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strange facts about Noel's House Party

Started by willbo, July 30, 2021, 11:23:14 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
Quote from: franticplanet on July 31, 2021, 09:50:19 AM
It me. I'm definitely intending to do more of those at some point, but just haven't had the time since I started the monthly videos on top of all the other stuff.

Cheers for all the nice comments in here.



I went to one of these when they did a show as a favour to some bloke in my family's church. At the point Bobby gave his impassioned testimony about coming to Christ, he seemed to sniff out my non-belief, and fixed me with ten seconds of the most rigidly uncomfortable eye contact I'll ever experience.

The Edmonds ones are great. Really enjoyed your Jim Davidson panto blogs as well.

I still laugh every time I think about this paragraph.

Quote
It makes you glad they never subtitled R2's childlike beeps and boops, when a bog-mouthed Kenny Baker's prattling on about jugs and spunk, and the sight of him struggling to run offstage "for a bit of oral sex," all excited about getting his nob sucked, is the most depressing exit behind a curtain since my child's cremation

greencalx

I'm amused and intrigued by the concept of "rogue Blobbies". What's the story there? Was Mr Blobby a freestanding franchise rather than part of the Edmonds empire? I see he has his own YouTube channel...

franticplanet

Quote from: greencalx on July 31, 2021, 07:55:21 PM
I'm amused and intrigued by the concept of "rogue Blobbies". What's the story there? Was Mr Blobby a freestanding franchise rather than part of the Edmonds empire?

In the beginning, they were just lax about letting anyone cut eyeholes in a pink duvet cover and hire themselves out as party Blobbies, until the casualties started piling up.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: greencalx on July 31, 2021, 07:55:21 PM
I'm amused and intrigued by the concept of "rogue Blobbies". What's the story there? Was Mr Blobby a freestanding franchise rather than part of the Edmonds empire? I see he has his own YouTube channel...

IIRC (because we had one locally where I used to live in Bristol), the Blobby character was officially franchised out by the BBC/House Party/Edmonds empire for things like local events, kids parties, village fetes etc.  The costume and voice changing kit was all made and provided by the BBC/whomever they used for the "real" Blobby and presumably the Blobbee would pay a percentage of their earnings back and/or a subscription fee or similar to carry on using the character.  Must admit I wasn't aware that GBH caused the enterprise's downfall - I just assumed it was rapidly decreasing popularity and interest and lack of business (I stopped seeing adverts for our local one after less than 18 months or so).

Video Game Fan 2000

It was a thing. People hiring themselves out as "children's entertainers", throwing on a cheap pink bodysuit and then going QWOPmental on everything, mutually assured destruction.

I don't think there was even a proper costume half the time. I saw a Blobbee a couple of times and it was a weird, flocked costume with the warped head of a preserved flatfish. Blobbyblobbyblobby and your headmaster is through the stained glass. There was probably less actual franchising involved then there was vaguely holding the BBC accountable for giant pink Frank Spencers getting knocked out at birthday parties.

greencalx

Thanks! I've led a sheltered (or, at least, Blobby-free) life.

Cold Meat Platter

In a few hundred years Mr. Blobby will be a folkloric creature like a goblin or a socialist.

Video Game Fan 2000

Considering I was in South Wales and Shit Good Nose is in Bristol, I wonder if I saw the same guy just after he had to give the official costume back? I saw him Summer '94 or which is about 18 months after the debut of the character.

Otherwise there was probably a hilarious franchise war between the Official Proper English Ordinary Blobby with the actual voice and the degenerate Welsh spicy mutant Blobby with the fuzzy costume and swinging Reed Richards arms.

Video Game Fan 2000

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on July 31, 2021, 08:15:31 PM
In a few hundred years Mr. Blobby will be a folkloric creature like a goblin or a socialist.

There'd be some irony to that because the character was originally based on a concept by Russell Hoban[nb]I'm lying but what if it was true that'd be great[/nb].

MoreauVasz

I actually have real affection for Mr. Blobby. Partly because he's been low-key adopted by weird twitter but also because there's something marvellous about the thinking. I mean.. . He started off as a fake children's TV character but he soon emerged as the ideological descendent of Emu except that while Emu would attack celebrities on smug 80s chat shows, Blobby would attack members of the public.

