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92-525: The Goon Show is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme . The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 1951, was titled Crazy People ; subsequent series had the title The Goon Show . The show's chief creator and main writer was Spike Milligan , who performed

184-500: A concentration camp by the Nazis. At the end of the war, Geldray returned to Paris and once again found work with Ray Ventura's orchestra for two years, before returning to London in 1947. Settling in London, Geldray took up British citizenship, and worked on a number of BBC radio programmes, such as Workers' Playtime , Melody Magazine and Forces' All-Star Bill . In 1951, he provided

276-718: A Sunday night," said Secombe years later. They took to calling themselves "The Goons" and started recording their pub goings-on with a Pickersgill aluminium disk recorder . BBC producer Pat Dixon heard a recording and took interest in the group. He pressed the BBC for a long-term contract for the gang, knowing that it would secure Sellers for more than just seasonal work, something for which the BBC had been aiming. The BBC acquiesced and ordered an initial series, though without much enthusiasm. The series had its premiere in May 1951 and audience figures grew rapidly, from around 370,000 to nearly two million by

368-446: A comedy show thinly disguised as car advice, and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! . Shows featuring comedic music are also popular; one of the better known national comedy music programs is the long-running weekly program hosted by Dr. Demento , and several other local stations (mostly college radio, freeform and eclectic formats) have similar programs. Several networks program 24 hours a day of stand-up comedy routines; several channels on

460-432: A fresh custard – which he accepted with thanks and immediately poured into his sock, much to their horror. Secombe recalled "Back in the studio, Spike had already placed a sheet of three-ply near a microphone." One after the other, he swung them around his head against the wood, but failed to produce the sound effect he was seeking ("So, a sock full of custard and no sound effect!"). Secombe noted that "Spike used to drive

552-533: A fuel tank in order to "start the show". Years later, Milligan collaborated with Ronnie Barker on The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town in which the credits read, "Raspberries professionally blown by Spike Milligan". David Jason has also claimed to have produced the sound effect and indeed was credited with this in the second segment of Ronnie Barker's LWT series Six Dates with Barker (1971). In several shows, one character, typically either Henry Crun or Minnie Bannister, would be found trapped in

644-495: A hand-picked big band made up of London-based session musicians. The arrangements and musical direction were done by Angela Morley from the third to the 10th series. Morley produced many arrangements and link passages, further improved by the first-class sound quality the BBC engineers managed to achieve. Members of the band featured prominently in the comedy proceedings, particularly jazz trombonist George Chisholm who frequently played Scots characters. The show's concluding music

736-717: A home on Australia 's Radio National and in Ireland there are always a few comedy shows in the week's programming on RTÉ . A locally produced Australian comedic radio program is Hamish & Andy , and in the United Kingdom an example is The Burkiss Way . Radio in Canada is fragmented between the public broadcasters the CBC and Radio Canada in English and French respectively, and a number of independent stations and syndicated networks spread across

828-412: A narrative structure and by the second half of Series 4 each episode typically consisted of three acts linked by a continuing plot, with Geldray performing between Acts I and II and Ellington between Acts II and III. Almost all the principal and occasional characters were now performed by Milligan and Sellers, with Secombe usually playing only Neddie Seagoon, who had replaced Pureheart as the hero of most of

920-461: A pair of Ottawa Valley "lads" or country bumpkins Delmer MacGregor and Cecil Wiggins, played by Gary Perrin and Mike O’Reilly. In real life Perrin was a station executive with little performance training. O'Reilly was an on-air personality, a seasoned bluegrass musician, and multi-instrumentalist. Together they produced a light comedy album, which included Meadow Muffin Blues about stepping in cow pies in

1012-625: A part-time counsellor at the Betty Ford Center . He was married twice and had one son. Geldray died in October 2004, aged 88. Geldray was born Max Leon van Gelder, on 12 February 1916 in Amsterdam , Netherlands , to Jewish parents. His father, Leon van Gelder, was a commercial traveller, and his mother was Margarite, née Baillosterky. By 1922, Leon was the European Manager for Maja perfume and

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1104-627: A period as a sales assistant in a clothes shop before becoming the regional sales supervisor for The Christian Science Monitor . In 1972, Geldray returned to the UK to appear in The Last Goon Show of All , a special programme recorded on 30 April and broadcast on 5 October 1972 to mark the 50th anniversary of the BBC. When the BBC refused to pay to fly Geldray from the US, two of the show's cast—Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers—contributed to his expenses. After

