'A Loveable Anarchist': The Oral History of Mr Blobby

September 2, 2021 1:48 PM

We chart the birth, death and unlikely resurrection of British TV's most unhinged chaos merchant. [slVice]
posted by ellieBOA (38 comments total)

I knew nothing of Mr. Blobby but that Jack Whitehall had been terrified of him, then I saw Mr. Blobby and understood at once.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:11 PM on September 2, 2021 [3 favorites]

So what you're saying is my Friday morning is going to consist of reading this article and then watching Mr. Blobby highlights on YouTube, is that it, ellieBOA? Is that what you wanted? *headbutts wall*
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:25 PM on September 2, 2021 [6 favorites]

He's from a similar corner of hell as Barney.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:42 PM on September 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

No... Mr. Blobby is like if Barney was a character in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas....
posted by Nanukthedog at 2:45 PM on September 2, 2021 [14 favorites]

As an American I had no knowledge of Mr. Blobby until I watched the Big Fat Quiz episode that I think Going To Maine referenced. (that incarnation of?) Mr. Blobby instantly became my role model - well, except for the falling down stuff, I'm a little overweight but I don't have near enough padding for that.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:45 PM on September 2, 2021

Back in the day, I first saw this creature in an American magazine that added that he was "the British equivalent of Barney." Up until very recently, I honestly thought Mr Blobby was just that and did earnest, vaguely educational entertainment for the three-year-olds of the UK.
posted by Countess Elena at 3:15 PM on September 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Behind the scenes of Deal Or No Deal

Noel Edmonds phoned my cat

Derelict Blobbyland

I Tracked Down Mr Blobby's Toilet
posted by verstegan at 3:17 PM on September 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Mr Blobby is the original cursed meme.
posted by betweenthebars at 4:31 PM on September 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Finding out that Mr Blobby was originally meant as a parody that people ended up enjoying at various levels of irony was the thing that finally made any of this make sense to me. But it wasn't this article that filled me in. It was episode #59 of Sonic the Comic the Podcast which is ostensibly about the UK Sonic the Hedgehog comic series but is actually more about what it was like to be a kid growing up in the UK in the 90s.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:45 PM on September 2, 2021 [5 favorites]

The single was horrifying.
posted by Urtylug at 5:31 PM on September 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Blob Runner
Alternate Blobbys
and of course,
Jack Whitehall's Worst Nightmare
posted by dannyboybell at 5:43 PM on September 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

"Fête Fumes Over Bogus Blobby" was a headline in my local newspaper in the summer of 2003
posted by scruss at 5:49 PM on September 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

It's Gritty's dad!
posted by charismatic megafauna at 5:59 PM on September 2, 2021 [11 favorites]

Even though I grew up in the UK, and have memories of these events, this article still elicits much the same reaction as The Husk twitter thread for me.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 6:44 PM on September 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

Is Noel Edmonds actually the Devil?


Are you sure?
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:01 PM on September 2, 2021

It was episode #59 of Sonic the Comic the Podcast which is ostensibly about the UK Sonic the Hedgehog comic series but is actually more about what it was like to be a kid growing up in the UK in the 90s.

Seconding this recommendation mostly because a friend of mine co-hosts it, and he is my go-to source for modern Britain filtered through the eyes of one of the fae folk.

As for me, I live in fear that one day, Gritty and Blobby will meet and manage to produce offspring.
posted by delfin at 7:55 PM on September 2, 2021 [6 favorites]

It's funny you say that because a friend of mine also co-hosts that podcast and there's a nonzero chance that we both have the same friend as long as his name isn't Chris because I am friends with Dave.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:09 PM on September 2, 2021 [6 favorites]

Dave, indeed. We have been part of the same online radio station project for ages.
posted by delfin at 8:31 PM on September 2, 2021 [5 favorites]

Mr Blobby existing and remaining popular in the cultural imagination is the most powerful evidence for Broken Britain I can think of
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 9:54 PM on September 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

Look, the only reason I'm slipping this a favourite sight-unseen is because the sheer ridiculousness of anyone applying the least element of post-facto critical attention to Monsieur Le Flipping Blobby seems ludicrous beyond belief!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 11:05 PM on September 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

I want so much to hate Blobby, but that short clip at the start of the article was as fine an example of physical comedy as I've seen. Hat's off to Killerby for that.