Video Game Fan 2000

Knowing how Edmonds loathed being upstaged more than anything else, I wonder if Mr Blobby was mainly conceived as a way to psychologically torture him. His show became the Mr Blobby show for a while and it he obviously didn't like it much.

There was also the fact that Blobby conceived as a childrens character so horrifically stupid that it couldn't be real, exposing celebrities willingness to go along with anything... but the BBC immediately transferred him to Going Live/Live and Kicking as soon as he was remotely successful.

Quote from: MoreauVasz on July 31, 2021, 08:50:29 PMalso because there's something marvellous about the thinking.

Gotchas were always very poorly executed if they were real at all but the kernel of the prank - the character becomes "real" as soon as the camera is rolling - is pretty brilliant. The exasperation of rehearsing a bit with a guy in a suit then as soon as they do it for real its Mr Blobby, if it wasn't all an Edmonds ego trip this could have lead to some real gold.

Shit Good Nose

The opening few seconds of this when he smashes his way into the studio still makes me laugh - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRMMiG6ShB4 - and I'm not even a Blobby fan.

MoreauVasz

Bobby's like a more atavistic version of that hockey mascot that got taken up by very online American atheists. It's the deliberate lack of sophistication and the perpetual threat of violence. Like they have this nice little table and chairs set up as part of the set and Blobby non-chalantly walks through them and carries them across the studio.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: MoreauVasz on July 31, 2021, 10:44:06 PM
Bobby's like a more atavistic version of that hockey mascot that got taken up by very online American atheists. It's the deliberate lack of sophistication and the perpetual threat of violence. Like they have this nice little table and chairs set up as part of the set and Blobby non-chalantly walks through them and carries them across the studio.

Cheerfully humming as he does so, which elevates it even more for me.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on July 31, 2021, 09:25:33 PM
The opening few seconds of this when he smashes his way into the studio still makes me laugh - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRMMiG6ShB4 - and I'm not even a Blobby fan.
Whoever is in the suit gives out a feel of something close to rage when he storms in, like one of those bods on Jerry Springer who is brought on after finding out the kids aren't actually his.

Leo2112

Brilliant physical comedy from the Blobby actor on the Big Fat Quiz appearance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMD2K0vj0Xs  Terrifying and hilarious.

Yussef Dent

Apparently Noel's House Party used to get aired in Australia around Christmas on primetime television, I don't know if this was a particular Christmas episode or just a selection of shows, but it left viewers baffled as they had no idea who the celebrities were who were ringing the doorbell or being gotcha'd.

idunnosomename

feel i have to link to this great bunch of lads who run a comedy death metal band (based in Derby) and have a bloke dressed as Mr Blobby at their shows who gets decked in the mosh pit as the high point of their show. i have experienced this first hand at the Unicorn Camden couple years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwG-WdlAxOw

they're playing Bloodstock this year! hopefully the poor cunt in the suit won't get the coronavirus.

Cold Meat Platter

Quote from: Video Game Fan 2000 on July 31, 2021, 08:21:27 PM
There'd be some irony to that because the character was originally based on a concept by Russell Hoban[nb]I'm lying but what if it was true that'd be great[/nb].

Wouldn't that be apt rather than ironic? Not familiar with his work though.

Remember Baba Papa, the intelligent, shape-changing creature who lodged with a suburban family on BBC kids' TV? He was afflicted by a tropical disease that removed his power to change shape, made him intellectually subnormal and, last but not least, scarred his skin with yellow blobs. As a result, he was nicknamed Mr Blobby. Now volatile and unpredictable, the family he lodged with threw him out. His only means of a living was a freak show. That's how he came to exhibit Noel Edmonds on Saturday evening television.

badaids

Quote from: franticplanet on July 31, 2021, 09:50:19 AM
It me. I'm definitely intending to do more of those at some point, but just haven't had the time since I started the monthly videos on top of all the other stuff.

Cheers for all the nice comments in here.



I went to one of these when they did a show as a favour to some bloke in my family's church. At the point Bobby gave his impassioned testimony about coming to Christ, he seemed to sniff out my non-belief, and fixed me with ten seconds of the most rigidly uncomfortable eye contact I'll ever experience.

