He was my dear old Grandad's hero. He loved Spike, I do too. It's fair to say that all the wit and humour he displays in this great interview is completely spontaneous, to be this funny off the cuff is beyond art, it's genius. What he would make of the world now heaven alone knows but he would be sure to find humour in it and make it a little brighter for everyone else. What a remarkable man he was and what a great legacy he has left us. Thankyou Spike.

The father of modern comedy. Without Spike there would have been no Month python, and so many others who they influenced. His legacy cannot be overstated.

After being shelled he was sent to the military hospital for shell shock victims at a place called Afragola just North of Naples. It just so happened that 1944 was also a year when Vesuvius erupted. Spike later remarked "Only the British Army could put a hospital for shell shock victims next to an exploding mountain " .

@chrislambert7528

4 жыл бұрын

Spike could always see the ridiculous in everything which made him unique. A wonderful quality to have. Pity politicians seem to lack that ingredient.

@jimmybarrymcsean5299

3 жыл бұрын

Lol

@oldrikky

3 жыл бұрын

@@jimmybarrymcsean5299 Sounds about right.

@yellowbags

2 ай бұрын

Bahahhaha hilarious ee

A light went out of our lives when Spike died, he was a tonic, I watch him when I feel down and I immediately feel better, he was a God of comedy.

He was brilliant, the best retort I heard from him some years ago, he was asked by a presenter, " Spike, to what do you attribute your extreme old age to". To which he replied, "I attribute my extreme old to the fact, that I haven't died yet".

@TheArgieH

3 жыл бұрын

I like the story that Harry Seacombe was a gunner whose gun crew had dug a gun pit that was too shallow. On firing their artillery piece it jumped out rolled backwards and over a slope, passing Milligan on the way. As Milligan put it a short bespectacled gunner ran up and asked Spike "have you seen an artillery piece go past?". "Umm..What colour was it ?"

Thank you Spike, for everything you shared with us through your life. Your torture was not in vain. Love, Peace and Light.

@billibbotson4685

5 жыл бұрын

.? I'm

@billibbotson4685

5 жыл бұрын

)R&

"He's dead now, isn't he?" "Well I hope so, they buried him." Classic.

@Gribbo9999

4 жыл бұрын

They lived in Woy Woy a small nice but not very exciting town town just north of Sydney popular with retirees. Spike described it as the only town where they bury people overground. They named a footbridge after him.

@donalarmstrong4647

4 жыл бұрын

"He can't be too happy if he isn't!"

@merro27

4 жыл бұрын

@@Gribbo9999 I believe he also said Woy Woy was so small that the town prostitute was a virgin.

He was as mad as a hatter and we loved the bones of him, lovely man

@peterfitzpatrick7032

3 жыл бұрын

Nicely put.. 😎👍☘🍺

This was the true Irish Shakespeare of Comedy! This man was a national treasure! We, here in America, had no idea - how could we have missed THIS? The king of comedy, the Elvis of Wooppie!!! Unequaled!! I humbly tip my hat off to his wonderful, beautiful memory!!!!!!

Spike Milligan the absolute king of comedy, soooooooo naturally funny, there will never be another one like Spike.

That was a time when real people with real talent were on t v. He only had to walk on the set and the audiences cracked up with laughter, a really funny man. A great loss to the world of real comedy. Jofus

what a brilliant man.seems to be a National Treasure.

The man was a comic genius. Possible the funniest man of his era. Even today he has me in fits of laughter.

Spike had bi-polar he was a genius I got his autograph when he did a stand-up show in Southhampton Guildhall in 1975 when I was 15 years old I've still got it now. We will never see his non PC humour again.

@speakertreatz

2 жыл бұрын

I've got one as well, myself and my brother (his is framed in our parents living room), we went backstage after Spike's show at The Gaiety, Dublin in 1982. I was 9, the bro was 6, or as Spike wrote on the autograph 6/10.

@fcb9950

2 жыл бұрын

What an absloute genius of a comedian Spike was. You could listen to him all day. Pity his humour is continually interrupted by that self absorbed prick sitting next to him with his carefully manicured nauseating laugh that can only come from a patronising disinterested fucking moron.

You only realise what you miss when its gone.

I've bumped into him on video for awhile now, with or without the Goons, and he does something quite extraordinary for a comedian by literally forcing me to pay attention to every word he says. Truly a gift.

