Memories of the The Den

DEFTLEFTHAND

It followed Bosco. What a show, it was ahead of it's time in many respects Ian, Ray, Damien and the ginger Leitrim guy.

A staple of many folk's childhood. The turkey Dustin the builder, Socky the sock monster ,Zuppy the dog, Snotser the inner city drug dealer.

A period when RTE encouraged innovation, it was a wonderful time to be a child.

Menas

Best line on that show was when Zuppy was making a nuisance of himself, Zig (or was it Zag) asked Ian could they let Zuppy out to play on the Stillorgan dual carriageway.

efb

Did The Den follow Bosco? Dempsey's Den did but was Bosco still around when it became The Den?

(Sorry for being a pedant but big Iano fan)

Yes - it was. Always be Dempsey's Den to me! Feck off Ray D'arcy back to Jo Maxi!

DEFTLEFTHAND

efb wrote: »

Did The Den follow Bosco? Dempsey's Den did but was Bosco still around when it became The Den?

(Sorry for being a pedant but big Iano fan)

My early memories of tv were coming home from junior primary school years and catching Bosco at 2pm, the Den would follow at 3pm, with the boys.

ygolometsipe

The Good
Podge and Rodge
Ray fighting some panda teddy
Dustin making adult jokes some I even got as a kid.
The Xmass specials

The Bad
zig and zag going to England (ffs, even aliens leaving ireland to improve their "prospects")
Ian leaving
Ray leaving

The Ugly
I grew up

DEFTLEFTHAND

I used to love when the turkey would rip into culchie callers in an arrogant jackeen tone. It was genius, they had a lot of free reign back then. These days sadly you probably couldn't get away with it on children's tv.

Samsgirl

Loved Dustin's campagin to be President. And how he ripped into Mary Robinson when she was in The Den for having smelly feet!!

Mint Aero

Great show. You wouldn't see them antics on childrens tv today. Burping, farting, dustin bullying pat kenny, ray being physically abused by a panda. Socky being a little "special" and dustin taking full advantage of him for his own personal gain. Presenters laughing at stupid kids when they made a fool of themselves on their quizzes. The malevolence of podge. Dustin mocking rays ma and most guests. Snotser, as mentioned already a little slow from years of heroin use in Dublins early 90's inner city. Great show.

It's all f*cking peppa pig and barney sh*t these days with love and feelings and crap. Hence why we had an epidemic of emos, goths and weird stuff post mid 2000's as them kids didn't quite grow up with Dustin as an influence.

RichardCeann

The Halloween and Christmas specials were brilliant. Postman Patrick/Podge was always up to no good. They are on YouTube if you want to show your own kids or young relatives.

Poor Uncle Tom

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I used to love when the turkey would rip into culchie callers in an arrogant jackeen tone. It was genius, they had a lot of free reign back then. These days sadly you probably couldn't get away with it on children's tv.

The turkey was waaaay overrated, I never got the charm of the insulting puppet, it was just crass lad ism with a Dub accent, apparently it took sending him to the Eurovision before RTE actually got this message too.

RichardCeann

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I used to love when the turkey would rip into culchie callers in an arrogant jackeen tone. It was genius, they had a lot of free reign back then. These days sadly you probably couldn't get away with it on children's tv.

Haha. The stick he used to throw at Gay Byrne was unreal too.

efb

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

The turkey was waaaay overrated, I never got the charm of the insulting puppet, it was just crass lad ism with a Dub accent, apparently it took sending him to the Eurovision before RTE actually got this message too.

Agreed- Dustin was a one trick pony flogged to death by RTE

Pajo was the original drugs kingpin on Sat mornings in his washing machine

Poor Uncle Tom

efb wrote: »

Pajo was the original drugs kingpin on Sat mornings in his washing machine

Still is, legend has it that Pajenberg is cooking the green in a washing machine hidden in plain view in an unofficial halting site on the Ennis bypass.......

efb

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Still is, legend has it that Pajenberg is cooking the green in a washing machine hidden in plain view in an unofficial halting site on the Ennis bypass.......

With Bosco! Tà bítch!

Wang King

The best bits for me was when Simon Young used to do Garda Patrol with Dustin.... It would start off so well, and then Simon would totally corpse over something Dustin said, and that was it, Dustin drove it home and poor Simon was convulsing in tears thru the rest of the segment.
He's had a hard life since those happy days, and I hope he's back on track a little

efb

Maybe it was me growing up but I thought they let that show really go to seed - the Cavan fella was awful!

Poor Uncle Tom

efb wrote: »

With Bosco! Tà bítch!

Knock knock any more, come with me through the magic door........

f**kin meth heads the lot of them......

efb

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Knock knock any more, come with me through the magic door........

f**kin meth heads the lot of them......

Pimping out Marion and Grainne

Ray fighting Ted, with Ray in tears of laughter because someone kept throwing Ted back at him. Great stuff.

ygolometsipe

I found this

The Den - Christmas Crisis 2 (1996)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO1YfW1xaHM

Watching it now, I'm in stitches, its really very funny.

The sound it a bit off at the start but it goes away after a minute.

Poor Uncle Tom

efb wrote: »

Pimping out Marion and Grainne

It was bound to happen, so many people stuffed under the presenters desks can only lead to one thing, the ruination of the nation......

ARTE, broadcasting into you living room 'the seedy' since the 1980, it was 40 coats legacy if you ask me, and that Godmother has a lot to answer for too.

The signs were there from the start......

efb

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

It was bound to happen, so many people stuffed under the presenters desks can only lead to one thing, the ruination of the nation......

ARTE, broadcasting into you living room 'the seedy' since the 1980, it was 40 coats legacy if you ask me, and that Godmother has a lot to answer for too.

The signs were there from the start......

Slightly bonkers was definitely off her tits on something

efb

Fetchit and Grabit weren't great drug mules for Pajo bless em- still had their uses

Football Friend

I remember seeing this live. Good man Kevin from Galway ðŸ˜႒

http://youtu.be/4fHD8QQXo_s

Poor Uncle Tom

efb wrote: »

Slightly bonkers was definitely off her tits on something

:D

guinea pig for the green....

ToddyDoody

Quiz night in a hall of 1000 or so 12 year olds. Q. "Who presented The Den after Ray Darcy?"

May as well have asked what's the third secret of Fatima.

I was a particular fan of the Friday night dance music show Damien presented when he moved on from the den. (just one of those strange things)

somefeen

I remember the Den well. Good times
2Phat was another one and Podge and Rodge; A scare at bedtime was pure brilliance. They went all to **** when they did that fecking talk show

duffman13

For nothing more than the Xmas specials the Den really has fond memories for me. Really got my imagination going around Xmas, nothing like it on TV now!

Drexel

loved the den. The christmas specials were brilliant.

For some weird reason though until I was about 6 I would watch Live at 3 instead

_Kaiser_

I was a child of Sky growing up.. We'd moved to Holland for a few years in the mid 80s (recession eh?) and they were very big over there at the time so I grew up watching all the cool cartoons on Fun Factory, DJ Kat etc - most of which never made it to UK/Irish terrestrial TV. Also had BBC over there and ITV as well I think.

Then when we came home we had Cablelink in Dublin so thankfully was never stuck with just RTE 1 and 2.. Almost never watched The Den as a result, although the 90s Batman cartoon was great.

Samaris

"Let's go see the BOX FACTORY!"

How many times did we all go through the magic door to see that blasted factory? It may have been the same clip constantly for all I remember.