1196-508: A piano. In The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoon , Crun was inside a piano and his speech was accompanied by suitable piano noises. In The Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI , Moriarty is hiding in a piano disguised as one of the strings. Grytpype-Thynne plays a "do-re-mi" scale to find him – Moriarty is "me". The "in a piano" joke was re-used one last time in The Last Goon Show of All . Sometimes characters were introduced as "scion of

1288-422: A variety of inexplicable gurgling and explosive noises. Lewis (1995, p. 218) states Bloodnok's stomach "was achieved by overlaying burps, whoops from oscillators, water splashes, cork-like pops, and light artillery blasts". Several of the words and phrases invented for the show soon entered common usage, the most famous being the word lurgi . In the episode "Lurgi Strikes Britain", Spike Milligan introduced

1380-623: A very large country. Canadian radio licences are federally managed to limit monopolies. Consequently, programing including comedy, is inconsistent and variable quality. In Toronto Jake Edwards (radio personality) portrayed a punchdrunk boxer known as the Champ who manages to misunderstand social situations and overreact with fisticuffs. Performing musical comedians Maclean and Maclean created foul-mouthed original recordings which became underground hits despite limited airplay due to censorship and legal troubles. The Ottawa market on CHEZ-FM 106.1 featured

1472-634: A year. He then worked with a dance band in The Hague, before joining the house band at the Ostend Casino, the Johnny Fresno Band . He would meet performers who were booked to play the casino on occasion, including saxophonist Coleman Hawkins , the English bandleader Ambrose and French bandleader Ray Ventura . Ventura soon offered Geldray a job and in 1937 Geldray moved to Paris. While in Paris, he went to

1564-433: Is Peeper Radio Theatre . Veteran NPR Producer Joe Bevilacqua is creating new radio comedy for The Comedy-O-Rama Hour , which airs on XM Satellite Radio 's Sonic Theater Channel 163, five times per week. In the UK, recent standup and revue comedy performances are also now receiving airing on radio. Max Geldray Max van Gelder (12 February 1916 – 2 October 2004), professionally known as Max Geldray ,

1656-726: Is Pink Oboe?", "Call of the West", "The Scarlet Capsule", "The Tay Bridge Disaster ", "The Gold-plate Robbery", "The £50 cure". "Operation Christ Duff", "The Internal Mountain", "The Silent Bugler", "The Dreaded Piano Clubber", "The Siege of Fort Night", "The Tree Maniac". A re-creation of a Goon Show recording before a studio audience is seen early in the HBO Original Movie, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), with Geoffrey Rush as Sellers, Edward Tudor-Pole as Spike Milligan, Steve Pemberton as Harry Secombe and Lance Ellington as Ray Ellington. A brief moment from that re-creation

1748-545: Is seen in the trailer for that film. Ying Tong is a play written by Roy Smiles which is set partly in a radio studio, partly in a mental asylum and partly in Spike Milligan's mind. It recreates the Goons recording the show, but part way through Spike has a mental breakdown and is committed to an asylum. While it features all of the Goons throughout (although Bentine is mentioned, the fourth character represents Wallace Greenslade),

1840-593: The Hot Club de France and played with jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt , a musician about whom Geldray asserted, "I can honestly say that I have never heard anyone better". The two became close friends and played together often. With the invasion of France by German forces in early 1940, Geldray travelled to England, where he realised he would be safer. On 20 September 1940, he joined the Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade , part of

1932-574: The Popeye comic. Several of the Goons' nonsense songs were recorded in the late 1950s such as the " Ying Tong Song ", number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1956. The radio show had high audience ratings in Britain at its peak; tickets for the recording sessions at the BBC's Camden Theatre (now known as KOKO ) in London were constantly over-subscribed and the various character voices and catchphrases from

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2024-603: The Normandy landings with the Prinses Irene Brigade , but was injured by a bomb blast and spent time in a military hospital. Although he did not incur long-term injuries, he suffered from recurring nightmares in the following years. After the liberation of Amsterdam, Geldray travelled to the city to find his parents who had been resident when the Germans invaded. He found that both parents and his sister Xaviere had been killed in

2116-478: The RMS Queen Elizabeth . On visiting Los Angeles he was impressed by the city and decided to emigrate to the US. Geldray worked in the casinos of Reno, appearing with Sarah Vaughan and Billy Daniels ; he did not like the city, so returned to Los Angeles. In 1962, he met a divorcee with three children, Susan Donofrio; the couple married that year, and in 1964 they had a son, Philip. Geldray worked for

