And Now, A Walk in the Black Forest
April 12, 2020 8:29 AM Subscribe
Tim Brooke-Taylor, one third of the legendary comedy trio The Goodies, has died of Covid-19.
Brooke-Taylor was a contemporary and sometime colleague of the Monty Python crew, appearing in the original version of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch on At Last the 1948 Show, and was also a member of the long-running BBC radio panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. But to a generation (X) of children in Britain, Australia and elsewhere, he was the Union-Jack-waistcoat-wearing Tim from The Goodies, the BBC television comedy show that dominated the 1970s.
Brooke-Taylor was a contemporary and sometime colleague of the Monty Python crew, appearing in the original version of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch on At Last the 1948 Show, and was also a member of the long-running BBC radio panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. But to a generation (X) of children in Britain, Australia and elsewhere, he was the Union-Jack-waistcoat-wearing Tim from The Goodies, the BBC television comedy show that dominated the 1970s.
Been feeling particularly bereft since seeing this news today, as Tim and the rest of the Goodies were giants of my childhood TV-viewing in Australia. I’d been rewatching some episodes with my daughter in recent months, and he was just as brilliant in them as I’d remembered, even if some episodes haven't aged as well as others. On radio, he sounded as sharp as ever, well into his seventies. Goodbye, you wonderful, funny man.
posted by rory at 8:34 AM on April 12, 2020 [11 favorites]
posted by rory at 8:34 AM on April 12, 2020 [11 favorites]
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posted by lalochezia at 8:48 AM on April 12, 2020
posted by lalochezia at 8:48 AM on April 12, 2020
The ISIHAC crew continues to diminish, and my sadness grows.
A Hannndbaaaaaag???!!
posted by Pentickle at 9:09 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
A Hannndbaaaaaag???!!
posted by Pentickle at 9:09 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
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The full episode of Kitten Kong from 1971 is online; TBT throughout but is also the one in the suit with the white kitten, from about 12:48 in.
posted by Wordshore at 9:19 AM on April 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
The full episode of Kitten Kong from 1971 is online; TBT throughout but is also the one in the suit with the white kitten, from about 12:48 in.
posted by Wordshore at 9:19 AM on April 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
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Oh this one hurts. Such fond memories of watching reruns of The Goodies when I was young in New Zealand. I’m just going to pretend the giant cat from the opening credits finally got him. Fuck Covid-19.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:21 AM on April 12, 2020
Oh this one hurts. Such fond memories of watching reruns of The Goodies when I was young in New Zealand. I’m just going to pretend the giant cat from the opening credits finally got him. Fuck Covid-19.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:21 AM on April 12, 2020
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posted by antiwiggle at 9:23 AM on April 12, 2020
posted by antiwiggle at 9:23 AM on April 12, 2020
Being removed by a generation and an ocean from the original audience, I never really knew much of The Goonies' original work, and (save for his appearances on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue), I do not know that much of his work. That said, I watched several of the Secret Policeman's movies last week and recognized him at once from there. He's a huge part of the foundations of modern British comedy. I am sorry to hear he's gone.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:43 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:43 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by runincircles at 9:55 AM on April 12, 2020
posted by runincircles at 9:55 AM on April 12, 2020
"Camden Town then Mornington Crescent!"
"Aldwych, York Road then British Museum"
"Oh..."
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:01 AM on April 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
"Aldwych, York Road then British Museum"
"Oh..."
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:01 AM on April 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
We only got few episodes of The Goodies in the US when I was a kid. But I remembered him in his amusing Willy Wonka appearance, and always appreciated him whenever I happened to catch his face on video. RIP.
posted by 2N2222 at 10:03 AM on April 12, 2020
posted by 2N2222 at 10:03 AM on April 12, 2020
The first song I ever taped off the radio was The Funky Gibbon. When I was a kid I got knocked over by a car and ended up in hospital for a few days, and my dad brought me The Goodies book to cheer me up. The Goodies were a golden thread woven through the fabric of my childhood, and then as an adult I was always glad to hear Graham Garden and Tim on Radio 4, just as funny as ever.
