Goon Pod

Hosted by Tyler Adams, this podcast has been produced weekly since May 2021. (there’s a yearly couple of months break after New Year nowadays) If you haven’t listened to it yet, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

In each episode Tyler welcomes a guest to examine an actual Goon Show, a solo Goon project (films, TV, radio, books, albums etc) or practically anything within the Goon universe. They also talk about comedy in general – whatever direction the conversation takes!

To listen to this show, search for ‘Goon Pod’ and subscribe on Spotify, i-Tunes or whichever podcast app you habitually use. If you don’t habitually use any of those, then there are recent episodes at the foot of the page. Alternatively, click on the Goon Pod logo above to be taken to a suitable corner of the web where all the episodes are available.

Tyler is always happy to receive comments, requests or general feedback as it helps improve and develop the show. Goon Pod can be followed and contacted through Facebook and Twitter.

The 1963 Royal Variety Performance (with Steven Cockcroft) – Goon Pod

An annual tradition dating back to the year the Titanic went down – a useful metaphor to describe some of the subsequent acts who sank without trace – the Royal Variety Performance brings together entertainers from around the world to perform in front of faintly bored members of the Royal Family for charity.Arguably the most memorable and significant show was in 1963, when a group from Liverpool took to the stage and belted out four numbers for the Queen Mum. This was the height of Beatlemania, yet John, Paul, George and Ringo were still sufficiently awed by the occasion that John’s well-rehearsed spontaneous quip about jewellery was delivered with a rather nervous, impish grin.Harry Secombe bookended the television coverage and also appeared on stage with the cast of Pickwick, wearing a bald wig so wrinkled and skew-whiff that it looked like a piece of ham on the turn with barbershop sweepings. He also closed the show with a joke about the Fab Four that nearly brought the house down. And speaking of ham, Pinky and Perky showed up too.The likes of Steptoe & Son (including Paul’s future grandfather), Marlene Dietrich and Eric Sykes are still remembered today, but whither Susan Maughan, Los Paraguayos and Buddy Greco in the public’s collective memory? Certainly, Goon Pod listeners will be familiar with the work of Flanders & Swann, Tommy Steele and even – gah! – Charlie Drake, but how many of them recall Dickie Henderson?Steven Cockcroft, erstwhile co-host of Nothing Is Real, describes the event as the ‘British Ed Sullivan Show’, introducing a much wider audience at home to the Beatles and giving them a rather sanitised look at what all the fuss was about. As one viewer wrote in a letter to The Daily Mail: “It was possible, for once, to hear as well as see the Beatles. What a pleasant change to be able to hear the celebrated Mersey Sound without the inevitable accompaniment of adolescent hysteria that passes weirdly these days.”Join Tyler and Steven as they navigate this bloated extravaganza of singers, funsters, jugglers and dancers. Fans of Elvis Costello may want to tune in too for some shameless name-dropping and his familial connection to the show.