Mr Blobby

Mr Blobby is a character originally featured on the British Saturday night variety show Noel's House Party, broadcast on BBC One. Created by Charlie Adams, a writer for the show, Mr Blobby is a bulbous pink figure covered in yellow spots, with a permanent toothy grin and green jiggling eyes. Mr Blobby communicates only by saying the word "blobby" in an electronically altered voice, expressing his moods through tone of voice and repetition. He topped the UK Singles Chart with the 1993 Christmas release "Mr Blobby".

This article is about the character. For the song, see Mr Blobby (song).

Mr Blobby
Mr Blobby in 1993
First appearance24 October 1992
Noel's House Party
Created byMichael Leggo[1][2]
Portrayed byBarry Killerby (1992–2015)[3]
Paul Denson (2015–present)
In-universe information
GenderMale
SpouseMrs. Blobby
ChildrenBaby Blobby (son)
NationalityBritish

History

Origins

Mr Blobby first appeared in 1992 in the 'Gotcha' segment of the second series of Noel's House Party, in which celebrities were caught out in a Candid Camera style prank. Mr Blobby was presented to the celebrities as if he were a real and established children's television character, in order to record a feature about the guests' professions - in reality, the setup was completely fictitious, and the character of Mr Blobby portrayed by Noel Edmonds focused on acting childishly and unprofessionally, to irritate the celebrities taking part. After the conclusion of the second series, the character was made a regular feature of the programme, with the production team taking turns to don the costume created by artist Joshua Snow.[4]

Through Noel's House Party, Mr Blobby was seen in short comedy sketches, 'guest-appearing' on other TV programmes. Examples include Lovejoy, where he unintentionally broke antique furniture, and Keeping Up Appearances, where he was seen paying an impromptu visit to Hyacinth and Richard Bucket, disrupting their kitchen. Mr Blobby was later dropped from Noel's House Party for its final series, but was later brought back for the programme's final episode.[5]

Other appearances

Mr Blobby made regular appearances on Saturday morning show Live & Kicking and Saturday evening show The Generation Game with Jim Davidson. The character has appeared in cameos on Dead Ringers, Harry Hill's TV Burp, Dick and Dom in da Bungalow and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. The character also appeared in the music video for Peter Kay's 2005 charity single "Is This the Way to Amarillo".[6]

Mr Blobby was a regular character at the Danish adaption Greven på Hittegodset (1996) shown on TV 2 and was presented by Eddie Michel. The Danish adaption of Noel's House Party had negative reception from audiences, and was cancelled after only six of thirteen planned shows.[7]

In December 1997, Mr Blobby made a guest appearance on the children's game show Get Your Own Back, he was the losing grown-up and was subsequently gunged. He made a return the following year this time playing a judge on the show and gunged presenter Dave Benson Phillips as revenge for the previous year.[8]

Mr Blobby has toured around the UK making public appearances at events such as university balls and in pantomime, and has made short videos and sketches exclusively for his official YouTube channel.[9]

John McLagan stood as "Mr Blobby" in the Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election in 1995, having changed his name by deed poll. He came seventh out of ten candidates, with 105 votes (0.2%).[10]

In 2012 Mr Blobby made a guest appearance on the 23 September episode of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year "The Big Fat Quiz of the '90s".[11]

In May 2017 Mr Blobby made a guest appearance in the "Ghostbusters" episode of The Keith & Paddy Picture Show, where he was portrayed by Paul Denson.[12] He also appeared on The Last Leg, where he was declared as leader of "The 90s Party", a political party formed by the show's hosts.[13]

On 14 October 2017, Mr Blobby made a guest appearance on Sam Delaney's News Thing.[14]

In November 2018, during Noel Edmonds' appearance on the eighteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Mr Blobby made guest appearances on Loose Women and This Morning and was interviewed about Edmonds' time on the show.[15][16]

In January and February 2019, Mr Blobby appeared in an advertising campaign celebrating the 100th birthday of supermarket Tesco.[17][18]

On 6 September 2019, Mr Blobby appeared on the 20th Anniversary episode of Loose Women where he grappled Carol McGiffin, losing an eye in the process.[19]

In November 2019, Mr Blobby appeared in Virgin Trains West Coast's "Final Whistle" music video, celebrating the end of the franchise.[20]

On 7 November 2021, Mr Blobby attempted to take part in the Children in Need's Puppet Aid musical, but was locked out of the studio while the rest of Britain's famous puppets sang Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". He then, according to the video, three hours later, broke into the studio and delivered the final note.[21]

