Goon Pod

A podcast where we talk about classic comedy with particular focus on the work of Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe & Michael Bentine. You'll also hear us discuss the likes of Monty Python, Hancock, Blackadder, the Carry On films, Peter Cook, Steptoe & Son and countless other comedy figures & fixtures from the postwar era.

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246 episodes
Updated Wednesday

Episodes246

Newest first

Apr 2, 2025 · 1 hr 14 min
The Histories of Pliny the Elder
"Do you want a taste of the lash?" "No thanks, I've just had some cocoa." In 1974 the BBC issued the first Goon Show Classics LP. On one side was The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea and on the other side was the show we're talking about today: The Histories of Pliny the Elder, Spike Milligan's attempt to pen a sword-and-sandals Goonish epic. It has become one the most beloved Goon Shows ever, with some highly memorable gags and an end-of-term looseness about it. They all sounded like they were just having a lot of fun. Joining Tyler is returning guest James Page and as well as discussing the show itself pay tribute to a couple of the backroom boys, examine the difference between Cyril and Lew and give mention to Mark Kermode, Terry Scott and the Asterix books.
Mar 26, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min
The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1959)
According to Peter Sellers: “It all started because Spike Milligan and I once said we wanted to experiment in visual humour. We got as many friends together as we could and went and found a field. That was all we had – friends, a field, a roll of film.” What resulted was 'The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film' (1959), directed by the up-and-coming Richard Lester, a friend and collaborator of Sellers and Milligan. The short film soon became a word-of-mouth hit and was even nominated for an Oscar. It helped pave the way for Lester to work with the Beatles several years later and Spike Milligan claimed that it was one of the very few true visual representations of Peter Sellers' sense of humour. Although accounts vary it has become accepted that the total budget for the film was £70 (including the rent of a field) and the entire cast was made up of - as Sellers says - friends. So we see Graham Stark, Leo McKern, David Lodge, Mario Fabrizi, Bruce Lacey and Johnny Vyvyan, as well as the two Goons themselves. This week film academic Dr Adrian Smith joins Tyler to talk about this highly influential 11 minutes of mayhem.
Mar 2, 2025 · 1 hr 28 min
Whoops Apocalypse (1986) with David Renwick & Andrew Marshall
A darkly comic satire about an increasingly deranged leader of a Western power, tensions with Russia and the threat of World War 3 breaking out – sound familiar? That’s the premise of Whoops Apocalypse, the 1986 feature film very loosely based on the sitcom of the same name, created by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall. Sadly where the film fails to imitate real life is the presence of a female President in the White House and she’s the (relatively) sane one, while her British counterpart (played by Peter Cook) believes unemployment is caused by pixies and is quite happy to encourage those without jobs to leap to their deaths off Beachy Head. The film also features Loretta Swit (M*A*S*H), Richard Wilson, Michael Richards (pre-Seinfeld), Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle, Ian Richardson, Herbert Lom and John Sessions. Last December for Goon Pod Film Club Tyler spoke to Renwick & Marshall at length about Whoops Apocalypse and how it all came about and he decided to share it with the general Goon Pod listeners as a bonus episode before world events rendered its plot totally tame and entirely plausible. Andrew and David talked warmly about the film and revealed how it was chiefly the lousy scheduling of their earlier television show End Of Part One which compelled them to write the Whoops Apocalypse sitcom, which in turn led to producer Brian Eastman proposing a big-screen repurposing, involving a new storyline and characters. They discussed the writing process, the challenges of casting, the difference between what made critics laugh and audiences laugh and things they wish had worked a little bit better. Goon Pod returns in late March. Goon Pod Film Club can be found here: patreon.com/GoonPod and you can sign up free for a seven day trial. Shows include Kind Hearts & Coronets, A Hard Days Night, Bedazzled (1967), Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Guest House Paradiso (aka the ‘Bottom movie’),Carry On Screaming, Billy Liar and, most recently, It’s Trad Dad.
