You ain't seen me... right? (Fast Show, The)

Member Name: shanecahill

Product:	Fast Show, The
Date:	04/01/02 (1658 review reads)
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Ahh... the Fast Show. Creators of meaningless yet hysterically funny catchphrases, unbelieveable yet unbelievably funny characters and of course the subsitute that Monty Python fan's needed since the Monty's went off and made crap like Fierce Creatures.

The Fast Show's breed of bizarre humour and sketches is obviously heavily influenced by the work of John Cleese, Michael Palin and the boys. It all started with Harry Enfield and Chums, a very successful sketch show starring (believe it or not) Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. While this was enjoyable enough and getting good reviews, Paul was irritated at Harry getting most of the credit and the fact that his quirky ideas were not given an adequate chance, as Harry prefered more reality-based characters, such as Kevin the teenager.

So, Paul joined with a long time friend of both his and Harry's, Charlie Higson and began writing short sketches. Thaey soon joined forces with Simon Day, Caroline Aherne, John Thompson, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir to form what was, and is, the greatest sketch show since Flying Circus.

I have lots of favourite characters, yet a lot of them are very difficult to describe. The two I hate the most however, are easy to describe. The first is a saleswoman in a department store who attempts to sell a variety of products to women, who she then insults, and finishes off by saying "no offence". It's cringeworthy as is the second character, the painfully well known "Does my bum look big in this?". A woman walks around acting normal and then suddenly starts saying "Does my bum look big in this?". Haha, funny AND unexpected. I think not.

However, on the other proverbial hand there is the crem de la crem of comedy. For instance, there is Colin Hunt, the office joker. He wears brightly coloured clothes and thinks he's "mad". He is of course hated.

Here is a typical Colin mome
nt. This is pinned up on the office noticeboard:
"Hello fellow workers. There is a bomb in the building. Do not panic, just run like hell. No, only joking - you can panic as much as you like. No seroisly, it's not a bomb, Brendan from stationery has just used the toilet. For God's sake flush it Brendan! No I jest. Actually, I'm trying to start a club. A nudist club - at my house in Cheswick! Or do I mean cubist club? It's all balls as Picasso once said. But I disgress. It's not a nudist club, it's a satanist coven and we're loking for virgins to sacrafice. No, had you going. There aren't any in Resources Management! Apart from me. Ooops, sorry vicar more tea? Aha that's it! I'm starting a tea club, well a coffee club to be more precise. Fifty pee a week and we get biscuits on Fridays. Should be a lot of fun. Sign up below."
Colin Hunt.

There are, obviously, no other signatures. This is actually taken from the Fast Show book, but gives you a good idea of the kind of person Colin is. Another of my favourite character's is called Nick Shagger. A typical sketch goes like this:

(Two men in an office. One is working, while the other is lounging. The lazy man's phone rings, but he lets it ring making only a half hearted attempt to reach it)
(After a few rings)
Working man: Answer your phone Nick!
Nick: Sorry, it's just that I'm really tired. You see, I've been up all night shagging"

It's blatantly obvious he's just trying to impress the people in his office, and it's absolutely hilarious. These are just two of the characters that I found easiest to sum up. There are hundreds of hilarious characters. Most hinge on a catchphrase such as "which was nice". A sketch goes something like this

Man: And then I found in my attic the original copy of the bible. Which was nice.

There's Chris the crafty cockney, who will &
quot;nick anyfing", Rowley Birkin QC and old man who sits by a fire and tells mumbling old stories which you only catch snippets of and end with the saying "I'm afraid I was very drunk at the time", Ken and Kenneth, two randy tailors who ask questions like "did the lady you were out with last night want it, sir?" and of course have the immortal catchphrase "suit you" and not "suits you" as most people presumed it was.

That's about it, sorry it's short but it's difficult to write about. The sketches also are not exactly right, I just did them from memory. Thank you for reading, and you ain't seen me, right?

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