The Goon Show Compendium Volume 10: Series 9, Part 1

Episodes from the Classic BBC Radio Comedy Series

By: Spike Milligan

Narrated by: full cast, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan

Twelve episodes of the groundbreaking show starring Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers.

Immensely popular and hugely influential, legendary radio series The Goon Show changed the face of British comedy. This collection of episodes is taken from the first part of the ninth series, first broadcast in 1958-59.

The episodes included are 'The Sahara Desert Statue'; 'I Was Monty's Treble'; 'The £100,000 Penny', 'The Pam's Paper Insurance Policy'; 'The Mountain Eaters'; 'The Childe Harolde Rewarde'; 'The Seagoon Memoirs'; 'Queen Anne's Rain'; 'The Battle of Spion Kop'; 'Ned's Atomic Dustbin'; 'Who Is Pink Oboe?' and 'The Call of the West'. Also included are a number of bonus items.

The Goons is a classic comedy which reflects the broadcast standards, language and attitudes of its time.

©2015 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2015 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Gooning Far And Wide

I grew up listening to the goons, unaware as a child just how much of an effect they were having on British comedy from the mid-50s to the 1970s.

This Compendium presents a collection of the latter day shows, as the series was coming to its end — Milligan was burning out, his psychological state precarious because of the punishing workload (not just writing and performing in The Goons, but outside commitments both in the UK and Australia), Peter Sellers was starting to develop a lucrative film career that would make him into a superstar by the mid-60s, and Harry Secombe was constantly in demand as a vocalist beyond the comedy career he had.

The Compendium has had a few knocks, sadly, because it’s not 100% Goon Shows (which are beautifully restored, by the way, and include the playout music that was always faded for broadcast.) There’s a plethora of bonus material included on these compendiums — it’s a tad shocking how much got preserved by way of rehearsals, tests, sound effects work, and post-show tags (such as the announcements of where cast members would be performing.) It’s fascinating material, as are the interviews and documentary shows that have been included on these compilations.

One caveat (and annoyance) — Audible doesn’t provide track titles to any of this, which makes it impossible to find anything specific. This might be the fault of Penguin, the content provider; they also fail to provide a PDF copy of the booklet that comes with the physical discs.

Very Much of Its Time

It is very much a work of its time. Some of the humor is no longer funny and painful to listen to, other bits of humor are topical, and since we are not aware of the history of the time, the topical does not work. But much of it is, in fact, brilliant in a manic pre-python type of humor. This is one of the seminal programs which led to much of the other great (British) humor which has since arrived in America. I would suggest, however, that it is humor that demands that the audience use its brains. Its not simply "cheap" laughs and jokes.