Category: Goon Pod

There’s a treat for Goon Show lovers to look forward to next week as Tyler Adams’ podcast about all things Goon related returns for a second series.

Tyler described how the podcast came to be in an article in the latest issue of our newsletter which goes to all our members, Goon Show News. Series one of Goon pod started in May of 2021 and ran for an almost uninterrupted 140 weekly episodes before taking a well-earned break at the start of the year. That’s probably comparable to the BBC demanding 30 Goon Shows from Spike Milligan for a series.

We’re promised a detailed look at a classic Goon Show episode when the first show of the new series becomes available on 20^th March.

Goon Pod is available through all the usual Podcast sources, or through this link. The most recent episodes will also appear below.

This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan – Goon Pod

“You call this a life?”This week we dip into the big red book and examine Spike Milligan’s two famously chaotic appearances on This Is Your Life — first in 1973 at an army reunion in Bexhill and again in 1995 in the wake of Spike’s infamous crack at Prince Charles at the British Comedy Awards. From bungled surveillance operations and surprise reunions to war memories, old squeezes, secret sons and unresolved tensions, these programmes offer an occasionally revealing — and sometimes unsettling — portrait of Spike at two very different points in his life.Joining Tyler this week is co-host of World Of Telly John Williams and the pair try to navigate the uneasy compression of a vast, contradictory life into television-friendly fare.Along the way we encounter Peter Sellers in Nazi garb, Robert Graves refusing retakes because “the milkman is part of life”, Harry Secombe on VT, Eric Sykes restoring some semblance of order to proceedings, Michael Bentine getting a warm reception, Roger McGough falling a bit flat and a surprise appearance from a reclusive billionaire. We also examine the differing styles of Eamonn Andrews and Michael Aspel – the former being all awkward and lacking spontaneity; the latter oozing affable charm and keeping the show on the rails. These two programmes, separated by 22 years, chart not just Spike Milligan’s public career but his private fractures — family divisions, emotional debts, and the limits of nostalgia. They also expose the clumsy mechanics of This Is Your Life itself: a format built for uplift struggling to contain a life defined by contradiction, pain, brilliance and refusal to behave.

1. This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan 01:31:48
2. One Way Pendulum (1965) – with David Quantick 01:01:19
3. Yellow Submarine (1968) – with Joel Morris 01:38:11
4. The Curse of Frankenstein 01:15:21
5. The Sale Of Manhattan 01:14:48

Our favourite Podcast, Tyler Adams’ Goon Pod, featured an interview this week with the GSPS member and luminary of time almost immemorial, Chris Smith.

Chris described at length how the Goon Show Preservation Society developed from humble beginnings and told stories of some highlights of GSPS meetings, including appearances by Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine. It’s a great listen, especially for whipper-snapper, Johnny-come-lately members like your humble Website Charlie here.

Goon Pod is available from all the usual podcast sources, including the feed below.

This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan – Goon Pod

“You call this a life?”This week we dip into the big red book and examine Spike Milligan’s two famously chaotic appearances on This Is Your Life — first in 1973 at an army reunion in Bexhill and again in 1995 in the wake of Spike’s infamous crack at Prince Charles at the British Comedy Awards. From bungled surveillance operations and surprise reunions to war memories, old squeezes, secret sons and unresolved tensions, these programmes offer an occasionally revealing — and sometimes unsettling — portrait of Spike at two very different points in his life.Joining Tyler this week is co-host of World Of Telly John Williams and the pair try to navigate the uneasy compression of a vast, contradictory life into television-friendly fare.Along the way we encounter Peter Sellers in Nazi garb, Robert Graves refusing retakes because “the milkman is part of life”, Harry Secombe on VT, Eric Sykes restoring some semblance of order to proceedings, Michael Bentine getting a warm reception, Roger McGough falling a bit flat and a surprise appearance from a reclusive billionaire. We also examine the differing styles of Eamonn Andrews and Michael Aspel – the former being all awkward and lacking spontaneity; the latter oozing affable charm and keeping the show on the rails. These two programmes, separated by 22 years, chart not just Spike Milligan’s public career but his private fractures — family divisions, emotional debts, and the limits of nostalgia. They also expose the clumsy mechanics of This Is Your Life itself: a format built for uplift struggling to contain a life defined by contradiction, pain, brilliance and refusal to behave.

