The Goodies

It's funny how the controller of BBC2 can allow repeats of "The Good Life" and "Fresh Prince Of Bel Air" (to name but two admittedly excellent comedies) to be shown over and over but her reasoning for not repeating "The Goodies" is that she doesn't want to air too many repeats. But the good, nay utterly brilliant, news is that Messrs Brooke-Taylor, Garden and Oddie themselves have bought the rights to their classic show and plan on releasing it on DVD and video. At this time it's unknown whether they'll publish the whole lot with loads of fabulous DVD extras (a commentary from the trio would be wonderful) but the fact that us Goodies fans can finally get to see our wacky heroes any time we like is reason for the most joyous of celebrations.

The jokes that sailed too close to the wind and the occasional mis-fired episode have already been discussed here but it still remains that these were some of the funniest guys of the Seventies (and beyond) and deserve a good deal more recognition than they currently enjoy. "Kitten Kong" and "Bunfight at the OK Tearooms" are no doubt their best known sketches but their take on "Bright Eyes" was hilarious and their flat-capped Yorkshiremen knocking nine bells out of each other with blackpuddings were side-splitting (unless you're from Yorkshire and therefore fed up to the back teeth with that kind of "eckie-thoomp" stereotype).

It's about time we finally got to see The Goodies on DVD but while we wait I can highly recommend that you listen to the BBC Radio 4 "quiz" show "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" which features both Graeme and Tim.

The Goodies are a very funny British comedy group that grew out of a radio show called "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" (sometimes called "The Wonder Show".) The radio series also had John Cleese and a few others.

The writing for this group is always very sharp and filled with unexpected and dreadful puns.

If you can find a copy of this, rent, buy or borrow it! (That goes for any of their other movies.)

The Goodies was a very original comedy series in the 70's, which appealed to all of us who liked Monty Python. While Monty Python are built from sketches with no punchlines, instead flowing into each other, a Goodies episode is built from some kind of theme, but with a storyline that rarely goes the expected way. The unexpected turns is a common feature in both shows.

The series is clearly related to both Monty Python and Mighty Boosh. Actually, Mighty Boosh appears to be the closest one, also being built on surrealistic stories rather than sketches. The Boosh members have indeed mentioned The Goodies as a source of inspiration. Monty Python, on the other hand, appeared at the same time, and both teams have a common background, working together in previous projects (like "At last the 1948 show"). I think it is no coincidence that both Goodies and Monty Python left the conventional sketch-with-punchline shows for a more original form.

The series is a mostly lighthearted comedy, wild as a roller-coaster ride. Sometimes it is silly on Benny Hill's level, but even when at that level it is inventive and imaginative. Anything can happen, as they do "anything, anywhere, anytime". The stories are about absolutely everything, including sex (Gender Education), racism (South Africa), monsters (Kitten Kong, Scotland).

Note that it is not always lighthearted comedy. In particular, the episodes The End and Earthanasia are dark stories about life, death and survival. They are good too, but in a completely different way.

Is it dated? Not worse than Monty Python. The only thing that really feels dated is the laugh tracks and some references to then current celebrities. I have to live with that (and there is at least one laughter-free episode on the DVDs). Of course, everything looks like the 70's, not only Graeme's sideburns, but that's not a problem. The special effects vary from primitive (Loch Ness monster, Graeme in the lighthouse) to very impressive, incredible for a TV series (The Movies). Some themes, like South Africa, comment on events in the 70's, but often still works after a quick explanation for the young ones. Apartheid may be gone, but racism is not. So all in all, it has aged very well. Another example of racism, which is really anti-racism, is all the references to "The Black&White Minstrel Show", which they mocked the most in "Alternative Roots". Their statement is clear: They very much know that black-face humor is racist and they are clearly against it. (Incidentally, "The Black&White Minstrel Show" was canceled not long after "Alternative Roots".)

The mix of dialog-driven humor, often funny visuals, and silent slapstick is part of the concept. There is often a slapstick part in the middle (Radio Goodies, South Africa) which gives the shows variation. Children's show? Well, the kids love the slapstick parts, which are sometimes less amusing to adults. But there is more to it than slapstick! The dialog-driven parts and satire are often more adult-friendly. It says "Fun for all the family" in the title, and that is quite correct.

I would like to recommend the following favorite episodes: The movies, Hype Pressure, Snooze, Radio Goodies, Goodies in the nick, Gender education, Kitten Kong.

I would not miss these guys along with Python when I was in high school, and I'm sure it warped me. I recall a jockey's uprising, no longer able to withstand the indignities of "Apart-Height". There was a couple of lucky scone miners who got squirted in the face when they hit a vein of strawberry jam. And of course, the longest game of 'I Spy' on record with only one piece of furniture in the room. Out of context, yeah, sounds daft, kinda like quotes from "The Aqua Teen Hunger Force".

The Goodies were Tim, Bill and Graeme (character names the same as their real names). The shows ran from 1970 to 1980 and the plot usually involved one of the three going mad in some way and the other two attempting to stop him. In the early series there was a guest star who won the honour of being the baddie for the week, until the Goodies realised that the baddie was usually the best part to play!

The episodes were written by the trio and all stunts were performed by them as well. Their style was part slapstick and part dialogue driven comedy. Of the 75 or so episodes there are only a handful that do not stand the test of time (or taste, although the team have apologised for some of the incidental racism in the jokes which, however was standard for the time).

Some of the best episodes include The Giant Kitten (where a kitten is fed growth mixture, ends up two stories tall and eating London, and the Goodies have to don mouse suits to get close enough to inject the antidote), Pirate Radio (where the team start a pirate radio station, then pirate post office and Graeme attempts to take over the world), Goodies at the OK Tearooms (a western set in Cornwall where they mine for cream and scones, ending in a gunfight with sauce bottles) and The End (entire episode set in a room encased in a concrete block over a span of 100 years, with brilliant script and forced on them as they had used their series budget up).

The team had their start at Cambridge and Oxford with the boys from Month Python. They wrote a number of TV shows with the python lads and were good friends. The Goodies also starred in a radio series called I'm sorry, I'll Read That Again with John Cleese and some episodes written by Eric Idle which lasted for six years(1965-1971,1973). Monty Python's Flying Circus started about six months before the Goodies.

The Goodies was a classic TV series which is still funny and should be re-released on DVD ASAP.