Peter Sellers Reads Out Spike Milligan's Description of Eccles (1972)

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[@Bob.Jenkins]

The depth and breadth of Spike Milligan was boundless... we'll never see his like again.

[@davidpeters6536]

Sir Parky left us this week, RIP to maybe the greatest UK talk show host. Spike, Harry and Peter, well what more can you say...

[@stevelee4952]

I wish more people realised that Spike was a comedy genius. We will never see another.

[@daniellarge9784]

Couldn't agree more. The original absurdist and master of the non sequitur and joke without a punchline. There would be no python without Spike. His war autobiographies are a gem and the goon show remains utterly timeless.

[@davidbouvier8895]

Many decades ago I saw and heard Spike onstage in Hampstead, solemnly intone this movingly immortal quatrain about rain: There are holes in the sky Where the rain comes in But the holes are too small That's why rain is so thin. Oh, the pathos!

[@Otterysteve]

Well said! 🙂

[@minicle426]

Sadly these days he'd probably be 'cancelled' by social media... 🙄

[@stevelee4952]

Your quite right. Shows what a sadder life we all live now

[@ellisjohnson1078]

Saw Spike Milligan in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He had a show touring SA in about 1980 and I remember him writing on a green blackboard with whit chalk. He then wiped it clean with a cloth, showed the board was empty , then showed the disappeared writing was not in the cloth nor up his sleeve. It had just disappeared.

[@keithrich8373]

Pure joy seeing this.A testament to the genius of Spike and his fellow goons.Ypu just don't get anything like this now😂😂

[@user-jl8yn7og7b]

If you can make Peter Sellers laugh, that's true comic genius.

[@thethirdman225]

Are you kidding? Peter Sellers had a strong sense of humour. He was a notorious giggler, having to do multiple takes in his movies because he’d alway break out laughing.

[@Welderady]

Spike Milligan could make a cat laugh 😂

[@ackerjawaka4742]

​@@WelderadyI bet he couldn't make my cat laugh...it's been dead for the best part of 40 years 😜👀

[@forcemultiflier1746]

@@thethirdman225 Sir Harry was a notorious Giggler !

[@forcemultiflier1746]

Spike was a genius , he would never admit that ! but he was brilliant !

[@gillie-monger3394]

Spike was a true genius. The original 'alternative' comedian.

[@karphin1]

I used to listen to the Goon Show, with my Dad, when I was a kid, on the CBC radio at noon, Saturdays. I couldn’t always understand the accents, but it was a laugh!

[@jayturner3397]

Had the pleasure to spend an hour with Spike, funniest bloke I've ever met.😊😅😂

[@Otterysteve]

Envy. Deep envy! 🙂

[@jayturner3397]

@@Otterysteve never to be forgotten experience, one of 2 autographs I ever asked for..wife was mad on him 😆 🤣

[@rachelhenderson2688]

My mother and I would be laughing our heads off, listening to the Goons, and my father simply could not see ANYTHING funny in it at all. My father had a sense of humour, but his family life had not been happy like my mother's, so what made him laugh was quite different!

[@rachelhenderson2688]

I had already written a similar reply below but cannot remove this! If anyone knows how that could be done, please remove the above reply.

[@kiwitrainguy]

@@rachelhenderson2688 If you click on the three vertical buttons on the right side of your comment, it gives you the option of editing your comment. On the other hand, just leave it, we'll understand.

[@PhillRobinson]

Milligan was a genius

[@tommcconville677]

A bloomin' master of the absurd, ridiculous, and just insanely hilarious to boot mate!

[@jeffcarroll6553]

Eccles took the cake as far as i am concerned. Bluebottle flew second.

[@jonginder5494]

Peter does Eccles perfectly! Even with the head movements that Spike used when he was Eccles!

[@AMPATL]

Spike was a genius.

[@brucewilliams8714]

I first heard The Goons in 1956, in the company of some uni mates who were rolling about with laughter. To me, it was incomprehensible nonsense. But, because I respected the intelligence of my mates, I kept listening - and became a lifelong addict. Aaargh! That's better!

[@stupitdog9686]

Its an "acquried taste" ....& I think it makes you better for accuring it!

[@rachelhenderson2688]

My father simply could not see ANYTHING funny in the Goons, yet my mother and I would be in stitches, laughing at it! My mother came from a loving family who, though short of money after my grandfather died, always liked a joke. My father's family were not affectionate; his mother, especially, was a very odd lady, so it's not surprising .

[@johnfitzpatrick8707]

Home Secretary for three days? He might have been in Liz Truss's cabinet!

[@Carusus1]

Over-qualified

[@slacknhash]

@@Carusus1 And he'd have been a lot nicer.

[@user-jt4bv9xt1p]

There’s a thought: Spike Milligan in parliament. The viewing figures would be massive.

[@SamHodkin23]

Very much held the record for government resignations in the Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI.

[@nowster]

Yes, he got stuck in there because he didn't have a knob on his side.

[@paulscrimgour4769]

Aaaaaa the goons never ages i still listen to them

[@davidjackson6835]

Oh good lord yes!!

[@Gwalion]

Spik - the well know typing error. Genius!

[@ellisjohnson1078]

Remember on Spikes gravestone , it reads, “ I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK”

[@user-jr2lz7es7g]

It says in Gaelic: 'Dúirt mé leat go mé breoite'. It should read: 'Dúirt mé leat go [raibh] mé breoite'. Unless it has been corrected recently.

