme executives erroneously referred to it as "The Go On Show".

Milligan and Secombe became friends while serving in the armed forces during World War Two, they met up with Sellers and Bentine back in England after the war and got together in Grafton's pub performing and experimenting with tape recorders.. Famously, Milligan first encountered Secombe after Gunner Milligan's artillery unit accidentally allowed a large howitzer to roll off a cliff - under which Secombe was sitting in a small wireless truck : "Suddenly there was a terrible noise as some monstrous object fell from the sky quite close to us", "There was considerable confusion, and in the middle of it all the flap of the truck was pushed open and a young, helmeted idiot asked 'Anybody see a gun?' It was Milligan..."

Format

The principal parts were performed by Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe, with Sellers and Milligan performing literally dozens of different characters. The first two seasons also featured Michael Bentine in the role of Professor Osric Pureheart and musical interludes from singing group The Stargazers, but both they and Bentine left during the second series. The show went on to feature musical intermissions from singer Ray Ellington and his quartet and virtuoso jazz harmonica player Max Geldray. The BBC announcer Wallace Greenslade provided spoken links as well as occasionally performing small roles in the scripts, usually as himself.

Surreality

The Goon Show paved the way for surreal and alternative humour. Many of the sequences have been cited as being visionary in the way that they challenged the traditional conventions of comedy. Perhaps one of the most famous is from The Mysterious Punch-Up-The-Conker, where Bluebottle (Sellers) asks Eccles (Milligan) what the time is. Eccles consults a piece of paper, on which is written "Eight o'clock" – the answer he received the last time he asked somebody what the time was. The implications of this method of telling the time are then explored at some length. This idea appeared frequently in similar guises: pictures and audio recordings of money were accepted as legal tender, the word 'dinner' written on a piece of paper and eaten served as a full meal, and so on.

Music and Sound Effects

Musical intermissions were provided by the Ray Ellington Quartet and Max Geldray. The Goon Show was also famed for its unique library of sound effects. Originally for the first two series the only effect was of a rusty, sinister chain; Milligan became so frustrated that he demanded sound effects from the BBC board of directors. Later, Eccles and Bluebottle would perform an out-of-tune, speeded-up, comedy version of Unchained Melody, featuring the same chain at the beginning and end as a homage. Another musical (?) item was a multi-tracked choir of Eccleses singing 'Good King Wenceslas' (The String Robberies)

The show's scripts often provided the BBC's sound effects department with such challenges as generating the audible equivalent of a piece of string, the sound of a wall/piano/Christmas pudding being driven at high speed, the noise made by an idiot attempting to open a door in the wrong direction and various explosions, splashes, splatters, clatters and bangs. Apparently, the BBC sound library, whose previous work had involved producing nothing more stimulating than "footsteps on a gravel path" or "a knock on the door", greatly appreciated the variety of challenges posed by the show's often surreal requirements. A classic example of this was the attempt by Spike Milligan to create a sound like "a sock full of custard splattering against a wall". A story recounted in Harry Secombe's biography relates that a bemused canteen cook made up a pot of custard at his request, only to see him pour it into his socks, and run off whimpering into the kitchen. Milligan then went to an already prepared tape recorder and slapped both socks against a table, but was still unable to get the correct effect. He was then heard to cry "Shit!" and storm off, because, as Secombe recounts, "if truth be known, that was really what he wanted the sock to contain.".

Many of the memorable sound effects created for later programs featured innovative production techniques borrowed from the realm of musique concrète, and used the then new technology of magnetic tape. Many of these sequences involved the use of complex multiple edits, echo and reverberation and the deliberate slowing down, speeding up or reversing of tapes. One of the most side-splitting sound effects was the famous sequence created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to represent the sound of Major Bloodnok's digestive system in action, and which included a variety of inexplicable gurgling and explosive noises. This effect kept turning up on later comedy shows, and can even be heard on a track by The Orb.

The 'sound pictures' created by the Goons were equally groundbreaking; in one episode, The Choking Horror, they conjured up the image of the tops of all the major buildings and landmarks in London being covered by a thick growth of hair.

