The Fast Show

The Fast show is one of the funniest programs to come out of the home of sketch England. It is full of one liners, running gags and send ups that leave you laughing hours after the show is finished. Characters such as Arthur Atkinson and the news team from channel nine will become timeless classics of British comedy. Also check out previous works by some of the team especially the "Harry Enfield and chums" television program.

The Fast Show represents some of the finest comedic writing, performances, and timing since the very early days of BBS comedy (which is huge praise). The format is based around mostly quick sketches of characters that are not only funny, but immediately identifiable. Every single sketch is magic, not only being outright funny, but many also mixing comedy, with tragedy and usually with a poignant comment on society. The acting is, to use a Fast Show catch phrase - Brilliant!, with the performers going over the top when needed, but also being subtle and somehow surprisingly dramatic just at the right moments. With that said though, there are many laughs to be had, and I still get a good laugh out of it five years after the series finished up (and having seen all the episodes many times before). For those of you that need big names mentioned before you'll give a show a chance, then watch the last Fast Show ever which stars Johnny Depp in a scene with two of the funniest characters from the whole series (Depp was a huge fan of the show, especially the driving force behind it - Paul Whitehouse)

The British lead the world in comedy by a long way. I love Australian comedy, but as far as consistancy, quantity and quality, the Brits have it all over us. The US, on the other hand, have so many poor quality shows, it's disgraceful. There are some gems, such as Seinfeld, earlier Simpsons, and The Tom Green Show, but all in all, there's a lot of cliched garbage. The Fast Show is a fine example of great British humour. There are so many great characters to enjoy- Monkfish, Dave Angel and Carl Hooper being some of the very best. Butmy favourite by far and away is Swiss Tony. The first episode I ever saw of the fast show, had 'the big O', Swiss Tony sketch. Then and there I realised that this was a classic show, and I haven't missed an episode since.

I honestly reckon The Fast Show is the best ever British 'sketch' programme - & that includes Monty Python & Not The 9 O'Clock News. Why do i think that? because they're ALL fantastic. Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark (We Wanna Be T'GETHER) Williams, John Thomson, Caroline Aherne & the other woman whose name I can't remember: "Does my bum look big in this?" For a long time I had an idea that Paul Whitehouse reminded me of an old friend I just couldn't put a name to. In the end I realised there was no such person. He's just got such a wonderful expressive face. The Fast Show has given us Brits so many catch phrases that are STILL instantly recogniseable, and that's the mark of a QUALITY show, and such fantastic characters. I bet everyone reading this has come across 'dodgy' menswear salesmen and knows someone just like Swiss Tony, or Dave Angel, or Ted. It's really hard to pick the best. All I can say is: Watching The Fast Show is like, making love to a beautiful woman. Enjoy!

An American not familiar with this show, as I was, will probably compare it to SNL (Saturday Night Live).

However, there are four big differences. One, it's not live. Two, no music. Three, no guest stars. Four, it's consistently funny.

Anyone who has watched SNL will know that for every absolutely-roll-in-the-isle-genius-sketch, there are about ten poor ones.

These sketches range from the monotonous to the downright painful. Then there are the painful one-joke movie franchises (Wayne's World excluded).

Then I saw the Fast Show, while living abroad a few years. Each sketch was hilarious or memorable, and each character was inspired and sometimes even vaguely rounded.

The editors are intelligent enough to cut off one joke characters before five minutes of an painful, drawn-out sketch. In the Fast Show it is: character's on, cut to a new character, cut back, cut to a new character, cut back etc. Humor is mostly timing, anyway.

Imagine SNL with much better editing and consistently funny and that's what you've got here. It is disappointing that the talent in the show has gone largely unrecognized to this point.