The Comedy Show That Killed
The Goodies was a British TV series that combined situation comedy with surreal sketches, and originally aired 76 episodes on BBC from 1970 to 1980. It is probably not the cup of tea of most Americans today, but it was pretty funny for its intended British audience, as evidenced by its decade-long run. Also, by the fact that at least one of its viewers found a Goodies skit to be so hilarious that he laughed himself to death. It began on the evening of March 24th, 1975, which started off like many others for Alex Mitchell, a bricklayer from King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
He sat down after dinner to watch an episode of his favorite TV show, which he watched religiously every week. Mitchell knew to expect the show’s typical raw and physical humor. However, he was unprepared for that evening’s “Kung Fu Capers” episode. It featured a black belt in “Ecky Thump” – a little known martial art from Lancaster, that revolved around pelting opponents with black pudding. Something about that struck Mitchell as over the top hilarious. He began to guffaw uproariously, as his wife complained that he must be the only person in the world who thought The Goodies was funny.