Listen up, ye scuttering gobsheens!
In 1997, Podge And Rodge kicked off a grubby crusade against good taste with A Scare at Bedtime. For nine years these potty-mouthed puppets kept us awake with ghost stories laced with gross-out humour, pushing the limits of what was deemed acceptable for comedy on Irish telly. Although they would go on to enjoy greater mainstream hits, it's those early sleepovers at Ballydung Manor that continue to haunt us.
Things started off rather innocently for our demented duo. Created by Ciarán Morrison and Mick O'Hara, Podge And Rodge began life on the massively popular 90s children's television show The Den, mucking about with puppet pals Zig and Zag (also Morrison and O’Hara inventions) and Dustin the Turkey. As their popularity grew – and Podge’s bust-ups with Dustin verged on all-out war! – the bawdy brothers were pushed past the watershed and given their own show.
Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the broadcast of the first ever episode of Podge and Rodge - A Scare At Bedtime! This is the opening that was burned into your retinas and earholes all those years ago on @rte Network 2#PodgeAndRodge #AScareAtBedtime @OfficialPandR pic.twitter.com/sb2y8Uyyne
— ᴅᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ᴢ 💥 (@DoubleZCreative) November 24, 2022
A Scare At Bedtime was born out of a bit of scheduling serendipity. Airing on Mondays on Network 2, the series was commissioned in order to plug a gap in the schedule left by the irregular running times of shows leading into the Late News Update at 11pm. Each 10-minute episode mixed Irish folk horror with dirty jokes, with Podge reciting a cautionary tale that would scare his wayward brother straight and, as it turned out, leave a generation of 90s kids scarred for life.
Simply open the YouTube comment section of any clip and you’ll be entering a self-help group for Ballydung survivors. "I remember being traumatised by this when I was little," admits one brave soul, racking up over 100 likes. And who could blame them? In the first episode alone, we see Rodge preparing a broth with scabs ripped from his cat’s face. And then there’s the stories themselves, covering topics ranging from cannibalism and witchcraft to haunted tractors, vampire leprechauns and plain old-fashioned murder.
As well as providing us a life-time supply of nightmare fuel, Podge And Rodge double-handedly helped shape the national sense of humour throughout the 2000s. Sure, we had rowdy puppets before, but these fellas were filthy! Their show was a world away from anything RTÉ had made in the past, and not unlike the sicko puppetry that American networks Adult Swim and Comedy Central would later popularise.
The series’ success led to the hugely popular Podge and Rodge Show in 2006. There, they ruthlessly slagged off D-list celebs and, on one occasion, leapt towards Brigitte Nielsen for what was surely the first (and last?) act of tandem motorboating seen on Irish television. Indeed, smut reigned supreme, but a bit of magic was lost.
Not sure why RTE never used this ad for #AScareAtBedtime 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Bo14XOLC8n
— Podge and Rodge - Official (@OfficialPandR) February 19, 2022
With a whopping 150 episodes, a Christmas Special and an IFTA to its name, A Scare At Bedtime perfectly distilled the characters’ twisted sensibilities. Today, you’ll encounter its cultural legacy across disturbed comment sections and endless Reddit threads, but mostly in the strained expressions of people still trying to crowbar "scuttering gobsheens" into daily conversation. Go easy on us. We’ve been through a lot.
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