The Fear Of Wages

Comedian and podcaster Ben Van Der Velde joins Tyler this week to discuss The Fear Of Wages, Spike Milligan's favourite Goon Show ever and a neat parody of the classic French film The Wages Of Fear (later remade as Sorcerer).  Broadcast in March 1956 its entry in the BBC Transcription Services catalogue reads: "For fourteen years Major Bloodnok and Captain Neddie Seagoon have been fighting the Japanese in Burma. For eleven of those years the war has been over, but the two sides have only recently awoken to this fact. Preparing for a triumphal return to Britain, complete with Japanese prisoners and Japanese saké, Neddie has the honour to be put in charge of the truck containing nitro-glycerine."  Tyler and Ben talk comedy influences, contemporary politics, favourite gags and characters, topics and language 'of its time', ask why the Ray Ellington number Pink Champagne was edited out of the later versions while an aural joke was fixed, and point out a Bluebottle inconsistency.  Ben's podcast Worst Foot Forward is HERE: worstfootforwardpodcast.com