The Fast Show

[stavros]

Did anyone see the repeat of Channel 4's 100 greatest comedy sketches the other night? The first time I watched it I thought it would be the most predictable ever, with the parrot sketch (not actually my favourite Python sketch) winning by a mile. So I was stunned when it was put into second place by a not-really-disabled disabled man jumping into a swimming pool. Honestly, what exactly do people see in Little Britain?

 

[Paul Russell]

Honestly, what exactly do people see in Little Britain?

I'd rather watch Terry and June than that...

 

[onenameshelley]

I'm still prone to exclaim 'Black! More black!' whenever anyone mentions the word too

ooh my favorite too

Yeah i loved it and still enjoy it if i see the odd episode

 

[sojourner]

I'd rather watch Terry and June than that...

I used to watch that avidly as a kid Terry really pissed me off but I quite liked June

 

[Paul Russell]

I used to watch that avidly as a kid Terry really pissed me off but I quite liked June

Just from the music, you know it's going to be quality entertainment.

June: Oh Terry, a skateboard! I hope this isn't going to be another one of your "crazes".

Terry falls into the pond.

Excellent!

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

Isn't there a new series of this happening?

Channel 9 was my favorite.

ONly because I spent days of my summer holidays travelling as a child to hungary with my Fam (drove innit - 48 hours long haul) we stopped off in italy once - took a detour through the alps- Italian TV is well like that! As is french.... and Hungarian come to think of it.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Mark Williams used to live along the balcony when I was in a high rise council flat. He wasn't famous then.

 

[madzone]

Isn't there a new series of this happening?

Channel 9 was my favorite.

ONly because I spent days of my summer holidays travelling as a child to hungary with my Fam (drove innit - 48 hours long haul) we stopped off in italy once - took a detour through the alps- Italian TV is well like that! As is french.... and Hungarian come to think of it.

Scorchio!

sorry

 

[Miss Potter]

Isn't there a new series of this happening?

Mr and Mr Alice went to the "shamelessly plugging the dvd" show at the Dominion Theatre a couple of weeks ago. At the start of the second half Charlie Higson walked on and announced they'd signed a contract with the BBC for a new series, on condition that they used completely new characters. "Here's a taster now" and two of them came out and started on a sketch with a catchphrase ("now THAT was an expensive mistake"). Suddenly the lights came on in one of the boxes and the old boy said "Bugger. I paid £30 for my ticket to see some old favourites and they're showing us all this new shite" (well, along those lines). So it was a wind-up and at the end of the show they said that was definitely it.

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

but i'm sure that one of em was on something for the weekend or jonatan ross or something and they said that there *was* a new series.

*goes to research*

*crosses fingers*

Edit: From wiki

Speaking on the BBC show Something for the Weekend on September 9, 2007, Higson said that a DVD box set collecting all the shows was being prepared and that a reunion of some sort to help promote it was being considered. This took place at The Dominion Theatre in London on Sunday 4th November, and was a collection of some new sketches, videos of cast favourites and performances of classic sketches (including the return of Ed Winchester). An announcement was made on stage by Charlie Higson that the cast had signed with the BBC for a new series of 'The Fast Show', but this was an elaborate set-up for a sketch featuring Unlucky Alf; the claim was withdrawn at the end of the evening by Higson. In addition he and Whitehouse were working on a film script which would feature the Fast Show team, but wouldn't have any of the characters from the show.

BOOOOO!

 

[foo]

This week I have mainly been wearing Dolce & Gabana

those fashion tips from the bog were some of my favourites. and i thought the sketches with lord of the manor chap and his groundsman were full of pathos, and really beautiful.

i'd still watch it.

 

[madzone]

My 19 yr old came accross the Fast Show on his own and he loves it so I don't think it can have dated that much

 

[Calva dosser]

I love the troika of TFS, Little Britain and Catherine Tate.

Catherine Tate comes in for stick. If she never did anything other than the Old Lady Cockney council tenant, that would be enough.

My only explanation for the accuracy of her observation, after 20 years at Tower Hamlets; she was there.

 

[foo]

If she never did anything other than the Old Lady Cockney council tenant, that would be enough.

nan is total comedy genius imo.

edit: getting back to the Fast Show. i enjoy Down the Line on t'radio, made by that lot.

