E23: Rainbow, the Beloved British Children's Show

Welcome to Long Distance, Bit Weird, a podcast from international comedy couple Sooz Kempner and Michael Balazo. One of them lives in the UK, the other in Canada. At time of publishing, 1 Canadian dollar is worth 0.54p. This week Sooz tells Michael the story of beloved British children's television series Rainbow. Created as a British response to Sesame Street, Rainbow aired from 1972-1992. And while Rainbow lacked Sesame Street's American glamour, big budget and huge cast, it certainly had a man named Geoffrey who was forced to live in a small house with two puppets and a huge bear that argued nonstop. Why was the Rainbow theme song so groovy/melancholy? What is Zippy? Was innocuous folk trio Rod, Jane and Freddy fuelled by sexual jealousy? Why was Bungle arrested? And was an episode of Rainbow really banned? Listen to find out! But first: SILLY town names; forgotten David Bowie personas; PLUS: a new edition of the hit segment "Actual Customer Letters to Wetherspoon News," in which we read genuine letters written to a damn pub. *** If you like what you hear, you can support Long Distance, Bit Weird on Patreon. Subscribers will get early access to episodes, bonus content and special surprises. In fact, you can watch several Travelodge episodes, along with the classic British animated films Watership Down and the bonkers Canadian documentary Project Grizzly in FULL right now with witty/sweary commentary from Sooz and Michael.  *** SHOWS May 24th - Sooz Kempner: Imposter WIP @ Crack, Kingston TICKETS May 29th - Sooz Kempner - Screaming Blue Murder @ The Core, Corby TICKETS June 2nd - Sooz Kempner - BYOB @ Komedia, Brighton TICKETS