Gransnet forums

TV, radio, film, Arts

Spike Milligan

(17 Posts)
Cumbrianmale56 Sat 04-Apr-26 14:20:53

Any fans of Spike Milligan and his surreal, madcap and unique brand of comedy? I've been watching some clips of Q6 and There's A Lot Of It About and he's like a one man Monty Python and hilarious at times. My parents loved The Goon Show in the 1950s and said Spike was the funniest member of the cast, and I enjoyed his seventies and eighties television shows.

VANECAM Sat 04-Apr-26 14:35:05

Spike played one of the parts in a comedy radio show that I heard this morning.
Go to Radio 4 extra, today at 9 am.

Cumbrianmale56 Sat 04-Apr-26 16:34:33

VANECAM

Spike played one of the parts in a comedy radio show that I heard this morning.
Go to Radio 4 extra, today at 9 am.

Cheers, also The Goon Show produced the comedy legend that was Peter Sellers. Both Sellers and Milligan suffered from serious mental health issues and performing comedy was cathartic for them. Luckily most of the time, their comedy was fantastic to watch.

BlueBelle Sat 04-Apr-26 16:36:51

I didn’t like the Goon show but I did find Spike Milligan on chat show and his writing totallyhilarious

MayBee70 Sat 04-Apr-26 17:06:34

His books are great.

grumppa Sat 04-Apr-26 17:58:17

One of the greats. Hilarious onstage in Son of Oblomov.

Magenta8 Sat 04-Apr-26 18:08:11

His humour was a bit hit and miss at times but at his best he was a comic genius.

I saw him on stage in 'The Bed Sitting Room.'

Rocketstop2 Sat 04-Apr-26 18:12:04

I thought Spike was great. As a lot of performers do, he suffered terrible depressions and dark periods.
He was incredibly clever and he actually wrote some pretty good poetry too.

He was zany in a good way !

Visgir1 Sat 04-Apr-26 18:20:07

I saw him twice live, once in a stand up show he was so funny, the on stage musicians had to walk off crying with laughter and they had seen the production many times. Then I saw him in a Panto at Chichester FT.
He was one of the greatest comics, his add lib was legendary.

Grandmabatty Sat 04-Apr-26 18:40:07

His humour was a bit too anarchist for me. But I did like his books

Cumbrianmale56 Sat 04-Apr-26 18:51:34

Magenta8

His humour was a bit hit and miss at times but at his best he was a comic genius.

I saw him on stage in 'The Bed Sitting Room.'

Sometimes he overdid the Hitler sketches, but Spike's mad, anarchic humour was always well worth watching. Like Kenny Everett, if you wanted zany hunour and sketches, Spike was the go to comedian and actor in the seventies.
Also Spike's books were hilarious to read like Adolf Hitler, My Part In His Downfall.

Sago Sat 04-Apr-26 19:01:01

I loved him, such a wonderful man.

I used to read the Ning Nang Nong with my two GC, they are just a bit too old for it now but they loved it so much.

Tenko Sat 04-Apr-26 20:41:15

He was before my time but my parents loved him , and Peter sellers . They had a lot of his records. One of my favourites was Balham, pronounced Bal ham , gateway to the south . We lived in Morden . And my first first flat was in Balham .

Casdon Sat 04-Apr-26 20:47:22

My Dad is great one for rhymes, he taught us this by Spike Milligan, I may not be word perfect after 60 odd years though.
Mary Pugh was nearly two
When she went out of doors
She went out standing up, she did
But came back on all fours
The moral of this story
Please meditate and pause
Never send a baby out
With loosely waisted drawers.

Marmin Sun 05-Apr-26 07:19:57

‘German opera from Covent Garden’ is possibly the funniest sketch I have ever seen.

Cumbrianmale56 Sun 05-Apr-26 13:25:33

Marmin

‘German opera from Covent Garden’ is possibly the funniest sketch I have ever seen.

I decided once to see how long I could watch an opera by Wagner. The prelude was good, but four hours of people singing in German was no fun.

VANECAM Sun 05-Apr-26 19:44:56

BBC Four TV tonight at 9:30pm.
Spike is one of the guests on Parkinson.
Joanna Lumley sitting in for Parky.