2208-469: The Second World War . Famously, Milligan first encountered Lance Bombardier Secombe after Gunner Milligan's artillery unit accidentally allowed a large howitzer to roll off a cliff, under which Secombe was sitting in a small wireless truck: "Suddenly there was a terrible noise as some monstrous object fell from the sky quite close to us. There was considerable confusion, and in the middle of it all

2300-549: The Sirius XM Radio platforms focus on this format, as does the terrestrial All Comedy Radio network. Rock music stations often play bits of stand-up comedy within the bounds of their regular formats, usually under the banner of a "five o'clock funnies" feature. In Britain and Canada , however, the BBC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation respectively have continued making new radio comedy and drama . British radio comedy also has

2392-466: The blowing of raspberries entered the Goons as Harry Secombe's signal to the other actors that he was going to crack up; you would hear a joke from him, a raspberry, and a stream of laughter. In the Goons' musical recording "The Ying-Tong Song", Milligan performed a solo for raspberry-blower, as one might for tuba or baritone saxophone. Milligan made much use of a rather surreal Columbia Records 78RPM sound effects disc, catalogue number YB20, which bears

2484-447: The 1931 network debut of Stoopnagle and Budd on CBS . Comedians such as Fred Allen , Jack Benny , Judy Canova , Bob Hope and Red Skelton were top-rated in the decades that followed. Even after the big name comedians moved to television in the 1950s, radio comedy continued, notably from Bob and Ray (1946–1988), The Firesign Theatre (1966–1972), and segments heard on NBC's Monitor (1955–1975). Radio comedy did not begin in

2576-677: The BBC as The Omar Khayyam Show in 1963. Radio comedy Radio comedy began in the United States in 1930, and got a much later start in the United Kingdom because many of the British comedians (such as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel ) emigrated to the U.S. to make silent movies in Hollywood , and the American comedians who did not become dramatic actors migrated to radio. Raymond Knight launched The Cuckoo Hour on NBC in 1930, along with

2668-401: The BBC used the same structure for several radio series. In The Goon Show , the musical segments were taken up by Geldray and The Ray Ellington Quartet, with Geldray also playing " Crazy Rhythm " for the play-out music. On occasion, Geldray was given brief lines to perform, although he felt uncomfortable doing so, and his lack of acting ability became a running gag on the programme. Geldray

2760-474: The BBC. Secombe was often heard on Variety Bandbox . Milligan was writing for and acting in the high-profile BBC show Hip-Hip-Hoo-Roy with Derek Roy . Michael Bentine , who appeared in the first series, had just begun appearing in Charlie Chester 's peak-time radio show Stand Easy . The four clicked immediately. "It was always a relief to get away from the theatre and join in the revels at Grafton's on

2852-520: The Dutch army exiled in England. During the war he continued to play and appeared on BBC Radio ; in 1942 he was part of the entertainment laid on for Princess Elizabeth's sixteenth birthday at Windsor Castle . During the course of 1942, Geldray also met Sarah Prentice, a 26-year-old Scottish variety artiste, whose professional name was Zaza Peters; the couple married on 18 January 1943. Geldray took part in

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2944-841: The Lone Banana", "The Scarlet Capsule", "The Pevensey Bay Disaster" "The Case of the Vanishing Room", "The Case of the Missing C.D. Plates", "The Saga of the Internal Mountain", "Rommel's Treasure" "Foreword by Sellers", Details of the Show, Cast, Characters, etc., and "The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler", "The Phantom Head Shaver", "The Affair of the Lone Banana", "The Canal", "Napoleon's Piano", "Foiled by President Fred", "The Mighty Wurlitzer", "The Hastings Flyer", "The House of Teeth". "The Battle of Spion Kop ", "Ned's Atomic Dustbin", "The spy; or, Who

3036-633: The Stargazers, but they left after Episode 6 of Series 2, and for the remaining episodes Secombe filled in, singing a straight vocal number. Incidental, theme and backing music was provided by Stanley Black and the BBC Dance Orchestra. Series 2 also saw the first appearances of popular characters Minnie Bannister (Milligan) and Henry Crun (Sellers). From Series 3, The Goon Show (as it was now officially titled) gradually settled into its 'classic' format. Milligan, Stephens and Grafton began to work within

3128-553: The UK, Apollo Theatre Company in conjunction with Spike Milligan Productions recreated three episodes of The Goon Show - The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler, Tails of Men's Shirts, and The Phantom Head Shaver - with recreations of the original scripts. Co-producer Norma Farnes, Milligan's ex-manager, agreed to the use of the material on the basis the production was respectful of the scripts. The roles of Sellers, Milligan, and Secombe were played by Julian McDowell, Colin Elmer and Clive Greenwood and

