“Loadsamoney” is the name of a character and a song created by English comedian, actor, writer and director Harry Enfield . Both the character and the song have both been the subject of parodies across various different sites.
Origin
In 1985, the show Saturday Live was broadcast on the British television channel, Channel 4 . The show was comprised of various comedians performing stand up acts or skits, along with music performances as well. It was heavily inspired by the American show, Saturday Night Live .One of the comedians who performed on the show was Harry Enfield. He didn’t perform skits or stand up as himself, instead creating characters for him to act and tell jokes as. The most notable and popular of these characters was Loadsamoney.
Harry Enfield performs stand up as Loadsamoney
Harry Enfield performs a skit in the countryside as Loadsamoney
Loadsamoney’s character was an obnoxious plasterer from the South of England. He spoke in a thick Cockney accent and would always be seen with a pile of pound notes in his hand. Loadsamoney’s act was based around him boasting about his wealth and how much money he had. Harry Enfield and Loadsamoney were a huge success, being regulars on the show and continuing to appear on the follow up to Saturday Live, Friday Live.
In 1988, Harry Enfield recorded a song named after the character, with the full title “Loadsamoney (Doin’ up the house)”. The song was also a big success, making it to number 2 in the UK music charts. Loadsamoney was also performed on Friday Live and Top of the Pops .
Music Video for Loadsamoney (Doin’ up the house).
Harry Enfield performs Loadsamoney (Doin’ up the house) on Top of the Pops.
Spread
While Harry Enfield and Loadsamoney were highly popular and successful in the UK, neither of them reached popularity on the Internet until the release of the Co-op First Person Shooter Killing Floor created by Tripwire Interactive in 2009. The game takes place in Southern England, where a group of Cockneys must fight their way through various different locations that have been infested with various strange experiments known as “Specimens”. The game was a big hit that achieved positive reviews.
One of the more notable parts of the game is the voice acting. All the voice actors are Cockneys who speak using their own accents and slang. Every playable character uses these voices. Some of these voice responses include money responses, as killing specimens will award the players with money they can use to buy and upgrade weapons. You can also drop your money on the ground for your teammates to pick up. When this happens, various different voice responses can play, including the infamous “Loads of Money!” line.
Head to 5:50 on the video for the money responses.
Players soon found out about Loadsamoney and the popularity skyrocketed. Before Killing Floor’s release, the original Loadsamoney (Doin’ up the house) video had less than 100,000 views. Since then, the video has gotten over a million views, with many different KF fans commenting on the video with quotes and jokes. Fans also took a liking to “Dosh”, a British slang term for money.
Since the release of Killing Floor, many different Loadsamoney parodies have appeared. It has also gone beyond Killing Floor, spreading to other games like Team Fortress 2 and Defence of the Ancients 2.
Killing Floor parodies of Loadsamoney as part of the Gmod Musical Collab (Go to 33:24 to see both of them)
Killing Floor parody of the “In the countryside” skit
Team Fortress 2 parodies of Loadsamoney
Defence of the Ancients 2 parody of Loadsamoney
Tribes Ascend parody of Loadamoney
Harold Lott
On the 5th of July 2012, Tripwire Interactive released a new DLC character called Harold Lott . Heavily based around Loadsamoney, his back story indicates he won the lottery at 17 years old and invested the money into various businesses. Now owning three multinational companies and a money themed porn channel, he joins the other cockneys to take out the specimens. He leaves a trail of money behind when he moves and carries a pile of pound notes in his hand when he uses a one handed weapon. Both of these are cosmetic features and they do not effect gameplay.