The Goon Show: Difference between revisions

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* [[Banana Republic]]: Literally, in ''The Affair of the Lone Banana'' and again in ''Foiled by President Fred''.

* [[Biting the Hand Humour]]: Everywhere. For example, when Bluebottle has turned out to have been impersonating Wallace Greenslade after complicated events that made no sense:

{{quote| '''Bluebottle''': I was using his [[Buffy Speak|large-type front and posh-type talking act]] to work my way to a position of importance in the BBC!

{{quote| '''Bluebottle''': I was using his [[Buffy-Speak|large-type front and posh-type talking act]] to work my way to a position of importance in the BBC!

'''Seagoon''': Silly lad! There ''are'' no positions of importance in the BBC! }}

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Tons.

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** "This is part of the BBC's new economy drive. They have found it is cheaper to travel by bagpipes..."

** At one point, they knock over ''a bottle containing the BBC''.

* [[Kill Em All]]: Some episodes, due to [[Negative Continuity]], have endings where most, if not all of the characters die. If they don't all die, there's a chance Bluebottle is a survivor, as a reversal of the usual [[Once an Episode]] gag.

* [[Kill'Em All]]: Some episodes, due to [[Negative Continuity]], have endings where most, if not all of the characters die. If they don't all die, there's a chance Bluebottle is a survivor, as a reversal of the usual [[Once an Episode]] gag.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Milligan owned a lampshade shop...

** One common example of this was deliberate tactics used to drag out short scripts; sound effects of people running up miles of staircase might end with someone commenting, "The scriptwriter paid me to waste time there."

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'''Seagoon:''' Gad!

'''Englishman:''' Yes - Fred Gad! }}

* [[Loud of War]]: In the ''[[Nineteen Eighty Four]]'' parody "Nineteen Eighty Five", the tortures in Room 101 all entailed listening to BBC Radio [[Soap Opera|Soap Operas]].

* [[Loud of War]]: In the ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' parody "Nineteen Eighty Five", the tortures in Room 101 all entailed listening to BBC Radio [[Soap Opera|Soap Operas]].

** Which is [[Fridge Brilliance]], as Orwell originally named the room after a real conference room at BBC Broadcasting House in which tedious planning meetings for new programmes (possibly including soap operas) were held.

* [[Majored in Western Hypocrisy]]: Spoofed in the episode "The Gold Plate Robbery": Visiting Morocco, Neddie Seagoon meets an Arab nomad who went to college in Cambridge and speaks English like a native -- with a broad Cockney accent.

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{{quote| '''Bloodknock:''' We'll settle this by wager. Here, draw a card from this deck, don't show me what it is... now, what is your card?

'''Neddie:''' "Jim Jones and Tom Squatte, Printers". }}

* [[The Name Is Bond James Bond]]: In "King Solomon's Mines":

* [[The Name Is Bond, James Bond]]: In "King Solomon's Mines":

{{quote| '''Trader Horn:''' My name is Horn. Trader Horn. Born in Houndsditch. How do you like a name like that eh? Horn-Trader-Horn-born-in-Houndsditch. My father must have been mad.}}

** Also in "The Missing Scroll", later re-titled "The Lost Music of Purdom":

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'''Winston Churchill:''' Come on Clem, what have we got to lose? }}

** [[The BBC]] eventually banned Sellers' Churchill impersonations after the man himself allegedly objected to a topical joke.

* [[No Ending]]: Just one example: "The Great String Robbery" ends with Seagoon being informed that the entire show has been "all in your mind, you know". In wild panic, he screams for help, demanding to know "[[Who Writes This Crap|Who Wrote This Script?]]".

* [[No Ending]]: Just one example: "The Great String Robbery" ends with Seagoon being informed that the entire show has been "all in your mind, you know". In wild panic, he screams for help, demanding to know "[[Who Writes This Crap?|Who Wrote This Script?]]".

* [[No Fourth Wall]]: Especially when the characters refer to the sound effects as being inappropriate or unconvincing. Also, Bluebottle has a tendency to [[Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud|read all his script directions aloud]] and to vocalize what he's thinking.

** This was in fact a reference to Peter Sellers' own habit of [[Talking to Himself]] (see below).

* [[Non Fatal Explosions]]: At ''least'' [[Once an Episode]] (see below). Usually more.

* [[Non-Fatal Explosions]]: At ''least'' [[Once an Episode]] (see below). Usually more.

* [[Oh Wait This Is My Grocery List]]: In "The Canal", Henry Crun attempts to read helpful advice to Neddie after he falls in the canal, and gets halfway through a cake recipe before realising he's got hold of a cookbook instead of the Lifesaving Manual. It's typical of the series that the still-drowning Neddie's response to this realisation is to wonder what he should do with the cake batter he's just made.

* [[Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List]]: In "The Canal", Henry Crun attempts to read helpful advice to Neddie after he falls in the canal, and gets halfway through a cake recipe before realising he's got hold of a cookbook instead of the Lifesaving Manual. It's typical of the series that the still-drowning Neddie's response to this realisation is to wonder what he should do with the cake batter he's just made.

* [[Once an Episode]]: Bluebottle being "deaded", usually in an explosion.

* [[Overly Long Gag]]: Several minutes of silence or footsteps was common, and then there's Minnie and Henry's dialogues, many of which boil down to talking in circles for minutes at a stretch.

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{{quote| '''Seagoon''': You can't bury me! I want to join the (Irish) Guard!

'''Headstone''': No man under six feet can join the Guard. }}

** [[Pun Based Title]]: Occasionally, as in ''The Siege of Fort (K)Night''.

** [[Pun-Based Title]]: Occasionally, as in ''The Siege of Fort (K)Night''.

** [[Multiple Reference Pun]]: Incessantly. From Major Bloodnok journeying in Africa and having to deal with the "strange local customs" - who promptly charge him customs duties for carrying an oven over national boundaries, to Seagoon having the following conversation with Moriarty:

{{quote| '''Seagoon''': Do you think they suspect him?

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* [[Puff of Logic]]: Spoken words had significant power in The Goon Show. A good example is an episode in which Seagoon and co. are wandering in a desert. They spot a house, but are informed by Bloodnok that it's only a mirage. Refusing to believe him, Neddie staggers up to it, only to watch it vanish into nothingness ... and then Eccles falls out of the upper floor.

** Another good example occured when Greenslade drew attention to the fact that Eccles and Seagoon were attempting (and succeeding!) in climbing on each other's shoulders up the inside of a pillar box. Not one second after he says this, both fall to the ground.

* [[Rapid Fire Comedy]]: and HOW!

* [[Rapid-Fire Comedy]]: and HOW!

* [[Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud]]: Bluebottle's trademark.

* [[Record Needle Scratch]]: In Bluebottle's own single, ''The Bluebottle Blues'', he becomes so exasperated with Seagoon's attempts to murder him that he announces he will escape to the hole in the centre of the record. This he does, following it with the sound of the record slowing to a stop.

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'''Moriarty''': There are no sides - we are all in this together. }}

* [[Who Would Be Stupid Enough]]: Used many times with Eccles.

* [[Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs]]: Almost every single character.

* [[Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?]]: Almost every single character.

* [[Xylophone Gag]]: The piano version, when Moriarty and Gritpype-Thynne try to blow up the Chinese nationalist leader [[Punny Name|General Kashmychek]].

* [[Zany Scheme]]