'what's point?' kills me every time.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I liked the office prat character best. All was fab though

 

[stavros]

My hypothesis is that fans of catchphrase comedy sketches have never seen the Flying Circus.

 

[rollinder]

loved the one after they'd switched from food to cloathes and he got a bit confused and something like

This week I have been mostly wearing yogurt

 

[poului]

rtybfghrtf

Been watching a few again recently.

Yeah sure there are some duds but the best characters are amongst the finest comedy creations ever.

 

[_pH_]

i enjoy Down the Line on t'radio, made by that lot.

'what's point?' kills me every time.

Down the line is great

 

[kyser_soze]

My hypothesis is that fans of catchphrase comedy sketches have never seen the Flying Circus.

Rubbish. I'm as big a fan of Python as anybody, and quite honestly huge swathes of Flying Circus not only haven't dated well but weren't remotely funny to begin with.

The thing with catchphrase or repeated character comedy (Python did this - Gumby for example), is how well you can script the variations on the basic theme. For example, Ted The Gardener had an overlying story that developed as the show went on; same goes for Swiss Toni; both stories were touched by a wistful tragedy about them; one of the most touching of the 'Very, very drunk' sketches was him recalling 'a lovely, lpvely gel, fell into a crocodile mouth...miss her so much...but then I was very, very drunk'...to dismiss all catchphrase comedy as being inferior to some of the cack that the Python's came out with is wrong IMO.

BTW, despite what I said about Tate and LB, Nan and Lauren (at least the early Lauren, when she was properly surly) are both brilliantly observed...altho there is very little to beat Kate Moss saying 'Gob you off for a packet of skittles'...

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I agree - much as I love the Python films and think that they are probably amongst the two funniest things ever created, the actual programme was actually a bit crap at times...

 

[Pie 1]

the manic depressive painter was my favourite

He was fucking genius.

BLACK!!!

 

[stdPikachu]

Been catching a few repeats of TFS on TV recently and forgotten how much I enjoyed it. One of the secrets of it's success I think was literally in the speed - if there was an unfunny sketch (and there were), you were already halfway into the next one before it really registered. There was also remarkable attention to detail - watch the camera movements on Jazz Club and they're a dead spit of the way Jools Holland is filmed, for example.

For me it's Whitehouse's utterly magnificent characterisations that made it - the drunken gentleman, Ted and Ralph (how great was that for a lowbrow comedy show?), Brilliant!, cheesy peas, Anybody Fancy a Pint, Arthur Atkins, little bit wheey, unlucky Alf - Whitehouse just has a way of holding himself that always cracks me up.

TFS takes alot of flak for "inventing" catchphrase comedy, but IMHO I think it's in a far different league to dross such as Little Britain - at least TFS tried to mix it up a little, whereas I see very little difference between Little Britain sketches where frequently it's only the backdrop and one or two words that are changed, and there never seems to be any sort of the progression that you got in some of Fast Show's more in-depth sketches (such as the superb Ted and Ralph). Rose tinted specs perhaps, but I found TFS inventively surreal whereas Little Britain is just derivative and repetitive rubbish.

One of the funniest sketches I've seen in the repeats was a Jazz Club with some guy (Geoffrey Jackson?) playing the trumpet backwards (i.e. sucking air through it). It sounded so terrible and (to me) unexpected that I ended up just pissing myself for about five minutes.

 

[kyser_soze]

Are you lobe reading me from a distance pika?

IT'S GRIPPED!! LET'S OFFROAD!!!

 

[stdPikachu]

Are you lobe reading me from a distance pika?

How do you know I'm not right behind you, jiggling my invisible SQUID's?

OK, I've convinced myself to waste more hard drive space recording Fast Show off the TV. Another terabyte had better be in the mail sharpish.

 

[Aldebaran]

Love it (and Monty Python too).

salaam

 

[Aldebaran]

One of the funniest sketches I've seen in the repeats was a Jazz Club with some guy (Geoffrey Jackson?) playing the trumpet backwards (i.e. sucking air through it).

For me also is one of the best from Jazz club.

salaam.

 

[kyser_soze]

For me also is one of the best from Jazz club.

salaam.

Nice.

 

[Dirty Martini]

Dated slightly, as others have pointed out, but some great characters.

Personal favourites: depressed painter, scorchio and the "30 years man and boy" character

Can someone explain the Ed Winchester thing to me?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

I hated it, and the catchphrase hell it spawned.

Indeed