Keith Moon

[TJ]

Quick heads up - next week, 6Music are repeating some of the Radio 1 comedy shows Keith Moon did with John Walters. Do not miss these!

[James A]

Ooh, thanks, sounds fascinating!

They're on 9.30-10pm tomorrow (Mon) and Tuesday btw.

[benthalo]

They're going out from 2130 - 2200 and may get a middle of the night airing at a later point. Sadly, Moon is only going out on Monday 14 August and Tuesday 15 August.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/inthearchive/

[Pinball]

Thanks for the heads up! I've set the DAB radio...

[TJ]

Anyone give these a listen, then? Still standing up well after all this time I thought, and the Drum Masterclass sketch was fantastic (wonder if Mark and Lard had heard that before doing their Tony McCarroll sketches)?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Saw "Moon the Loon" in Edinburgh the other day. Not a bad play, although Moon does come out of it as a bit of an unsufferable tit. Good performance from Chas Early, though, who really catches Moonie's mannerisms,a lthough his remarkable facial resemblance to Bill Hicks (who he plays in "Slight Return" also currently on in Edinburgh) was terribly off-putting at points. Anyway, the show's running 'til the end of the Fest if anyone's interested.

[Marty McFly]

On a related topic.. I went to see a Who tribute band a few weeks ago and their Keith (or 'Moonie' as he was known) was fucking incredible. A dead ringer for the man, in both looks and drumming technique.  The band are well worth a look  if you're a Who fan, I really doubt there'll be a better Keith than this guy.

www.thewhotribute.com

bah, this will get moved to SE now, won't it?

[babyshambler]

Just seen this thread a few hours late - it would have been Keiths 60th (on the 23rd) So Happy Birthday Keith!

I've seen Who's Who a few times and speak to Paul 'Moonie' Kemp at the shows. He's a GREAT Keith and a top bloke too.

[benthalo]

Got the date for that show, TJ?

[TJ]

Not off-hand, although it definitely wasn't the first show; it seems to have been one of the subsequent editions split into two half-hour chunks. I'll double check the date later...

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

Did anyone manage to capture this then?

[TJ]

I did; give me a shout on Soulseek.

[Marvin]

Any chance of putting these up on UK Nova or similar Teej? Only Soulseek doesn't work on my network and I'd love to have a listen to these.

[TJ]

Show 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CDX2XE8L

[Marvin]

Thanks a bunch for that!

[Paaaaul]

Cheers TJ. Looking forward to hearing that.

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

Thanks plenty, Mr J.

[Some Herbert]

Fantastic stuff - thanks

[TJ]

Some ace trivia about these shows - John Walters recalled in an interview once that Moon would come in on a Monday with ideas for sketches and gags, Walters would type them up into a finished script (he insisted on this after his experiences with Viv Stanshall), they'd do a couple of days rehearsal, and then record them towards the end of the week. All of these sessions were held first thing in the morning, and Moon was never late and always brimming with energy and enthusiasm... and then at lunchtime, with their work for the day finished, Walters would catch up on the day's papers and invariably find some photo of Moon out partying at 3am the night before. Sheer class.

Some more trivia - all of the shows are in the BBC archives, as is a reel of unused sketches, and a Christmas 'Best Of' compilation that never got aired because "it just got forgotten about". A year or two later Moon and Walters started recording a comedy album that never got finished due to Moon's touring commitments. The stuff that was recorded is reportedly still in the BBC Records And Tapes archive...

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

That's all fascinating stuff, but it makes me wonder - could we have a Big Thread about John Walters? Or would that be beyond the remit?

[TJ]

That's all fascinating stuff, but it makes me wonder - could we have a Big Thread about John Walters? Or would that be beyond the remit?

The more Walters the better as far as I'm concerned!

[Marvin]

That's all fascinating stuff, but it makes me wonder - could we have a Big Thread about John Walters? Or would that be beyond the remit?

Ooh, I think that would be great personally! Not strictly a comedy subject I suppose but I think we should.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I wonder how good the mooted Moon comedy album might've been? His delivery and timing are pretty good, and the material that I've heard is fairly amusing in a sort of sub-Python way. But Pete Townshed always says that Moon had incredible powers of improvisation and a great natural wit, but sadly it was never really caught on tape. Shame.

[TJ]

Show 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FCWYBDY5


So what does everyone think of these then?

[Autopsy Turvey]

Many more thanks for these, they're lovely. There's not quite enough of him, but it's a ruddy good playlist.

Do we even know what year these were? There's not much information about them online. Does his boxing commentary pre-date Python's 'boxing match aftermath'?*

"Despite international protests, France has decided to go ahead with her plan to test the Franco-Indian chicken curry in the Pacific."


*Ah, just noticed a reference to "Chateau-bottled wine-style Tasmanian Rose '74, mmm, sounds like a good year." I like the way his voice goes from early radio Hancock to Luigi Vercotti.

[Some Herbert]

Thanks for posting these TJ. Great stuff.

[TJ]

I find it quite astonishing that someone like Moon, who had no educational background to speak of, gravitated so readily towards literate humourists like Walters, Stanshall, Chapman and Peel, and fitted into their style of humour perfectly. Everything comic I've seen/heard him in - 200 Motels, Radio Flashes, his appearances with Walters on Radio 1's Roundtable, that mental film about 'pop DJs' that clips from periodically resurface in documentaries, and countless Who records he added lunatic touches to - seems to confirm this.

Speaking of which, what did everyone make of long-lost band-disowned not-available-for-many-many-years Who comedy single 'Dogs', as heard in the second show? I think it's ace.

[Autopsy Turvey]

Speaking of which, what did everyone make of long-lost band-disowned not-available-for-many-many-years Who comedy single 'Dogs', as heard in the second show? I think it's ace.

"There was nothing in my life bigger than beee-errr!" has been stuck in my head since I heard it, and I'm quite happy for it to stay a while longer.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I think 'Dogs' is a charming little thing. I can see why they disowned it, being that it's a fairly blatant Kinks/Small Faces rip-off - and it flopped at a time where, had Tommy not succeeded, their career could've seriously been over - but it's still better than anything on that new Townshend/Daltrey EP.

So what was Moon like on round-table then? Never heard that.

[difbrook]

After the chaos that ensued from  my attempt at a thread on the Who a while back, I'm almost afraid to post on the subject again - but I do have to say "thanks", TJ - these are ace.

cheers for taking the effort to make 'em available!