SPIKE MILLIGAN: Honestly, I never really "got" the Goon Show -- culturally, it spoke to another time, another place, and most of the historical references were lost on me. But absent the inspiration of Spike Milligan and his Goon cohorts, there would have been no Monty Python, and without Python, no Fawlty Towers -- and I don't think it's a stretch to say that without the sublime Basil Fawlty paving the way for exquisitely-structured, character-driven modern television comedy, there would be literally nothing on TV worth watching today.