Mocking the tropes of bygone Kids TV for comic effect: S4C or not?

[alan nagsworth]

remember Bill and Ben? HERBIDACIOUS

flower POT MEN!! Fucking hell it was right in front of our eyes all these years haha!

[madhair60]

Mate HR Pufnstuff

Pufnstuf

Puffin' stuff

(drugs)

[gilbertharding]

So I immediately thought of Jasper Carrot's execrable Magic Roundabout record, and went to YouTube to look at the comments (hordes of Brexit Pensioners delighting in how politically incorrect it is to say 'virgin').

Any other examples which pre-date this? Is it ever funny? Do you have a favourite - or the one you hate the most?

That's not really an example of what you're talking about though, as Carrott wouldn't have grown up with The Magic Roundabout, and it wouldn't have qualified as nostalgia as it was still a current programme when he did his parody, circa 1975.  He wasn't mocking something from his own childhood.

That's true - but I was associating it with the other example of Seaman Staines and Roger the Cabin Boy - which are also contemporaneous with the Pugwash canon.

[the science eel]

.

[gilbertharding]

remember Bill and Ben? HERBIDACIOUS

Off topic (sorry, Alternativecarparkposter) - you might have seen this recently, but there was a fabulous clip doing the rounds on twitter of Professor Stanley Unwin interviewing Peter Hawkins (aka the voice of Bill and Ben) on Points of View in the 60s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfe4RwkNB5I

[Petey Pate]

The exception to this is Wonder Showzen, which for all its demented and gross-out humour actually did a bang-up job of homaging the style of the Street.

The creators of Wonder Showzen sincerely felt that Sesame Street was the best and funniest show on television. There's definitely an affection for the source material - I never really saw it as mocking Sesame Street so much as aping its format.

[poodlefaker]

There's a longer history of this - Comic Strip doing the Famous Five, Python/Ripping Yarns doing boys' weeklies...did the Goons mock Dick Barton?

[Replies From View]

Gordon the Gopher had a squeaky voice due to taking some kind of drugs amirite haha

[petril]

"they must of been on drugs to make that" is the catchphrase of all utter dullards, ever

[Replies From View]

Hey you remember knightmare well what were they on when they came up with that one eh, haha!

[idunnosomename]

I saw an episode of the clangers on here recently though where a handbag got married. and i was like fuck me. this is bonkers. fair enough right

[the]

"they must of been on drugs to make that" is the catchphrase of all utter dullards, ever

I particularly hate this, as it insists that humans are incapable of any quality abstract thought, creativity and imagination unless on drugs. Which is something only a dull smirky uninspired cunt would insist.


^{And semi-related to what someone pointed out on here, which is when you say something funny and someone says 'what's that from?'. Because you couldn't possibly have had a spontaneous thought with your own brain, no, it's off a film right?}

[alan nagsworth]

Musically I've seen that stance unreasonably levelled at Mr. Bungle more than any other band. It's especially frustrating since Mike Patton has stated in interviews and album liner notes that the only drug that fuelled the creation of those records was caffeine. But no of course they wrote a funk metal song about eggs so obviously they must have been on acid to come up with that idea.

[ajsmith2]

Musically I've seen that stance unreasonably levelled at Mr. Bungle more than any other band.

Tying this back into the original theme of the thread, I've long nursed the vain hope that, despite the odds, there is some kind of 'Rainbow Conection' to this bands name.

On an even more tenuous tangent, I watched Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut for the first time last week, and I couldn't help but immediately wonder if Tom Cruise was going to walk into this costume store and come out encased in a Bungle suit. Alas no.

[Dr Rock]

Didn't Pete and Dud do Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men? Not sure if they laced it with sex and drugs references, or even if I've just imagined it. Carrott's Magic Roundabout was the first of this type of thing I was aware of. And as I was about ten, I thought it was hilarious.

Usually such whimsy is not my cup of tea any more, but as somebody else said, the thread here with 'Children's TV characters you'd want on your side in a war' made me proper lol it did.

[gilbertharding]

Didn't Pete and Dud do Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men? Not sure if they laced it with sex and drugs references, or even if I've just imagined it. Carrott's Magic Roundabout was the first of this type of thing I was aware of. And as I was about ten, I thought it was hilarious.

Usually such whimsy is not my cup of tea any more, but as somebody else said, the thread here with 'Children's TV characters you'd want on your side in a war' made me proper lol it did.

Of course - if I didn't make it clear, so did I. What I can't get my head around, watching it on youtube in 2019, are the adults in the audience who are clearly finding it pantwettingly funny, and the contemporary commenters who profess to be similarly impressed.

[ajsmith2]

Didn't Pete and Dud do Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men? Not sure if they laced it with sex and drugs references, or even if I've just imagined it.

Are you thinking of SuperThunderStingCar, their all-inclusive Gerry Anderson parody?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riMHp28_cqw

I remember when I  first watched it  finding it oddly sad and moving when The Hood cuts the Tracey boys strings at the end.

[Replies From View]

^{And semi-related to what someone pointed out on here, which is when you say something funny and someone says 'what's that from?'. Because you couldn't possibly have had a spontaneous thought with your own brain, no, it's off a film right?}

Yes, this is one of my pet hates.  "I've never heard that one before!!" they say.  Which annoys me because it assumes that humour is just about unimaginatively exchanging pre-existing material (or "ones").

