Spike Milligan - The Lord's Prayer

[MrDaiseymay]

Thats what he would call--'Military Mate' speak. A lot of his humour came from his experience in the army--and the unbelievable cock-ups and stupidity, of the 'officer class'. These knob'eads are not so prevelant these days, because you have to prove SOME inteligence, and not simply know some high up, who went to 'YOUR' school ,and so automatically get promotion. (Thinks---Eccles ? yeaarrh ! Do YOU know how we captured a third of the world--I Don't know--How did we capture a third of the world-

[sendanor]

I think Spike had his revenge finally over his own sergeant bigmouths when he served in WW 2!!!! heehee.....MAA.....AAARCHH YOU SILLY DOORKNOBS!!!!!

[sarabower1]

After drinking too much at Highgrove Spike Milligan passed out in the washroom on the floor. He insisted a plague be screwed into the floor that states

"Spike Milligan slept here"

[djdecca]

is it wrong that this gave me a boner...

[PhilK1231]

This man is God's gift to British comedy

The British Comedy Godfather is what this nutter is.

He wanted his gravestone to resd "I told you I was ill !"

That summed up this wonderful man.

He was catholic. Those papist bastards should canonise this wonderful loony !!!

[purbrookian]

We who suffered National Service recognize how spot-on is this pastiche. Marvellous timing.

[CATHERINEDAVIES123]

Only Spike could get away with this...or maybe he and Dave Allen.....brilliantly talented man...sadly missed..

[ludwigvonsteampole1]

The silver curtlery falling out at the end lol!!!!

[CorporalNym]

Spike, Spike how we miss you

[chunk123123]

u can see where al murry gets some of his act

[kenfig]

Mental wasnt he ? Thank God !

[cartmann94]

what's with the white paper in his ear??? creepy lol

[SophiaWatsonTG]

@cartmann94 i guess he wanted to see if it was ticking.

[bubs101able]

One very very funny man soley missed think greed surfises when there's a death

[KungfuCow5]

What language is that?

[gr00ved]

@KungfuCow5 It's finest military English :)

[wasp27]

@KungfuCow5 Old-style British Army Sargeant Major! (yes they actually used to give orders like that!)

[dexterccf2]

@wasp27 i know a couple who still do :P

[goonshowTV]

Check out my new Goon show channel. It features a rare TV version of the Ying Tong song sung by the goon show gang.Simply click on my link.

[lordgreystuff]

Another sherry Padre? amen

[HELLO2YOU3]

were ever he is thats were i want to end up.Its got to be better than this place

[TheHarecat]

yes, your bloody right.

[multilinkacs]

Well Gerretl, you obvoiusly are aware that Spike Milligan was part of the Goon show and a great mate of Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine. So the likely hood that this was ripped off from Hard Days Night is probably just a little bit worong. It was probably the other way round.

[gerretl]

I appear to have stirred a hornets nest.

In retrospect, you are probably right. Sellers was a brilliant actor, but I can imagine Spike having the original idea.

Bit mean of people to slate me for making an honest observation though.

[thepissflap]

if you google and otherwise search for spike reading his biographies, hitler, my part in his downfall, you'll hear him talking like this, from his impression of the BSM(brigade sgt majors) in his platoon, and the way he talked

its hilarious, and obv the inspiration for his accent here..

[TonyTheDriver100]

Don't worry about stirring up a hornets' nest, Spike Milligan would'nt have minded.

If you are too young to have seen these when they were original you should remember that The Goons were more popular than ANYTHING on the radio (or later, TV). But have you noticed? They NEVER used bad language EVER unlike many of today's so called comedians.

Have a good day.

[criskeys]

Although alot of under the radar army humour was there in innuendo. Lt. Hugh Jampton (huge hampton> hampton wick> dick) was actually cut from the series when the BBC got the joke. Much to Spikes disgust needless to say.

[JesusSuckedGayPenis]

@TonyTheDriver100 They weren't allowed to use bad language back then, and I'd know, I've got it written on a piece of paper.

[odinncool]

i dont know what he's saying.. what language is he speaking?

[thepissflap]

english lovely boy, english, the queens own..

[gerretl]

English, in the style of a British Army Regimental Sergeant Major. Ripped the idea of Peter Sellers version of 'A Hard Days Night' in the style of Shakespeare by the looks of it. Still imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[thepissflap]

more likley the other way aroung tbh ;)

[mush1955]

Goon but not forgotten !

