Kung Fu Kapers

"Kung Fu Kapers" (sometimes stylised as "Kung Fu Kapers!") is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies. It caused a viewer to die from laughing.

This episode is also known as "Ecky Thump". It was written by The Goodies, with songs and music by Bill Oddie.

In January 2020, "Kung Fu Kapers" was announced as the fans' favourite episode of The Goodies, during the celebration of the show's 50th anniversary at Bristol's Slapstick Festival.^[1]

Plot

With great reluctance, Bill agrees to demonstrate this "ancient Lancastrian art" in a series of bouts against Tim and Graeme (who pose as various martial arts experts who are "foreign members of their families"). Bill wins against every "expert" merely by hitting them over the head with the black pudding, except the Scots one who is knocked out by a wayward boomerang. Tim ends up with all four limbs in plaster, in a "kung fu"-style stance, so he will be "ready" if Bill comes back. Graeme points out that Tim can not actually move. Bill has meanwhile opened a profitable Ecky Thump school, and subsequently stars in a series of martial arts flicks, such as Ecky-Thump Meets Mary Poppins and Enter With Drag On.

Bill then comes in and invites Tim and Graeme to join his 'cult', though the others refuse, and later go to

The night before Bill and his Ecky Thump "army" are to go on the march to attack with their black puddings, Graeme adds a "remote control device" to the black pudding mixture - leading to unexpectedly wayward black puddings for a bewildered Bill and his equally bemused Ecky Thump followers. The devices send the pudding haywire, triggering chaos among the Ecky Thump cult and their march to parliament. With the march in disarray, Tim attempts taking on Bill in revenge for putting him in plaster, only for Bill take him down by spraying him with tea. Graeme makes his move but Bill sends him crashing into a fence.

Bill tries to relieve himself with some tea but Tim and Graeme re-emerge, forcing him to make his escape downhill on the tea trolley. Tim and Graeme catch up with him and they struggle on the moving trolley. The speeding trolley takes them over a cliff edge where the Goodies dramatically fall to their deaths. A brief voice-over (from Tim) states:

"We would like to point out that Ecky Thump is the ancient Lancastrian art of self-defence. If practised by the untrained, it could be dangerous."

Background

At the time the episode was made,

Viewer death

The episode is infamous for the documented example of a man laughing to death. Fifty-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. Alex's widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making his final moments so pleasant.^[2][3][4]

In May 2012, Alex's granddaughter, Lisa Corke, suffered a heart attack at the age of 23. She was diagnosed with long QT syndrome, and the doctors caring for her believe it is likely that Mitchell suffered from the same hereditary condition.^[5]

DVD and VHS releases

This episode has been released on both DVD and VHS.

References

• "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

External links

• "Kung Fu Kapers" at
  IMDb