Goon Pod

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

Mark Cousins makes a welcome return to the podcast this week to talk in some detail about the early wireless career of Peter Sellers leading up to the launch of the Goon Show (or Crazy People) in 1951.  Following his famous episode of chutzpah telephoning Roy Speer, Sellers was within a very short space of time one of the hardest working performers on British radio and in huge demand by producers owing to his facility for voices.  Mark and Tyler touch on most of the shows he was involved in during this period including Ray's A Laugh, Petticoat Lane, Third Division (where he first worked with Secombe and Bentine and Pat Dixon), Tempo For Today and Workers Playtime. Tune in now! *** Mark will return in the future to discuss Sellers' fifties radio output once he was established firmly as a Goon. 

All hail the Roly-Poly Regent of Raspberries, the Moon-Faced Monarch of Mirth, the Spherical Sovereign of Song! (Alright, that’s enough – Ed.) This week Tyler is joined by Tony Cross to talk about Harry Secombe, focusing on his two volumes of memoir Arias & Raspberries and Strawberries & Cheam. The emphasis is on the pre-Goons days, particularly his wartime service and post-war pursuit of fame as a fledgling comedian and variety turn. It’s a warm appreciation of the man who would go on to become Ned of Wales and one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers. Features stories such as Jimmy Edwards and a case of mistaken identity, a troublesome kidney stone, that fateful first meeting with Spike, Harry as a young shaver belting out hymns from the outdoor thunderbox and his time touring Italy to entertain the troops. Some honourable mentions along the way for Bill Hall, Peter Sellers, Muir & Norden, Vivian Van Damm, Bruce Forsyth and Tony Hancock. And we ask: Why hasn’t there been a definitive Secombe biography? Check out Tony on Twitter @Lokster71 and his website is https://acrosstime.tv/ As always, check out the podcast @goonshowpod

In 1976 a Neil Simon-scripted movie called Murder By Death was released which cleverly spoofed the detective fiction genre and featured one hell of a cast, including Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, Peter Falk, David Niven, Maggie Smith and Truman Capote. Five world-famous ‘tecs accept an invitation to stay at the crazy house of the mysterious Lionel Twain and over dinner are informed that someone will be murdered! Hilarity ensues! While there may be some content which hasn’t exactly aged well there are also genuine laughs to be had and joining Tyler this time round to discuss the film is Jon Morris - cartoonist, writer and one-half of the Just One More Thing podcast, which is all about Columbo and incredibly funny. Download and listen now! Check out Jon’s website: http://www.calamityjonsave.us/ Just One More Thing podcast: http://thecitydesk.net/justonemorething/ Twitter: @goonshowpod @calamityjon

What can be done about a BBC announcer who has gone over to the dark side? Find out this week as we welcome Heather Wainwright, co-host and beating heart of the ever-popular RetroTube podcast, who popped along to talk about the absolute stone cold classic The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton). As Nugent Dirt enters the annals of criminology as the Phantom’s first victim and Wallace Greenslade’s tobacco business begins to thrive, so this taut 30-minute thriller builds to a nail-biting climax with barely a dry seat left in the house. We examine the episode, along the way taking many conversational detours and ask the really BIG questions: What man can tame Minnie Bannister? Was Tom Cruise the Phantom Barber of Mississippi? Why is Seagoon a ‘big div’? Who WAS that heavyset bus driver? How exactly did Ellington the Hamster meet his end? Why did Sellers forget Ruxton Hayward? Just how cuddly is John Thaw? These questions and many others are barely answered in this week’s show – tune in now!