[Dr Rock]

Are you thinking of SuperThunderStingCar, their all-inclusive Gerry Anderson parody?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riMHp28_cqw

Looks like it. So who parodied Bill & Ben? Hale & Pace?

[pish]

(taps mike to ensure it's on..)

"So, Rainbow. The seventies show for kids [1] yeah? Everyone remember that? WHAT a *GAY SHOW* that was! Seriously. Think about it. First of all it's taking the gay rainbow flag [2] you always see outside those gay bars - right? - for a show about a house filled with men [3] or men-sounding creatures [4] except one of them (does impersonation of George to huge applause) we all know he's more of a Georgina, right? For god's sake, he's PINK. Yeah, PINK. Yeah. And we mustn't leave out the big brown guy. Who happens to be a.. BEAR. Yeah, BEAR. Which, in the gay community is the term for a really hairy gay [5]. AS I UNDERSTAND IT. (Huge laughter.) So a bear is a hairy gay, I hate to think what a BUNGLE is. (Virtual ovation.) What's worse, right? So this is a gay show aimed at kids, but even worse. They're all on drugs. No, seriously. No, wait, did you ever hear the theme tune to the show? Rainbow. Up above the streets and houses - rainbow flying.. HIGH! (Pulls 'whacked out' druggie face) (Huge laughter and applause.) Even the main guy ended up becoming cockney rhyming slang... y'know, that main guy Geoffrey. Yeah? Geoffrey. Geoffrey HAYES. Gays. Did Rodger ever Rodger Rod - with his Rod? While Jane was doing some Freddy with Zippy? (Deafening roar). Goodnight everybody, I've been A. Cunt."

(walks off stage)

[gilbertharding]

[Jumblegraws]

Looks like it. So who parodied Bill & Ben? Hale & Pace?

Almost certainly not what you were thinking of, but Ant and Dec used to do a Bill & Ben parody on SM:TV Live called Anty and Deccy, the Garden Goblins. This is the only clip I can find of it: https://youtu.be/mRzfM5B2rDM
Despite being from a kids' show itself, it actually covered the sort of ground discussed here. There was a shockingly classist set of recurring characters called "the Council Housing Trolls" - usually played by that week's guesting girlband - who were portrayed as stereotypical chavettes, but in fairytale form. Since I seem to be the only person who remembers the segment, I doubt anyone's getting cancelled over it.

EDIT TO ADD: Cat Deeley's character was called "Prozac the Giggle-Fairy", I'm pretty sure they got made to change this and then mocked this executive decision in one of the shows. Anty and Decky lived in toilet stalls instead of flower pots. Juicy stuff.

[Replies From View]

I think he's rather fetching in that form.

[Replies From View]

Cat Deeley's character was called "Prozac the Giggle-Fairy",

Honestly misread that as "Prosaic" at first which I much prefer.

[Uncle TechTip]

Looks like it. So who parodied Bill & Ben? Hale & Pace?

It was Jasper in Carrott Confidential, he and Punt and Dennis in the full costumes. Terrible routines about getting Little Weed up the duff etc.

[Catalogue Trousers]

I recall Three Of A Kind doing a Trumpton parody entitled 'Scumton'. Yeah, because they portrayed the place as a hotbed of drug-taking and gang violence. I recall Lenny Henry playing 'PC Pig', the McGarry equivalent, who at the end just came on and coshed people.

It did have an oddly effective stop-motion effect for live people, though.

[non capisco]

I think we can all agree Little and Large dressing up as Noddy and Big Ears is steadfast comedy dynamite on every occasion, though.

[St_Eddie]

Yes, this is one of my pet hates.  "I've never heard that one before!!" they say.  Which annoys me because it assumes that humour is just about unimaginatively exchanging pre-existing material (or "ones").

On rare occasions, this can actually work to your advantage.  I remember a few years ago, some mouthy git on the Internet had a colorfully languaged go at me and I typed up an insulting verbwhore paragraph in response.  His reply; "whatever. Anyone can pull a witty and funny comeback template off Google".  Immensely satisfying to be inadvertently complimented by an unimaginative fool, who simply can't fathom the idea of producing one's own material.

[ajsmith2]

Have to say that while not intended to be primarily humorous I think the video for Radiohead's 'Burn The Witch'  falls into this category. It's like TRUMPTON MEETS THE WICKER MAN! WOW! The only way this video could have actually been surprising in any way is if it hadn't ended with an off the peg horror film 'subversion' of the cheery toytown setup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI2oS2hoL0k

And yeah, I am a Half Man Half Biscuit fan and am aware that 2 of their Trumpton songs use a very similar style of parody of Gordon Murray's creations, one 'lol violence' and the other 'lol drugs' but I can forgive them more cos 1) Those songs were born of genuine 80s on the dole watching daytime Tv frustration 2) They were young and the territory was less played out at the time, plus they had a whole career of much better stuff after that, as opposed to Radiohead who are expecting us to be wowed by their groundbreaking kids tv/horror film mash up idea they've managed to arrive at a quarter century into their career.

[popcorn]

Have to say that while not intended to be primarily humorous I think the video for Radiohead's 'Burn The Witch'  falls into this category. It's like TRUMPTON MEETS THE WICKER MAN! WOW! The only way this video could have actually been surprising in any way is if it hadn't ended with an off the peg horror film 'subversion' of the cheery toytown setup.

Worst part of that was this quote from an animator who worked on it: "They wanted the video to contrast with what they're playing and to wake people up a bit."