By five minutes in I’m literally blinded by tears of laughter🤣🤣🤣I miss him so much,, my idol who took the piss out of EVERYONE👏🏻👏🏻RIP GENIUS

Without a script, Spike was the funniest guy on the planet. His books are hysterical too.

Spike never fails to make me Laugh, a Great Comic and a Great man.

I love that question "where does the Dark go when you turn the Light on?" It ranks with "What caused the Big Bang?".

Christ the owl is nostalgic as fuck remember sitting there when my parents watched the Late Late Show!

I know we have many great comedians and entertainers today, but we will never see the likes of Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Tommy Cooper and Morcambe and Wise, I know that's a cliché but it really is so true

@jessgibbs8702

9 жыл бұрын

it's bloody political correctness gone fking mad, if even half of the older comedains (as you mentioned and a few others) tried to do what they did now, they'd be fking locked in pirsion wi key thrown away or just killed. sad, but true. R.I.P True Comedy!

@martinfolan4864

3 жыл бұрын

And Benny Hill too!

@TheArgieH

3 жыл бұрын

Another late thought. Milligan, Seacombe, Bentine and Sellers had all seen WW II service up the sharp end and I believe it gave them and many others a certain quality when it came to taking some things, shall we say, a little less seriously. Or put another way, they knew what mattered and what didn't. Sorry that's a bit clumsy.

@CDash162

3 жыл бұрын

Oh great, another human being who has heard of Tony Hancock. He was before my time, but every time I'm stressed I have to put on that episode where he buys loads of cameras. I love Hancocks Half Hour it's the best comedy show ever. All innocent fun.

Spike was pure comic genius . The Goon show laid the foundations for modern comedy from Monty Python too Rowen and Martins laugh in. Great stuff Spike love you

Read his books. Between the laughter you'll realise what a decent and sensitive man he was.

Enjoyed the late gaye Byrne. Loved the song from spike I'll have to use that one nite in my pubs kareoke .rip gaye..from Glasgow Scotland

I love this Irishman's style and accent.

I'm trying to drink a cuppa while watching this and have been in grave danger of spraying the screen with it. What a funny funny crazy man!

It is very true, there are 2 major curses in life, neighbours and piles!

The one and only Spike Milligan, the very best of British comedy!

An on form spike , often imitated but never bettered

What a wonderful human being Spike was and still is ! Gawd bless 🙋 him ..........

"How long were you there?" "About 5' 11" " LOL

@octaviancaesarhibernicus4447

6 жыл бұрын

Mr Wolfe yeah I laughed out loud at that one.

@andygemmell7778

4 жыл бұрын

0

The “Ning Nang Nong” poem!He had the gift of the gab !

War is grotesque and absurd to any intelligent being. Spike's unique upbringing lent a perspective with respect to this insanity which produced his uniquely surreal comic. That he broke the mold of tradition was my good fortune growing up in 50's England. He kept many of us sane whether we wanted it or not.

Was he the funniest man who ever lived? I think there's a fair chance that he was.

@damiencallaghan9389

4 жыл бұрын

JOHN CLEESE WAS A VERY CLOSE SECOND

@puiphillips4609

4 жыл бұрын

Damien CALLAGHAN Yes I absolutely agree. I’m a Canadian and never visited The UK during the period when the Goons were popular. However I did buy a cassette tape of a number of their shows and I also was convinced that Spike Milligan and all of them were some of the funniest comedians that I have ever experienced. John Cleese was/is right up there with them and his Fawlty Towers was the best comedy that I have ever seen, bar none.

@chrisbraid2907

4 жыл бұрын

Victor Borge and him close equals..... different but just as funny....

@ggmm6182

3 жыл бұрын

@@damiencallaghan9389 spike milligan and peter sellers for me stand alone as the two comic geniuses of the 20th century

Oh gosh I can't stop laughing. he must be the funniest man I've ever heard - and so intelligently witty. Thank you Spike.

"Still doing the same old job are you?" 😂😂😂

He's making light of it - turning it into daft comedy as only Spike could - but he had an absolutely horrific experience during the war from which he never fully recovered and which set the pattern for the rest of his days. Brilliant bloke, but a tormented and a brave one as well.