posted by w0mbat at 10:19 AM on April 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by w0mbat at 10:19 AM on April 12, 2020 [5 favorites]
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By rights, every flag in Australia should be flying at half mast now. Several generations of Australians grew up going home from school and, whilst waiting for their parents to come home, watching the lightly bowdlerised episodes of The Goodies the ABC screened as kids' entertainment.
posted by acb at 10:43 AM on April 12, 2020 [12 favorites]
By rights, every flag in Australia should be flying at half mast now. Several generations of Australians grew up going home from school and, whilst waiting for their parents to come home, watching the lightly bowdlerised episodes of The Goodies the ABC screened as kids' entertainment.
posted by acb at 10:43 AM on April 12, 2020 [12 favorites]
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posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 11:02 AM on April 12, 2020
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 11:02 AM on April 12, 2020
The Goodies on shrooms was... SUBLIME!
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posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 11:43 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 11:43 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
Oh, no! No! Dammit. Damn this virus!
For years, I thought I was the only American who remembered seeing The Goodies for a short while as a child. They were on Channel 10 (PBS) in Milwaukee for maybe 6 or 7 months back in, I want to say, 1976? They didn't catch on like Python had in the US. I didn't see it again until I went to Australia in 1999.
It turns out that a friend of mine had seen The Goodies in his northern New Jersey town as a kid, and Bob Odenkirk had, also, as a teenager in Illinois. Odenkirk brings them up during a red carpet interview in the 00s, and the American interviewer has no idea what he's talking about. There is definitely some Goodies influence I can see on Mr. Show.
And Tim was great on ISIHAC. I can't imagine how John, Graeme, and that whole gang must be feeling.
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posted by droplet at 1:18 PM on April 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
For years, I thought I was the only American who remembered seeing The Goodies for a short while as a child. They were on Channel 10 (PBS) in Milwaukee for maybe 6 or 7 months back in, I want to say, 1976? They didn't catch on like Python had in the US. I didn't see it again until I went to Australia in 1999.
It turns out that a friend of mine had seen The Goodies in his northern New Jersey town as a kid, and Bob Odenkirk had, also, as a teenager in Illinois. Odenkirk brings them up during a red carpet interview in the 00s, and the American interviewer has no idea what he's talking about. There is definitely some Goodies influence I can see on Mr. Show.
And Tim was great on ISIHAC. I can't imagine how John, Graeme, and that whole gang must be feeling.
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posted by droplet at 1:18 PM on April 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
droplet: My 10 year old friends and I saw the Goodies during the same time period on PBS in northern Maine! For years we went around saying "ecky-thump" to each other!
If you want me, I'll be in the spleen. :-(
posted by scolbath at 2:51 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
If you want me, I'll be in the spleen. :-(
posted by scolbath at 2:51 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:53 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:53 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
Argh. Goodies, not Goonies.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:02 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:02 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
I am absolutely gutted by this. Like so many Australians, The Goodies on constant repeat was a much-loved constant of my childhood. I even remember all the circumstances of the first episode I ever saw (I was six; I was at my best friend’s house and her big sister had charge of the TV; the episode was ‘The Stone Age’ where they get trapped in the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex)
I credit the Goodies, at least partly, for encouraging me to think and question the status quo as a child. Among the ridiculousness there were sharp little moments about pollution, and corporate power, and pompous authority (often represented by Tim himself). And the most pointed (but still slapstick-hilarious) satire, the South Africa episode, which taught me with Apart-Height how arbitrary and ridiculous racial prejudice is, before I even knew what apartheid was.
In adulthood I was so happy when Foxtel started playing uncut episodes and we discovered jokes we’d never heard which the ABC had deemed too risqué for the 6 pm time slot. Later I got to meet Tim, and he was warm and funny and sweet.
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posted by andraste at 3:04 PM on April 12, 2020 [15 favorites]
I credit the Goodies, at least partly, for encouraging me to think and question the status quo as a child. Among the ridiculousness there were sharp little moments about pollution, and corporate power, and pompous authority (often represented by Tim himself). And the most pointed (but still slapstick-hilarious) satire, the South Africa episode, which taught me with Apart-Height how arbitrary and ridiculous racial prejudice is, before I even knew what apartheid was.