3220-414: The United Kingdom until a generation later, with such popular 1950s shows as The Goon Show (started 1951) and Hancock's Half Hour (started 1957). Later, radio became a proving-ground for many later United Kingdom comedians. Chris Morris began his career in 1986 at Radio Cambridgeshire , and Ricky Gervais began his comedy career in 1997 at London radio station XFM . Although traditional comedy

3312-606: The United States and a different version of the shows can be heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra and RTÉ under the name Garrison Keillor's Radio Show . Old shows can be listened to online at the websites of "A Prairie Home Companion" or RTÉ. British radio comedy can be heard on BBC Radio 4 , BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 Extra . Minnesota Public Radio maintains a website where it is possible to listen to episodes of Comedy College . A British commercial station Oneword broadcast American vintage radio comedy as part of their 24-hour-a-day programming of books, comedy and drama and this

3404-521: The United States, NBC began broadcasting the programme on its radio network from the mid-1950s. Subversive and absurdist, The Goon Show exercised a considerable influence on the development of British and American comedy and popular culture. It was cited as a major influence by the Beatles , the American comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre , and the British comedy troupe Monty Python . The series

3496-779: The Wind , which was produced by George Martin and released on the Parlophone label. Later that year, Geldray also appeared in Hancock's 43 Minutes , the Christmas edition of Hancock's Half Hour , broadcast on 23 December 1957. In 1958, the BBC proposed dropping Geldray from The Goon Show in a cost-cutting measure; Peter Sellers threatened to leave the series, and Geldray remained. The Goon Show finished its ten-series run on 28 January 1960. In 1961, with his six-year relationship with Barbara at an end, Geldray worked as an entertainer on four trips on

3588-443: The centenary of the birth of Larry Stephens , staging The Seagoon Memoirs and The Moriarty Murder Mystery . Cast: Sellers - Richard Usher; Milligan - Robert Coletta (2014), Mark Earby (2017, 2023), Secombe - Jimm Rennie (2014, 2023), Stephan Bessant (2017); Wallace Greenslade/ Valentine Dyal - Phil Hemming (2014, 2017), Ian Danter (2024). Director by Robert F. Ball (2014, 2017); Director/Producer Dave Freak. Touring in late 2018 in

3680-424: The collapse of his first marriage on the sheer volume of writing the show required. His then ground-breaking use of sound effects also contributed to the pressure. All this exacerbated his mental instability that included bipolar disorder , especially during the third series. The BBC however made sure he was surrounded by accomplished radio comedy writers — Sykes, Stephens, Antrobus, Wiltshire, and Grafton — so many of

3772-462: The comedian Tom Moss; the band changed its name to "The Hollander Boys". During the tour, Moss introduced Geldray to Jack Hylton , who invited him to play in his orchestra for the evening. On his return to the Netherlands, the harmonica band broke up and Geldray travelled alone to Brussels, where he found work playing with the dance orchestra at the club Le Boeuf sur le Toit , where he remained for

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3864-451: The end of the 17th show. No recordings of any episode of this series are known to have survived. The BBC commissioned a second series and a number of other changes occurred. The musical interludes were shortened, and Max Geldray joined the lineup. Peter Eton , from the BBC's drama department, replaced Dennis Main Wilson as producer. Eton brought stricter discipline to the show's production. He

3956-504: The episode called "The Great Bank Robbery". In keeping with the variety requirements of the BBC's "light entertainment" format, The Goon Show scripts were structured in three acts, separated by two musical interludes. These were provided by the Ray Ellington Quartet ;– who performed a mixture of jazz , rhythm & blues and calypso songs – and by harmonica virtuoso Max Geldray who performed mostly middle of

4048-444: The family moved out of Amsterdam to Bilthoven . Both parents could play the piano—Leon was self-taught and played by ear, while Margarite was classically trained—and it was Leon who started to teach Geldray how to play. He developed love of jazz music after hearing Louis Armstrong on the radio in 1928; Geldray later wrote "how could anyone not love its energy, its vitality and the freedom of its form? And Louis Armstrong among all

4140-419: The fictional malady of Lurgi (sometimes spelled Lurgy), which has survived into modern usage to mean the common cold, or any miscellaneous or non-specific illness (often preceded by the adjective "dreaded"). The symptoms of Lurgi included the uncontrollable urge to cry "Eeeeyack-a-boo", though even during the episode the ailment proved to be an extortionate attempt to sell brass band musical instruments. Milligan

