The Goodies 50th Anniversary Celebration

[Catalogue Trousers]

'I've got a kitten, you got a hound/
Ev'rybody's pushin' the dogs around...'

Thanks to the munificence of a friend sending me a ticket, tonight I attended the Redgrave Theatre for the Bristol Slapstick Festival's event, 'The Goodies - 50 Year Celebration'.

Yes, on stage, for one night only, we got Bill, Tim and Graeme - older, balder, but no less splendid - reminiscing on their years as The Superchaps Three. And, for 90 minutes, they informed, educated, and most definitely entertained. Age may have hit them a little - Bill, who's pretty hard of hearing, needing some things said to him a few times - but they're still all pretty spry for their years.

Aside from Bill almost off-handedly mentioning his visits to a psychiatrist, though, this was not an evening for sordid details or muck-raking, and most certainly not for gloom. The warmth in the auditorium - with an audience of pleasingly varied years - was a heartening feeling throughout.

Interesting tales abounded - Tim's noble suffering for his art during the sequence in KItten Kong which shows the at-that-point tiny Twinkle dragging him around the park in stop-motion, during which a dog decided to take a dump directly in Tim's route, but he kept on filming regardless and without changing direction: Bill's appreciation of the show's music, citing the ever-key-changing dramatic ballad which climaxes 'The Bunfight At The OK Tea Rooms'; Graeme wryly observing that kittens are hard to get to act on cue, necessitating Twinkle (now giant) needing to be given a guiding hand while demolishing Saint Paul's Cathedral, as the kitty kept on coming out facing away from the camera!

We also got to count down the top 5 Goodies episodes of all, as voted for in a BBC poll. This may be breaking a press embargo, but sue me. They were...

5. The Movies
4. Goodies Rule - OK?
3. The Bunfight At The OK Tea Rooms
2. Kitten Kong

What! Twinkle at number 2? What could possibly be at number 1? Well, it didn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that it was...

1. Kung Fu Kapers

What else? The episode that legendarily caused a viewer to die laughing. It's not one of my favourites, to be honest, despite some inspired moments, and interestingly it was the supposedly cantankerous Bill who was heard muttering 'glad that's over' when Graeme's blackface routine as Muhammad Ali finished. The three themselves appeared to be unanimous that it wasn't one of their favourites. Indeed, if I wanted a zany humour episode that's better, then there are Invasion Of The Moon Creatures and Dodonuts, to name but two: or, if I wanted a more intimate character comedy, then there are Earthanasia and The End, to name but two more. But what the hell. I remember the day after this episode aired, the whole playground was host to pitched imaginary black pudding fights and Southern English primary schoolkids attempting their best cod-Lanky with cries of 'Ecky Thump' and 'Eeh Bah Gum'. So it clearly does work. And so endures.

It was a marvellous event, superbly hosted by the endearing fannishness of Robin Ince, and the love for this marvellous show - and yes, there WILL at least be more new episodes on Audible - clearly continues.

So - to The Superchaps Three, Robin, the Bristol Slapstick Festival and the Redgrave Theatre - so many thanks from me. I now have a copy of Ince's The Bad Book Club signed by him, AND all three Goodies, and I'm glad that I got to shake the trio by the hands and thank them each for the pleasure they've given me and so many.

Finally, I must describe one more thing. An audience member asked if they could sing the opening phrase of their theme song. After organising themselves, they began. By the second syllable, almost the whole auditorium had joined in.

'Goodies...Goody, Goody, Yum, Yum...'

Just beautiful.

[DrGreggles]

I was there too.
Graeme spoke about 6 times in 90 minutes - every one a gem.

[Catalogue Trousers]

I loved Tim's observation, when asked if he'd suspected that some episodes still stand up over 45 years on, 'I'd have been surprised if they'd lasted a week!'

[Ignatius_S]

Robin has uploaded audio of the night - https://cosmicshambles.com/bookshambles/goodies-slapstick-special

[Jockice]

Really enjoyed that. I'm usually fairly neutral towards celebrity deaths (even celebrities I like) but the odd one really shakes me up  Tim Brooke-Taylor is one of them. Pete Shelley was the last before him.

[BlodwynPig]

Tim Brooke Taylor played a dead doctor on the ITV3 audience selected (voted) Miss Marple episode last night (one with Cumberbatch, Pemberton et al). It's what he would have wanted.

[TheMonk]

Did the BBC broadcast any proper tribute to Tim?
An episode of The Goodies perhaps? A bit of Bananaman? An old episode of Me And My Girl?

[Ignatius_S]

Really enjoyed that. I'm usually fairly neutral towards celebrity deaths (even celebrities I like) but the odd one really shakes me up  Tim Brooke-Taylor is one of them. Pete Shelley was the last before him.

Nice to hear that you enjoyed it. I was at the event and although it's lovely to be able to get a copy, really good that more people share it.

[Jake Thingray]

Did the BBC broadcast any proper tribute to Tim?
An episode of The Goodies perhaps? A bit of Bananaman? An old episode of Me And My Girl?

No.