Comedy Genius Spike Milligan Is Back At The Grand

Comedy genius Spike Milligan is back! It’s good to be alive! Tune in to the famous Eccles, Count Jim Moriarty and Bluebottle once more as radio sensations The Goons are back in the absurdly funny new play SPIKE at Blackpool Grand Theatre from Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 November!

Delve into the inner workings of one of our most unique and brilliantly irreverent comedy minds with the latest exciting project from talented co-writers Ian Hislop (BBC’s Have I Got News For You team captain and editor of Private Eye) and Nick Newman (writer and satirical cartoonist), about the life and career of the inimitable comedy genius Spike Milligan.

It’s the booming fifties, and Britain is in the clutches of Goon mania as men, women and children across the country scramble to get their ear to a wireless for another hilarious and madcap instalment of The Goon Show. While Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers get down to the serious business of becoming overnight celebrities, fellow Goon and chief writer Spike Milligan finds himself pushing the boundaries of comedy and testing the patience of the BBC.

Will Spike’s dogged obsession with finding the funny elevate The Goons to soaring new heights, or will the whole thing come crashing down with the stroke of a potato peeler?

SPIKE follows the recent successes of Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s smash-hit plays A Bunch of Amateurs, The Wipers Times and Trial by Laughter. Extracts from The Goons used with the kind permission of Spike Milligan Productions.

“I’m not acting crazy. I’m the genuine article” – Spike Milligan

And there’s more where that came from…

Comedy Genius Spike Milligan: Top 10 facts about the creator of The Goon Show

1. His real name was Terence Alan Milligan. He started calling himself “Spike” after hearing the US band Spike Jones And His City Slickers.

2. Milligan was born in British India to an Irish father and English mother. His father Leo Alphonso Milligan served in the British Indian Army.

3. He launched The Goon Show in 1951 with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine.

4. In its first season the show was called “The Junior Crazy Gang featuring those Crazy People, the Goons!” or “Crazy People” for short.

5. In 1968 he appeared on TV as Beachcomber of the Daily Express in The World of Beachcomber.

6. Milligan and Peter Sellers, along with others made a television comedy show based on ‘The Goon Show’. This show was called ‘The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d’ and debuted in 1956. It was followed by ‘A Show Called Fred’ and ‘Son of Fred’ later the same year.

7. He was badly wounded in the Battle of Monte Cassino and was hospitalised for a long period. After being demobilised from the army, he became a fulltime entertainer.

8. His gravestone in Winchelsea bears the epitaph, “I told you I was ill” written in Gaelic.

9. Although known basically for his comic work, he also wrote serious literature. He published seven volumes of war memoirs over a period of 21 years (1971-1992), describing his war time experiences from 1939 to 1950.

10. Known as the Comedy Genius, Spike Milligan was made an honorary Commander of the British Empire in 1992 and was given an honorary knighthood in 2000

SPIKE is at Blackpool Grand Theatre from Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 November.

Tickets starting from £17.50, concessions and member discounts available

Contains strong language, references to suicide, loud bangs, strobe lighting and the use of prop cigarettes and guns on stage. Recommended 10yrs+

Book now by visiting blackpoolgrand.co.uk or call the box office on 01253 290 190.

LISTINGS

SPIKE – Tue 15 to Sat 19 Nov 2022 at 7.30pm

Wed, Thu & Sat matinees at 2pm

Grand Theatre, 33 Church Street, Blackpool FY1 1HT

Box Office 01253 290 190

blackpoolgrand.co.uk

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