4232-580: The fifth series had 26 episodes plus one special - The Starlings (1954–55); the sixth series had 27 episodes plus three specials, (1955–56); the seventh series had 25 episodes plus two specials, (1956–57); the eighth series had 26 episodes, (1957–58); the Vintage Goons were re-performances of 14 episodes from series four; the ninth series had 17 episodes, (1958–59); and the tenth series had six episodes, (1959–1960). Throughout its history, each episode of The Goon Show, which usually ran just under 30 minutes,

4324-538: The flap of the truck was pushed open and a young, helmeted idiot asked 'Anybody seen a gun?' It was Milligan." Secombe's answer to that question was "What colour was it?" Milligan met Peter Sellers after the war at the Hackney Empire , where Secombe was performing, and the three became close friends. The group first formed at The Grafton Arms Pub & Rooms, 2 Strutton Ground, Victoria, London,Jimmy Grafton's London public house in 1948. Sellers had already débuted with

4416-518: The focus is on Milligan and his breakdown. Birmingham Comedy Festival produced a theatre production as part of their festival in 2014 staging two Milligan Goon Show scripts, The Canal and The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton) . The festival produced a second touring production in 2017 featuring two more Milligan scripts, The House Of Teeth and The Jet Propelled Guided NAAFI . Both runs were sanctioned by Norma Farnes and Spike Milligan Productions. The festival returned to The Goon Show in 2023 to mark

4508-416: The group as "Mac [ sic ] Geldray and his Mouth Accordion Band", changing the surname of the principal to the name he retained for the rest of his life. With his performances, Geldray became the first person to play the harmonica in the jazz style. A change in the format of the band to a quartet and the introduction of a new manager led to a six-week tour of English theatres in 1937, accompanying

4600-469: The harmonica. Following the death of Geldray's youngest step-son, Timmy, Susan Geldray began drinking to excess, and she underwent treatment at the Betty Ford Center . Geldray volunteered to help at the clinic and qualified as a counsellor and technician. To raise funds for the clinic he started "Jazz without Booze", a series of concerts, which included prominent local musicians, including Stan Getz . In 1989, Geldray published his autobiography, Goon With

4692-411: The house of Rowton", or "member of Rowton House". This was a reference to the " Rowton Houses ", which were hostels for working men in London. The following films were a product of Goon activity: Spike Milligan teamed up with illustrator Pete Clarke to produce two books of comic strip Goons. The stories were slightly modified versions of classic Goon shows. "The Last Goon Show of All", "The Affair of

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4784-527: The innocuous title "Donkey" on the label. Approximating possibly the most obscene and flatulent noise ever recorded, it appeared first in the show "The Sinking of Westminster Pier" as a sound to accompany an oyster called Fred opening its shell; it thereafter became known as Fred the Oyster, and appears as such in the scripts. This recording was often used as a reaction to a bad joke. Examples include The Last Goon Show of All during which Neddie shouts old jokes into

4876-503: The listeners, stating "Man, the excuses he makes to get to that brandy!", causing Milligan, Sellers and Secombe to wail "MATE!" in protest. However, Milligan got his own back by making Ellington laugh halfway through the song by doing Minnie Bannister voices while Ellington was singing. During radio programmes of the 1920s and 1930s, the background noise for crowd scenes was often achieved by a moderately large group of people mumbling " rhubarb " under their breath with random inflections. This

4968-563: The most new ground. Part of the problem was that "not even Milligan knew how to capture electronically the peculiar sounds that came alive in his head – he just knew when it had not yet happened". An example of this comes from an often cited story of Milligan filling his two socks with custard in the Camden Theatre canteen, in an attempt to achieve a squelching effect. Milligan asked the BBC canteen ladies to make some custard; they thought he must have some stomach trouble so lovingly made him

5060-400: The musical interludes for a new BBC series Crazy People , a comedy show that starred Harry Secombe , Peter Sellers , Spike Milligan , and Michael Bentine . Crazy People changed its name for subsequent series to The Goon Show and Geldray was a regular performer in the remaining nine series. The show followed a successful format of a vague plot interspersed by two musical performances;

5152-441: The musical segments took up around half the programme. In this formative phase the show co-starred Milligan (who played only minor roles in the early shows), Sellers, Secombe and Michael Bentine as the nominal 'hero' of each episode, madcap inventor Dr Osric Pureheart. Musical performances were by virtuoso jazz harmonica player Max Geldray , singer Ray Ellington and his quartet (both of whom were recruited by Dixon) and vocal group