Jan 1, 2025 · 1 hr 45 min
Listeners Top 20 British Comedy Films Of All Time
In 2024 we asked Goon Pod listeners to nominate their all-time favourite British comedy film. It didn't have to have a Goon in it - no, we wanted to put together a comprehensive Top 20 chart which covered all the bases. This week as we wind up the show this series Simon Meddings from Waffle On podcast joins Tyler to count down the list from Number 20 to Number 1. While there will be films you'd expect to turn up in a list like this there's also a number of surprises and even omissions. Will your favourite have made the final 20? Waffle On: https://waffleon.podbean.com/
Dec 29, 2024 · 1 hr 29 min
Billy Liar (1963) with Tim Worthington
A special Christmas bonus edition! As part of Goon Pod Film Club - www.patreon.com/GoonPod - every month Tyler and a special guest discuss a British comedy film and in August this year Tim Worthington came to talk about his favourite: Billy Liar from 1963. Here's the full episode for Goon Pod listeners to get a taste. As you’d expect from Tim the conversation takes many twists and turns – as well as analysing the film itself, its themes and ideas, its stars, its production, its position in the pantheon of British New Wave cinema, there are also nods aplenty towards popular culture connected with the film, including Ken Russell, the Four Yorkshiremen sketch and Saint Etienne! Tom Courtenay is the titular Billy Liar, or, more accurately, William Fisher, a grammar school boy on a scholarship from a working class environment who finds himself constantly at odds with distant parents, girlfriends expecting greater commitment, a mocking colleague and a rather foolish boss. He is a provincial dreamer with aspirations to better himself but is somewhat lacking the drive. Prone to lapsing into fantasies in which he is a big wheel in a fictional state called Ambrosia, Billy’s doing a job he hates working as a clerk in a funeral directors firm. However, he almost finds a way out of it all, a chance to escape and spread his wings and soar, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shake off the cloying ordinariness of his Northern town and leave it all behind. Other films covered on GPFC this year include A Hard Days Night, Carry On Screaming and Guest House Paradiso! For a free 7-day trial of Goon Pod Film Club head over to patreon.com/GoonPod
Dec 25, 2024 · 1 hr 26 min
Ted Kendall Q&A
The man behind the Goon Show Compendiums, audio engineer extraordinaire Ted Kendall returns to answer your questions in this Christmas edition!
Dec 18, 2024 · 1 hr 15 min
A Christmas Carol
“For a shortened version of this programme, please read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and you won’t find much resemblance.” On 24th December 1959 the tenth and final series of The Goon Show got off to a thoroughly festive start with a show VERY loosely based on the classic Dickens story, in which Scrooge (played by Henry Crun) entrusts Eccles with a Christmas pudding full of gold threepenny bits. This attracts the attention of Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty and all manner of chaos ensues. This really was the last hurrah for the Goon Show as Series 10 only ran for six editions – Sellers was already a film star, Secombe was in huge demand as a singer and performer and Milligan (beset with personal dramas) had grown tired of doing it. It was an excuse for Sunday larks but as 1960 arrived they were all ready to move on. Leading up to the start of the series the BBC publicity department announced: “Christmas is expected to get off to a disastrous start in the Home Service on Christmas Eve. For at exactly 7:30pm announcer Wallace Greenslade will announce over the ether “This is the Goon Show” and for the next thirty minutes Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe will start a hilarious riot throughout millions of listeners’ homes.” The show lacked any structure or discipline and yet contains some of the funniest material the Goons ever broadcast, chiefly centred around Scrooge, Eccles and Ned Scratchit. Willium is appearing as Sewerman Sam and Max Geldray defiles the acting craft with a brief role as a Welsh spouse. It wraps up on a musical note for want of a neater ending. Joining Tyler is Andy Bell whose Welsh-language podcast is Rhaglen Cymru - Andy can be contacted at rhaglencymru@hotmail.com.
Dec 11, 2024 · 1 hr 13 min
The Gang Behind The Goons
Who were the key figures in getting the Goon Show to radio? Which people were pivotal to the Goons' success? Join Tyler and Roger Stevenson as they rank those within the Goon Show's orbit in order of importance and show their working. Roger took the brief seriously and put a lot of thought and care into his choices; Tyler slightly misunderstood the brief and went more down that 'Who was the Fifth Goon?' route. What resulted was an interesting mix of names, and increasingly desperate attempts by Tyler to justify his ranking system. Among the names bandied about are such worthies as Dennis Main Wilson, Valentine Dyall, Jimmy Grafton, Larry Stephens, Dick Emery and John Snagge.
