Goon Pod

The Seagoon Memoirs

Field Marshals are queuing up to draw their pensions – it’s the first time they ever really wanted to go to the front. But Gunner Ned Seagoon, former Ablutions Orderly at

The 1963 Royal Variety Performance (with Steven Cockcroft)

An annual tradition dating back to the year the Titanic went down – a useful metaphor to describe some of the subsequent acts who sank without trace – the Royal Variety P

Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974)

The first half of the 1970s was not a particularly fruitful period for Peter Sellers, at least in terms of critical and commercial success. He made a slew of films which

Sellers & Milligan Mixtape

This week, special guest Richard Moore joins Tyler for what we're going to call Sellers & Milligan Mixtape. Richard has pulled together a number of rarities and curios

The Silent Bugler

The Silent Bugler is a good example of Spike Milligan revisiting earlier material, with the later Vintage Goons remake refining rather than reinventing the original. Th

Only Two Can Play (1962)

The wan Don who thinks he’s Don Juan – a Welsh librarian gets the seven-year-itch. This week writer Paul Whitelaw makes his first faltering steps into Goon Pod territory

Puckoon (1963)

“Caw!” said the crow. “Balls!” said the Milligan. This week, we look at a book that Spike Milligan claimed took either five years - or ten years and fifteen secretaries

How I Won The War (1967)

Following on from last week’s conversation with Samira Ahmed about A Hard Day’s Night we continue the Richard Lester theme with a look at his 1967 anti-war satire How I W

Samira Ahmed on A Hard Day's Night

Writer and broadcaster Samira Ahmed joins Tyler this week to talk about her new book on A Hard Day’s Night and its roots in the world of the Goons, from the Fred shows to

World War One (aka '_________!')

Join us as we march off to war wearing squeaky socks and woolly underpants, before surrendering to the twisted logic of Spike Milligan (“better looking than Peter Sellers

Digby The Biggest Dog In The World (1973)

"He's only got to lift his leg and he'll drown 50 kids!" This week: Digby, The Biggest Dog in the World, a 1973 British family comedy in which an Old English Sheepdog ac

Fool Britannia (LP, 1963)

"Round the back for the old cherry brandy!" Recorded in New York on 6 August 1963, this satirical comedy album brought together Peter Sellers, Anthony Newley, Joan Colli

Invasion Quartet (1961)

This week we look at Invasion Quartet (1961), one of the most significant, if forgotten, films in Spike Milligan's career. Set in a military convalescent hospital on the

Marty Feldman - One Pair Of Eyes

“I don’t find myself funny… it came as a surprise to me that I didn’t really learn anything by watching myself.” In June 1969 BBC2 broadcast a documentary in which comed

The Goon Show At 75

It's 75 years since the first Goon Show (billed as Crazy People) was broadcast and to mark the occasion Tyler welcomes listeners from all over the world - Ian Richards, C

The Missing Scroll

"Now, Neddie… what experience have you had in translating ancient scripts? " - "Three years with Ray’s A Laugh." What do the Piltdown Man, a calculating canine, Norwich

Ooh, You Are Awful (1972)

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, f

Mr Topaze (1961)

This week we're discussing Peter Sellers' only directorial feature, Mr Topaze from 1961. Sellers plays Albert Topaze, an earnest, impoverished schoolteacher in provinci

The Case of the Mukkinese Battle-Horn

“Their gags are paralysing. Sometimes the director has to let everybody have five minutes’ rest, so that we can laugh the laughs out.” (Pamela Thomas, supporting cast) I

Neil Brand

This week the great Neil Brand visits the show to share his love of the Goons and in particular the music. Neil of course is a well-respected writer, composer and broadca