5244-430: The other cast members along the way. Many characters had regular catchphrases which quickly moved into the vernacular; among the best known are: The Goon Show has been variously described as "avant-garde", "surrealist", "abstract", and "four dimensional". The show played games with the medium of radio itself. Whole scenes were written in which characters would leave, close the door behind themselves, yet still be inside

5336-510: The pasture. Many of the BBC's most successful television comedies began life as BBC Radio 4 shows. These include Hancock's Half Hour , Goodness Gracious Me , Knowing Me, Knowing You , The League of Gentlemen , Whose Line Is It Anyway? , Room 101 , Have I Got News For You , (based on Radio 4 's The News Quiz ), Dead Ringers , Mitchell and Webb and The Mighty Boosh , and most recently Little Britain and Absolute Power . The science fiction comedy Red Dwarf

5428-556: The performance, at the Camden Theatre , Princess Margaret came backstage and asked if she could be introduced to Geldray as she was an admirer of his playing. In 1973, Geldray and his family moved to Palm Springs to look after his ailing stepfather; he also played harmonica in the local Trinidad Bar. A local doctor approached him after one set and asked if Geldray would put on a show at his stroke centre, which led to Geldray undertaking voluntary work teaching stroke victims to play

5520-500: The players, became something special to me". In February 1930, Geldray heard a mouth organ played on BBC Radio and mentioned the performance to a friend, Hans Mossel, owner of a music shop in Amsterdam; Mossel had ordered a chromatic harmonica the previous week and gave it to Geldray, who practised assiduously. By 1934, Geldray had made some appearances on Dutch radio and formed a band with eight others; an agent named Franklin billed

5612-454: The problems caused by his ill health were skilfully covered over by composite scripts. Many senior BBC staff were variously bemused and befuddled by the show's surreal humour and it has been reported that senior programme executives erroneously referred to it as The Go On Show or even The Coon Show . The show's title was inspired, according to Spike Milligan, by Alice the Goon , a character from

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5704-572: The production was directed by McDowell and Tim Astley. The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d , which starred Peter Sellers, was the first attempt to translate Goon Show humour to television. Made for Associated-Rediffusion during 1956 and only broadcast in the London area, it was mainly written by Milligan, with contributions from other writers in the Associated London Scripts cooperative including Dave Freeman and Terry Nation , with Eric Sykes as script editor. The Idiot Weekly (1958–1962)

5796-515: The realm of musique concrète , and using the then new technology of magnetic tape. Many of these sequences involved the use of complex multiple edits, echo and reverberation and the deliberate slowing down, speeding up or reversing of tapes. One of the most famous was the legendary "Bloodnok's Stomach" sound effect, created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to represent the sound of Major Bloodnok's digestive system in action, which included

5888-407: The recording of episodes was often acrimonious and resulted in rows, and Milligan later agreed that he was a diva during this time, adding "I was trying to shake the BBC out of its apathy. Sound effects were a knock on the door and tramps on gravel – that was it, and I tried to transform it." Many of the sound effects created for later programmes featured innovative production techniques borrowed from

5980-493: The relationship had "burned itself out", and he began a relationship with a dancer, Barbara. In 1956, Geldray appeared in three television comedy shows produced by ITV and starring the Goons: The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d (broadcast 24 February – 23 April 1956), A Show Called Fred (broadcast 2–30 May 1956) and Son of Fred (broadcast 17 September – 5 November 1956). In 1957, he released an album, Goon with

6072-440: The road numbers and jazz standards of the 1930s and 1940s accompanied by the big band. Both Ellington and Geldray also made occasional cameo appearances; Ellington was often drafted in to play stereotypical "black" roles such as a tribal chieftain, native bearer or Major Bloodnok's nemesis (and counterpoint to Bloodnok's affliction) "The Red Bladder". It was in its use of pre-recorded and live sound effects that The Goon Show broke

6164-411: The room. Further to this, characters would announce their departure, slam a door, but it would be another character who had left the room. That character would then beat on the door for re-admittance, the door would open and close and again the wrong character would be locked out. The show paved the way for surreal and alternative humour, as acknowledged by comedians such as Eddie Izzard . The surreality

6256-470: The same time as the eighth series, which featured recordings of redevelopments (by Milligan) of short sketches from early shows which had not been recorded by transcription services. The first series had 17 episodes plus one special, Cinderella (1951); the second series had 25 episodes, (1952); the third series had 25 episodes plus one special - The Coronation Special (1952–53); the fourth series had 30 episodes plus one special, Archie In Goonland (1953–54);

