Show Notes
From 1995 to 2002 Heroes Of Comedy on Channel 4 showcased and celebrated some of the finest comic talents Britain has ever produced and this week, with returning guest Chris Diamond, we're taking a look at the series with particular emphasis on three editions: The Goons, Terry-Thomas & Tommy Cooper.
It's a sprawling and highly entertaining chat which covers lot of ground including:
Max Wall - Spike in Peter Sellers' car boot - Denis Healey as Bloodnok - kicking Bob Todd up the arse - Tommy Cooper's death on stage - Vault of Horror - Dick Lester - The Obituary Show - WHY Nigel Havers? - The Mouse That Roared TV pilot - Tarby's TT theft - Harry's hoary stories - airing dead comics' dirty laundry in public - Richard Briers - Jack Benny - Fierce Creatures - Frank Muir's TV Heaven - the decline of Terry-Thomas - Julia Breck - Victor Lewis-Smith - Liberace with TT & Richard Wattis - Danny Baker & Tommy Cooper - Clive James - Telly Addicts - Ruxton Hayward - Max Miller's creepy animatronic doll - Hannibal Lecter does Terry Cooper - Michael Bentine: clever or funny? - Spike hates the BBC - YouTube has spoiled us - Fantabulosa! - producer John Fisher - Jonathan Miller - bored with The Last Goon Show of All - Terry Pratchett - Pat Dixon - The Naked Truth - "Hard Cheese!"
More from Goon Pod
The Queen in America, Eurovision, Elvis, knitting a Spon, a Russian Love Song, Harry Rocking the Town! - it's all here this week! Plus: how much do we love Moriarty, a glaring goof and Watch That Tiger!
Jet Storm, also known as Jet Stream or Killing Urge, is a British thriller directed and co-written by Cy Endfield and starring Richard Attenborough, Stanley Baker, Patrick Allen and Virginia Maskell. It is an early example of what would become the aviation disaster-film genre, preceding films such as Airport by more than a decade. Released in October 1959, it centres almost entirely on a transatlantic flight from London to New York and the psychological and moral crisis that develops among its passengers when one of them threatens to destroy the aircraft.
Broadcast on Channel 4 on 2nd December 1985, The Last Laugh Before TV-am was Spike Milligan’s attempt to bring his particular vein of humour to a new generation... although very little about it suggested that Milligan had changed his approach since the early Q series.