| Mr Blobby | |
|---|---|
 Mr Blobby in 1993 | |
| First appearance | 24 October 1992 Noel's House Party |
| Created by | Michael Leggo[1][2] |
| Portrayed by | Barry Killerby (1992–2015)[3] Paul Denson (2016–present) |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Spouse | Mrs Blobby |
| Children | Baby Blobby (son) |
| Nationality | British |
Mr Blobby is a character originally featured on the British Saturday nightvariety showNoel's House Party, broadcast onBBC 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 anelectronically altered voice, expressing his moods through tone of voice and repetition. He topped theUK Singles Chart with the 1993 Christmas release "Mr Blobby".
Mr Blobby first appeared in 1992 in the 'Gotcha' segment of the second series ofNoel's House Party, in which celebrities were caught out in aCandid 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 Barry Killerby in a costume created by artist Joshua Snow, 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.[3][4]
ThroughNoel's House Party, Mr Blobby was seen in short comedy sketches, 'guest-appearing' on other TV programmes. Examples includeLovejoy, where he unintentionally broke antique furniture, andKeeping Up Appearances, where he was seen paying an impromptu visit toHyacinth and Richard Bucket, disrupting their kitchen. Mr Blobby was dropped fromNoel's House Party for its final series, but was brought back for the programme's final episode.[5]
Mr Blobby made regular appearances on the Saturday morning showLive & Kicking and the Saturday evening showThe Generation Game withJim Davidson. The character has appeared in cameos onDead Ringers,Harry Hill's TV Burp,Dick and Dom in da Bungalow andAnt & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. The character also appeared in the music video forPeter Kay's 2005 charity single "Is This the Way to Amarillo".[6]
In December 1997, Mr Blobby made a guest appearance on the children's game showGet Your Own Back where he was the losing grown-up and was subsequentlygunged. He made a return the following year (playing a judge on the show this time) and gunged presenterDave Benson Phillips as revenge for the previous year.[7]
In 2012, Mr Blobby made a guest appearance on the 23 September episode ofThe Big Fat Quiz of the Year "The Big Fat Quiz of the '90s".[8]
In May 2017, Mr Blobby made a guest appearance in the "Ghostbusters" episode ofThe Keith & Paddy Picture Show, where he was portrayed by Paul Denson.[9] He also appeared onThe Last Leg, where he was declared as leader of "The 90s Party", a political party formed by the show's hosts.[10]
In November 2018, during Noel Edmonds' appearance on theeighteenth series ofI'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Mr Blobby made guest appearances onLoose Women andThis Morning and was interviewed about Edmonds' time on the show.[11][12] On 6 September 2019, Mr Blobby appeared on the 20th Anniversary episode ofLoose Women where he grappledCarol McGiffin, losing an eye in the process.[13]
In January and February 2019, Mr Blobby appeared in an advertising campaign celebrating the 100th birthday of supermarketTesco.[14][15] In November 2019, Mr Blobby appeared inVirgin Trains West Coast's "Final Whistle" music video, celebrating the end of the franchise.[16]
On 7 November 2021, Mr Blobby took part in theChildren in Need's Puppet Aid musical, but was locked out of the studio while the rest of Britain's famous puppets sangStarship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". He then (according to the video) broke into the studio three hours later and delivered the final note.[17] In September 2022, Mr Blobby appeared onThe Big Breakfast and rode amechanical bull.[18] In November 2022, Mr Blobby appeared in a celebrity call centremockumentary segment forChildren in Need 2022.[19]
Mr Blobby has toured around the UK making public appearances at events such as university balls and inpantomime, and has made short videos and sketches exclusively for his official YouTube channel.[20] From 4 December 2021, Mr Blobby starred in The Chrysalis Theatre, Milton Keynes' pantomime version ofPeter Pan.[21] The production ended prematurely due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. He also appeared onBBC News and was interviewed byChristian Fraser to discuss his pantomime appearance.[22]
In January 2023, Mr Blobby appeared onThis Morning again, this time during a segment withAlice Beer as part of a discussion about the unused original Mr Blobby costume that had been listed oneBay. The costume later fetched a bid of £62,101,[23] however the buyer later backed out of the sale.[24][25] In May 2023, Mr Blobby auditioned for thesixteenth series ofBritain’s Got Talent where he performed a magic act. After failing to make Simon Cowell disappear and gunging him, he ended up receiving four red buzzers (though he pressedBruno 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.[26] On 17 June 2024, Mr Blobby appeared onGood Morning Britain withNoel Edmonds.[27]
In March 1994,Elizabeth Kolbert ofThe 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 totrash."[1] ASun 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 inLuton, causing the girl's father to mount the stage and assault Blobby.[1][3][8] Neville Crumpton, who bought some of the merchandise rights to the character in 1993,[28] said: "If the press can knock him, they'll knock him whenever they can."[1]
Blobby has been criticised by BBC personalities:Michael Parkinson found the character to be "far from amusing", whileBob Mortimer called him a "pink, spotty, rubber twat".[29] In February 2009, Cole Moreton ofThe 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?"[30] In a 2016 article, Stuart Heritage ofThe Guardian said that Blobby "became a sensation immediately", but then devolved into a "widely despised irritant".[31]
Mr Blobby's 1993 Christmas release "Mr Blobby", which topped theUK Singles Chart for three weeks, is regarded by many as the worst single,[32] and indeed, song,[33]of all time. It beatMeat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," andTake That's "Babe", among other songs to Christmas number 1.[3][8][34] His 1995 track "Christmas in Blobbyland" (a number 36 UK entry) was voted the worst festive song ever by British Christmas shoppers in 2011[35] and 2015 polls,[36] and was named in a 2013Metro article as the second-worst Christmas song of all time, being beaten byDestiny's Child's "A DC Christmas Medley".[37]Mr Blobby: The Album (1994) was voted the worst LP ever made in a 2016 listener survey.[38]
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) andThe All New Adventures of Mr Blobby (1996).
| No. | Title | Catalogue no. | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Mr Blobby" | BBCV 5157 | 1 November 1993 (1993-11-01) |
| 2 | "Blobbyvision" | BBCV 5397 | 10 October 1994 (1994-10-10) |
| 3 | "The All New Adventures of Mr Blobby" | BBCV 5786 | 5 February 1996 (1996-02-05) |
In 1994, Millennium Interactive releasedMr Blobby, aplatform game based on the character forAmiga[39] andMS-DOS.[40] It was a reskinned version of theSNES gameSuper Troll Islands, also developed by Millennium.[41] The game received negative reviews from critics.[42]
Mr Blobby appeared at three Crinkley Bottom-themed attractions in pre-existing British theme parks during the 1990s. The first was based atCricket St Thomas in Somerset, opening in July 1994. Attractions included a walk-through Blobby House named Dunblobbin, adark ride based around classic children's television characters, and an animatedNoddy 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."[44][45][46] 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.[46]
A third park based inPleasurewood Hills, Lowestoft also failed to outlive the 1990s but maintained successful revenue during and after the Crinkley Bottom branding.
The original man in the Blobby suit, Barry Killerby, is a classically trained Shakespearean actor fromBradford,West Yorkshire.[3] In 2008, he was working as acompère for an entertainment company.[3][34] 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."[34] Killerby's final appearance as Blobby was onThe Big Fat Quiz of the Year in December 2012.[47]
Following Killerby's retirement from the role, Paul Denson was asked if he would run the Mr BlobbyYouTube channel and occasionally wear the suit to make video content. Denson, a child of the 1990s, 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 onAlan Carr: Chatty Man in December 2016 and has appeared as the character ever since.[47]
