The Whoopee! Years - Cheeky as Quizmaster, in E.T. Challenge and TV Quiz Kids

During Cheeky's final Whoopee! run in his eponymous strip, he also made some extra-stripular appearances.

The first of these occurred in the 19 March 1983 edition when our toothy pal was co-opted to introduce that week's Quizmaster feature. This puzzle series was hosted by a different luminary from among Whoopee!'s roster of funny folk each issue. In fact the first Quizmaster half-page of teasers, in Whoopee! dated  04 December 1982, was introduced by the jerseyed japester's erstwhile Cheeky Weekly colleague Calculator Kid who, accompanied by his extravagantly-moustachioed dad, would feature as subjects in a Quizmaster puzzle in the 14 May 1983 edition (hosted that week by Little Ed). Some of the Stage School kids would set the questions in the 29 January 1983 comic, Mustapha Million would host 12 March 1983's Quizmaster, while Robot Granny (previously known as 6 Million Dollar/$6,000,000 Gran) would pose the puzzles in Whoopee! dated 30 April 1983.

Whoopee! 19 March 1983
Quizmaster art: Roy Mitchell

Returning to our toothy chum, his next appearance in a vehicle other than his own strip resulted from a reader participation feature which was launched within his own page in the 26 February 1983 issue...

Whoopee! 26 February 1983
Art: Frank McDiarmid

By the time the results were published in the 27 August 1983 edition, the comic had undergone another merge to become Whoopee and Wow!

Whoopee and Wow! 27 August 1983
I can't identify this artist

Cheeky's final Whoopee foray into a feature other than his own regular strip occurred on the TV Quiz Kids page in the 21 January 1984 comic, which I examined back in 2013.

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 48

New readers start here... After Cheeky Weekly folded and was incorporated into Whoopee as of February 1980 six strips that had originated in the toothy funster's title survived the merge and continued to appear in the amalgamated comic. Whoopee itself foundered in March 1985 and was merged into Whizzer and Chips. Three of the surviving Cheeky Weekly strips successfully negotiated this second merge and went on to appear in the newly combined publication, rather inelegantly titled 'Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee'. The survivors were Mustapha Million, Calculator Kid and (appearing only twice) Stage School. Cheeky continued to appear, but as a member of The Krazy Gang, who had moved into W&C when Krazy, the comic in which the Gang originated, expired in April 1978. However, the Krazy Gang's Whizzer and Chips run ended in the issue dated 08 February 1986. Calculator Kid survived a little longer, his run of reprints coming to an end in the 26 July 1986 edition and leaving Mustapha Million as the sole Cheeky Weekly survivor.

The next raid to involve our middle eastern mate occurred in Whizzer and Chips dated 16 July 1988. Once again Mustapha was the raidee rather than the raider. Can you spot the interloper toying with Mustapha's strip this week? Scroll down to see the rotten raider reveal themself.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

Yes, once again Toy Boy is the culprit, invading a story which takes a European perspective on Mustapha, something of a change since his stories usually revolved around him contending with British society and customs. The plaything-preoccupied Whizz-kid had previously raided Mustapha in the issues dated 06 December 1986 and 20 June 1987. The infiltrator is also smugly employing the oft-used 'mug' slogan, which just shows the paucity of imagination among those pesky Whizz-kids.

Panel 8 on the first page of the story references Harry Enfield's satirically crass 'Loadsamoney' character, who had featured on a single released earlier that year, having first come to prominence in Channel 4's Saturday Night Live.

More raiding fun soon!

Whizzer and Chips Cover Date	Raider	Raided
06 April 1985	Mustapha Million	Super Steve
04 May 1985	Bloggs (Store Wars)	Mustapha Million
11 May 1985	Joker	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
18 May 1985	Calculator Kid & Calc	Odd-Ball
01 June 1985	Animalad Mustapha Million	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky) Boy Boss
08 June 1985	Odd-Ball	Calculator Kid
06 July 1985	Toy Boy	Calculator Kid
13 July 1985	Pa Bumpkin	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
27 July 1985	Joker	Mustapha Million
24 August 1985	Cheeky	Sid's Snake
14 September 1985	Odd-Ball Calculator Kid	Calculator Kid Store Wars
05 October 1985	Mustapha Million	Animalad
19 October 1985	Odd-Ball	Mustapha Million
23 November 1985	Sweeny Toddler Sweeny Toddler Sweeny Toddler	Calculator Kid The Krazy Gang (Cheeky) Mustapha Million
18 January 1986	Mustapha Million	Super Steve
25 January 1986	Odd-Ball Cheeky	Mustapha Million Odd-Ball
08 February 1986 The Krazy Gang ends this issue	Animalad	Mustapha Million
15 February 1986	Lazy Bones	Calculator Kid
15 March 1986	Odd-Ball	Calculator Kid
29 March 1986	Calculator Kid	Master P Brain
05 April 1986	Bumpkin Billionaires	Mustapha Million
12 April 1986	Animalad	Calculator Kid
31 May 1986	Lazy Bones	Calculator Kid
07 June 1986	Mustapha Million	Joker
28 June 1986	Sweet Tooth	Mustapha Million
26 July 1986 Calculator Kid ends this issue	No Cheeky-related raid this issue	No Cheeky-related raid this issue
16 August 1986	Mustapha Million	Joker
23 August 1986	Sweet Tooth	Mustapha Million
18 October 1986	Winnie the Royal Nag	Mustapha Million
06 December 1986	Toy Boy	Mustapha Million
13 December 1986	Mustapha Million	Odd-Ball
17 January 1987	Sid	Mustapha Million
14 February 1987	Odd-Ball	Mustapha Million
11 April 1987	Pa Bumpkin	Mustapha Million
25 April 1987	Mustapha Million	Odd-Ball
20 June 1987	Toy Boy	Mustapha Million
27 June 1987	Mustapha Million	Memory Banks
25 July 1987	Lazy Bones	Mustapha Million
22 August 1987	Winnie the Royal Nag	Mustapha Million
12 September 1987	Mustapha Million	Sweet Tooth
19 September 1987	Odd-Ball	Mustapha Million
24 October 1987	Odd-Ball	Mustapha Million
12 December 1987	Joker	Mustapha Million
13 February 1988	Bloggs (Store Wars)	Mustapha Million
20 February 1988	Mustapha Million	Joker
12 March 1988	Odd-Ball	Mustapha Million
23 April 1988	Joker	Mustapha Million
28 May 1988 Readers asked not to let their Whizz-kid or Chip-ite sympathies colour their favourite strip votes	No Cheeky-related raid this issue	No Cheeky-related raid this issue
11 June 1988	Slippy	Mustapha Million
16 July 1988	Toy Boy	Mustapha Million