@Toolpusher

9 жыл бұрын

Very well said Steve. Both my maternal Grandfather, and my eldest paternal Uncle fought in North Africa in the same campaign as Spike. My Grandfather ended up being a sound guy during the working week, but getting drunk in the local Masonic club on a saturday, and sometimes using my Grandmother as a punchbag after staggering home. My Uncle was more upstanding. I don't know, but perhaps he felt he had a standard to follow, as he actually lied about his age on volunteering. He was only 16. I'd have to do some real ancestral digging to get at the truth, in terms of publishable records, but he's a bloody strong contender for the youngest soldier at El Alamein, if my family history is as sound as I think it is.

@ThatsnewsTV

6 жыл бұрын

My Uncle was on his TA camp in August 1939 and was then at war until 1945. He served in North Africa in the Tank Regiment. The only thing he couldn't stand was any form of salad.

@gerardvaughan1847

5 жыл бұрын

@@Toolpusher Now they've done Iraq, Libya, and still in the process of butchering Yemen, had a good go, via Prox,i in Syria - slaughtered thousands of Christian villagers, there, Oh Goodee ! Only Iran leaved apart from Somalia. The World will soon be "Free". For Rothschild's Banksters, at any rate

@tedsworld3939

5 жыл бұрын

Steve Payne Pa and freides

Spike Milligan - The Shakespeare of Comedy!!!!!!!!!!

Spike was a certified genius. His series of war diaries are insightful, hilarious, touching, moving and sad. While he’s joking about his shell shock. , reading the book you’ll really understand how it effected him for the rest of his life. O, and he also had a pitch-perfect voice, he could whistle the tones into a phone and it would dial the number. RIP

Never seen him before but as some1 watching this 4 the 1st time in 2015, I have 2 say that Spike Milligan is fucking hilarious.

@2011littlejohn1

9 жыл бұрын

Rick Grimes It is no idle remark to say that Spike Milligan changed and influenced British comedy practically single handedly. He stretched the special effects department of BBC Radio to its limits in the 50's.

@siobhancosgrove9677

8 жыл бұрын

Rick Grimes Spike is as you rightly said is FUCKING HILARIOUS.

@paulcoddington664

8 жыл бұрын

+Rick Grimes Seek out more of his material, and The Goon Show. You won't regret it.

@raymondlang

8 жыл бұрын

+Paul Coddington And check out The Telegoons.

@Cyba_IT

7 жыл бұрын

Also read his war memoirs. So funny!

So ahead of his time...Python stole his gig...and they ADMIT..it....willingly.....such a great comedic mind....

Love the song, and you know he had more verses. I left my heart in ...........

Spike was a genius one-off.

in the early days on tranquilizers you went 'round like zombies. What a comedian, who's sadly left this world, and is sorely missed. gone but not forgotten x

@scienceout1

6 жыл бұрын

Jess Gibbs

@timsan55

5 жыл бұрын

Not missed and best forgetten

@colinmcmb

5 жыл бұрын

Goon but not for Rotherham.

Legend of legends, God of Comedy.

I've never actually sat down and watched any Spike Milligan before, i've always heared the older generation say he was very funny. And i have to agree. He's doing what Robin Williams was doing... only before Robin Williams!

@battmann7089

4 жыл бұрын

The Pale Emperor Spike invented modern comedy. Most comics haven't caught up with him yet, he really was that far ahead of the game.

@bernicewade9796

4 жыл бұрын

Milligan had extremely intelligent wit and a quick tongue to match. Williams wasn't near as funny.

@winningbigly6666

3 жыл бұрын

That’s mad that you mentioned Robin Williams cos I just watched an interview Spike did with Joanna Lumley and he was exactly like Robin Williams. Only as you say it was before Robin Williams

@keithp6699

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah this interview reminded me of a Robin Williams interview he had with some chat show host Craig Ferguson I think

Need (especially now) more men like this. Especially in parliament.

@ivanolsen8596

3 жыл бұрын

@MichaelKingsfordGray He is only funny looking.

RIP Mr. Byrne died 4th Nov 2019. He was the presenter of this programme.

@marianconneely430

4 жыл бұрын

J

@janedoy8084

4 жыл бұрын

Yes in my opinion Gay Byrne was the very best on Irish radio and television . He will never be bettered. I stopped listening to radio and watching The late late show when he stopped presenting them. Will miss him greatly.

@paullinnane4396

4 жыл бұрын

Aged 85

@John-ro1iv

4 жыл бұрын

I thought gaybo could be a bit pompous and arrogant at times, but still the better one. Can't have Tubridy. (maybe it's the name 🤔) Kenny was worse. If they ever give it to D'Arcy, I'm emigrating.

