British comedy (1951 - 1960)
 In 1951 Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, friends
from their Army days, together with two other ex-servicemen,
Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine, launched a radio
series that was to revolutionize British comedy…The
Goon Show.
Text on OTRCAT.com ©2007 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved-Reproduction is prohibited. Milligan,
the driving creative force of the team, is said to
have gotten the Goon name from the Popeye comic strip
Thimble Theatre's Goon Island. He wrote the scripts,
and performed many of the characters. Thye were reluctant
to air the show, and thought it was called the "Go-on
Show!" The radio recordings were fuelled by generous
helpings of brandy and the Goons own brand of audience
warm-up. A regular diversion was for Harry to whip
away Peters' braces (suspenders), whereupon Sellers'
trousers would tumble. Once when Secombe pulled the
prank, Peter realised too late that he wasn't wearing
any underpants!
At the end of the second series, Bentine left, while
announcer Andrew Timothy departed in 1953 stating
that he feared for his sanity. During series three,
Spike suffered a breakdown and had to miss 12 episodes.
Sellers took over some of his characters while temporary
replacements such as Dick Emery were called in to
man the lifeboats.
 For nine years this truly original and eccentric
show ruled the comedy airwaves, influencing generations
of comedians in its wake. The Goon Show was
the first really out-of-control radio. Its absurd
twists and turns buzzbombed the English Music Hall
comedy that had come before it. The Goons humor crossed
all boundaries of taste and class. Verbal and musical
styles were sliced and diced. Great literature and
popular entertainment were skewered. The later comedy
groups Beyond the Fringe and Monty Python's Flying
Circus would not have exceeded were it not for those
who had Goon before them. The show eventually wound
down in 1960 after a total of 243 shows.
Text on OTRCAT.com ©2007 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved-Reproduction is prohibited. Peter Sellers died in July 1980, following a lustrous
movie career. Michael Bentine, who also enjoyed solo
success, died in November 1996. Spike Milligan, who
just recently shuffled off this mortal coil to great
applause, was awarded a British Comedy award for Lifetime
Achievement in 1995 and in 2001 received an honourary
knighthood. The show still has a huge following throughout
the world, and proves the timeless appeal of intelligent
silliness and relentless mirth. Mirth? Yes, that is
a mirth. But that's the Clousseau to another mystery.
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