Dec 4, 2024 · 1 hr 45 min
The British Comedy Awards 1994
On 4th December 1994 Jonathan Ross hosted the British Comedy Awards in front of an invited audience of the great and the good and Noel Edmonds. It was a good year for the likes of Steve Coogan, Michael Barrymore and the Drop the Dead Donkey team but almost from the off Ross was beset by problems, including announcing the winner of the wrong award, having to deal with an out-of-control Meatloaf whose sole intention, it seemed, was to reduce Wossy to a quivering mess, and, most notably, attempting to wrest back control of the room in the wake of Spike Milligan calling the future King of England a 'little grovelling bastard'. The reaction and fallout was to dominate the redtops for days and raised Spike's profile so sufficiently that his chatshow bookings and requests for interviews quadrupled overnight. Joining Tyler to talk about all that and examine the winners (and losers) of the evening are co-host of The Sitcom Club podcast Gary Rodger and the man behind Behind The Stunts, Jon Auty. There's clips aplenty and personal reminiscences from Clive Anderson and Jane Milligan. It's a fun stroll down memory lane and a useful reminder that there was a time when Michael Barrymore was the biggest name in showbiz and the likes of Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris were still considered 'the new boys'.
Nov 27, 2024 · 1 hr 22 min
Never Let Go (1960)
A rare straight acting role for Peter Sellers in 1960, Never Let Go starred Richard Todd as a man for whom life outside of uniform has never been easy, as he struggles to put food on the table and his problems multiply when his new car is stolen. The vehicle has been stolen to order by teen tearaway Adam Faith, who supplies local garage owner and all-round nasty piece of work Lionel Meadows (Sellers) with hot wheels which are subsequently re-plated and sold on. John Cummings (Todd) is determined to get his car back and in doing so risks his own life and that of his family. Sellers was rightly lauded for his portrayal of the sociopathic Meadows, although life off-screen was hardly harmonious for his wife and kids as he took the character home with him every evening after filming. Joining Tyler to discuss this important film is Scott Phipps, co-host of the Reel Britannia, Stinking Pause & Talking Pictures TV podcasts.
Nov 20, 2024 · 1 hr 29 min
Sellers Market (LP, 1979)
In 1979 Peter Sellers released Sellers Market, an LP of all new material which was recorded mostly in Paris and included contributions from the likes of Alan Clare, June Whitfield and Irene Handl. While it failed to reach the heights of his previous hit records The Best of Sellers and Songs For Swinging Sellers, Sellers Market does contain some good stuff – notably The Whispering Giant (featuring Irene Handl on top form) and The Eaton Square Blues. Perhaps most intriguingly is what wasn’t included on the album – a couple of tracks Sellers recorded as Fred Kite up against June Whitfield’s Margaret Thatcher. Fearing her displeasure, Sellers nixed these tracks as he hoped the real Mrs T might confer upon him a knighthood. As it was, he was dead less than a year later. Joining Tyler to talk about the making of the LP and what works and doesn’t work is returning guest and Sellers expert Mark Cousins, who thinks it could have been a much better album had more time and effort been devoted by all involved; as it was it was a bit of a rush job and comes across a bit baggy and unfocused.
