There are many moments that encapsulate the madness and irreverence of ABC music quiz show Spicks & Specks, but none more so than a particular incident that occurred in 2008.

Beloved comedian Frank Woodley was a regular guest throughout the series’ run, and on this occasion he was called upon to reenact fellow contestant Nell Campbell’s infamous wardrobe malfunction on the BBC in 1975. Like the good sport he was, Woodley dutifully donned a tight leopard-print one piece and, with the help of fellow guest Hamish Blake, proceeded to get on with it.

…then his ball popped out.

It was a few seconds of screams, gasps and team captain Myf Warhurst bursting into tears of laughter before the majority of the audience knew what was actually going on. Hamish Blake chivalrously attempted to cover Woodley’s testicles, but it was to no avail. Woodley was running with the gag and proceeded to walk around the stage pretending nothing was wrong while flashing his balls to an audience of tightly-buttoned ABC viewers.

It was wonderful chaos. It was Spicks & Specks. 

Originally billed as a local version of BBC quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Spicks & Specks ended up becoming a quintessentially Australian TV experience. Its balance of genuine musical education with pure anarchic comedy and tendency to fly wildly off script endeared it to tens of thousands of viewers, and it subsequently dominated Wednesday nights throughout the 2000s.

The show ended its seven-year run at the peak of its popularity in 2011, and such was the enduring love for it that the ABC attempted to revive it with new hosts only three years later. Lightning didn’t strike twice, and the reboot was canned after only 20 episodes.

But the original series remains one of the best Australian TV shows of all time, and to celebrate it we’ve wrapped up some of our favourite moments. Dive in.

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When Frank Woodley Flashed His Balls

I mean…how could we begin with anything other than this?

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When We Met Barry Morgan From The World Of Organs

I don’t think Australia knew quite what hit it when Barry Morgan turned up in the ABC studios — and by the looks of it, the Spicks & Specks panel didn’t have any idea either. Morgan had been enlisted to play some songs on his Hammond organ for the segment ‘Look What They’ve Done’, in which contestants have to guess what famous song is being covered.

But from the moment Morgan was introduced and beamed his thousand-watt smile across the room, and proceeded to play the organ with a vigour that hadn’t been seen before, it became clear that no one was going to pay attention to the game. It needs to be seen to appreciated:

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When The Wiggles Covered U2’s ‘Angel Of Harlem’

If The Wiggles ever decide to get out of the children’s entertainment game, they would make a bloody fine pub cover band.

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When The Wombats Sang The ‘Postman Pat’ Theme Song In Norwegian

This probably wouldn’t go down as well in the pub, but it’s highly entertaining nonetheless. The Wombats frontman Matt Murphy was a guest on the show back in 2008, and his bandmates popped in at the end for a quick rendition of the Postman Pat theme song…sung in Norwegian in honour of their bassist, Tord Knudsen.

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Every Substitute Ever Recorded

For a game with such a simple premise — sing the melody of a song while reading the words of a bizarre and unrelated text — ‘Substitute’ was pure comedy gold.

Its brilliance lay in how deceptively difficult it was. Every contestant had to struggle against their instinct to sing the correct lyrics, while also trying not to lose it at the ridiculous texts they were reading at the same time. The result was generally a hot mess.

Some guests excelled at the challenge, but most had a hard enough time just making it to the end of the chorus…see below.

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When Katie Noonan And Megan Washington Brought Everyone To Tears

While most contestants simply mumbled their way through to the end of ‘Substitute’, some guests actually elevated the game to new heights.

George vocalist Katie Noonan and Megan Washington delivered two of the most memorable performances on Spicks & Specks, both reducing Alan to tears. Just goes to show that anything can sound good with the right voice, even a rabbit handling manual.

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When They All Busted Into ‘Time Warp’

Are you really a music show if you don’t reenact the Rocky Horror Picture Show at some point? No, definitely not.

The cast gave it a red hot crack back in 2008, and the sight of Adam Hills dressed in full Dr. Frank-N-Furter get up is not something we’ll forget any time soon.

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When Myf, Pete Murray And Rhys Darby Got Naked

If you were a longtime viewer of the show, you’d know that it wasn’t often that Myf Warhurst’s team came away with a win. Points for enthusiasm, for sure, but not much else.

So in an episode in 2009, with Pete Murray and New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby on her team, they made a bet: if they won, they would get naked.

You probably don’t need me to tell you what happened next:

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Jules LeFevre is the editor of Music Junkee. She is on Twitter.