I blame it all on the Goons!
I grew up in South Africa in a time before TV. The god-fearing racists running the government had decided early on that moving pictures were the work of the devil, and, they posited, an informed populace posed a danger to the efficient running of their apartheid monstrosity. That is why we had to wait till 1973 for broadcast television. Prior to that, my family gathered around the radio in the living room every Friday night to listen to the Goon Show. This twisted group of British oddballs grabbed my imagination. I knew the scripts by heart and when Monty Python arrived on the scene, I was ready. The Goons nurtured my passion for comedy and forced me to conjure up vivid imaginary worlds and zany characters in my imagination.
It surprises me that most folks I know today have never heard of the Goon Show. I live in California and understand that the Goons were a phenomenon limited largely to the British Commonwealth. However, if you are interested in the origins of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Not The 9-O-Clock News, and a host of other British comedy troupes, then you may want to know more about the show that paved the way for them.
The four key members of the Goon Show were side-splitting on air, but their personal lives were a mess. You have probably heard of Peter Sellers, the best known of the Goons. Most people remember him as the beloved Inspector Jacques Clouseau, but for me, he will always be the infamous Major Denis Bloodnok. His Goon characters (and he played many) were as morally flawed as he was in real life, just funnier. Then there was Harry Secombe who played Neddie Seagoon, the evergreen idiot who was always the sucker. Harry, a trained opera singer, was a large man in the vein of Pavarotti. When asked in an interview if it were true that he came from Wales, he replied, “I don’t come from sardines, mate!” Michael Bentine played Professor Osric Pureheart in the first two seasons. And then there was Spike Milligan. He was terribly affected by his time fighting in Italy during the Second World War. Suffering from shell shock (PTSD) and a variety of other mental illnesses, he channeled it all into the hundreds of groundbreaking scripts churned out for the Goons and the weirdly wonderful characters he voiced. During the Goon Show half hour, Milligan became Eccles, Minnie Bannister, Jim Spriggs and the nefarious Count Moriarty, amongst others.
Without boring you any further, I invite you to try a few of my Goon Show favorites. You will find almost every Goon show ever recorded on the BBC website at the links below.
The Goon Show: Series 5 / Episode 3: The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea
The Goon Show: Series 6 / Episode 4: Napoleons Piano
The Goon Show: Series 6 / Episode 24: The Treasure in the Lake