Nov 13, 2024 · 1 hr 21 min
The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
Released 69 years ago this week, The Cockleshell Heroes was a heavily fictionalised account of the real-life WW2 Operation Frankton, in which a group of marines, headed by Herbert ‘Blondie’ Hasler, covertly entered Bordeaux Harbour in kayaks (or ‘Cockles’) to sabotage German cargo vessels. The film starred actor/director Jose Ferrer and Trevor Howard, with Anthony Newley and… drum roll… DAVID LODGE providing solid support as Marines Clarke & Ruddock respectively. Although The Cockleshell Heroes was a hit with audiences and looks gorgeous in Technicolour it doesn’t tend to get talked about as much as other similar WW2 films of the period and perhaps this was partly down to the almost anti-climactic third act. However, thanks to shameless plugging by David Lodge on a frequent basis some two decades later as part of Spike Milligan’s Q series the film is still regarded affectionately by some people, particularly listeners to this podcast, and it seemed a nice idea to put it under the scrutinising gaze of your host and his special guest this week. Joining Tyler is Warren Cummings, host of The Cinematic Sausage podcast and someone with a very direct link to the true events which this film depicts – his grandfather served alongside the ‘Cockleshell Heroes’ in WW2. It’s a great chat with tons of fascinating factual information about Operation Frankton and how the film reflected the true events, plus there’s a long-deserved tribute to David Lodge, without whom this podcast would be poorer.
Nov 6, 2024 · 1 hr 11 min
The White Box of Great Bardfield
"In the little Essex hamlet of Great Bardfield, a tiger with influenza is mounting guard over a mysterious white box. What is the secret of the box of Bardfield—does it contain the dreaded International Christmas Pudding or is it really full of priceless Essex snow?" So ran the Radio Times listing that week for the show we are discussing, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the International Christmas Pudding but has everything to do with selling snow to Sudan. It's Tyler's favourite Goon Show of all, the third he ever heard and one which had been 'trailed' to him in a way by his father as he was growing up. His dad would occasionally mention the plotline of The White Box of Great Bardfield without naming it specifically; he merely considered it a quite genius idea for a comedy plot. Joining Tyler to try and unpick it all is returning guest Molly McDade who thinks it's a show you should never expose to a newbie and was looking forward to seeing Coogan in Strangelove - which, by the time this goes out she will have done!
Oct 30, 2024 · 1 hr 30 min
Oliver! (1968)
Everyone at Goon Pod Towers is very excited this week as this is the first time we've ever covered a Best Picture Oscar winner on the show, and this one features everybody's favourite beadle Harry Secombe who's in fine voice for this tremendous 1968 film based on the hit Lionel Bart stage musical! Joining Tyler are those incorrigible urchins Chris Webb & Robert Johnson from Still Any Good podcast and among other things they discuss: The magnificent Ron Moody The novel vs the film Harry hits it out of the park That villainous Bill Sikes The wonderous Oliver! set Jack Wild's tragic life Max Bygrave's nice little earner The songs they dropped Carol Reed's Flap! Fagin puts in his 10,000 hours Leonard Rossiter's drunken turn Corrie does Oliver! Bullseye the dog in makeup Mark Lester's gift to Jacko Brucie as Fagin? Catflap's nod Plus much much more! Consider yourself entertained! STILL ANY GOOD: https://stillanygood.buzzsprout.com/
Oct 23, 2024 · 1 hr 12 min
Spike Milligan: Face Your Image (BBC, 1975)
In 1975 David Dimbleby conducted an interview on television with Spike Milligan, and as the Fates would have it Spike was in the perfect frame of mind for such a probing and personal interrogation. They talked about his childhood, the war, his career, his mental health, the breakdown of his marriage in the fifties, his hopes and regrets and even touch on (then) contemporary events - the boy he shot in his garden and the fallout which resulted in him being dropped from several animal charities. The conversation is punctuated by a series of filmed sequences in which people who knew Spike well give their views on the ex-Goon, such as his fellow ex-Goon Peter Sellers, writer and collaborator John Antrobus and old friend and mentor Jimmy Grafton. As indicated, Spike takes it all largely in his stride, with only very occasional flashes of annoyance or irritation and the odd bemused frown and it remains one of the most insightful and honest portraits of the great man we have. Our guest this week is actor & writer Lee Moone who previously has adapted Milligan's Phantom Raspberry-Blower of Old London Town for the stage.