[kn1ghtstemplar]

thy kingdom, WAIT FOR IT AHH lmfao

[thallassocracy]

Of course it is blasphemous. The Festival of Light hated Spike Milligan as much as they hated the Life of Brian.

War is blasphemous, too.

[Cool2BCeltic]

@thallassocracy Hate? And they were Christians? Jesus commanded people to love one another unconditionally. Yes, war is blasphemous indeed. The systematic taking of life given by God. Anyway, I think the fact that religion is perceived as humourless is a factor in people turning their backs on Christianity.

[MaskedMan66]

@thallassocracy How exactly does it blaspheme? I don't hold myself up as an exemplar of the best Christianity has to offer (that would be Christ, anyway), but I am very much a stick-in-the-mud fuddy-duddy and proud of it.

And I also happen to be a HUGE Spike/Goons fan who thinks this routine is just delightfully daft. Further, one of Spike's best friends was the very devout Harry Secombe, and I'm sure he would never have done anything to knowingly alienate his friend.

[berlinzerberus]

...or shall i say gagaism? hehe..

[berlinzerberus]

nice dadaism! LOLL

[drsdino]

Okay then....

[DeepSixed300]

"Spike was brilliantly lampooning the ridiculousness of the military, and in so doing he drew attention to the fact that mankind pays lip-service to religion, in the erroneous belief that God approves of their wars."

Ummm... way to over-analyse...!!

[djoutrage18]

oh i'm terrible! *points at self and tuts*

spike was a catholic too lol

[djoutrage18]

oh my good god! i'm a catholic and really want to know how this is offencive? seriously hillairious stuff! r.i.p spike

[Cindermakers]

You're a very blasphemous catholic!

[aaroux]

Offending and despicably out of place

[theestever]

You may be offended by it but I really don't see how. It isn't blasphemous or even particularly disrespectful. I assume you mean that use of The Lord's Prayer should be confined to religious practice. What is so bad about it being used in this context? It's comedy, but the comedy is in the presentation and not in the words. I'm not a christian but I happen to think TLP is a pretty solid thing, although I don't believe that "Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory..." stuff of course.

[theiftaker]

Genius

[allgodsaredead]

You may all be mistaken. He has, as yet, no tombstone. His family is still fighting over his estate and his plot is currently unmarked except for a small numbered peg, according to a recent newspaper article on bitter estate family wars. sorry I can't state the source. I may be wrong as the information was second hand and unless I see it with my own eyes I never believe anything.

[gr00ved]

If you Google for 'spike milligan headstone' then you'll find a few articles about it - most notably the BBC feature from May 2004 with a photograph of the stone :-)

[dominickearney]

@gr00ved That's right. The line "I told you I was ill" had to be written in Gaelic though to get approved by the Diocese.

[colmtrim]

you are wrong, he has a headstone

[hawkogen]

Didnt he always say he wanted "Told you I was sick" as his epitaph?

[pocketjohnson]

and he got it - although in Irish Gaelic script - apparently you aren't allowed jokes on tombstones.

[aintshinbrit]

He was having a "go" at the British Army, of which he onced served.

[MaskedMan66]

@allgodsaredead Even in death, he's plagued by the same idiotic bureaucracy he railed against in life. I'll bet he's already written a Goon Show about it in that great recording studio Up Yonder.

[wordreet]

@allgodsaredead So silly of them to fight, he had a saloon, not an estate.

[vindicari]

@allgodsaredead bullshit

[wasp27]

@allgodsaredead He now has a headstone :o)



[rrtodd95]

@allgodsaredead He has a tombstone, it's engraved with the epithet, "I told you I was Ill".

[fairhillnorrie]

@rrtodd95 is that true??

[rrtodd95]

@fairhillnorrie yes, the man was golden right up to the end

[conanhayle]

@allgodsaredead...............­. he has a nice headstone in a church in Winchelsea east sussex

[captainlucozade]

@allgodsaredead He does have one and he has (in gaelic) "I told you I was ill"... its one of the most famous tombstones in the world!!!!

[froggygurl3]

ima pray for you

[flimpkin4]

I see Peter Cook appeared in this episode, gr00ved. You couldn't show us that clip as well, I suppose?

[gr00ved]

I'll have a look and see if i have it... I'm pretty sure that I took this clip from a DVD compilation of clips though

[mervinh]

"Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite."

are the words on Spikes gravestone the epitaph he wanted in his native gaelic

[colmtrim]

native gaelic ????? he was born in India

[mervinh]

OK then gaelic but he was of irish descent i do beleive

[colmtrim]

his dad was irish

[4xforum]

Did you know what he wanted, and has, on his gravestone? It reads, 'I Told You I was Ill"

He is surely one of the world's greatest comic geniuses.