Communication with the Radio Audience

The scripts did not so much break the fourth wall as demolish it. Examples include:

• In the episode The Mountain Eaters, after Milligan's anguished portrayal of Moriarity in need of money, Grytpype-Thynne tells Ned Seagoon that the money must be found soon as Moriarty's "over-acting is becoming increasingly apparent to us all.
• Moriarty comments on the state of the story itself: "At last! [We've found] a plot!"
• Moriarty's character is introduced in an episode as he is recounting an actual conversation he had in the previous episode.
• Milligan would sometimes bait his audience by having a character ask them a question and having the sound of sheep bleating played back as their response.
• In The Nasty Affair At The Burami Oasis, Sellers was playing Bloodnok and changed his voice to do one line by another character. Once back as Bloodnok, the character demanded, "Sellers! How dare you change your voice from mine to his for one joke only!"
• Likewise from The Histories of Pliny the Elder:

Brutus Moriartus (Moriarty): Why don't you stop him, Julius Caesar?

Sellers: How can I when I'm playing the part of Bloodnok?

A Weekly Task for the Goons

The strain of writing and performing took a heavy toll on Milligan, who was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He suffered a nervous breakdown during the run of the show, requiring hospitalisation, and the intense pressure also contributed to the failure of his marriage. Milligan was absent from the show for twelve episodes in the third series after an attempt to murder Peter Sellers with a knife. The story was that he left his house and made for the Sellers household, but Milligan's wife managed to telephone Sellers before Milligan arrived at the door.

Sellers could be similarly surreal. Once, around midnight, he turned up on Milligan's doorstep totally naked. "Can you recommend a good tailor?" he asked. On another occasion Sellers had bought a new car and asked Milligan for his help in locating an annoying squeak coming from the rear of the vehicle. Armed with a torch (flashlight) and a piece of chalk (for marking the location of the squeak) Milligan got into the boot and Sellers drove the car a few yards down the road. He was stopped by a policeman who, upon discovering Milligan in the boot merely nodded and said "Yes, I should have known it would be you!" and went on his way without further comment.

Innocent Humour

The Goons Show was sometimes cited as very entertaining without having to resort to sexual innuendo like a lot of modern comedy ... but it's all in the mind of the listener:

Reputedly due to his dislike of rules imposed by the establishment, Milligan spent a lot of time working allusions to rude and/or sexual barrack room jokes into his scripts. These were instantly recognised by his peers and went completely over the heads of the BBC and other innocent listeners. For instance "The Good Ship Venus" (rhymes with P..., - interested readers should look for a bawdy poem by that name) was mentioned either directly by name or allusion (eg HMS Venus) in at least four shows (Stolen Postman, Call of the West, Giant Bombardon, Treasure in the Tower). Often innocent but quirky things are no such thing at all eg, in The Spy, or Who is Pink Oboe?, Seagoon has to remember a list of secret agents: "Black Rabbit, the Blue Pelican and the Yellow Alligator, Octaroon Monkey, the Pink Oboe, and the Purple Mosquitoe, Vermillion Sock, the Vermillion Ponk, the Chocolate Speedway and the White Bint" - the Pink, Brown and White bits allude to a male organ, and two possible destinations.

So like another famous bard, Milligan was writing at more than one level for more than one audience.

Cast members and Characters

Main article: The Goon Show cast members and characters

• Harry Secombe's Characters

Major: Neddie Seagoon

Minor: Uncle Oscar • Unteroffizier Krupp • Private Bogg • Nugent Dirt • Izzy • Welshmen

• Spike Milligan's Characters

Major: Eccles • Minnie Bannister • Count Jim Moriarty

Minor: Throat • Little Jim • Spriggs • Yakamoto • Cor blimey • Thingz • Hugh Jampton • Fu Manchu

• Peter Sellers's Characters

Major: Major Bloodnok • Hercules Grytpype-Thynne • Bluebottle • Henry Crun

Minor: Cynthia • Mate • Babu Banerjee • Eidelberger • Flowerdew • Cyril • Fred Nurke • Gladys • Lew/Ernie Cash • Churchill • Hearn • And more...

• Michael Bentine's Characters

Prof. Osric Pureheart and more

• Other cast members
• Guest cast members

Epsodes and Archiving

See: Goon Show episodes and archiving

Running Jokes

See: The Goon Show running jokes.

Trivia

The Dreaded Lurgi

Several of the words and phrases invented for the show soon entered common usage, the most famous being the word lurgi. In the episode Lurgi Strikes Britain, Spike Milligan introduced the fictional malady of Lurgi, (sometimes spelled "lurgy") which has survived into modern usage to mean any miscellaneous or non-specific illness.

Brandyyy!!!!