Oct 16, 2024 · 1 hr 10 min
Forog
Young Ned Seagoon, walking the streets of London during a particularly thick 'pea-souper,' accidentally knocks over a Miss Selina Clutch. Her strange behaviour mystifies young Neddie until a chance meeting with Dr. Rheingold Fnutt puts him on the track of an underground terrorist organisation led by the reckless 'Overcoat Charlie' intent on wrecking the capital's commercial life by blanketing London with an artificial foreign fog that makes people think nothing but the best of each other. Professor Crun is called in by the Government to find an antidote to 'Forog' but not before Professor Moriarty and Commercial Attache, Grytpype-Thynne, nearly succeed in bringing London life to a standstill. So runs the synopsis to this week's edition but as is usually the case the actual show itself bears little relationship to Spike Milligan's fevered precis. Instead, we find an increasingly manic Ned Seagoon hell-bent on solving London's fog problem, conversing with statues and getting all xenophobic over atmospheric conditions. Joining Tyler this week is James Page who loves Forog... but can our host say the same?
Oct 9, 2024 · 1 hr 2 min
The Moon Show
"There once was a beautiful moon, "It was up in the sky, chum, "When he said “What’s the time?” "They replied ‘What?’ "And the horse departed leaving spon." With poetry like that it's no wonder we lost the Empire. And it stands out as one of the most memorable bits of a Goon Show episode which is rather unfairly overlooked: The Moon Show from January 1957. Neddie is a tramp poet, who buys a poetic licence from those chiselling spivs Grytpype Thynne & Moriarty and through further trickery believes himself to be the rightful owner of the moon. Then he realises that the moon is a forgery and pursues the villains across Europe. Joining Tyler this week is Ian Winick, co-host of the Lord Of Adders Black podcast: https://shows.acast.com/lord-of-adders-black
Oct 2, 2024 · 1 hr 31 min
Yellowbeard (1983)
Take three Pythons, a Goon, the father of modern satire, some Mel Brooks regulars, a Young One, a rock legend, a couple of stoners and a host of familiar British character actors and put them all into a comedy pirate film and what have you got? Arrrrrnswers on a postcarrrrrrd please. Joining Tyler this week to discuss Graham Chapman's ambitious if undercooked 1983 film is writer and performer Adrian Mackinder: http://www.adrianmackinder.co.uk/
Sep 25, 2024 · 1 hr 15 min
I Love You Alice B. Toklas (1968)
"... Sellers is very funny. Unfortunately, the movie’s general approach to hippiedom is what we’ve come to dread. Hippies wear funny clothes, sleep on the stove, don’t wash, read the Los Angeles Free Press, bake pot brownies, put up posters everywhere and operate with a sort of mindless, directionless love ethic. So the movie becomes conventional after all. If they’d dropped Sellers into a real hippie culture, we might really have had a movie here." (Roger Ebert, 1968) Despite the misgivings of the exalted Mr Ebert, I Love You Alice B. Toklas is a pretty good film generally. This week's guest, the writer John Williams, and Tyler both had fun watching it and talking about it, and were particularly impressed by Peter Sellers' winning turn as lawyer Harold Fine who undergoes a mid-life crisis and embraces the patchouli-scented hippy lifestyle. With solid support from the likes of Joyce Van Patten and Leigh Taylor-Young, the film is a fine showcase for Sellers' talents and despite dated fashions more or less holds up. So turn on, tune in, drop out and enjoy Goon Pod this week!
Sep 18, 2024 · 1 hr 22 min
The Sandwich Man (1966)
In 1966, at the height of World Cup fever, an unassuming little British comedy film came out and caused nary a ripple despite a stellar cast of well-known faces. Michael Bentine stars as Horace Quilby, the titular Sandwich Man, who walks the streets of London and seems to know everyone he passes. Without anything so distracting as a plot the film meanders somewhat and is essentially a series of sketches loosely linked together, an indication perhaps of Bentine's lack of experience in long-form storytelling, having come off the back of his hugely successful television series It's A Square World. The film features a host of well-known figures from the world of comedy including Norman Wisdom, Terry-Thomas, Bernard Cribbins, John Le Mesurier, Fred Emney, Harry H Corbett, Stanley Holloway and Ron Moody and has possibly the most incongruous ending to a film ever! Joining Tyler this week are Rob & Guy of the podcast Britcom Goes To The Movies, a show in which they examine big-screen spin-offs of small-screen comedy series and characters - ko-fi.com/britcomgoes