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Margaret Thatcher was not to blame for the closure of the coal mines in Britain. Mr Blobby was. A horror film revealed this horrible truth at the end of the first season of Saturday Night Live UK. Back in 1992, drilling at Nottinghamshire’s Grimethorpe Colliery unearthed a sinister group that had been buried underground. Just after Blobby is about to commit mass murder, he cuts off the miners’ legs and becomes an “atom bomb in the flesh”.
Mr Blobby’s confusion is an apt metaphor. Recent months have seen a pink and yellow mess of confusion unearthed and on the way back. He appeared on top TV shows, joined the ranks of musicians, and encouraged sportsmen to part with large sums of money to get their hands on Blobby merchandise. What made a person who was once considered poor come back?
“I don’t know that Mr Blobby ever left,” says comedian Joel Morris, author of Be Funny Or Die: How. Funny Work and Why It Matters. “It was great to see him on the set of SNL UK, a millennial writers’ room that doesn’t offer the stuff kids at home want their parents to explain to them. This is your heritage and he’s as British as Boots food. I’m sure Blobby is on the test of citizenship.”
Last month on The Claudia Winkleman Show, comedian Josh Widdicombe – who dedicated an entire episode of the Museum of Pop Culture podcast to Mr Blobby (“Pink, spots and rubber, and an insatiable appetite for destruction”) – tried to explain the deranged Canadian, Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy. When Blobby himself suddenly entered, a panicked Levy hid behind the sofa. “That’s our Mickey Mouse,” said Winkleman proudly.
The squishy culture icon of the 90s is in high demand in the nostalgia section. Blobby clothes change hands for thousands of pounds on eBay. In Scotland, Blobby-shaped iced biscuits from Bayne bakers (“made with natural colours”) have outsold Gregg’s sausages.
Singer and actress Self Esteem, AKA Rebecca Lucy Taylor, is a vocal enthusiast who invited her to appear on stage at her Hammersmith Apollo gig. After performing a surreal rendition of his song Best Of, he hailed the event as “the highlight of my career”. Mr Blobby was also a GQ cover star recently, and featured in the magazine’s selection of “modern British icons” alongside Emma Thompson, Ian Wright and Brian Cox. His contribution to the interview was simply to say “Blobby”, apparently.
For cultural historian Dr Matthew Sweet, its revival is a sign of foolish times. “Mr. Blobby is a creature of fascinating silliness,” he says. “His stupid name, his stupid looks, his stupid words and the constant repetition of his stupid name are beyond imagination.” In a way, his tirelessness has helped him to enter another field.
The Pepto Bismol comic was created by accident. He first appeared on our shows in 1992, when he played once on Noel Edmonds’ Saturday night smash Noel’s House Party, mocking celebrities who had been tricked into believing they were appearing on children’s TV. The co-star of the show, Michael Leggo, was 7ft tall and pear-shaped. The Honey Monster version meets Mr Greedy. By the time the BBC’s costume department picked him up, the pale pink man had green, green eyes and yellow spots, communicating the words “blobby” or “blob” in a distorted Dalek-esque voice.
Blobby has to bow at the end of the series. The BBC counted without many Britons taking him to heart. Noel’s House Party received three bags of mail a week. Before long, most of the letters were about Mr Blobby, not Edmonds. The favorite not only stayed but was promoted to a regular player for the host. His popularity also increased when he was watched baking cream cakes in the studio with a cup.
Down in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, Blobbymania was born. As the well-bearded Dr Frankenstein, Edmonds created a monster. Pop culture rule followed. There were Blobby dolls and funny toys, Blobby pasta shapes and bath tubs, Blobby candle holders and covers, Blobby crisps and soft drinks (pink lemonade, naturally). The runaway success spawned a video game, three Blobbyland parks and a Christmas No 1, knocking Take That’s Babe to the top spot. Twenty years later, Gary Barlow is reunited with his old nemesis Alan Carr: Chatty Man. Clearly still in his wits, Barlow pushed Blobby and pulled his leg out.
When Noel’s House Party was canceled in 1999, its hero disappeared. The 00s saw him appearing frequently to sabotage other TV shows, which led to his own problems. The polka-dotted doll struts around the set, shaking and saying “blobby” over and over again. At his whim, Blobby can fall, knock over props, break chairs and hug unsuspecting celebrities. He appeared in Peter Kay’s Amarillo movie (Is This the Way to) Amarillo. He shot Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent. He went round with Loose Women’s Carol McGiffin and one of his eyes popped out. She appeared on The Big Fat Quiz of the 90s, where a horrified Jack Whitehall compared her to a “fat, blind kid”.
If you’re looking for a Blobby comeback, you’re not alone. He has always been a person who divides people, to anger as well as to delight. The New York Times wrote: “Some commentators say he is a metaphor for how the world has gone soft.” Some see it as proof of Britain’s obsession with rubbish. Michael Parkinson found him “far from interesting”. Bob Mortimer called him a “pink, spotted, rubber twat”. This newspaper once called him “the most hated irritant“.
Not everyone agrees, however.
“The funny thing about Blobby is that he had to screw it up,” says Morris. “The original joke was that he’s from a children’s show that doesn’t exist. But because he’s completely made up, there’s nowhere he can’t get to. He’s always in the wrong place, which makes for a powerful drama. He’s a joker and he looks like a pig’s bladder on a stick.
As the perplexing Dan Levy pointed out, DayGlo doofus is a British phenomenon. “Speaking as an expert,” says Morris, “the comedy toolbox needs figures like Blobby – or Sooty or Zippy – as cultural highlights, so that they can be misplaced to be funny. It saddens me that future generations will have to rely on multi-species like Pokémon or Grogu as punchlines where Mr Blobby will be used, if he can exist. British Avengers Assemble, he will be the Hulk.”
Like Dan Levy or Jack Whitehall, some remain calmer than amused. Sweet said: “Many things about our childhood seem, in retrospect, no wonder. Most of them are cute, funny, interesting or clever. Mr. Blobby is none of those things. Imagine waking up at night and finding him at the end of your bed. How terrible would that be?”
With the renewed interest and rumors of Blobby’s antics coming, don’t be surprised to see some pink and yellow mayhem to come. After all, 2026 is the year of the Blobaissance. Refusal is pointless. We can also say this: blobby, blobby, blobby.
