The Goon Show/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Memetic Mutation: A pre-internet example - "Lurgi" remains a common British word for generic illness and is sometimes used by children instead of 'tag' in schoolyard games.
  • Once-Acceptable Targets: There are jokes about singer and occasional guest cast member Ray Ellington being black that, while obviously made with his consent, tend to raise modern eyebrows - e.g. another character is blackened in a Harmless Explosion and is promptly mistaken for Ellington. Even at the time, the show was criticized for being anti-Semitic with regards to minor Jewish characters/bystanders such as show business agent Lew [ironically, Sellers, who was half-Jewish, usually played those roles].
    • And then there's Yakamoto in "Napoleon's Piano". "What's he do?" "Nothing, he's just here to lend colour to the scene."
    • "How on earth shall we defeat him?" "I've found a chink in his armour!" "Those Chinese get everywhere."
  • Reverse Funny Aneurysm: Jokes about how "that is why this show will never be televised" after a scene in which it's implied someone's naked, etc... the show was eventually televised, albeit with puppets.