TV Cream

Radio 2: The Shows

Grumbleweeds’ Radio Show, The

Wilf becomes only the eight hundred and forty three millionth person to do a 'humorous' Test Card pastiche in the late seventies“WOAH woah weeeeeeeeeeee, are The Grumbleweeds”… quasi-legendary, verging on the ‘notorious’ end of the scale, radio vehicle for the five-piece purveyors of finest ‘joke’n’roll’ whimsy. Roster of comic characters included an endless parade of ‘Uncles’ such as Cream-predicting trivia fiend Uncle Rubbish and the not-at-all-Eric-Pode-plagiarising Uncle Nasty; Wilf ‘Gasmask’ Grimshaw, who for some reason still wore his gasmask on the radio; the risibly-named Fred Fibber; and hours upon hours upon hours of impersonations of Jimmy Savile. Mock-‘edgy’ comedy par excellence and the sort of thing that the office joker was addicted to, outlasting the mind-boggling television version – where, hilariously, they maintained the ‘Radio Show’ monicker.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. JackHargreavesLives

    August 26, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    My mother inexplicably loved this programme, which was permanently `on` in the 80s. Should win an award for “most exciting theme tune followed by load of mirthless drivel”.

  2. Ste

    August 26, 2009 at 9:56 pm

    I was dragged to see them live (Newquay or Blackpool, probably) in the early eighties. Even as a nine year old I thought they were shite. There was 5 of them then, but they’re seemingly down to 2 now.

    Give me the Brothers Lee anyday.

  3. Ha don't know!

    November 6, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    Wilf “Gasmask” Grimshaw is doing very well for himself, these days he has a late night show on Radio 1.

  4. Adrian Fry

    November 7, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    This was a truly awful show and yet didn’t it pressage the likes of the Fast Show with its quickie sketches and endlessly repeated characters? The theme tune led you to expect something modern and zany like The Goodies (well, they seemed modern and zany when I was eight) but what you got was endless repetitions of the same gag where the gag hadn’t even been funny in the first place. As Uncle Nasty used to say about ninety times per show ‘Your gettin’ right up my nose you are, pal.’ Hardly Alan Bennett.

  5. Joanne Gray

    April 1, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    Loved this show and the TV incarnation. Used to spend many a winter’s evening with my father, creased up with laughter as we tuned in. We used to sing the Maggot Song all the time.

  6. Richard16378

    April 4, 2017 at 1:48 pm

    According to one book of comedy they used on sewing machine to make the noise of an old banger of a car one of the Uncles used to drive around in.

  7. Matthew Harris

    August 26, 2017 at 1:25 pm

    Pam Hair, a poet closely based on Pam Ayres (but with a lot of facial hair)

  8. Tom Ronson

    November 13, 2022 at 4:21 am

    I think you’re all being unduly harsh on The Grumbleweeds here. It was comedy comfort food for the ears, and streets ahead of The News Huddlines.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To Top