Britainology 35: Mr Blobby feat. Juliet Jacques
For this month's first Britainology, we're joined in studio by Juliet Jacques (@zinovievletter) to discuss the '90s phenomenon of Mr Blobby, the rotund pink robot who took Britain by storm, stayed relevant for 30 years, spawned a hit single, a number of failed theme parks, and the sheer bafflement of anyone not from this strange island.
Comments (49)
As someone who grew up in Morecambe in the 2000s this is kinda weird to hear it talked about by you guys. But There is a thing I need everyone to know about Morecambe. Morecambe is a town where Everyone Hates Mr Blobby. If you bring him up here, the universal reaction in my experience, is true genuine hatred because of blobbyland. Noel Edmunds is viewed as having destroyed the town and then stolen it's money, in part leading to the high rates of poverty and disrepair. People hate him here. Luckily the site, Happy Mount Park, is now actually doing really well. It's got a little water park area, a really good kids adventure playground, a trampoline section, some weird swing boats, a pirate themed cafe and childrens soft play area, as well as some just genuinely nice nature trails for the adults. So we have recovered from the destruction wraught by Mr Blobby but I genuinely think if Noel Edmunds showed his face here, he would be run of town.
I was born in the states in 1992 so this really had my attention. Also, more Milo reading series’s please!
I would argue Blind Date was inspired by The Dating Game which was a US-based show that had almost the exact same premise but the only reason anyone remembers The Dating Game is it was late 70s American reality TV laden with sexual innuendo and one of the winning guests ended up being a serial killer who murdered 9 women, some of whom had been killed before/during his appearance on the show.
Britainology idea: The Southport Sockman. Their Wikipedia page will absolutely make you laugh
Best episode ever. I was there in the 80's. "Is this moribund?" spat my tea out "Noel Edmunds, a Tory Chris Tarrant" couldn't stop sniggering all evening. Thank you.
We need a Luther Blisset episode!
I hated Noel's House Party so much as a kid and I can't really remember why.
US Britainology listeners! Look up Kim Justice on youtube for more 80s-90s british television ephemera
Juliet is blobsessed
the 2000's were cursed cause we were processing the iraq war
We need a Britainology on all the SAS dad worship stuff from that era like Ultimate Force
just the nudge I needed to blast through the Numberwang integral. another Britainology smash hit, thank you very much
At this point surely non-British listeners must think you're making shit up to take the piss out of them.
I looked up Mister Blobby and I've got to say: that blob looks like a demon. I'm pretty sure I'd have had nightmares about him if I was exposed to him as a child. Pretty sure that there was a US Blind Date, too, because I remember watching it on daytime TV when I was home sick in the late 90s.
I recommend that you look up Noseybonk who/which is the 70s nonce version of Mr Blobby.
I'd love you to do Little Britain. The most cursed thing, for my money, to come out of the 2000s, but also in itself a proto-Britainology. Horrific show made by horrific people but absolutely foundational to me in secondary school
Oof, yeah. Such a mean spirited show, but so culturally hegemonic.
J 7pbb v , BBC 2 D NV
Query.
re: the novelty number ones, I think any concerted effort to make something no.1 in Britain with any sizeable appeal just seems work. No idea whether that’s due to population size or low number of downloads singles get
iirc it's relatively low sales for most artists, which suggests you might also be able to game the book charts in the same way (people already do, but rarely for novelty reasons). also i think the Boaty McBoatface tendency plays a role, British people love choosing the banter option
Mr Blobby and his handler Noel Edmonds as the dark heart of Britainology, the point at which all Britainologies connect, makes so much terrible sense
The Dark Tower, but it's Mr Blobby in a field of roses at the centre of the universe.
Brilliant. You should have plugged the deranged Mr Blobby Twitter account.
American Deal or No Deal was hosted by Howie Mandel and it's most lasting cultural effect in my experience is that every single American arcade has a game featuring clips meant to make you feel like you were on the show
Hey now, do not forget Floella being wholesome 90's kids TV, and the king that is Dave Benson Phillips.
Derek Griffiths for millennials.
Seaside towns would be a great Britainology. There was a recent twitter thread on Blackpool recently that I think included the word eldritch, and there's a whole class of TV drama set in off season resorts. The more I listen to these though the more I realise I will never understand the psyche of normal island.
Love to see blobby opinions, truly 10/10 episode
christ i just watched the Mr Blobby music video for the first time and there's a Jeremy Clarkson cameo within the first 30 seconds. an utterly cursed artifact from top to bottom
It was him! Thought I was going mental
One day the American and Russian peoples are going to realize they have more in common (love of Mr. Bean, pervasive vaccine skepticism, a troubling fondness for homophobia) and then their respective establishments are finished.
It's weird to think, being born in 1991, Noel's House Party was in fact one of my earliest memories. I just remember it being the big thing that happened once a week and everyone watched it, because there was fuck all else to do. The one clip I remember was finger boards, when that was a whole craze. There was an expert finger boards guy who showed and did all these tricks. I remember being very impressed, because I was after all a child. Probably looks shit now if I went and found the footage. I will say, Sky also had Dragon Ball Z, so not all bad. I was not allowed to watch it though, so have been denied such nostalgia. Not that I even bothered with Dragon Ball since then.
14mins in: ‘we are blobby, we are legion’
I actually never thought of Mr Bobby as a robot. He was more of a friendly monster man to me.
I'm reminded of Bob the Builder's Mambo no.5 cover.
Hell, I remember just the BtB theme tune being no. 1 for like 7 weeks. It was Baby Shark levels of inescapable torture. I also remember there being talk of Bob being exported to the US, or an American version being made, at least. Don't know much else about it though.
I was out this evening saw the notification for this one come up on my phone and inadvertently said oh no out loud and ended up having to explain to my Portuguese mate what Mr Blobby is in excruciating detail before even listening to this one They did not understand
Meghan Markle was an American Deal or No Deal briefcase girl, and now look how far she’s come!
As time goes by epi when
I had no idea “deal or no deal” wasn’t American lol. The bald guy is Howie Mandel on the American one.
it was originally from the Netherlands, then us Australians were subjected to the first english version of it, which was fairly popular, seemingly not because it was good, but because there was 5 channels and fuck all else on except the simpsons, so uh, sorry for helping spread that plague to the rest of the world
Truly a nation of people who love nonsense.
The funniest thing about bloby is that he is in many ways less strange than Noel Edmonds
Showing Mr. Blobby to anyone who didn’t grow up in the UK is instant psychic damage. The reaction ranges from “What the hell is that?!” to “Dear God, no”
Yeah, agree with Nate here regarding novelty hits in America. There really aren’t like proper one off novelty songs the way they are in Britain. Like the novelty song’s cultural presence in the States sorta petered out after the 70s and got relegated to Dr. Demento’s show and like stupid morning drive radio shows. Since then I’d say it’s more of a case of a random song unexpectedly taking over the charts - “Macarena” for example, or take your pick of any new wave one hit wonder from the 80s - and nowadays it’s basically anything that goes viral on TikTok. The last proper, traditional novelty song I can think of that made a significant dent on the America charts is probably that “What Did the Fox Say” song or whatever it’s called.
Has Weird Al had any proper chart success in the US, since the late 80s/early 90s at least? Die hard UK AlHead here. His MTV Behind the Music episode is on YouTube and it's such a trip.
Fun fact: Deal or No Deal is of Dutch origin.
Oh fuck yes