We’re delighted that, after a break of three months, Tyler Adams’ podcast Goon Pod started a new series on 1st April.
If you haven’t listened to Goon Pod before, and I know that won’t be many of you, it’s a weekly show which looks at various aspects of The Goon Show. It could be a specific episode from the radio show, the music, movies or other projects involving one or more of the cast, or even some celebrity guest who can talk about a connection. The new series has started with a look at a Peter Sellers film which is now 50 years old, The Return of the Pink Panther.
Goon Pod can be supported through Patreon, where Tyler produces Goon Pod Film Club for subscribers, looking at the wider world of comedy.
The Last Laugh Before TV-am (C4, 1985) – Goon Pod
Broadcast on Channel 4 on 2nd December 1985, The Last Laugh Before TV-am was Spike Milligan’s attempt to bring his particular vein of humour to a new generation… although little about it suggested that Milligan had changed his approach since the early Q series.The show assembled a familiar Milligan blend of sketches, visual jokes, corpsing, unfinished ideas and rehearsed improvisation. The recently late Chris Langham, Emil Wolk and a young Mark Steel were among the supporting performers, while the alternative circus group Ra-Ra Zoo added an appropriately offbeat physical dimension to the show. There were also, because Spike, the Royal Corgis. Creaky old comedy sketch stand-by Mastermind saw Milligan as Magnusson, another routine had the Queen as a bit of cardboard and a third featured a banana down some underpants. A library skit featured some language which caused the entire edifice to sway as if ready to go down with all hands (Herbert Kretzmer, reviewing the show, considered this “pure, distilled Milligan”, arguing that the joke was driven by Spike's contempt for what he regarded as the absurdities of censorship. Hmmm.) Joining Tyler this week to chew over this oddity and discuss the wider television landscape at the time is podcaster, author and broadcaster Ben Baker.
The Goon Show Preservation Society 