[colmtrim]

those words are not on his gravestone

[chalkus]

wrong... they are

[colmtrim]

YOU are wrong,,,go and have a look at a photo of his headstone,

[chalkus]

Sorry colmtrim YOU ARE WRONG. It bears the words "Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite," which is gaelic for, "I told you I was ill." Go and look at a photo of his headstone

[colmtrim]

nowhere on the headstone are the words "i told you I was ill",,,the words on the headstone are "Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite",,,,I told you i was ill is the meaning of the words on his headstone

[chalkus]

if you are going to be pedantic, we could go a lot further into this... if the meaning is "I told you I was ill," then it is present on his headstone whatever the form or language. When you are wrong, don't nitpik just to try and get one up, accept that somebody has made a good point and be gracious

[colmtrim]

I am being pedantic,, and I'm not wrong,the WORDS "i told you i was ill" are not present on the headstone,,,Spike IS brilliant,, lets be correct for the man,,the WORDS on his headstone are "Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite" ARE the WORDS on his headstone.

[chalkus]

YES AND THEY MEAN, "I TOLD YOU I WAS ILL." THEREFORE THE WORDS ARE THERE BUT IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE.

Words from different languages can have the same meaning you muppet.

Just because your mistake in stating that "I told you I was ill," was not present on the headstone, you have taken the route that you were talking about the actual words rather than the message.

Stop being a complete idiot child about this... have the last word, if it makes you feel right; you're not though

[colmtrim]

I'm talking about the actual words on the headstone,,

[chalkus]

you are now but you weren't then. had somebody actaully stated that the words were in English, then they would have been wrong. in this instance, no one did

[colmtrim]

the words are in Irish,,, thats my point

[chalkus]

so they're in gaelic, your point being??? why does it matter?? do you know why they're in gaelic??

[colmtrim]

tell me why they're in irish

[chalkus]

Because the local authority objected to the words, "I told you I was ill," as his epitaph but compromised to having the Gaelic translation in its place. Milligan's original request was to have it in English

[colmtrim]

typical bureaucrats

[colmtrim]

Thats the translation

[GamerErman2001]

Wow... THIS IS EPIC WIN!

[Fagottron]

That's excellent. ^_^

[burnabull67]

He told us he was sick.LMBO! Love all things Goon, saw them live as a five year old and people wonder why I have a weird sence of humour.

[colmtrim]

Dont wonder,,,its not wieid,,,,its brilliant

[sirstrongbad]

Stop that, its silly!!...

and brilliant!

[wareidav]

It is now 12.08am 09/05/2008 i`ve just woken my wife up killing myself laughing at the GENIUS that is our dear departed Spike

God rest Spike, God rest.

[sunnydayone]

love it,love it,love it,where has the humour gone?

[Cool2BCeltic]

What's so offensive about it? I used to live in Bearsden and when this was first shown there was a headline in the local paper "Too Much of Spike About" and it went on to describe how the Lord Provost didn't approve of it. Religion can't take a joke. But that was the early 1980s. This sketch would not cause the same level of offence now.

[MaskedMan66]

Dude, I'm a lifelong (and very prudish) Christian and I think this is one of the most hilarious things ever. To say "Religion (whatever that may be) can't take a joke" is to deny the existence of such people as Jerry Clower, Andy Griffith, C.S. Lewis, Tim Hawkins, and the Rev. Grady Nutt-- all Christians, and all very funny men about their faith. And that's just a few names; there are tons of others.

[Cool2BCeltic]

OK I take your point. The only one of these writers I know of is C S Lewis and he's someone I recommend very strongly, be it Narnia or his Christian writings. His Christian writers are even admired by atheists and agnostics.

[04faddy06]

God sent spike to make us laugh at such a balls up of the human race!!

[bushfingers]

Amen!!

[DMEB]

spike was one of the funniest men ever to have lived!

[nirmalsuki]

1963!

[MaskedMan66]

This falls under the category of "too silly to be offensive"; as a Christian, I'm falling about laughing here.

[Cool2BCeltic]

My congratulations to you. I hope you have read the Bible According To Spike Milligan. If not you can get it on Amazon. It's hilarious.

[PrincessOfDestiny]

I have it! I keep re-reading how God created Earth according to him, legendary!

[Cool2BCeltic]

It's not a book to be read in public. On every page there's at least one thing on each page that will make you laugh out loud.