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.

Tyler welcomes comedy writer David Quantick to celebrate the 1965 film One Way Pendulum starring Goon Show alumnus Eric Sykes. Adapted by NF Simpson from his own 1959 Royal Court play and directed by Peter Yates (fresh off Summer Holiday, soon to make Bullitt), Eric plays suburban dad Arthur Groomkirby, who is quietly building a full-scale Old Bailey in his living room while his son Kirby (Jonathan Miller) teaches speak-your-weight machines to sing the Hallelujah Chorus in the attic. Meanwhile, daughter Sylvia (Julia Foster) obsesses over her arms and Aunt Mildred (Mona Washbourne) witters endlessly about transport. Rounding out the madness are Peggy Mount as the food-dispatching charlady and George Cole, Graham Crowden & Douglas Wilmer in a superb hallucinatory courtroom sequence.The comparisons to the Goon Show are obvious. David – who met Simpson – explains how his very British absurdism (Lewis Carroll meets Kafka with actual laughs) cloaks the bizarre inside the banal which none of his characters question. The humour is in the mismatch between the bland domestic surroundings and the offbeat conversations therein.

"It's all in the mind." How do you categorise Yellow Submarine? Animated psychedelic musical fantasy comedy? That barely scratches the surface. In this technicolour fantasia, the cartoon Beatles tackle the Blue Meanies, who’ve turned joyful Pepperland into a static, monochrome dystopia where music has been silenced. To restore harmony, John, Paul, George and Ringo - alongside Jeremy Hilary Boob PhD and the ever-anxious Old Fred - must travel from Liverpool to Pepperland in the titular underwater vessel, drifting through strange realms like the Sea of Science and the Foothills of the Headlands.Packed with terrific songs (well, duh), a splendid voice cast (including the great Dick Emery), and a script sharpened - largely uncredited - by Roger McGough, Yellow Submarine may have begun as a contractual compromise but blossomed into something far better than most people expected. Even the real Beatles were impressed enough to pop up for a brief live-action cameo at the end, sealing the film with a smile and a song.Joining Tyler to celebrate this singular sixties cinematic exclamation-mark is comedy writer and podcaster Joel Morris, bringing his trademark insight, deep pop-cultural savvy and boundless enthusiasm to the conversation. As for why Goon Pod is covering this particular gem… well, all will be revealed in the episode!

Harry Secombe could have had reasonable grounds for claiming to be the hardest working man in showbusiness in January 1958: panto (Puss In Boots), TV (Sunday Night At The London Palladium), the Goons, a movie (Davy) and goodness knows what else. Likewise, his colleague Peter Sellers was feeling the pressure of work and his doctor advised a rest on what would have been a scheduled Goon Show recording day. As a result – and much to the chagrin of Spike Milligan – on Sunday 19th January two Goon Shows were recorded, including the one we’re discussing this week, freeing up the following Sunday for Sellers to spend some time with his cameras. The Curse of Frankenstein, as the title suggests, concerns a dying Laird intending to leave his entire fortune to the first Scotsman to play the bagpipes at the South Pole. Joining Tyler this week is returning guest Chas Early and as well as breaking down the episode they chat Morecambe & Wise, Aussie politicians, a waxwork Welshman, the Quarrymen and Spike the balladeer!

Introduced as ‘The Lost Colony’, this is another episode of The Goon Show which sees Neddie Seagoon being duped by Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty. In this case, they convince him that he is a Native American who rightfully owns New York – his ancestors having sold the land to Dutch settlers in the 1620s for a piece of brown string, eleven pence in notes, a Mickey Mouse watch, remains of a small boiled chicken and a life-sized statue of Sabrina. Seagoon paddles to America in a zinc bath tub and through a dubious transaction secures a Native American birth certificate. He tries to sue the US government, claiming New York belongs to him, but ends up in jail. Once free and bent on revenge he attempts to blow the city sky-high – but at what cost? Joining Tyler this week is writer & producer Tom Salinsky, whose new podcast – All British Comedy Explained – is an exercise in introducing British comedy to his American friend, comedian Abigoliah Schamaun. Abigoliah has lived in the UK for many years but her knowledge of British comedy history is limited so Tom is trying to put that right. At the time of recording they have covered Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Young Ones and Not Only But Also – all three of them game-changers – and coming up they will be examining The Goon Show, so Tyler figured it was a neat idea to get Tom onto discuss an episode which rarely gets talked about. The Sale Of Manhattan was broadcast almost exactly seventy years ago and while it contains some questionable stereotypes there is plenty to enjoy and it was a great opportunity to gain Tom’s perspective on the series. All British Comedy Explained can be found HERE: https://shows.acast.com/all-british-comedy-explained