The less said about Edmonds the better. What a profound crank.
posted by Acey at 12:41 AM on September 3, 2021

Being a British person of a certain age who grew up in the Westcountry, I have been not only to Blobbyland at Cricket St Thomas, but also the smaller and more obscure Blobby-themed attraction at Dobwalls Adventure Park in Cornwall - the latter of which is also responsible for my enduring love of rideable miniature railways.
posted by terretu at 5:01 AM on September 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

blobbal britain
posted by lalochezia at 5:07 AM on September 3, 2021

Getting some serious "Wishee" vibes here... (Happy!, S02 - see also "Sonny Shine")
posted by rozcakj at 5:08 AM on September 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

“I did this stupid sketch. It was a pear-shaped thing with a rough position of the eyes and the proportion of the legs,” says Leggo. “I said to the costume designer: ‘Can you make something like that up?’”

Fun fact: Mr Blobby was originally only meant to be 7 inches tall.
posted by howfar at 5:41 AM on September 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

The single was horrifying.

Clicking that link has made me realise that I've been supressing the memory of that for nearly 30 years.

I mean, I can't understand how people vote for Boris Johnson, but that pales in comparison to thinking about the fact that this country made that abomination the Christmas number one.

In retrospect, it should have been obvious a lot earlier that the UK was really not OK.
posted by automatronic at 6:53 AM on September 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Even though I grew up in the UK, and have memories of these events, this article still elicits much the same reaction as The Husk twitter thread for me.

I mean, notice that at no point does The Husk ever appear on-camera at the same time as Mr. Blobby...
posted by xedrik at 7:03 AM on September 3, 2021

I mean, I can't understand how people vote for Boris Johnson, but that pales in comparison to thinking about the fact that this country made that abomination the Christmas number one.

This was kept off the #1 spot in the singles chart by this.

And that was an early inkling that maybe I should move away from this Island of the Insane.
posted by Wordshore at 8:47 AM on September 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

I mean, notice that at no point does The Husk ever appear on-camera at the same time as Mr. Blobby...

Or do they?? They claim it's a human actor inside that suit, but...
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:30 AM on September 3, 2021

Anyway, Mr Blobby is a million miles away from being British TV's most unhinged chaos merchant. That would be The Divine David
posted by GallonOfAlan at 9:47 AM on September 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Fun fact: Mr Blobby was originally only meant to be 7 inches tall.

Was this sort of a reverse-Stonehenge mixup then?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:31 AM on September 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

I mean, I can't understand how people vote for Boris Johnson, but that pales in comparison to thinking about the fact that this country made that abomination the Christmas number one.

The UK Christmas #1 is a prank the country plays on itself.
posted by Grangousier at 12:58 PM on September 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

→ British TV's most unhinged chaos merchant. … The Divine David

Much as I appreciate David Hoyle's work, I think The Divine David takes a back seat to Rod Hull & Emu [twitter link to Omid Djalili's appreciation thread, with videos].
posted by scruss at 5:29 PM on September 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Omg Emu! The chaos!
posted by ellieBOA at 12:56 AM on September 4, 2021

The UK Christmas #1 is a prank the country plays on itself.

Yeah, in the sense that millions of people simultaneously decide it would be so unique and funny and quirky to ironically buy that terrible record as a joke gift for whichever friend or relative will groan the most at receiving it to the amusement of everyone else in the room. See also Big Mouth Billy Bass and other such hilarious novelty gift crazes each year.

There's a lot of money to be made from giving people ways to paper over their fraught relationships and difficulty finding meaningful gifts by substituting terrible humour and then blaming anyone who isn't amused for being a grumpy old humbug.
posted by automatronic at 2:35 AM on September 4, 2021 [3 favorites]

...er, not that I'm bitter or anything.
posted by automatronic at 2:43 AM on September 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

You are Gary Barlow and I claim my five pounds in unpaid taxes.
posted by howfar at 8:38 AM on September 4, 2021 [3 favorites]

Yeah, in the sense that millions of people simultaneously decide it would be so unique and funny and quirky to ironically buy that terrible record as a joke gift for whichever friend or relative will groan the most at receiving it to the amusement of everyone else in the room.

You're missing the motivation where having the Christmas number one is A Big Thing to some in the music industry, and the British public collectively decide that those people need taking down a notch or two in the most ridiculous way.

Hence why this was beaten to the Christmas number one by this.
posted by MattWPBS at 2:15 AM on September 5, 2021 [1 favorite]