6348-617: The scripts. From Series 3 onwards, the principal character roles were: Secondary characters were the "Indians", Banerjee and Lalkaka, the servant Abdul/Singez Thingz, Willium "Mate" Cobblers, Cyril, Jim Spriggs, Little Jim, Flowerdew and Chief Ellinga/The Red Bladder – both played by Ray Ellington. There were also occasional guest stars including senior BBC announcer John Snagge , and actors Valentine Dyall , Dick Emery , Kenneth Connor , Dennis Price and Bernard Miles . The traditional plots involved Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty getting Neddie Seagoon involved in some far-fetched plan, and meeting

6440-433: The series alongside Harry Secombe , Peter Sellers and (for the first two series) Michael Bentine . The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour , puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects . There were also light music interludes. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop , many of which were reused by other shows for decades. Elements of

6532-620: The show quickly became part of the vernacular. The series has remained consistently popular ever since, with the show being broadcast weekly by Australia's ABC network as late as 2012. The show is also broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra . The scripts exist mostly in fan-transcribed versions via dedicated websites. Although three books were published containing selected scripts, they are out of print, and typically available only in libraries or second-hand. Some more recent biographical books contain selected scripts. There were 10 series in total, plus an additional series called Vintage Goons , recorded at

6624-598: The show satirised contemporary life in 1950s Britain, parodying aspects of show business, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, the military, education, class structure, literature and film. The show was released internationally through the BBC Transcription Services (TS). It aired regularly from the 1950s in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, and Canada, although these TS versions were frequently edited to avoid controversial subjects. In

6716-483: The stories. The closing theme, backing for Geldray and incidental music was now provided by a big band of freelance musicians under the direction of Angela Morley (known at the time as Wally Stott), who had been writing for the show since the first series. After the end of Series 3, original announcer Andrew Timothy was replaced (at the suggestion of John Snagge ) by Wallace Greenslade , who provided spoken narrative links as well as occasionally performing small roles in

6808-438: The studio managers mad with his insistence on getting the sound effects he wanted. In the beginning, when the programme was recorded on disc, it was extremely difficult to achieve the right sound effect. There were, I think, four turntables on the go simultaneously, with different sounds being played on each – chickens clucking, Big Ben striking, donkeys braying, massive explosions, ships' sirens – all happening at once. It

6900-420: The way they broke up the conventions of radio and played with the very nature of the medium." This is reiterated by Michael Palin and John Cleese . Cleese recalls listening to The Goon Show as a teenager in the mid-1950s "and being absolutely amazed by its surreal humour. It came at a key stage in my own development and I never missed a show". Orchestral introductions, links and accompaniment were provided by

6992-467: Was a Dutch jazz harmonica player. Best known for providing musical interludes for the BBC radio comedy programme The Goon Show , he was also credited as being the first harmonica player to embrace the jazz style. Geldray was born in the Netherlands and played jazz in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and his home country, before settling in Britain at the outbreak of the Second World War; he

7084-421: Was absent as a performer for about two months, returning for episode 17, broadcast in early March 1953. As with Series 2, all episodes were co-written by Milligan and Stephens and edited by Jimmy Grafton. Bentine left the show at the end of series 2, citing a desire to pursue solo projects, although there had been an increasing degree of creative tension between him and Milligan. Milligan blamed his breakdown and

7176-442: Was also an expert at sound effects and microphone technique, ensuring that the show became a far more dynamic listening experience. However, a few episodes into the series Milligan suffered a major nervous breakdown . He was hospitalised in early December 1952, just before the broadcast of episode five, but it, and the following episode, had already been written, and the next 12 episodes were co-written by Stephens and Grafton. Milligan

7268-414: Was also the butt of some of the Goon jokes and humour: he was referred to throughout the programmes as "Conks", on account of his nose, and his performances were often humorously dismissed by the announcer Wallace Greenslade , with such comments as: "That was Mr Max Geldray playing a harmonica. We thought you ought to know what it was, anyhow." In the early 1950s, Geldray's marriage ended in divorce, after

7360-469: Was an Australian radio comedy series written by and starring Milligan with an Australian supporting cast including Ray Barrett and John Bluthal . It was made for the ABC during Milligan's numerous visits to Australia, where his family had emigrated. Milligan adapted some Goon Show scripts and included his Goon Show characters (notably Eccles) in many episodes. Six episodes of The Idiot Weekly were remade by