@thomaswhittaker4137

4 жыл бұрын

I saw Gay Byrne introduce the Beatles on their first TV appearance in 1962 round about my 14th birthday, he was a popular presenter on Scene at Six thirty on Granada television. The Beatles did well after that.

"Use to be piles in those days. They hadn't gone metric yet"

Spikes Gravestone: I told you I was ill.

hes wonderful..

He made me laugh so often when I was young.

I'm so glad that I grew up with the likes of Spike, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and was able to still hear repeats of The Goons on the radio when I worked on Saturdays, god bless them all ♥

A true comedy genius.

🗣 *Spike lived down the road from me in ‘Hadley Wood’ in the 1980’s!* 🎭👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

One of my hero's. A great man and sadly missed.

@annabeltheunicorn9374

5 жыл бұрын

Great guy and funny without bad language

even when hes talking serious, hes so funny

lol 0:17 he was a soolldier in his daay, fought for king,country and empire, so he did! best thing ever.

They is only one word to say about Spike genius

A king of goodness.

spike is right on race we are all one, swimming in a world ofconfusion

Wow.This is Great YOU HAVE TO LAUGH AT YOURSELF.ITS GREAT.KAT,CT.2019.

Awww, Miss you heaps, Spike! xxx

God given talent of being naturally funny

The interviewer is excellent. Let's Spike be funny and poignant at the same time.

What a funny man!!! Miss these old late late's with gaybo, R. I. P to both

Oh my God such a funny man! I’m in tears!

Spike in his element among his fellow countrymen.

@VCYT

5 жыл бұрын

Who he left to live elsewhere for most of his life. HA

@paulrowe9486

5 жыл бұрын

@@VCYT He never ever lived in Ireland !!! He was British !!!!!

@markbarker6739

5 жыл бұрын

He was in fact born in India decided to become Irish when he lost his belief in England

@aine7173

4 жыл бұрын

The clue is in the name. He was born british by accident, he chose to be irish.

@markbarker6739

3 жыл бұрын

@fus149 Hammer he did say in an interview he lost faith in England so the oath thing might have something to do with it

Spike suffered from Manic/Depression now known as Bi-Polar disorder, this is why his moods would swing from two extremes. Unfortunately we didn't know much about this debilitating disease and many suffered in silence.

@MarkRobertCuthbert

8 жыл бұрын

+Felix Burke 100% Correct. "High's and Lows" not much middle.

@Sean_Coyne

6 жыл бұрын

Had it myself all my life, my mother and one aunt too. Makes me love Spike and his humour all the more.

@darkpaganflaabawaaabanoong2815

6 жыл бұрын

Yeah been a sufferer of bi polar since I was a boy now 60 love spike his lows as well as his highs rest well Mate at peace at last

@williamshields5363

6 жыл бұрын

What is bi bolar

@flintmcgerty

6 жыл бұрын

He once said that he reckoned he suffered from PTSD, only it wasn't invented back then

No doubt about it. Spike was simply the best!

Gay, was scared, but. Very brave. 🍎. 💫🌙💫✨✨💫✨🌙. Gay was a true pro. .. .. Spike... just loved him to bits. ❣️✨

Legend... :)

i love this interview so much x

At least Spike was introduced as a Jazz trumpeter of note...Many of his fans dont even know that.

@steveandtheghost1

8 жыл бұрын

+Nobsta Nutts spot on! i play the trumpet because my grandad was inspired to play the trumpet badly by him playing it well! if that makes any sense!

@nobstanutts7650

8 жыл бұрын

Cheers bro.I played for a year at 11yrs but gave it up..My dad played for over 70yrs until 82..He did his last gig the night before he suffered a fatal heart attack December last.

@JonSmith-cx7gr

8 жыл бұрын

+Nobsta Nutts He never let on to many of his fans. He didn't like to blow his own trumpet.

@nobstanutts7650

8 жыл бұрын

Very good sir..yes he got brassed off with the adulation.

I loved his books Hitler my part in his downfall, he describes going to a brothel where the old mama sat there with her legs open his discription was so funny

All this groveling will get you knowwhere I'm not going to reduce the fee

He reminds me of my father.

Spike Milligan, funnier shell shocked and depressed than today's comedians on whatever they take!

@clairekilduff5930

3 жыл бұрын

Most comedians are depressed. And there are a few funny ones about today.

