TV Cream

100 Greatest TV Moments

90) “How’s she supposed to get the money?!”

Rod Hull and Emu go shopping, 1975

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Yes, there’s a clip of Emu in this countdown but, no, it’s not the one they always choose, thanks to it becoming less funny in recent years than to Parky relentlessly droning on about it and not once giving Hull himself any credit. Time has not been kind to Rod Hull, especially with recent stories, and certainly for many people his TV work is most remembered for the likes of the terminally twee Emu’s Pink Windmill Show, but back in the seventies, Emu’s Broadcasting Company made for fantastically entertaining viewing. Hull wrote all the scripts and penned some highly original sketches and parodies and there was a sense of anarchy about it that made for highly appealing viewing. But the moment we’ve picked illustrates a man going above and beyond the call of duty for comedy as Emu “throws” Rod into a chest freezer, a move that obviously involved Hull having to fling himself in hea d first. What a pratfall it is, too, made all the funnier by Emu’s cheeky glance beforehand to make sure nobody’s looking, which is a piece of subtlety you didn’t always get in this act. That freezer looks pretty full as well, so no doubt it bloody hurt too. The rest of the clip is rather more basic tomfoolery, but for kids it was a pleasing burst of noise and disrespect among an otherwise staid seventies TV line-up, and it doesn’t look like there’s anyone in charge either and we love the idea of Rod just barging in and causing chaos. If you can’t laugh at a man flinging himself into a freezer, what are you going to laugh at?

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