Man jumps on eggs without breaking them

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, August 14, 2008 11:26 AM | permalink

There are many things to like in this 1974 BBC news segment about a gentleman jumping on eggs. (via Arbroath)

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#1 posted by Jux , August 14, 2008 11:41 AM

How very Monty Python! It reminds me of "The First Man To Jump The Channel".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvk2wNWmB20

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#2 posted by chromal , August 14, 2008 11:45 AM

Wow. They were willing to put just about anything on the air, weren't they? Of course, it's not so much that he's jumping on the eggs-- that would suggest that his feet come to rest upon the eggs. Rather, he's jumping OVER the eggs and tapping them with his feet mid-flight, which totally doesn't count IMO...

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#3 posted by Random_Tangent , August 14, 2008 12:00 PM

Oh yes. it's definitely been jumped on.

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#4 posted by llynglas , August 14, 2008 12:06 PM

I love the Beeb.....

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#5 posted by franko , August 14, 2008 12:08 PM

so, it seems pretty clear that daytime TV has ALWAYS sucked.

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#6 posted by BukaHobbit , August 14, 2008 12:14 PM

This reminds me of the John Cleese quip to Kevin Klein in A Fish Called Wanda. 'Are you totally de-ranged?'

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#7 posted by Bodhipaksa , August 14, 2008 12:20 PM

@Franko: I agree about daytime TV, but this was early evening broadcasting from the BBC -- a show called Nationwide. I remember watching this particular segment with a keen sense of embarrassment as the guy repeatedly failed to quite make contact with the egg.

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#8 posted by benjiwenji , August 14, 2008 12:21 PM

Oh Gawd bless em all...I love my countrymen. You can feel safe in the knowledge that that chap REALLY did know when an egg had been stamped on. A trained pro'. Winner. Probably ex SAS. He could be my Dad...the shorts look right.

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#9 posted by Nelson.C , August 14, 2008 12:27 PM

Oh, gods, I remember this from the original broadcast. Possibly the most embarrassing moment on British TV ever.

For the record, this was an early evening programme, Nationwide, a regional news magazine programme on after the 5:45 News, IIRC. This particular segment was a bit of silliness the production staff snuck in at the end of the show as a prank on the presenter (Sue Lawley, I seem to remember).

Hmm, I think BBC's News 24 channel could do with a bit of silliness like this.

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#10 posted by Anonymous , August 14, 2008 12:27 PM

The BBC used to have a segment at the end of the news where they would show something funny. Such as this egg jumping showcase. I don't know what year though the BBC eventually scrapped this segment. I don't think this man would of made it onto the TV if he wasn't so funny to watch

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#11 posted by travelina

, August 14, 2008 12:31 PM

I wish they had included the part where he jumps on human noses without breaking them, either.

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#12 posted by John Coulthart , August 14, 2008 12:35 PM

Ye gods, I remember this from when it was first broadcast; I was about 12 at the time and recall thinking "WTF?" then.

Nationwide wasn't daytime TV, it was an early evening "magazine" news and current affairs show which came on after the national news. An odd mix of serious investigation, sports and inane items such as this. Animals doing silly things were always popular. They should have called it YouKTube.

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#13 posted by John Coulthart , August 14, 2008 12:36 PM

Ha, snap!

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#14 posted by Lagged2Death , August 14, 2008 12:36 PM

Wow. Python-y indeed. I never realized their wacky talk show segments were inspired by actual wacky talk shows.

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#15 posted by benjiwenji , August 14, 2008 12:43 PM

@12 You're showing your age. ...did tv used to be black and white...s'pose you were still saving money after the war.

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#16 posted by John Coulthart , August 14, 2008 1:03 PM

TV was full colour by then but stuff like this wasn't archived. The only copies that exist are amateur recordings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_%28TV_series%29#Archive_status

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#17 posted by mightymouse1584 , August 14, 2008 1:05 PM

i wonder how long he had to practice before he got it perfect.

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#18 posted by Linds , August 14, 2008 1:07 PM

I see your python reference and raise you this lot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCSgYTKfnzQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0gzQS4w1sc

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#19 posted by Skeeper , August 14, 2008 1:23 PM

I remember it from when it was first broadcast - mostly because me and my brother spent a few days trying to replicate it, as we did the Kung Fu 'walking on rice paper' thing. Quite skillful when you think about it.

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#20 posted by ZippySpincycle , August 14, 2008 1:28 PM

OK, sure, Linds beat me to it, but all I could think of was Tiddles the flying cat:

Compère: That is Tiddles, I believe?
Man: Yes, this is, this is Tiddles.
Compère: Yes, and what does she do?
Man: She flies across the studio and lands in a bucket of water.
Compère: By herself?
Man: No, I fling her.

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#21 posted by JJ , August 14, 2008 1:31 PM

I believe "mind blowing" is the appropriate response.

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#22 posted by Anonymous , August 14, 2008 1:39 PM

@Nelson C - One teensy correction. Nationwide wasn't a regional news programme - it came on after the regional news (hence the name). And they did in fact specialise in a mixture of investigative reporting and this sort of daftness: it was Nationwide that first brought us the skateboarding duck, after all.

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#23 posted by Bodhipaksa , August 14, 2008 1:40 PM

Oh gawd. I just remembered the bastard spawn of "Nationwide", which was "That's Life" -- a show hosted by Esther Rantzen, featuring dogs saying "sausages" (you had to be there), oddly-shaped vegetables, strange "odes" (by someone called Pam), songs by Richard Stilgoe, and other miscellaneous crap. To be fair to the show it also included some serious consumer-affairs reporting. I'm assuming the shows were connected since Rantzen worked on both.

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#24 posted by benjiwenji , August 14, 2008 1:59 PM

@21'Ben...the two of us are oneeeeeeeeeeeagain...'
I never lived that tune down.

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#25 posted by Nelson.C , August 14, 2008 2:10 PM

JC @11: Obviously a traumatic TV event for both of us. Or we absorbed the same subliminal messages....

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#26 posted by bartash , August 14, 2008 2:20 PM

Nationwide? Pah, all us cool northern kids were watching Granada Reports.

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#27 posted by John Coulthart , August 14, 2008 2:26 PM

Nelson: I'm guessing trauma, of which That's Life was also a part as Bodhipaksa notes. The odes in question there were courtesy of the terminally smug Cyril Fletcher, not "Pam". Unless Pam Ayers also appeared on That's Life which wouldn't surprise me.

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#28 posted by John Coulthart , August 14, 2008 2:34 PM

Ahem, northern kid here as well...we used to watch both. Yes, Granada Reports was far cooler; in place of egg-jumpers they had Joy Division in 1978, the band's first TV appearance.

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#29 posted by Jackasimov , August 14, 2008 3:05 PM

Extremely important: DO NOT ATTEMPT UNLESS WEARING SAFETY SHORT-TROUSERS.

you have been warned.

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#30 posted by The Lizardman

, August 14, 2008 3:44 PM

This should come full circle and be used as a moment of zen by the daily show.

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#31 posted by SeamusAndrewMurphy , August 14, 2008 4:46 PM

This is insane, right? I mean, right?

I guess television news has always been bad.