Have just started reading Spike's WW2 books ... What a great writers talent for observing people... . Watching this when he is describing the horrible the effects of ' Shell Shock ' which he does in a way that gets across the awfulness effects of war on people, he has that great sense of the ridiculous to find humor in it, although it must have been incredibly tough on him to relive it, and no matter what ... to have people find it funny who weren't there .Down here in Aotearoa / New Zealand .. raising a glass to your memory Spike.

Gotta love Spike x

spike was a natural very funny man (albeit a bit bonkers) . I've never heard of Byrne but he does a decent enough job presenting. Spike thousand times better than todays' comedians

@ahlads

5 жыл бұрын

He was a great host. The show is actually still going but he presented it for many yrs from the early 60´s until 1999. What was good about him was that he followed the flow of the conversation and let the guests speak. It was also unusual in that it was went out live for 2 hours on a Friday night.

Goon, but not forgotten.

I'm so glad I grew up in the 50's and 60's, when the unique genius of Spike, and Seller's, was first recognised. Their impact on British humour will never fade, despite the mad efforts of the soulless faceless automatons who try to control our opinions and thoughts.

@donfinch862

5 жыл бұрын

yeh mate. I'm a half Spike, he's influence

@mariafelices8000

4 жыл бұрын

Philip Croft Phillip we were so lucky we had the best of every thing ,comics ,music ,safety etc ,families eating together,proper Christian Xmas and on and on ,nostalgia is a wonderful feeling,cheers Mark Cardiff 🇬🇧❤️

what a legend

"Maol" in Irish means "Bald". O'Maologàin probably means 'Bald Youth'. (Ògàin). Corrupted to Milligan. So maybe he's not joking about this. What a man!

@kascally

3 жыл бұрын

It might also mean ‘devotee of’ or ‘follower of’ youth; or possibly of Owen.

Great man

Sweet man. Full of humor and sadness. Miss him..

I love his description of his first meeting with Harry Seacombe during active service in WW II. Harry's artillery unit had dug a gun pit for their howitzer (7.2"?), but because of the terrain it was a bit too shallow. The 7.2" was known for its vicious recall and leaping ability. On first firing this one leapt out of the gun pit and ran away down a slope and disappeared into the distance. Spike recalls that a little after a red-faced, breathless, plumpish, bespectacled gunner ran up to him and the ensuing conversation went like this: Harry: (Gasping for breath). Have you seen a howitzer go by? Spike: (After pause for deep thought). What colour was it? Harry: Screams and hits him. That's Spike version anyway, Harry might have remembered it otherwise.

@Ometecuhtli

22 күн бұрын

I think Harry's version was that they heard the crack of the howitzer and thought that the Germans had broke through, but then saw Spike coming down the slope asking "Anybody has seen a gun!?"

He would never get away with half the things he use to get away with

this is the best show i ever seen on spike

i comical genius with a doubt

Just listened to one of the funniest Irish men ever

@mrjagriff

4 жыл бұрын

Oh ,grow a fukin brain cell

The late Spike Milligan on the late late show.

Really, you should never say, "There'll never be another." But there'll never be another.

Brilliant. He can make fun of such a serious thing as shell shock/ PTSD in a way that you don't even notice that he's been profoundly affected.

Only spike could have 'i told you i was ill' written as an epitath on his tombstone. Making people laugh even in his grave.

I have never seen this before as I am from America but this fellow was hilarious!

@emenveeuk

4 жыл бұрын

You had just watched the "godfather" of modern British humour. In fact, his surreal (outside the box) humour transcended & is within the DNA of all the "good quality" Brit humour post WW2...because the entire British nation were glued to their radio sets listening to his Goon show on the BBC during the 50's, (which were grey, glum & depressing days & not as vivid as the USA had enjoyed). We Brits were still a "stiff" lot. The Goon show was very whacky & imaginative stuff (you'd have thought he was a pot head or a crackhead) which inspired future writers & comedians of my parents & grandparents generation.. Anybody born much before the Edwardian era (1920's)or Victorian era would have simply found him anarchistic (punk) or too silly. I've noticed Spike's not up for todays generation since the kids been oversaturated & had their "funny bones" decapitated by the PC brigade.

Now contrast all that comic genius with the dross we have today.

@michaelodowd4807

3 жыл бұрын

Yea very sad

Incredible talent, incredible man.