Linzi Drew On Spike Milligan

[Snowy]

Haven't seen that in years. Probably since it was first broadcast in the mid-80s, I think.

Absolutely hilarious! And Linzi? Absolutely gorgeous!

Cheers!

[andy at handiwork]

Those were the days. Nice tits on TV with shoddy casual racism thrown in to cater for the whole demographic.

[jj]

andy at handiwork wrote:
> Those were the days. Nice tits on TV
... and he had as a regular, massive-jugged Julia Breck.

> ....with shoddy casual racism thrown in to cater for the whole demographic.
Though he'd toned it down a fair bit by then, from the nadir of 'Curry and
Chips' : -))
'Love Thy Neighbour' was even worse- and wasn't even remotely funny.

[andy at handiwork]

One could always rely on Milligan to put some top quality gratuitous totty in his often inspired work, but for me his frequent use of unnecessary racist caricature for an easy laugh devalued him as a comic for me. He may well have been well ahead of that crap that passed for comedy, 'Love Thy Neighbour', but I have to wonder, was he merely being lazy or did he really think such casual indifference was ok?

[jj]

Although he was of course a product of his times, I suspect laziness.
I don't think there was anything malicious in it- more patronage than prejudice.
He was a complex character but only seemed capable of genuine vindictiveness
during his [sadly increasingly frequent] fugues.

With 'LTY' I always got the feeling that the 'comedy' was secondary.

[andy at handiwork]

You are probably right, lazy and patronising rather than malicious, and very much of his times. Cant fault him for his opinion of prince Charles -

[jj]

Piss-funny.
....although.... [sacrilege !!] I didn't find the Goons all that funny, bar the
odd flash of [usually Spike's] genius. For me they were generally better away
from each other, in their own contexts. Too much schoolboy back-slapping, together.

BTW, classic Sellers, as related by Milligan....
Milligan is woken in the wee small hours by a knock on his front-door. He opens
said door, to be confronted by a bollock-naked Sellers- who then enquires:
"D'you know a good tailor"?
"Se non ? vero, ? ben trovato"

[frankthring]

Milligan was a man of the old Empire; his father had been a NCO in the
British Army in India and that is where he was brought up; I suspect
his racial stereotyping - and I must say the Japanese one is especially
crude in this sketch (and currently in rather poor taste) - was a result
of wide travels and a certain feeling, from his background and generation,
of racial superiority (in the case of the Japs and their campaigns in the
Far East, I think Milligan was quite happy to caricature them).
But there are truths in all these caricatures (along with the
exaggerations) and he was always zanily funny.