The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and
broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats
on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast between May and
September 1951, was titled Crazy People; all subsequent series had the title
The Goon Show, a title inspired, according to Milligan, by a Popeye character.
The show's chief creator and main writer was Spike Milligan. The scripts
mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array
of bizarre sound effects. Some of the later episodes feature electronic
effects devised by the then-fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, many of which
were reused by other shows for decades afterwards. Many elements of the show
satirised contemporary life in Britain, parodying aspects of show business,
commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, the military,
education, class structure, literature and film. The show was released
internationally through the BBC Transcription Service (TS). It was heard
regularly from the 1950s in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India and
Canada, although these TS versions were frequently edited to avoid
controversial subjects. NBC began broadcasting the programme on its radio
network from the mid-1950s. The programme exercised a considerable influence
on the subsequent development of British and American comedy and popular
culture. It was cited as a major influence by the Beatles, Monty Python
(especially Cleese, Chapman, Palin and Jones, less so for Eric Idle)
and the American comedy team The Firesign Theater.

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