I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying your you tube channel. We must be of a similar age I as had the same stuff inflicted one me, and your post mortem of prime 80s and 90s is both insightful and highly amusing in its tale on how fucked up a lot of that eras content was.

I'm particularly enjoying the reminder of how unhinged and unpredictable a lot of it was. Not just the likes of Barrymore, Starr and Hull in their stage acts but the plotted nastiness of Beadle and Edmonds. Anyone could be in real danger of losing an arm or real life humiliation and doffing.

Thank you and I hope you keep it up.

St_Eddie

Quote from: greencalx on July 31, 2021, 07:55:21 PM
I'm amused and intrigued by the concept of "rogue Blobbies". What's the story there? Was Mr Blobby a freestanding franchise rather than part of the Edmonds empire? I see he has his own YouTube channel...

The collective noun for a collective of Blobbies is a covern.  A covern of Blobbies.

MrsWarboysLover

Quote from: Yussef Dent on August 01, 2021, 01:17:50 AM
Apparently Noel's House Party used to get aired in Australia around Christmas on primetime television, I don't know if this was a particular Christmas episode or just a selection of shows, but it left viewers baffled as they had no idea who the celebrities were who were ringing the doorbell or being gotcha'd.
I'm Australian and I definitely knew who Mr. Blobby was as a kid - but I don't remember how. I could put the name to the face/body of the character, but had no idea who or what he was. I just assumed he was actually a kids TV character I must have half seen and forgotten about until a few years ago when I looked into it. Now I'm wondering how or where I'd heard of him or seen him.


thr0b

Turns out, the House Party was shown weekly on Aussie television - a week after the live broadcast in the UK.

notjosh

Did anyone ever visit Crinkley Bottom - the one at Morecambe? I went in the summer of '94 and recently found out that it closed after only three months due to lack of visitors, making me one of the very lucky ones. I was six at the time and don't really have any memories of it besides a general mild satisfaction that I was finally getting to see where Mr Blobby lived.

An earlier version of the park did hang around for a long time, as has been detailed by various urban explorers over the years:
https://www.dunblobbin.com/blobbyhouse

I actually worked with Blobby about 3-4 years ago, which was one of the professional highlights of my life. Noel Edmonds no longer has any control over him,[nb]after the infamous #FreeBlobby court case which I'm sure you all remember[/nb] so he is very bookable for entertainment shows.

Mr Trumpet

Ah the gunge/denim fetishism guy. Once encountered on Twitter, never forgotten.

Also I was surprised a few years later when The Darkness apparently ripped off the NHP theme tune.

The Ombudsman

I went to a the one in Cricket St. Thomas. Was a bit empty, I can only remember some Noddy bit that I thought was odd.

I've got the Mr. Blobby single somewhere. Hopefully now a rare collectors item.

Famous Mortimer

"British shows that are on Australian TV where they must not have a fucking clue who the celebs are" would be a fun (if relatively short) thread. Imagine having some bloke from the Australian "Farmer Wants A Wife" on some prime time comedy quiz show on Channel 4.

boki

Quote from: idunnosomename on August 01, 2021, 01:33:45 AM
feel i have to link to this great bunch of lads who run a comedy death metal band (based in Derby) and have a bloke dressed as Mr Blobby at their shows who gets decked in the mosh pit as the high point of their show. i have experienced this first hand at the Unicorn Camden couple years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwG-WdlAxOw

they're playing Bloodstock this year! hopefully the poor cunt in the suit won't get the coronavirus.
Raised By Owls are fucking brilliant.  If I could decide which subforum it belongs in, I'd start a thread.

Quote from: The Ombudsman on August 02, 2021, 11:49:13 AM
I went to a the one in Cricket St. Thomas. Was a bit empty, I can only remember some Noddy bit that I thought was odd.

I've got the Mr. Blobby single somewhere. Hopefully now a rare collectors item.

My dad won free tickets to the opening weekend, the highlight of which was him fuming that a billed appearance by Noel didn't mean that you'd actually get to meet him and talk to him. He'd merely fly in, thank the crowd for coming out and making the opening weekend a success and then fly off again.

I'll never know what my dad wanted to talk to Noel about so badly, but he absolutely despised him from that day on. Still, cheers for the tickets, Noel.