From 4 December 2021, Mr Blobby starred in The Chrysalis Theatre, Milton Keynes' pantomime Peter Pan.[22] The production ended prematurely due to the worsening COVID-19 conditions. He also appeared on BBC News and was interviewed by Christian Fraser to discuss his pantomime appearance.[23]

In September 2022, Mr Blobby appeared on The Big Breakfast and rode a mechanical bull.[24] In November 2022, Mr Blobby appeared the celebrity call centre segment of Children in Need 2022.[25]

In January 2023, Mr Blobby appeared on This Morning again, this time during a segment with Alice Beer as part of a discussion about the unused original Mr Blobby costume that had been listed on eBay. The costume later fetched a bid of £62,101,[26] however the buyer later backed out of the sale.[27][28] In February 2023, Mr Blobby made a guest appearance on the ITV skating series Dancing on Ice, to present part of the competition segment, in which he caused chaos in the studio and made snow angels on the ice.[29] In May 2023, Mr Blobby auditioned for the sixteenth series of Britain’s Got Talent where he performed a magic act. After failing to make Simon Cowell disappear and gunging him instead he received four red buzzers (though he pressed Bruno Tonioli's buzzer himself twice in frustration when he failed to make it disappear; this button press did not count, as Tonioli pressed his buzzer after Blobby's act) and did not progress to the next round.[30]

Critical reception

In March 1994, Elizabeth Kolbert of The New York Times wrote: "Mr Blobby's rise to stardom has provoked anguished commentaries about just what he stands for... Some commentators have called him a metaphor for a nation gone soft in the head. Others have seen him as proof of Britain's deep-seated attraction to trash."[1] A Sun article published the previous month had reported that Blobby reduced a young girl to tears after throwing her birthday cake onto the floor during a show in Luton, causing the girl's father to mount the stage and assault Blobby.[1][3][11] Neville Crumpton, who bought some of the merchandise rights to the character in 1993,[31] said: "If the press can knock him, they'll knock him whenever they can."[1] A trio of failed Mr Blobby theme parks also resulted in considerable negative press and scandal.

Addressing the character's popularity, former longtime BBC employee Michael Parkinson in 2007 confessed that he "really didn't get it", and found Blobby "far from amusing".[32][33] In February 2009, Cole Moreton of The Independent featured Blobby in a recounting of the "10 most irritating television characters", asking: "Was there something in the water? Did the nation really once fall about laughing at the clumsy antics of a bloke in a big pink rubber costume with yellow blobs all over it?"[34] In a 2016 article, Stuart Heritage of The Guardian said that Blobby "became a sensation immediately", but then devolved into a "widely despised irritant".[35]

Music career

Mr Blobby's 1993 Christmas release "Mr Blobby", which topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks, is regarded by many as the worst single,[36] and indeed, song,[37] of all time. It beat Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," and Take That's "Babe", among other songs to Christmas number 1.[3][11][38] His 1995 track "Christmas in Blobbyland" (a number 36 UK entry) was voted the worst festive song ever by British Christmas shoppers in 2011[39] and 2015 polls,[40] and was named in a 2013 Metro article as the second-worst Christmas song of all time, being beaten by Destiny's Child's "A DC Christmas Medley".[41] Mr Blobby: The Album (1994) was voted the worst LP ever made in a 2016 listener survey.[42]

Toys and merchandising

Around Christmas 1993, retailers came out with many types of Mr Blobby merchandise. In addition to the CD, 7" vinyl or cassette tape single, Blobby merchandise included dolls and plush toys, slippers, egg cups, condiment shakers, pink lemonade, and towels.

Three programs were released on VHS, Mr Blobby (1993), Blobbyvision (1994) and The All New Adventures of Mr Blobby (1996).

UK VHS and DVD releases
VHS covers of the three Mr Blobby releases.
No. VHS Title Catalogue no. Release Date
1"Mr Blobby"BBCV 51571 November 1993 (1 November 1993)
A comical 'blobbumentary' programme made by Noel Edmonds on the star of his 'Noel's House Party' show, Mister Blobby. See Mister Blobby with Will Carling, Valerie Singleton, Wayne Sleep, Hudson and Halls, and Garth Crooks.
2"Blobbyvision"BBCV 539710 October 1994 (10 October 1994)
Mr Blobby displays his skills as only he can in 'Blobbywatch', 'Blindblob', 'Masterblob' and 'Blobstand'. Many scenes in this video were filmed at the Crinkley Bottom theme park at Cricket St Thomas in Somerset [43]
3"The All New Adventures of Mr Blobby"BBCV 57865 February 1996 (5 February 1996)
He's back! Everyone's favourite big, bouncy, big blob (well how many do you know?) In his new guises, Mr Blobby is a complete hoot, hilariously bumping, bashing and bruising his way through life. Superblob, Mr Blobby Sees the optician, Blobby The Bell Boy, Mr Blobby Goes Fishing, Mr Blobby is James Blob, Blobby The Busker, Blobby The Traffic Warden, Blobby Goes To The Bank, Mr Blobby On The Water

The Nutter Clutter Productions released the original Mr Blobby VHS on DVD in 2013.

