Royal Canadian Air Farce, “The Mad Trapper of Rat River”

[moon_custafer]

Lying awake at 4:30am, I suddenly realized how Goon Show-influenced this episode was. Embarrassing that it took me so long, given that one of the performers is straight-up doing the Bluebottle voice.

Comments

[spiralsheep]

There's some incoherent Eccles in there too.

Actors on Round the Horne did accidental Bluebottle regularly. I'm assuming you know the show. If not, here's 10 minutes of The Palone Ranger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B03ASAR5xqE

[moon_custafer]

I'm assuming you know the show.

I’ve heard of it, though I think the only episode I’ve heard all the way through was their parody of She.

[spiralsheep]

I probably should've phrased it "I assume you know of the show." It's widely seen as the link between the Goon Show era and the harder edged comedy shows made from 1967, because of the influence of writers Marty Feldman and Barry Took. Feldman is best known to international audiences as Igor in Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein, although he was briefly popular on US telly, and I suspect Took isn't known at all abroad but he was influential in the Pythons getting together at the BBC amongst other claims to fame.

Round the Horne was sharply satirical but instead of political satire its topic was demolishing the conservative establishment's favourite stereotypes, especially homophobic and racist stereotypes, through the medium of popular adventure stories (like the Goons). It isn't as timeless as Goons or Python, and never travelled as easily, because it was topical satire. I've never got into the show but I especially admire their dedication to broadcasting words previously tacitly forbidden from the airwaves.

[moon_custafer]

Yeah, I've mostly heard of it in the context of 'Julian and Sandy were denounced as embarrassing stereotypes by 1970s gay activists, but are now beloved queer icons,' etc.

ETA-- I've seen Feldman in a few things, including the delightful The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, scripted by Gene Wilder while he was working on Young Frankenstein and starring many of the same people, plus Dom DeLuise, Leo McKern, and Roy Kinnear (and a three-second cameo by Albert Finney as 'Man At Opera').