How did the goons get their name?

Tony	I seem to remember it came from Go on(s). Jun 02 03, 5:44 PM

Fosse4

It's from an old English dialect word 'gooney' meaning a fool. The Show was originally called 'The Crazy People' and wasn't billed as 'The Goons' till series 2 (January 1952). The programme title is said to have originated from a newspaper article by James Thomas in the News Chronicle(1951) in which he said 'Goon humour is obviously crazy and clever. It will either be loved or detested' Jun 02 03, 6:35 PM

Fosse4

By the way Tony, the Go Ons is reputedly what a BBC executive called the show in a meeting called to decide wether they should continue to broadcast the shows! (Sellers/Milligan/Seacomb Interview with Michael Parkinson). Jun 02 03, 6:38 PM

Son of The Household Cavalry

I think that Spike Milligan picked the name from a Popeye comic. It was the name of a race of people that lived on an island in one of the cartoons Jun 02 03, 8:34 PM

Tabby Tom

According to 'Radio Comedy 1938 to 1968', by Andy Foster and Steve Furst, the Goon Show had its origins at the Grafton Arms in the Victoria area of London. The publican was also a scriptwriter and Spike Milligan was renting a room over the pub. Milligan, Secombe, Sellers and Bentine put on shows in the pub which became very popular. Grafton, as a kind of MC, was called 'KOGVOS' (King of Goon and Voice of Sanity'), and the performers became known as the Goon Club. Eventually they came to the notice of the BBC, who put on the first series of their programmes as 'The Crazy People' but allowed a change of name to 'The Goon Show' for the second series. This still doesn't explain where the word 'goon' came from. According to the OED, 'goon' in the sense of 'a stolid, dull or stupid person' derives from Alice the Goon, a character in an American cartoon series by E. C. Segar dating form 1921. In World War II, the word was used by Allied POWs to mean a camp guard. Since the Goons were among the many comedians whose career started in the forces in WW', the name may have a wartime origin. Jun 02 03, 9:57 PM

Guru???

Alice the Goon was the character in Popeye which was by E. C. Segar. I have copies of the Goon Show Scripts in hardback and the are covered with doodles by Spike Milligan that bear an uncanny resemblance to Alice. http://www.kenpiercebooks.com/popeye.htm Jun 02 03, 10:05 PM