Dustin the turkey, ??

StereoSound

Why did RTE get rid of him? Were parents complaining of his jokes on the politicians of Ireland? Or they didn't like his slang words being adopted by kids? Was there too much adult humour in his jokes? I thought he is great as a kid and my dad laughed his ass off at some of the Cork jokes..... "Best thing that came out of cork was the road to Dublin"....

Where the hell would you get these kind of jokes on daytime kids TV these days? Didnt do me any harm! Is it the nanny state attitude these days that saw his end? Better for kids to watch the little kitten singing and the puppy dancing ? FECK OFF! My kids don't watch TV because there is shag all worth watching! Its not like how it was with me and my dad watching so much kids stuff together back in the 90s, stuff that was actually worth watching. I don't have this TV experience enjoyment with my kid because of the strict sensorship for suitable viewing... " Oh that's toooo violent for little children, we couldnt possibly licence that on the network, the poor children might go on a rampage!!"

Donald Trump

Miriam O'Callaghan allegedly had him for Christmas during the recession

Lots of mouths to feed and only a few hundred grand per year to pay for food.

Tough times

McMurphy

Why did RTE get rid of him?

Because it was as funny as an ingrown hair on the back of your balls.

Every joke seen coming from a mile away.

Seriously, always made me wanna switch the channel.

tomwaterford

Got dropped when the den got cancelled

Had a failed music career and now appears to be reduced to annual apperenxes on the toy show

me_irl

I preferred Snotser.

Dtp1979

I always, and still do, think Dustin is hilarious

Ipso

I will always admire him for confronting the creeping evil that was line dancing.

Are Am Eye

I like it when he starts shouting abuse and insults at people.

Pac1Man

I heard he grabbed some turkey breasts.

gozunda

Following his escape from a Turkey farm at Christmas he never really looked back imo.

He outlived Zig and Zag and a bunch of presenters on RTE. His most infamous moment was when he asked the joke question on daytime tv - "how does Sinead O'Connor comb her hair? Answer Pull down her knickers & etc.

As far as I'm aware he was banned for a while after that :pac:

He was a star of his times imo. There's no one out there of his calibre presently imo.

wawaman

Pac1Man wrote: »

I heard he grabbed some turkey breasts.

GO ON YA GOOD THING

branie2

One of The Den's best presenters

briany

They completely PG'd Dustin towards the tail-end of his career. He went from calling the Irish language 'foreign' in the early 90s to then wholesomely promoting it in the mid 2000s.

The stuff he used to come out with in the Den's heyday you wouldn't get even on an edgy late night show now. Calling the Irish language foreign and joking about not paying your TV license in the context of comedy wouldn't be stood for too long.

Has he been to Meath yet?

branie2

He also reminded us not to forget the batteries

weadick

I had a friend from Germany who absolutely loved Dustin and still does. Simon Cowell was a fan apparently and couldnt believe what he used to get away with on Irish tv. One of the last times I saw him on rte was on the 50th anniversary of the LLS a few years ago when he told Tubridy the toy show was the only thing he was any good at, which is true. After that he was never seen on another toy show again and is sorely missed tbh.

Arghus

briany wrote: »

They completely PG'd Dustin towards the tail-end of his career. He went from calling the Irish language 'foreign' in the early 90s to then wholesomely promoting it in the mid 2000s.

The stuff he used to come out with in the Den's heyday you wouldn't get even on an edgy late night show now. Calling the Irish language foreign and joking about not paying your TV license in the context of comedy wouldn't be stood for too long.

Yeah, back in the anarchic 90's Dustin used to get away with genuinely edginess, he was great.

But like most RTE fixtures he was gradually defanged over time.

Pac1Man

The lads.

branie2

He used to call Zag Zog

Ghost Train

For an established tv personality he should never have done Eurovision, it was fun joke for a bit but got tired pretty quick and I'm not sure it translated too well

briany

Pac1Man wrote: »

The lads.

I can't believe it's taken me 'til now to realise that Socky was just a mentally subnormal Morbeg.

Pac1Man

Feeling a bit nostalgic reading this thread.

Here's some teletext.

uck51js9zml2yt

When he lost us the Eurovision his goose was cooked



Yes..I was one of those who voted for him to represent us.

StereoSound

When he did the flap flaps it was funny..... Ray telling him to do it lol

aziz

When I saw the title of this tread, first thoughts that went through my head was "is he dead "or is this the lastest celeb to be outed as a sex offender😳

tupenny

Faith of our feathers 👐

7 Seconds...

Dustin is certainly one of a kind. Hard to believe it's nearly ten years since he did the eurovision in 2008.

TheIrishGrover

Whatever about that Sinead O'Connor joke (I don't believe even he would say that on TV) I do remember one incident. I was on the bus to Dublin late in the evening near Christmas. Dustin was guest on the radio. So it was about 8 or so and wasn't a kids show. Bus was only half full, everyone dozing off, only half listening to him. The DJ was asking him about his favourite songs etc and he says "Anything by Boyzone Hweh hweh hweh" The DJ says "Have you met them?" He goes "I met Ronan last week and he said "It's pronounced Ronán, There's a fatha" I says, a fatha? I'll shove that fatha where Brian Kennedy won't find it"

Everyone on the bus, who was half listening to the radio just pissed themselves laughing.