Video game

In 1994 Millennium Interactive released Mr Blobby, a platform game based on the character for Amiga[44] and MS-DOS.[45] The game received negative reviews from critics.[46]

Theme parks
Further information: Crinkley Bottom

Mr Blobby appeared at three Crinkley Bottom-themed attractions in pre-existing British theme parks during the 1990s. The first was based at Cricket St Thomas in Somerset, opening in July 1994. Attractions included a walk-through Blobby House named Dunblobbin, a dark ride based around classic children's television characters, and an animated Noddy exhibit. While the park attracted over 500,000 visitors in its first year, attendance figures dwindled and the park closed in 1998.[43]

The second park was opened at Happy Mount Park, Morecambe, in 1994. This led to large losses, a local scandal toppling councillors and finally an auditor's investigation, which reported in 2004 that "the Council's decision to proceed with the Theme Park was, on the basis of information available to Members and officers in March 1994, imprudent and failed to give due regard to the interests of local taxpayers." The auditor noted "the failure of the Council to carry out market research, the failure to make informed estimates of likely attendance figures, the absence of a design concept, the absence of a detailed specification, the absence of an accurate financial forecast and the imprecise drafting of the Heads of Terms", concluding that "the Council entered into an open-ended commitment without knowing what it was going to get for local taxpayers' money."[47][48][49] Council losses stood at £2.5 million. Unique successfully sued the council, whose activities were described as "imprudent, irrational and even unlawful", for £950,000.[49]

A third park based in Pleasurewood Hills, Lowestoft also failed to outlive the 1990s but maintained successful revenue during and after the Crinkley Bottom branding.

Portrayers

Barry Killerby

The original man in the Blobby suit, Barry Killerby, is a classically trained Shakespearean actor from Bradford, West Yorkshire.[3] In 2008 he was working as a compere for an entertainment company.[3][38] He commented that working as Mr Blobby was harder than it looks by saying "People think it's easy bouncing around saying, 'blobby', but they should try it. It was exhausting and demanding."[38] Killerby's final appearance as Blobby was on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year in December 2012.[50]

Paul Denson

Following Killerby's retirement from the role, Paul Denson was asked if he would run the Mr Blobby YouTube channel and occasionally wear the suit to make video content. Denson, a child of the 90s, said he "thought it sounded like fun" and that it "was surreal putting on the suit for the first time." His first credited appearance as Blobby was on Alan Carr: Chatty Man in December 2016 and has appeared as the character ever since.[50]

Filmography
Year Title Actor Notes
1992–1998, 1999 Noel's House Party Barry Killerby[3][51] Regular appearances
1992, 1993 Top of the Pops Guest
1993, 1994, 1995, 1996–2000, 2001 Live & Kicking Regular appearances
1996–2002 The Generation Game Regular appearances
2005, 2006 Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow Guest
2006, 2009, 2010 Harry Hill's TV Burp Guest
2012 The Big Fat Quiz of the Year The Big Fat Quiz of the 90's episode[3][11]
2015 Children in Need 2015 Final appearance portrayed by Killerby
2016 Alan Carr: Chatty Man Paul Denson Christmas Special episode[3][11]
2017 The Keith & Paddy Picture Show Ghostbusters episode
2017 The Last Leg Guest
2017 Sam Delaney's News Thing Guest
2018, 2019 Loose Women Guest
2018, 2022, 2023 This Morning Guest
2021 Children in Need 2021 Guest
2022 Hypothetical With Rosie Jones
2022 The Big Breakfast Guest
2022 Children in Need 2022 Celebrity call centre
2023 Dancing on Ice Guest
2023 Britain's Got Talent Series 16; auditionee

