MEDIA RELEASE
September 13, 2005

The Big Laugh Comedy Festival, AKA and Hocking & Vigo present

The Goodies … British comedy legends
Still Alive on Stage 


“The combination of a weak heart and a sense of humour could prove fatal during their world premier show Still Alive on Stage”
The Sydney Morning Herald 3/3/05

The Goodies are heading back down under – and preparing to brave the Aussie interior – in a national tour of their hit show The Goodies Still Alive On Stage.

The new version of The Goodies Still Alive on Stage stars UK comic legends Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden.  Bill Oddie will feature in the show from London via the wonders of video due to filming commitments with the BBC hosting Autumnwatch, the follow-up series to the hit Springwatch.

The tour will open at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta, before dates in Melbourne, Launceston, Hobart, Geelong, Coffs Harbour, Tamworth, Newcastle, Perth, the Gold Coast, Albury, Canberra, Adelaide, Rockhampton, Cairns and Townsville.

The Goodies Still Alive On Stage - the first ever touring stage show by The Goodies - was produced by The Big Laugh Comedy Festival.  After premiering at Riverside Theatres Parramatta in March this year, the show played in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane, selling out everywhere it went. 

Still Alive on Stage gives the rest of Australia a chance to hang out with Tim and Graeme, enjoy cyber Bill and to check out The Goodies favourite bits and pieces of video and tall tales. 

“So, after 35 years after their birth, can they still cut it?  And having grown up, would they still have us in fits of belly laughs?  Yes and Yes.”
The Age 8/03/05

Tim, Graeme and Bill are the most loved and prolific of all UK comedians.  The Goodies live stage show is a heady and hilarious mix of insights and reminiscences with bits and pieces of sketches and clips with tall tales. 

“… age has not wearied their genius for the ridiculous”
The Sydney Morning Herald (3/03/05)

“The skits have hardly dated. Superb!”
Melbourne’s The Age (10/03/05

Still Alive on Stage will include Goodies bits banned from the ABC, The Funky Gibbon sung live, sketches from the student revue that took The Goodies to Broadway, Tim’s Union Jack Waistcoat and possibly fireworks (insurance pending!).

The Goodies started out together at Footlights, The Cambridge University revue club, touring with the Cambridge Circus comedy revue. They have writing and performing credits that include the cream of UK comedy from the 60s to the present.

The Goodies television show – which ran for an astonishing 178 episodes - started out with a traditional  sit-com element, but  evolved quickly into a joyous, unrestrained, lightly satirical festival of visual humour with special effects, explosions, giant props, camera tricks and slapstick.

In the world of British humour dominated by verbal dexterity, The Goodies were classic visual comedians. The Goodies ran for over a decade before they called it a day in 1981, creating an unprecedented library of shows. The Goodies twice won the Montreux Silver Rose and made guest appearances on every major British TV show including the legendary first Amnesty benefit show A Poke In The Eye With a Sharp Stick.
 
A DVD released by BBC Worldwide to coincide with their live shows in Australia in March earlier this year sold 50,000 units around the country.

Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden currently present Beat The Nation, one of the UK's most original TV quiz shows, on Channel 4, and are panelists on the long-running radio show I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.


The Goodies Still Alive On Stage

Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, 8pm, November 2 and 7pm, November 3. Tickets on sale September 13. www.riversideparramatta.com.au or phone 02 8839 3399

Hamer Hall, Melbourne, 7pm, November 4. Tickets on sale September 23. www.ticketmaster.com.au. Phone 1300 136 166

Princess Theatre, Launceston, 7pm, November 5. Tickets on sale September 12. Phone 03 6323 3665

Theatre Royal, Hobart, 3pm, November 6. Tickets on sale September 12. Phone 03 6233 2299

GPAC Ford Theatre, Geelong, 7pm, November 8. Tickets on sale September 19. www.gpac.org.au or phone 03 5225 1200

Ex-Services Club, Coffs Harbour, 7pm, November 10. Tickets on sale September 19.

Town Hall, Tamworth, 7pm, November 11. Tickets on sale September 19. www.tamworth.nsw..goc.au/ticketsales or phone 02 6755 4300

Newcastle Civic Theatre, Newcastle, 7pm, November 12. Tickets on sale September 19. Phone 02 4929 1977

IPAC, Wollongong, 7pm November 14.  Tickets on sale September 30 from www.ipac.org.au and 02 4226 3366.

His Majesty’s, Perth, 7pm November 17; 7pm and 9.30pm, November 18. Tickets now on sale. www.bocsticketing.com.au or 08 9791 1133

Arts Centre, Gold Coast, 7pm, November 21. Tickets on sale September 19. www.gcac.com.au or phone 07 5588 4000

Arts Centre, Albury, 7pm, November 23. Tickets on sale September 19. Phone 02 6051 3051

Theatre Centre, Canberra, 7pm, November 24. Tickets on sale September 19. www.canberraticketing.com.au or phone 02 6275 2700

Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, 7pm and 9.30pm, November 25. Tickets on sale September 19. www.bass.com.au or phone 131 246

Pilbeam, Rockhampton, 7pm, December 1. Tickets on sale September 19. www.pilbeamtheatre.com.au or phone 07 4927 4111

Convention Centre, Cairns, 7pm, December 3. Tickets on sale September 19. www.ticketlink.com.au or phone 07 4031 9555

Civic Theatre, Townsville, 3pm, December 4. Tickets on sale September 19. www.townsville.qld.gov.au/theatre or phone 07 4727 9797

For information about Media contacts please email president@goodiesruleok.com

(a more formatted version of this release is online at http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7yes3/thegoodiesstillaliveonstage/id1.html)