Ying Tong – A Walk With The Goons

Before Monty Python invaded television, BBC’s famous radio series, The Goon Show, made an entire nation laugh week after week, greatly influencing Python, The Beatles, and Tom Stoppard, among others. With Ying Tong, which The Sunday Times describes as having “an invigorating spirit of insanity,” rising UK playwright Roy Smiles brilliantly chronicles the Goons’ surge from cult status to raving success, showcasing the series’ trademark surrealism and profound silliness.

As the curtain rises, audiences find Goon writer and “Godfather of alternative comedy” Spike Milligan losing his mind from the strain of creating genius. Wild fantasies of Jewish leprechauns, gay Vikings, and malevolent Morris Dancers are springing from his fragmented brain. Fellow Goons, including future Dr. Strangelove Peter Sellers, scramble to recover Milligan’s missing marbles and save his sanity.