Alcohol was of course strictly forbidden during rehearsals and recording, so the cast fortified themselves with milk. The milk in turn was fortified with brandy. In later episodes the catchphrase "'round the back for the old brandy!" or "the old Marlon Brando" was used to announce the exit of one or more characters, or a break for music; Ray Ellington, on one occasion, before his musical item began, mused 'I wonder where he keeps that stuff!'. In another, he sympathised with the listeners, "Man, The excuses he makes to get to that brandy!", causing Spike Milligan to wail "MATE!" in protest.

Watch out Moriarity!

Peter Sellers, as Grytpype-Thynne, usually pronounced the name of his henchman "Morry-arty" (IPA: [ˌmɔːr.iː.ˈɑː.ti]). However, if he (Sellers) was not in a good mood, or Milligan (as Moriarty) was overdoing his part, Grytpype-Thynne would start pronouncing the name as "Mor-EYE-atty" ([ˌmɔːr.ˈaɪ.əti]. This gave Milligan a cue to simmer down.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb!

During radio programmes of the 1920s and 1930s, the background noise for crowd scenes was often achieved by a moderately large group of people mumbling "rhubarb" under their breath with random inflections. This was often parodied by Spike Milligan, who would try to get the same effect with only three or four people. After some time, Harry Secombe began throwing in "custard" during these scenes (For example in The Fear of Wages and Wings Over Dagenham). About 10 years after the Goon Show ceased production, Secombe, Eric Sykes and a host of other well-known comic actors made the short film Rhubarb in which the entire script consisted of what Milligan called rhubarbs.

"The Little Grovelling..."

There are rumours that Prince Charles (referred to by Spike Milligan in the years after the goons as 'The Little Grovelling Bastard'), and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles, being both avid fans of the Goons, lovingly refer to each other as 'Fred' and 'Gladys'. In regular episodes, ‘Fred' was a term, like 'Charlie', for anyone who was an idiot (Neddie: How jolly for you, Fred Sellers); and 'Gladys' a sexless mystery person often played by either Peter Sellers or Ray Ellington, who often answered anything with 'yes, darling?'

Parp!

As well as a comic device randomly asserted in different sketches to avoid silence, the blowing of Raspberries entered the Goons as Harry Secombe's signal to the other actors that he was going to crack up; you would hear a joke from him, a Raspberry, and a stream of mad laughter. Years after, Spike collaborated with Ronnie Barker on The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town, in which the credits read: "Raspberries Professionally blown by Spike Milligan."

Later revivals

The Telegoons

The Telegoons (1963–1964) was a 15-minute BBC puppet show featuring the voices of Milligan, Secombe and Sellers and adapted from the radio scripts. 26 episodes were made. The series was briefly repeated immediately after its original run and all episodes are known to survive (having been unofficially released on the Internet).

How to Win an Election

In 1964, Milligan, Secombe and Sellers lent their voices to a comedy LP, How to Win an Election (or Not Lose by Much), which was written by Leslie Bricusse. It was not exactly a Goons reunion because Sellers was in Hollywood and had to record his lines separately. The album was reissued on CD in 1997.

Records and Films

They made a number of records including "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas" (originally sung by Milligan in the show to fill in during a musicians' Christmas Break), "Bloodnok's Rock and Roll Call" (the first British record with the word "rock" in its title) and its B-side "The Ying Tong Song", which was reissued as an A-side in the mid-1970s and became a surprise novelty hit.

In the movies the following were a product of Goon activity:

• Let's Go Crazy (Film) (1951)
• Penny Points to Paradise (1951)
• Down Among the Z Men (1952) (with Bentine)
• The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn (1956) (a two-reeler starring Milligan, Sellers and Dick Emery)
• The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1959) (a surreal one-reeler short subject starring Milligan and Sellers and directed by Dick Lester)

The last time all three Goons worked together was in 1978 when they recorded two new songs, "The Raspberry Song" and "Rhymes".

The Last Goon Show of All

In 1972, the Goons reunited to perform The Last Goon Show of All for radio and television, before an invited audience that didn't, however, include long-time fan HRH The Prince of Wales (who was out of the country on duty with the Royal Navy at the time). The show was broadcast on BBC television and radio, and eventually released in stereo on a CD.

Goon Again

In 2001 the BBC recorded a "new" Goon Show, Goon Again, featuring Andrew Secombe (son of Harry), Jon Glover and Jeffrey Holland, with Christopher Timothy (son of Andrew Timothy) announcing, based on two unpreserved series 3 episodes from 1953, "The Story of Civilisation" and "The Plymouth Ho Armada", both written by Milligan and Stephens.