The Whoopee! Years – Cheeky (second run)

Following the conclusion of the second run of his It’s Cheeky strips, our toothy pal continued his adventures in a series which saw his feature re-adopt the title Cheeky, previously used in the comics (initially Whoopee! and Cheeky, then subsequently Whoopee!) dated 11 October 1980 to 5 September 1981. Cheeky’s entire Whoopee! run was a restless one, and his strips underwent a number of format changes in the period, suggesting the editor was struggling to find a setup that would prove popular. Although the strip’s 'Cheeky' title would remain unchanged from its resurrection in Whoopee! dated 22 May 1982 until the toothy funster finally bowed out of Whoopee (by that time the comic's exclamation mark had been excised), the format of this feature was subject to further tweaking as our grinning pal headed towards oblivion.

The first of the second run of 'Cheeky' demonstrates that the new, condensed title panel, replacing as it did the It’s Cheeky banner across the top of the page, allowed more room for our toothy pal’s cartoon antics. The new title design was also smaller than that which headed each episode of the previous run of the strip of the same name, and the new run also did away with the individual titles for each week’s story, saving even more space.

Whoopee! 22 May 1982
Art: Frank McDiarmid, as is all the artwork
in this post, unless noted otherwise

The new run of 'Cheeky' continued the more plot-based episodes (rather than the stream of unrelated gags featuring various pals with which the grinning gagster found fame), many focusing on life at home with mum and dad or set around school activities, which had commenced with tour toothy pal’s previous vehicle, the second run of It’s Cheeky. Initially very few of Cheeky’s Krazy Town pals were in evidence during his concluding Whoopee! run, but in the 18 September 1982 episode the grinning gagster announced 'I'm going to look for some of my pals that (sic) I haven't seen for ages'. Thereafter, the strips reverted to the original format, with the toothy funster exchanging gags with his chums, apart from the 12 March 1983 edition, when Cheeky was on a solo visit to the zoo.

 

Cheeky’s feature in the 1982 Christmas issue was titled Cheeky’s Christmas Crackers, a full-page picture depicting the toothy funster and pals enjoying a slap-up festive feed while delivering seasonal funnies.

Unusual depiction of Cheeky with no teeth on view.
From the Cheeky strip dated 06 November 1982

The Cheeky strip in the 15 January 1983 issue commences with the toothy funster exiting a newsagent with a bag of papers over his shoulder, saying ‘I’ve got this job delivering papers’. There’s no mention of his erstwhile Sunday paper round in Cheeky Weekly.

Another toothless funster - 05 February 1983

Cheeky goes digital

Whoopee!'s final full-page 'Cheeky' strip appeared in  the issue dated 25 June 1983. In the same issue was a 2 page announcement informing readers that a selection of features from sister comic Wow! were to be amalgamated into Whoopee as from the next issue.

The first combined issue of Whoopee and Wow! was a somewhat shocking one for friends of Cheeky, as our punning pal's strip, still titled 'Cheeky', was reduced to a single row of panels among 3 similarly restricted features on a page of Quick Strips.

Paddywack: Jack Clayton
Bleep: Jim Barker
Here Is The News: Ed McHenry

This reduced format (shared by former Cheeky Weekly star Paddywack) was maintained until Whoopee's demise following the 30 March 1985 edition. Most of his strips appearing on the Quick Strips page saw Cheeky interacting with only a single member from among his supporting cast. Whoopee star Sweeny Toddler made a cameo in the 21 April 1984 edition.

All the strips in this run were drawn by Frank McDiarmid, who after a couple of weeks working on the condensed format began signing them with just an 'F'. The Quick Strips version of 'Cheeky' was absent from the comic on 21 occasions during its run, although it was present in the final Whoopee.

Sadly (or maybe mercifully in view of the ignominious circumstances in which he ended his solo career), Cheeky was not among the features chosen to transfer into Whizzer and Chips when it absorbed Whoopee a week later, although he continued to appear in the Krazy Gang strip which had been running in Whizzer and Chips since Krazy failed in 1978.

The final Whoopee 'Cheeky' strip - 30 March 1985

Infinitely Krazy

Many thanks to Peter Gray for letting me know about the current issue of Infinity magazine, which carries an article in which Mark Campbell enthuses about Krazy, the comic which of course spawned the Cheeky phenomenon. Mark does justice to the groundbreaking title, and also gives us a nice potted biography of our toothy pal. Infinity is a magazine I've never read before, but there certainly seems to be a varied selection of interesting pieces in the current edition.

I got my copy today in WH Smith for a very reasonable £3.99, and it's available online in print or digital versions.