In adulthood I was so happy when Foxtel started playing uncut episodes and we discovered jokes we’d never heard which the ABC had deemed too risqué for the 6 pm time slot. Later I got to meet Tim, and he was warm and funny and sweet.
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posted by andraste at 3:04 PM on April 12, 2020 [15 favorites]
“If you want me, I shall be in the spleen” is a common saying in this house. So much of our common vocabulary is Goodies-related.
posted by andraste at 3:06 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by andraste at 3:06 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by dannyboybell at 3:51 PM on April 12, 2020
posted by dannyboybell at 3:51 PM on April 12, 2020
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posted by Smart Dalek at 5:05 PM on April 12, 2020
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:05 PM on April 12, 2020
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posted by Proofs and Refutations at 5:08 PM on April 12, 2020
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 5:08 PM on April 12, 2020
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Always remember his brilliant performance on One Foot in the Grave and his touching Who Do You Think You Are? ep.
posted by daybeforetheday at 6:29 PM on April 12, 2020
Always remember his brilliant performance on One Foot in the Grave and his touching Who Do You Think You Are? ep.
posted by daybeforetheday at 6:29 PM on April 12, 2020
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posted by darchildre at 8:56 PM on April 12, 2020
posted by darchildre at 8:56 PM on April 12, 2020
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TBT was the definition of funny when I grew up. Even the naff stuff he did (Hello Cheeky?) was funny, if groan-worthy. I could probably sing through The Goodies (New) LP word-for-word (and remember the time Mum overheard my brother playing Nothing To Do With Us! and marched him back to the record shop to demand a refund).
Damn.
posted by scruss at 9:06 PM on April 12, 2020
TBT was the definition of funny when I grew up. Even the naff stuff he did (Hello Cheeky?) was funny, if groan-worthy. I could probably sing through The Goodies (New) LP word-for-word (and remember the time Mum overheard my brother playing Nothing To Do With Us! and marched him back to the record shop to demand a refund).
Damn.
posted by scruss at 9:06 PM on April 12, 2020
RIP Tim. I love the Kitten Kong episode, and remember thinking that this part of it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen when I first saw it as a small child in Australia in the 1970s (for better quality video, jump to about 9:20 in the video Wordshore linked to above).
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 9:51 PM on April 12, 2020
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 9:51 PM on April 12, 2020
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posted by faceplantingcheetah at 2:16 AM on April 13, 2020
posted by faceplantingcheetah at 2:16 AM on April 13, 2020
Also: Bananaman.
ff51c9c84e4769ecb29a1ff6a5bbeaa31dfca31f
posted by flabdablet at 6:59 AM on April 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
ff51c9c84e4769ecb29a1ff6a5bbeaa31dfca31f
posted by flabdablet at 6:59 AM on April 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Another Gen X Aussie here who grew up watching The Goodies. This is heartbreaking. I hope he got to say goodbye to his loved ones.
posted by harriet vane at 7:16 AM on April 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by harriet vane at 7:16 AM on April 13, 2020 [2 favorites]
Same here, we watched The Goodies probably dozens of times each episode.
The Goodies, Tom Baker era Dr Who & Monkey Magic were the Holy Trinity of our childhood.
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posted by UbuRoivas at 8:53 AM on April 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
The Goodies, Tom Baker era Dr Who & Monkey Magic were the Holy Trinity of our childhood.
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posted by UbuRoivas at 8:53 AM on April 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 10:53 AM on April 13, 2020
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 10:53 AM on April 13, 2020
The world is a bit colder and less funny now. :(
The Goodies, Tom Baker era Dr Who & Monkey Magic were the Holy Trinity of our childhood.
With Countdown on Sundays making up a quartet.
posted by Pouteria at 3:40 AM on April 15, 2020 [4 favorites]
The Goodies, Tom Baker era Dr Who & Monkey Magic were the Holy Trinity of our childhood.
With Countdown on Sundays making up a quartet.
posted by Pouteria at 3:40 AM on April 15, 2020 [4 favorites]
I was born just slightly too late to see the Goodies on TV, but we had a double cassette of I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again - four episodes, one on each side of each tape - and listened to them over and over on car journeys.
This one really hurts.
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posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 10:29 AM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
This one really hurts.
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posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 10:29 AM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Segundus at 8:33 AM on April 12, 2020