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

A recreation of a Goon Show broadcast before a studio audience is seen early in the HBO Original Movie, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), with Geoffrey Rush as Sellers, Edward Tudor-Pole as Spike Milligan and Steve Pemberton as Harry Secombe. A very brief moment from that recreation is seen in the trailer for that film.

Impact on Comedy and Culture

Monty Python

The future members of Monty Python were fans, and they have on many occasions expressed their collective debt to Milligan and The Goons, but ironically their famous TV series over-shadowed Milligan's later anarchic TV efforts (such as the Q series) – even though the Python team have credited Milligan and especially Q as being the source of two key Python features – sketches didn't have to be "about" real subjects and they didn't have to follow conventional structures, particularly in respect to ending sketches without the traditional punchline.

In a memorial show for Milligan, Terry Jones recalled that he and the Monty Python team, while trying to think up a new sketch, were confronted by an old man at the door trying to sell them a wheelbarrowful of manure. They took this as a sign from above and made a sketch in which a similar thing happened to an upper class dinner party. Jones was horrified to discover, years later, that Spike Milligan had created an almost identical sketch years before, and had gone to his grave believing that it had been stolen. Jones then apologised to Spike in heaven from the stage.

Although Python now seems to be the more quoted, it is fair to say that virtually all British alternative comedy in its modern form is based on the model created for The Goon Show by Milligan.

The Beatles

The Goons also had a considerable influence on the humour of The Beatles, and especially the writing of John Lennon. Interestingly, The Goons and The Beatles both worked considerably with record producer George Martin.

The now multi-bootlegged recordings of the Beatles to their fans on the famous Christmas Message records, are masterpieces of surreal Beatle comedy that draws heavily on the Goons and their comedy. http://www.norwegianwood.org/beatles/disko/html/xmas2.html

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Although the names, catch-phrases and slang of the Goon Show came to permeate British culture, the same could not be said of the USA, so when an issue of a Marvel comic book, The Defenders issue 148[1], used the character names Minerva Bannister, Harry Crun (i.e. Henry), and Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, it went completely unnoticed by American readers. The reactions of British readers, if any, were not recorded. The characters were as follows:

• Minerva Bannister - Villainous heiress.
• Harry Crun - Private Detective, employed by Ms. Bannister, and in love with her.
• Hercules Grytpype-Thynne - Cop on their trail.

In the movie Shrek, Shrek refers to a constellation as Bloodnok, the Flatulent.

The rock band Ned's Atomic Dustbin took their name from a Goon Show episode.

The End of the Goons

Peter Sellers was the first Goon to be "deaded", as his character Bluebottle would put it, at the young age of 54 in 1980. Michael Bentine died in 1996. Harry Secombe died in 2001, much to Milligan's relief, as he didn't want Secombe to sing at his, Milligan's, funeral (though he did anyway, through a recording); and Milligan himself in 2002.

See also

• The Navy Lark - a BBC Radio Comedy that followed the Goon Show, running 15 series from 1959 to 1977
• Monty Python

Bibliography

• Farnes, Norma (ed.), ed. (1997). The Goons: The Story. London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 1852276797. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) - includes chapters from Milligan, Secombe & Sykes. Sellers & Bentine were excused due to being deaded.
• Wilmut, Roger (1976). The Goon Show Companion - A History and Goonography. London: Robson Books. ISBN 0903895641. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) — remains the definitive book on the series

External links

• The Goon Show on BBC7 – Shows played online once a week
• Goon Show Preservation Society – UK
• Goon Show Preservation Society – USA
• The Goon Show Site – Contains downloads, pictures, collectables, cast, characters and much more
• Goon Show Depository – Fan site with good Goon Show discussion forum
• The Goon Show Archive
• The Goon Show YAQ: Google Usenet archive
• The Goon Show – Some of the scripts: +50 scripts available for download
• the alt.fan.goons newsgroup exists to discuss the Goon show and Goon-related things
• BBC On-line Shop
• The Goonlog – a Goonish weblog by Wayne Stewart. Contains polls, guess this sound clip competitions and find links to shows.
• The Spike Milligan Tribute Site
• The Spike Milligan Appreciation Society

• The Goon Show – A Quick Guide – An introduction to Spike Milligan's revolutionary radio show, with audio clips.

Category:British comedians