Americans discover Mr Blobby and realise ‘UK is weirder than we thought’

Mr Blobby is still shocking people 32 years later (Picture: Geoff Wilkinson/REX/Shutterstock)

Mr Blobby has sailed across the Atlantic and people are a little confused about the purpose of his existence.

The bulbous pink figure hasn’t literally gotten on a boat (it would be more chaotic than Drop Dead Fred’s voyage if he did), but he has found his way into Americans’ lives, and they have questions. Many questions.

A Reddit thread has been set up to discuss the unique character, who’s always smiling and communicates only by saying his own name. After the discovery, they’ve decided Brits are weirder than they originally thought, and to be fair, maybe, they have a point.

One person’s first experience with Mr Blobby was during an episode of Taskmaster, where comedians including Joanne McNally and John Robins had to guess who was following them without seeing them.

‘I’m rewatching series 17 and I need a UK person to explain the horror that is Mr Blobby to me. What is it? More importantly, why is it, and why has nobody killed it with fire?’ account Dismal_Illustrator96 wrote.

Devanchya simply said: ‘”It’s a British thing” is the quickest explanation.’ Halfboyfriend called Mr Blobby, who likes to knock over tables for no reason except he wants to, a ‘menace to society’. ‘Bold of you to assume Blobby can be killed,’ joked Friendlytrees.

Mr Blobby rose to fame on Noel’s House Party (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

While they raised some excellent points, those looking for the actual explanation as to how he came about, were also provided with context. If you’ve managed to get through life without Mr Blobby facts fogging up the membrane then let us catch you up.

Mr Blobby began life on the Saturday night entertainment show, Noel’s House Party, hosted by Noel Edmonds, in 1992. His first appearance was during a prank segment where celebrities were tricked into thinking that he was an established children’s TV character. As they answered questions about their career, Mr Blobby would be as annoying as possible to irritate the stars. The popularity of the feature meant that he kept returning, and became synonymous with the series before becoming bigger than his origins (more on that later).

Inside the suit was Barry Killerby until 2015, when the oversized costume was then taken over by Paul Denson.

Mr Blobby’s list of achievements are impressive (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

After giving the rundown of how Mr Blobby came to be, MadeIndescribable added: ‘Considering the UK is the land of “Boaty McBoatface”, naturally we adopted him as a national mascot, and the entirety of every other part of NHP was just forgotten.’

Mikebirty tried to put it in a language Americans could understand: ‘Imagine if celebrities went on Sesame Street and Big Bird tried to deliberately sabotage everything they did for laughs and they had no idea.’

‘Probably the least creepy child’s entertainer the UK has ever had tbh,’ replied TheThiccestR0bin.

‘You Brits are not allowed to give us s**t for Barney when you’ve got that running around!’ said a passionate pretty-as-a-pic.

InkedDoll1 apologised on behalf of the UK for Mr Blobby’s achievements, such as an amusement park. Crinkley Bottom, also referred to as Blobbyland, was in operation during the 1990s to capitalise on the popularity of the fictional village Noel’s House Party was based, and the rising star of Mr Blobby.

In 1993, Mr Blobby even got the Christmas number one with a song called Mr Blobby (naturally). It knocked Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) off the top spot, and eardrums haven’t been the same since. But really, Mr Blobby could sing I’d Do Anything for Love (if the lyrics were changed to blobby blobby blobby), but could Meatloaf sing Mr Blobby?

Taskmaster isn’t the only TV show Mr Blobby has terrorised, the lovable anarchist has appeared on more TV shows than Joey Essex including This Morning, Britain’s Got Talent, Loose Women, Good Morning Britain, and Have I Got News For You – pretty impressive for someone who communicates with only one word.

After receiving so much guidance, the original thread creator wrote: ‘Thank you for the answers, everyone. As suspected, the UK is weirder than I thought.’ Other Americans also expressed their gratitude for the Mr Blobby oral history.

We understand their initial confusion on all things Mr Blobby, and they should know that they have not even scratched the surface. 32 years after he burst onto the small screen, some of the greatest brains can’t decipher how he’s managed to become such a phenomenon.

The best thing to do is not to question why, and instead, just, blobby.

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