References
  1. Kolbert, Elizabeth (27 March 1994). "Britain's Answer To Barney". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  2. Jones, Ralph (25 November 2019). "British TV's greatest prank: the giddy rise, and spectacular fall, of Noel's House Party". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  3. Kindon, Frances (22 November 2018). "Man inside Mr Blobby and what happened to the disgraced character". Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  4. "'I confuse people': Noel Edmonds on bank fraud, Mr Blobby and his 'barmy' reputation". The Guardian. 1 June 2019.
  5. "Mr. Blobby visits the Bucket (it's Bouquet!) residence on Noel's House Party". 6 May 2016.
  6. Miller, Adam (23 April 2020). "Peter Kay thanks NHS staff as thousands send emotional clips for Amarillo remake".
  7. Strøyer, Rasmus (27 October 2008). "Hvad er det mest irriterende fredagsprogram" [What is the most annoying Friday TV show]. Danish Broadcasting Corporation (in Danish). Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  8. "get your own back – Don't Look Back In Anger – a 90s nostalgia blog". Don't Look Back In Anger - a 90s nostalgia blog.
  9. "Peter Pan at The Chrysalis, Milton Keynes". 29 April 2021.
  10. "House of Commons Information Office : By-election results : 1992-97" (PDF). Parliament.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  11. Hurst, Brogan-Leigh (11 March 2020). "Fearne Cotton throws it back to the 90s as she poses with fictional Mr Blobby". Mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  12. Power, Ed (13 May 2017). "The Keith and Paddy Picture Show, episode two, funniest moments review". Telegraph.co.uk.
  13. "Mr Blobby and I on The Last Leg – Rich Keeble". 20 March 2017.
  14. "Sam Delaney's News Thing Threat Level: Blobby". British Comedy Guide.
  15. "The members of Emperor Noel's real inner-circle". ITV.
  16. Deen, Sarah. "Loose Women asked Mr Blobby about Brexit and this is 2018 now".
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  18. Mal, Nisha; Rodger, James (14 January 2019). "Mr Blobby is back! The character will appear in new Tesco advert". Coventrytelegraph.net.
  19. "Loose Women's 20th Birthday Ends in Chaos as Mr Blobby's Eye Falls off After Attacking Carol McGiffin". 6 September 2019.
  20. Bizarre farewell to Virgin Trains video featuring Richard Branson and Mr Blobby Manchester Evening News 21 November 2019
  21. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now. A handful of puppets. CHAOS @BBC Children in Need - BBC". YouTube.
  22. "Lucy Rollason Joins Mr Blobby in PETER PAN at the Chrysalis Theatre, Milton Keynes This December".
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  24. Manning, Charlotte. "The Big Breakfast: Mr Blobby causes absolute chaos on Channel 4 show".
  25. Jackson, Matt (18 November 2022). "Mockumentary takes a look inside the Children in Need call centre". HullLive.
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  27. "Buyer backs out of £62,000 Mr Blobby suit purchase". BBC News. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  28. "Mr Blobby costume buyer 'backs out of £62,000 bid'". Sky News. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  29. "Dancing On Ice fans in hysterics as Mr Blobby causes chaos during live show". Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  30. "Britain's Got Talent plunged into chaos as Mr Blobby contestant drenches Simon Cowell in nostalgic '90s gunge". Digital Spy. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  31. Arnot, Chris (2 January 1994). "Marketing: The search for life after Mr Blobby: How a good judge of". The Independent. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  32. "Classic Clips: The 1990s". UK Gold. 22 October 2007. "I really didn't get it, to be honest...Millions of people just loved [Blobby], but he was far from amusing to me."
  33. Farrier, David (2013). "Mr Blobby". Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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  35. Heritage, Stuart (1 April 2016). "Mr Blobby does America: a beginner's guide for all his new Stateside fans". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  36. Butler, Ben (13 May 2016). "Azealia Banks' music has had less success in the UK than Mr Blobby's". Gigwise. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  37. "7 songs you can't believe made Christmas number one". Metro. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  38. "We look at what happened to the stars behind those Christmas one-hit wonders". Mirror.co.uk. 14 December 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  39. "Mr Blobby's Christmas song is the worst ever". The Sunday People. Trinity Mirror. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  40. "East 17's Tony Mortimer reveals the worst Christmas songs". Belfast Telegraph. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  41. Caster, Yvette (4 December 2013). "The top 10 worst Christmas songs ever, fact". Metro. DMG Media. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  42. "One Direction, Justin Bieber and Bruce Willis albums voted among worst of all time". The Irish News. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
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  44. "Mr Blobby, Amiga". computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  45. "Mr Blobby Collection - Games". mrblobbycollection.com.
  46. "Mr Blobby - Amiga Reviews". Amiga Reviews. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  47. "Morecambe and the Blobby Land saga – 20 years on".
  48. "District Auditor's Report: Crinkley Bottom Theme Park". Archived from the original on 17 October 2014.
  49. "Council blamed for 'Blobby' fiasco". BBC News. 15 January 2004. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
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  51. "THE LAST ACT OF HARRY HOUDINI Comes to the Cockpit". BroadwayWorld.com. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
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