History Radio / TheBurkissWay

--> '''Flunky:''' Then how about: Timothy Groin goes to serve a woman with some petrol, and they both show off spherical bits of anatomy, ''but'' with Irene Handl standing in the background.

* SceneryPorn: A spoof of the BBC's ''Series/AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall'' sends up the show's tendency towards this.

* StuntDouble: On more than one occasion characters bring in stuntmen to deliver particularly bad punchlines rather than doing it themselves. Marshall and Renwick were clearly fond of this joke, as it later reappeared in ''End of Part One''.

* ValuesDissonance: ''Burkiss'' is one of those shows periodically repeated on BBC Radio Four Extra (the BBC's nostalgia channel for the spoken word and radio comedy), which have to be prefaced by an advisory warning that aspects of the humour, while viewed as okay in their day, might not fly by modern standards of what is acceptable as comedy. As with many other archive comedy shows, the BBC initially proposed editing out unacceptable or potentially offensive humour by early 21st century standards; but fans objected so much to perceived censorship that this was quietly dropped.

* LongTitle: The full title of the episode usually referred to as "Write Extremely Long Programme Titles the Burkiss Way" is ''"Lesson 45: Write extremely long titles with lots and lots of words in, like this, so that the Radio Times will have to allot more space than the measly half a centimetre of billing space we usually get and at least it’ll look a bit more prominent on the page, although still nowhere near the 50 column inches they give to The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the Burkiss Way"''.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* LawOfAlienNames: One of the show's ''[[Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978 Hitchhiker's]]'' spoofs involves a narrator talking about the Omni-Quargs of the planet Sargo-Sworreldong, in the star system of Grudnivogarr-Actinax, in the constellation of Go-And-Upset-Another-Scrabble-Board-Les-I-Need-A-New-Name.

%%* TheyKilledKennyAgain

* LongTitle: The full title of Lesson 45 is ''"Write extremely long titles with lots and lots of words in, like this, so that the Radio Times will have to allot more space than the measly half a centimetre of billing space we usually get and at least it’ll look a bit more prominent on the page, although still nowhere near the 50 column inches they give to The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the Burkiss Way"''.

* RapePillageAndBurn: Parodied with Ivan the Terrible, because the narrator can't keep the correct order of things straight:
-->'''Narrator:''' Yes, Ivan the Terrible, the most sadistic, evil and blackhearted of all the Czars. With his vicious handpicked troop of Cossacks, he roamed the countryside, slaughtering the menfolk! Setting fire to the chimney tops! Raping the villages! Pillaging the women!

%%* LongTitle

%%* OnceForYesTwiceForNo

%%* PianoDrop

%%* TheRemnant

* ShoutOut: Billy Bunter of Literature/{{Greyfriars}} turns up as a character several times -- first as an assistant to Literature/LordPeterWimsey (a NamesTheSame gag); then as part of an episode long spoof of the Greyfriars stories; then finally an adult Bunter appears as "the Assistant Fat Owl of the Mathematics Department", being interviewed by the school board about his habit of [[ImAHumanitarian eating the pupils]].

The show developed an immediate [[CultClassic cult following]], its recording sessions attracting audiences so large they starting spilling out of the seats and onto the stage. Unfortunately, its chances of a breakthrough to mainstream popularity were scuppered somewhat when it and everything else on radio were overshadowed by the blockbuster mega-success of the original ''[[Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''. The fact that Creator/DouglasAdams had contributed several sketches to early shows didn't stop them thereafter spoofing it and him (as "Mr. Different Adams") from an only semi-fake position of bitterness and jealousy. It also really didn't help that Adams had explicitly based the character and temperament of Marvin the Paranoid Android on that of Andrew Marshall, who was naturally inclined to revenge.

* LawOfAlienNames: One of the show's ''[[Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Hitchhiker's]]'' spoofs involves a narrator talking about the Omni-Quargs of the planet Sargo-Sworreldong, in the star system of Grudnivogarr-Actinax, in the constellation of Go-And-Upset-Another-Scrabble-Board-Les-I-Need-A-New-Name.
* LongTitle

* NamesakeGag

* OnceForYesTwiceForNo
* OneSteveLimit
* OrphanedPunchline

* PianoDrop

* TheRemnant

** Peter Jones himself turns up in one of the show's [[Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Hitchhiker]] spoofs, delivering a Guide monologue that turns into a rant about The Burkiss Way's habit of mocking other 'much more successful' shows, and the poor quality of its impressions: "This one, for instance, sounds absolutely nothing like me."

* {{Spoonerism}}

* TheyKilledKennyAgain

** Modern repeats of "One Hour To The Burkiss Way" omits a joke of how an underground joke test at Piccadilly tube station destroyed a trainload of Newcastle United supporters – meaning one and a half people.

** "One Hour To The Burkiss Way" omits a joke of how an underground joke test at Piccadilly tube station destroyed a trainload of Newcastle United supporters – meaning one and a half people.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: One episode had a ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} sketch where the team were irritated by an applicant trying to claim the ability to stand up from a sitting position as a super-power. ("I can do it quite quickly...") When this fails to impress them, he claims to have the ability to move from place to place at will - by getting on the bus:

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Quite a few examples, but nothing beats Ivan the Terrible angrily informing a narrator that he's "an idiot with a capital C!"

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Erich von Daniken, author of ''Chariots of the Gods'' and other best-selling books about how mankind was helped along by AncientAstronauts, was spoofed in one sketch as Eric Von Contrick, author of ''Spaceships of the Gods'', ''Some More of Me Spaceships of the Gods'' and ''It Shouldn't Happen to a Spaceship of the Gods''. (At the end of the sketch, the Ancient Astronauts show up to demand a cut of the profits.)

* RadioVoice: One episode has what at first sounds like a complaining customer phoning in - it turns out his complaint was that the Burkiss Way promised to fix his voice sounding as if he was on the telephone all the while, but didn't.

'''Suspect''': "What on earth was that?"\\