Ooh, You Are Awful (1972)

Ooh, You Are Awful (1972)

From Goon Pod by Goon Pod

May 13, 2026 · 1h 30m · Episode 231

About this episode

The episode discusses the 1972 film 'Ooh… You Are Awful' featuring comedian Dick Emery and explores its comedic elements and characters.

It’s 1972 and Dick Emery - once described as "a fugitive from The Goon Show" - is one of the most popular comedians on television. His show is a regular ratings-topper, featuring a cast of comic grotesques – toothy vicars, leering jezebels, cats-bum-mouthed frumps and camp as Christmas extroverts. With the success in the early seventies of the On The Buses films and other sitcom-to-big-screen transitions it was perhaps inevitable that Dick would make a movie, one that would showcase many of his best-loved characters, plus introduce one or two new ones. “Ooh… You Are Awful” (named after the ubiquitous catchphrase of his easily-confused slattern Mandy) concerns conmen Charlie Tully and Reggie Peek, who fleece a couple of Italian worthies for £500,000 and are about to hop on a plane to Switzerland until Charlie is arrested for trying to pull a stupid con on a pair of witless Americans in the airport lounge. Banged up for six months, Charlie finally emerges from prison and is about to be told by Reggie the bank account details when the latter is murdered by local villain Sid Sabbath for having it away with his sister. There follows a farcical sequence of events involving…

People in this episode

Host: Tyler

Guests: Jeremy Limb, Paul Litchfield

Topics covered

  • comedy
  • film review
  • 1970s cinema
  • Dick Emery
  • farce
  • sitcom adaptations

Keywords

  • Dick Emery
  • Ooh… You Are Awful
  • comedy film
  • 1972
  • farce
  • sitcom
  • The Trap

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Ooh… You Are Awful, The Goon Show, On The Buses

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