The Goon Show

The Goon Show is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The show ran for ten series, with an additional Vintage Goons series produced at the same time as series 8. Series 1 was titled Crazy People, while all subsequent series were titled The Goon Show. A one-off 1972 reunion episode, The Last Goon Show of All, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, with a simultaneous television broadcast on BBC Two. The show's creator and primary writer was Spike Milligan, who performed in the series alongside Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and (for the first two series) Michael Bentine. The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects. There were also light music interludes. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, many of which were reused by other shows for decades. Elements of the show satirised contemporary life in 1950s Britain, parodying aspects of show business, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, geography, the military, education, class structure, literature and film. The show was released internationally through the BBC Transcription Service (TS). It aired regularly from the 1950s in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, and Canada, although these TS versions were frequently edited to avoid controversial subjects. In the United States, NBC began broadcasting the programme on its radio network from the mid-1950s. Subversive and absurdist, The Goon Show exercised a considerable influence on the development of British and American comedy and popular culture. It was cited as a major influence by the Beatles, the American comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre, and the British comedy troupe Monty Python.