DaithiMa

Faith Of Our Feathers was an all time classic. Funky Ford Cortina and Where Do You Go To You're Ugly two of my personal favourites off that album.

riffmongous

DaithiMa wrote: »

Faith Of Our Feathers was an all time classic. Funky Ford Cortina and Where Do You Go To You're Ugly two of my personal favourites off that album.

I came here just to post Funky Ford Cortina. I used to love Born Greasy too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8tdbdRVDR0

briany

I have a vague memory of when Podge started appearing on the Den, and one time he and Dustin getting into a heated argument, and they were squaring up to one another, nose to nose, threatening one another. It's such a weird memory, the idea of two children's puppets carrying on like two lads outside a late night takeaway.

StereoSound

Heres somthing someone should do.....Backward engineer a Dustin puppet and start a YouTube channel... Maybe RTE might get very cross though haha.. I'd love to see it done and have some cocky fecker with a similar sounding voice bring him to back to life...it might make RTE realise he is sorely missed and do something about it.

branie2

It was because Podge was disguised as Zig, and called Dustin "beaky"

Pac1Man

Ah jaysus!

_Dara_

Pac1Man wrote: »

The lads.

Socky calling Ray 'Mammy Ray' never got old for me.

Tuco88

What happened to podge and rodge i enjoyed a scare at bed time... My god iv just noticed how changed/crap rte hads become. 90s cartoons great times.

Pac1Man

_Dara_ wrote: »

Socky calling Ray 'Mammy Ray' never got old for me.

Ah yes, well remembered!

And Dustin's flap flaps. Couldn't get away with that now.

sdanseo

Pac1Man wrote: »

Feeling a bit nostalgic reading this thread.

Here's some teletext.

Still exists, just digital. Anyone remember page 180?
http://www.rte.ie/aertel/desktopxhtml/180-1.html

I have the Faith of our Feathers Album. Buried in a drawer somewhere.

Dtp1979

Ipso wrote: »

I will always admire him for confronting the creeping evil that was line dancing.

S.O.L.D was the campaign as far as I remember.

Dtp1979

To this day I still look Down on Leitrim

Full Marx

I loved Dustin, still very funny

kingchess

Insulting Pat Kenny,saying he was ready or another coat of varnish as if he was a plank of wood.

branie2

Derek Davis was another target

branie2

branie2 wrote: »

Derek Davis was another target

Hippo head if I recall!

gozunda

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Whatever about that Sinead O'Connor joke (I don't believe even he would say that on TV) I do remember one incident. I was on the bus to Dublin late in the evening near Christmas. Dustin was guest on the radio. So it was about 8 or so and wasn't a kids show. Bus was only half full, everyone dozing off, only half listening to him. The DJ was asking him about his favourite songs etc and he says "Anything by Boyzone Hweh hweh hweh" The DJ says "Have you met them?" He goes "I met Ronan last week and he said "It's pronounced Ronán, There's a fatha" I says, a fatha? I'll shove that fatha where Brian Kennedy won't find it"
Everyone on the bus, who was half listening to the radio just pissed themselves laughing.

I personally remember him doing that joke on TV - nearly fell off the sofa (though I'm not sure about him being banned)

I don't think you can judge what Dustin got away with back then compared to the sanitised gloop that passes as children's tv now ...

Postgrad10

Pac1Man wrote: »

_Dara_ wrote: »

Socky calling Ray 'Mammy Ray' never got old for me.

Ah yes, well remembered!

And Dustin's flap flaps. Couldn't get away with that now.

There were two options either Dusty would do flap flaps or Ray would do I'm a little teapot. And you'd be guaranteed that the kid on the phone would choose Ray doing I'm a little teapot.

He put Leitrim on the map for certain. I recall a lot of references to the lack of traffic lights and roads.

I had all his albums , loved where are you going, you're ugly ...".you're a friend of Pat Kenny's , he gave you a grey hound for Christmas, and you sold it to the local chinese, yes you did, sweet and sour curried paws.." He knocked faith of our fathers off the top of the charts with faith of our feathers.

I think they friendship with Simon cowell is true , recall seeing him on the xtra factor a few years back.

RobbingBandit

Dustin for President, he will be back next year to run against Bertie and Mr TAYTO and Dana.

maudgonner

RobbingBandit wrote: »

Dustin for President, he will be back next year to run against Bertie and Mr TAYTO and Dana.

If you turn your head sideways and squint, I think there's a certain similarity between Dustin & Michael D. They're about the same height, have the same hair/feathers and the nose/beak is about right...

Mena Mitty

Loved Dustin, a lot of his observances went very close to the bone.

He had a soft spot for Anne Doyle if I remember correctly.

I think when the Hiace failed the DOE test the third time the writing was on the wall for the feathered builder ;-)

Always thought he'd have made it as a property tyfoon during the boom with his vast knowledge of demolition and construction ( him being a builder and all )

Arghus

Some of his musical output was hillarious.

Born Greasy was parody that was close to genius - "saying Arkla, Arkla, Arkla, County Wicklow". Even as a kid I knew that was way better a novelty tune than it had any right to be.

I remember the closing song of one of his albums being called "U2 medley" and it being a long skit, with Dustin fronting a rubbish bar band belting covers out that consisted of the odd haphazard chorus of U2 classics - but mainly him just verbally abusing the drunken crowd.

Ah things were better back then.

branie2

He used to make up jokes about Ray Darcy's mother.