1. This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan 01:31:48
2. One Way Pendulum (1965) – with David Quantick 01:01:19
3. Yellow Submarine (1968) – with Joel Morris 01:38:11
4. The Curse of Frankenstein 01:15:21
5. The Sale Of Manhattan 01:14:48

If the weeks have moved on and the episode with Chris has moved down the list, you can get to it directly through this link.

Greenslade – Ladies and Gentlemen, the Goons and myself, after a period of, ahem, retirement, are pleased to announce that we’ll be featured in a modern podcast-type pop-type chart, voted for by those good people who still remember us.
Seagoon – What, what, what, an awards show? I’d better get the acceptance speech written.
Bloodnok – It’s not about you. It’s 20 chances to hear my best internal noises.
Bluebottle – More like 20 more chances for me to get deaded.
Minnie – Help Henry, I’ve been surveyed!
Moriarty – Owwww. Place your bets at Honest Grytpype’s Bookmakers Shop…
Eccles – 20, 19, er.. 18, er…. where’s that list?

During 2022, Tyler Adams has asked the listeners and followers of Goon Pod to nominate their three favourite episodes of the Goon Show. The results are in, and they’ve been weighed, measured and sent to stand in a queue.

The top 20 will be revealed in a special episode of Goon Pod, coming out on New Year’s Eve. Tyler and his guests, Sean Gaffney and Mike Haskins, will discuss and dissect the people’s choices.

Once 31st December comes around (has it been asleep then?), you’ll be able to listen to the chart show on the player below. Or, of course, you can download it at your convenience on your usual podcast app.

Listener’s Top 20 Goon Shows

update: so what were the top 20 shows? – the list is here

Causing much excitement, an until-now lost recording of a Peter Sellers performance has been found, and it’s being broadcast in a restored state on BBC Radio 4 on 18th October. The show is an episode from the first series of Hancock’s Half Hour which was only ever broadcast once, in February 1955. In it, Sellers stood in for an absent Kenneth Williams.

Radio 4 are also running a documentary about the search for old recordings and finding the lost episode. It’s called Raiders of the Lost Archive, and it’s available to stream on BBC Sounds.

After its first airing on Radio 4, the Hancock episode, which is titled The Marriage Bureau, will also be available to stream here.

Our favourite podcast – Goon Pod – is onto the story this week. Tyler’s guest is voice actor and restorer Keith Wickham, who presented and co-produced the Raiders of the Lost Archive programme.

This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan – Goon Pod

“You call this a life?”This week we dip into the big red book and examine Spike Milligan’s two famously chaotic appearances on This Is Your Life — first in 1973 at an army reunion in Bexhill and again in 1995 in the wake of Spike’s infamous crack at Prince Charles at the British Comedy Awards. From bungled surveillance operations and surprise reunions to war memories, old squeezes, secret sons and unresolved tensions, these programmes offer an occasionally revealing — and sometimes unsettling — portrait of Spike at two very different points in his life.Joining Tyler this week is co-host of World Of Telly John Williams and the pair try to navigate the uneasy compression of a vast, contradictory life into television-friendly fare.Along the way we encounter Peter Sellers in Nazi garb, Robert Graves refusing retakes because “the milkman is part of life”, Harry Secombe on VT, Eric Sykes restoring some semblance of order to proceedings, Michael Bentine getting a warm reception, Roger McGough falling a bit flat and a surprise appearance from a reclusive billionaire. We also examine the differing styles of Eamonn Andrews and Michael Aspel – the former being all awkward and lacking spontaneity; the latter oozing affable charm and keeping the show on the rails. These two programmes, separated by 22 years, chart not just Spike Milligan’s public career but his private fractures — family divisions, emotional debts, and the limits of nostalgia. They also expose the clumsy mechanics of This Is Your Life itself: a format built for uplift struggling to contain a life defined by contradiction, pain, brilliance and refusal to behave.

1. This Is Your Life: Spike Milligan 01:31:48
2. One Way Pendulum (1965) – with David Quantick 01:01:19
3. Yellow Submarine (1968) – with Joel Morris 01:38:11
4. The Curse of Frankenstein 01:15:21
5. The Sale Of Manhattan 01:14:48