This week a bit of a diversion. MJ Price of Quite A Boast podcast - all things Reeves & Mortimer - joins Tyler to talk about his love of the Goons and considers what sort of influence or impact (or otherwise) they may have had on future comedians, specifically Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer. Later the chat turns more generally towards R&M and their body of work, including Vic Reeves Big Night Out, Smell of Reeves & Mortimer, Bang Bang It's Reeves & Mortimer, Shooting Stars and Catterick (with dishonourable mentions to Randall & Hopkirk Deceased and that Ulrika special).They muse on how different generations of comics and comedians tended to flit into and out of each others' orbits and turn up in each others' shows and this is a tradition which applied equally to the Goons as it did to Reeves & Mortimer. It's a fun chat about a pair of comedy legends who crop up all too infrequently on Goon Pod but whose humour and inventiveness chimes with that of Milligan (although he would never have acknowledged that at the time!)You can find Quite A Boast here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL11Ba_QI4Z2_rczxZtu83mE7L4ZW6npL_&si=66WgrMaYtKOT0jEl
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1:14:00
Adolf Hitler - My Part In His Downfall (film, 1973)
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a 1973 British comedy film directed by Norman Cohen and starring Jim Dale, Arthur Lowe and Spike Milligan. It is based on Milligan's best-selling first volume of war memoir of the same name but differs markedly in several respects. It was adapted by Milligan, Cohen and Johnny Byrne; Byrne said of the film: “We want to get away from the idea that Milligan is a clown. He is a clown but first of all he is a human being. As this is a film about the early Milligan, Milligan was more of a human being than a clown at that time.”The casting of Jim Dale as young Spike was inspired, and he received a BAFTA nomination. While the film prioritises comedy, it occasionally crowbars in a clunky 'war is hell' narrative and it struggles to find the right tone. Nevertheless it is a serviceable 90 minute 70s British comedy with a host of familiar faces such as Bill Maynard, Tony Selby, Geoffrey Hughes, Pat Coombs and Windsor Davies.Joining Tyler this week to discuss the film is comedy writer Matt Owen who can be found at https://www.mathew-owen.co.uk/
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1:22:31
Roger Lewis on The Life & Death of Peter Sellers
The Life & Death of Peter Sellers caused something of a stir upon original publication in 1994. Rather than being a dispassionate account of the actor's life and work it leaned in quite heavily on his failings as a man and the author himself wasn't afraid to offer his personal views. That author, Roger Lewis, joins Tyler this week as the book is out in a brand new edition to coincide with Sellers' centenary this year. Roger has written a new afterword: The Centennial Sellers and Steve Coogan supplied a foreword. They discussed Sellers' strengths and weaknesses, his films, the Goon Show, people he worked with and fell in and out with and tried to nail down what it was about his self-destructive melancholy private personality that so absorbed Roger early on in the writing of the book. Alexander Walker comes in for a bit of a kicking too! There's also quite a bit about the film of the book and speculations about what Sellers might have done had he lived beyond 1980. Added to this, Roger talks about his previous book on Charles Hawtrey which is being reissued next year and the book he is currently engaged upon: Victoria Wood, and the women in comedy who influenced and shaped her unique talent.
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1:26:49
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1:26:49
Pickwick - with Tim Worthington
“I like the Pickwick score, it’s robust and British. I’ve often been offered parts in American musicals but I’ve always turned them down. No matter how good they are, I always feel they are not part of us. That’s why I waited and thought of this idea of making a musical of ‘Pickwick.” - Harry Secombe, 1963.And so the idea was realised, based on the 1837 Charles Dickens novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, better known simply as The Pickwick Papers. Harry got the idea for the musical while on holiday in the Bahamas, inspired by the success of Oliver! The writer Wolf Mankowitz agreed to turn it into a musical but faced the considerable challenge of condensing the 250,000words and loosely-linked anecdotes from the original novel into a workable stage production. He eventually decided to use the Pickwick-Bardell breach of promise action as a basic skeleton from which to hang the two-act musical adaptation. Pickwick premiered in Manchester in summer 1963 and as well as Secombe as the titular rotundity featured the likes of Anton Rodgers, Julian Orchard, Hilda Braid, Peter Bull and Norman Rossington among the cast.It swiftly transferred to the West End and two years later opened in the United States. Some of the original British cast reprised their roles (obviously including Harry) but Charlotte Rae came on board as Mrs Bardell and a young scapegrace called Davy Jones took up the part of Sam Weller. The story is he was spotted and signed up for The Monkees during this, and was subsequently replaced by the great Roy Castle. An original cast recording was released on LP in 1963 and in 1969 the BBC broadcast a 90-minute colour adaptation of the musical, adapted for the screen by James Gilbert and Jimmy Grafton. It reunited Secombe with Roy Castle and Julian Orchard and introduced us to Hattie Jacques as Mrs Bardell, Aubrey Woods as Mr Jingle and Robert Dorning as Tupman.This week returning guest Tim Worthington talks all things Pickwick but as you would expect with someone like Tim the conversation is wide-ranging and he pulls many a thread from the tapestry of sixties popular culture!
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1:27:32
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1:27:32
The Fireball of Milton Street
"What's become of that crispy bacon we had before the war?"Yes, this is that episode. 'Fireball' doesn't perhaps get the love it deserves, as it contains a fairly strong plot (by Goon Show terms). Henry Crun believes the sun is on fire, ergo the world is coming to an end and soon his fellow villagers are drawn into the drama. Seagoon is dispatched to see the Queen, a dissenting lad climbs a 200-ft ladder with a bit of bread on the end of a toasting fork and a rocket is constructed out of wood, brown paper and string, the idea being that it will transport the villagers up to the sun with buckets of water to put it out. Still with me? Joining us this week is Jeff Walker, host of Podcasto Catflappo - a podcast all about Filthy, Rich & Catflap.
A podcast where we talk about classic comedy with particular focus on the work of Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe & Michael Bentine. You'll also hear us discuss the likes of Monty Python, Hancock, Blackadder, the Carry On films, Peter Cook, Steptoe & Son and countless other comedy figures & fixtures from the postwar era.
Please follow on Bluesky @goonpod.bsky.social and Twitter @goonshowpod
Ireland