[@davidpowell6098]

All the comedians after had the Goons as their main influence, the Goons will never be bettered.

[@meerkat7406]

Sellers cracks me up on the UK talk shows. Whenever I see these talk interviews like Parkinson you can see how they thoroughly enjoy Sellers and his many awazing characters.

[@marksims3904]

Utterly brilliant, insane and yet with more sense than 99% of people. Spike Milligan WAS Eccles,or was it the other way round........ I sometimes imitate Eccles when I say hello to people, "hallo...." and just leave it hanging. You can't get the wood you know.

[@trevormoses5061]

😂😂

[@dimmo696]

No you just can't. What happens if someone asks you the time?

[@marksims3904]

@@dimmo696 Depends if its eight o'clock.........

[@dimmo696]

@@marksims3904 And what about the drains in Hackney?

[@chrishampton1981]

@@dimmo696 And the pong at Battersea

[@rogerwolstenholme2710]

Legends All !!!

[@soppdrake]

And now he has become King

[@angusmcangus7914]

There is nobody, absolutely nobody, today who is anywhere near as funny as Milligan, Sellers, Secombe and Bentine.

[@markfox1545]

You state it as fact but it's just your opinion.

[@ricknbacker2190]

I didn't find them funny at all. I'm entitled to my opinion - as you should be. Only, keep it an opinion.

[@stephensmith4480]

@@markfox1545 Here is my opinion. You`re a boring fucker with too much to say. Now go and try to find out who your real Father is. Muppet.

[@ackerjawaka4742]

I am gonna say Billy Connolly and Stewart Lee 👀 rik mayal, Lee Mack, Kevin Bridges, Julia Davies to name a few of the ones I rate...in my humble opinion of course, 🍺🍻😜

[@minicle426]

​​@@ackerjawaka4742Can't stand Stewart Lee...

[@Otterysteve]

Wonderful! Utterly love this! 🙂

[@jackmonaghan8477]

He once had a meeting with Walt Disney. You can imagine Eccles's surprise when he first saw Goofy onscreen.

[@thethirdman225]

RIP Parky.

[@ianmurray9201]

The Goons made each other crack up that's why they were great

[@normanzimmerman5029]

Brilliant

[@robleary3353]

Bril!. I'm not all here!. Nuff said!. 🤣

[@mariaw.4780]

Oh nuuuuuu, poor Eccles... 🤗

[@mothmagic1]

Proba ly the only man to get away with a playful insult to Royalty when he called the ast that time prince Charles a "grovelling littls shit"."

[@kiwitrainguy]

"I presume a Knighthood is out of the question?"

[@johnmanning5568]

That’s not correct. He called him a “grovelling basta*d”.

[@minicle426]

Spike's father had a profound influence on him. He was a lunatic.

[@siegfried1234]

Gold

[@robspory]

genius

[@rockabyebaby6111]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💙💙💙💙 Spike ....

[@havanadaurcy1321]

Anyone know the title of the book in front of Secombe firstly? Secondly, why did No one say the infamous line 'Shut up Eccles'?

[@malwright8771]

Does anyone know the book this clip was read from, thanks.

[@OneSunnyDayEst2020]

www.amazon.com/Goon-Show-Scripts-Spike-Milligan/dp/0713000767

[@argieav]

This is the closest Ive come to understanding the appeal of Goons humour. But Im still quite a way off liking it really. But Sellers, what a genius guy.

[@Stratahoovius]

Well what’s your ideal humour?

[@meerkat7406]

Anyone out there know the title of the book Peter is reading????

[@sirgalah561]

Is there a link to this entire episode of Parkinson?

[@smorris12]

Hallo dere

[@WDH59510]

Hello dere ...

[@alanhayward8237]

He did get a job actually as a coal man, but they gave him the sack 😅

[@forcemultiflier1746]

Why the long Face? I have very heavy Dentures !!

[@pressureworks]

Hello dere.

[@thethirdman225]

Ha! Hit the translate button and see what it says.

[@thethirdman225]

Looking for a post here that doesn’t have the cliche ‘genius’ in it. Can anyone do it?

[@johnmills1816]

Michael Bentine.

[@rleriche5044]

I appreciate that these guys developed British comedy but really, it's not that funny to a younger ear. I suspect it was the surreal aspects that were the most progressive.

[@threepot900]

I beg to differ, there is much in Not The Nine O’clock news and Black Adder that is so obviously Goon based. The League of Gentlemen also had a whole series of characters with very Goonish roots, and the show was basically written, produced and performed by four actors, all of whom have had comedic and film success outside the group as well. I’d also include Still Game, and Chewin’ the fat, Old Harry’s Game, the Horrible Histories tv series and spin offs, both film and TV, quite a lot of radio 4 comedy, and more.

[@nowster]

​@@threepot900Without the Goons and Milligan's Q series there wouldn't have been Monty Python either.

[@minicle426]

I suspect you are quite wrong.

[@franciscopuig212]

Some.ligsn Soike .Milligan

[@franciscopuig212]

Spike Milligan in concert

[@franciscopuig212]

Spike .milligsn

[@alexmagneispokkenchannel7332]

@@franciscopuig212 Spike Milligna the well known typing error