Kung Fu Kapers

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The Goodies episode
"Kung Fu Kapers"
Episode №	41
Airdate	24 March 1975 (Monday — 9 p.m.)
Director
Producer	Jim Franklin
Guest star(s)	Michael Barratt as himself Richard Pescud as "..." William F. Sully as "..."
Series V February 10 – December 21, 1975
The Movies Clown Virus Chubbie Chumps Wacky Wales Frankenfido Scatty Safari Kung Fu Kapers Lighthouse Keeping Loonies Rome Antics Fleet Street Goodies South Africa Bunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms The End The Goodies Rule – O.K.?
List of The Goodies episodes

Kung Fu Kapers is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies.

This episode is also known as "Ecky-Thump".

1 Plot
2 Spoofs
3 Quote
4 Fatal effect
5 Notes
6 Footnotes
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Plot

Bill is revealed as a master of the secret Lancashire martial art known as "Ecky-Thump" — which mostly revolves around hitting unsuspecting people with black puddings while wearing flat caps and braces.

Tim and Graeme go into battle against Bill — posing as various martial arts experts who are "foreign members of their families". However, Bill wins against every 'expert' by hitting them with a black pudding. Tim ends up getting plastered, with his arms in boxing position, so that he would be in the correct position to be able to hit Bill.

The night before Bill and his Ecky-Thump 'army' are to go on the march to attack with their black puddings, Graeme adds a secret ingredient to the black pudding mixture — leading to unexpected wayward black puddings for a bewildered Bill and his equally bemused Ecky-Thump followers.

[edit] Spoofs

Kung-fu was a craze which was sweeping the UK at the time the episode was made, with films such as "Enter the Dragon", The Kung Fu TV series, many martial arts schools appearing in gyms and even a fragrance for men called Hai-Karate.

[edit] Quote

Graeme: "Now Tim raise your arm up . ....... No, not like that.

Yes, that is corect. Now come at me like the whiplash of the cobra."

Tim: "Grrrrrrrrr"
Graeme: "As fast as the eye can see"
Tim (very slowly): "YEEEEURRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA VOOSH!!!"
Graeme: "You missed."
Tim: "You moved."
Graeme: "You were too slow you fool!"

[edit] Fatal effect

The episode is infamous for the documented example of a man laughing himself to death. 50 year old Alex Mitchell could not stop laughing for a continuous 25 minute period - almost the entire length of the show - and suffered a fatal heart attack as a result of the strain placed on his heart. His widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant. ^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] (This incident and the letter were also confirmed by the Goodies, themselves, on stage during their February-March, 2005, tour of Australia.)

[edit] Notes

Bill makes reference to John Conteh, who has apparently been on the phone asking where he can "buy a pudding".

The black pudding factory infiltrated by Tim and Graeme is 'Peckinpah's Perfect Puddings - None Blacker'. This is presumably a reference to Sam Peckinpah, whose taste for cinematic violence has been well-documented.

[edit] Footnotes

^ Death by Laughing
^ The Complete Goodies — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000.
^ Man Dies Laughing at The Goodies, "Daily Mail", London (29 March 1975)
^ A Goodies Way to Go — Laughing, "Eastern Daily Press", Norwich (29 March 1975)
^ Slapstick! The Illustrated Story of Knockabout Comedy — Tony Staveacre, Angus & Robinson 1987

[edit] References

"The Complete Goodies" — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
"The Goodies Rule OK" — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
"From Fringe to Flying Circus — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980'" — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980
"The Goodies Episode Summaries" — Brett Allender
"The Goodies — Fact File" — Matthew K. Sharp
"TV Heaven" — Jim Sangster & Paul Condon, HarperCollinsPublishers, London, 2005