7452-533: Was developed from ideas in a radio show called Son Of Cliché . Another science fiction comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was created for radio , but also went on to great success in book , television and film formats. Examples of American radio comedy can be heard on streaming internet radio stations. Humorous storytelling is the focus of The Moth Radio Hour . Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion can be heard on public radio stations in

7544-506: Was devised and written by Spike Milligan with the regular collaboration of other writers including Larry Stephens (contributing to around 140 episodes), Eric Sykes (who co-wrote most of the episodes in Series 5), Maurice Wiltshire and John Antrobus , initially under the supervision of Jimmy Grafton . Milligan and Harry Secombe became friends while serving in the Royal Artillery during

7636-421: Was essentially structured as a comedy-variety programme, consisting of scripted comedy segments alternating with musical interludes. The first two series were mostly produced by Dennis Main Wilson ; none of the episodes was given an individual title and these early shows were loosely structured and consisted of four or five unconnected sketches, separated by musical items. According to later producer Peter Eton ,

7728-492: Was later to make up his own definition in Treasure Island According to Spike Milligan , where Jim Hawkins' mother describes it as "like brown spots of shit on the liver". Alcohol was strictly forbidden during rehearsals and recording, so the cast fortified themselves with milk. The milk in turn was fortified with brandy. In later episodes the catchphrase "round the back for the old brandy!" or "the old Marlon Brando"

7820-436: Was often parodied by Milligan, who would try to get the same effect with only three or four people, clearly intoning the word rather than mumbling. After some time, Secombe began throwing in "custard" during these scenes (for example, in "The Fear of Wages and Wings Over Dagenham", where the phrase was amended to 'flying rhubarb'). As well as being used as a comic device randomly inserted into different sketches to avoid silence,

7912-635: Was once a significant part of American broadcast radio programming , it is now mainly found in the archives of Old Time Radio enthusiasts and on the Internet streaming of comedy recordings . The majority of mainstream radio comedy now consists of personality-driven shows hosted by talk-radio hosts such as Howard Stern or comedic duos such as Armstrong & Getty and Bob & Tom . Exceptions to this are WSRN's "Audience of Two", Garrison Keillor 's work on Minnesota Public Radio : A Prairie Home Companion and Comedy College , and NPR 's Car Talk ,

8004-499: Was only when tape came into use that Spike felt really happy with the effects." An FX instruction in one script read "Sound effect of two lions walking away, bumping against each other. If you can't get two lions, two hippos will do". Over time, the sound engineers became increasingly adept at translating the script into desired sounds, assisted from the late 1950s onwards by specialists in the BBC's newly formed Radiophonic Workshop. Milligan's relationship with BBC managers preparing for

8096-472: Was part of the attraction for Sellers, and this exacerbated his mental instability especially during the third series. Many of the sequences have been cited as being visionary in the way that they challenged the traditional conventions of comedy. In the Pythons ' autobiography, Terry Jones states "The Goons of course were my favourite. It was the surreality of the imagery and the speed of the comedy that I loved -

8188-436: Was streamed on the internet until the station closed in 2008. Interest in radio comedy and radio drama is currently enjoying a resurgence. Epguides.com, which provides encyclopedic information on television shows, has recently begun to build a similar list of radio shows. In America, new groups have formed to try to bring about a renewed interest in the art-form. At the forefront of this new wave of audio-only comedic groups

8280-482: Was used to announce the exit of one or more characters, or a break for music. In "The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy" (Series 9, Episode 4), Ray Ellington, before his musical item begins, muses, "I wonder where he keeps that stuff!". In "The Scarlet Capsule" (Series 9, Episode 14), Ellington's reply to Secombe's cry of "Time for Ray Ellington and the old BRANDYYY there" was "The introductions he gives me...". In "The Moon Show" (Series 7, Episode 18), Ellington sympathises with

8372-518: Was usually either " Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead " or a truncated and ironic rendition of the Alte Kameraden (Old Comrades') march, followed by Max Geldray and the Ray Ellington Quartet playing " Crazy Rhythm " as play-out music. Other theme tunes used included "Goons' Gallop", a play on Devil's Galop , " I Want to Be Happy " and "Lucky Strike", which the cast sang over at the conclusion of

8464-609: Was wounded during the Invasion of Normandy . He appeared in nearly every episode of The Goon Show from 1951 until the end of the show's run in 1960, providing one of the musical interludes and the closing music for each programme, as well as sometimes taking brief speaking roles. After The Goon Show series ended, Geldray settled in the US, where he worked as an entertainer in the Reno casinos alongside performers such as Sarah Vaughan and Billy Daniels . Moving to Palm Springs, he eventually became

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