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The Fast Show returns! Here are six of the best sketches The Fast Show returns! Here are six of the best sketches
(about 7 hours later)
Sketch fans, rejoice. After 13 years, The Fast Show will soon be back on our screens. The much-loved comedy classic returns on BBC2 this Friday (May 23rd, 10pm) with original cast members Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Arabella Weir and John Thomson. Caroline Aherne has recently undergone treatment for cancer and sadly won't be reprising her glorious Renée, wife of Roy, who blithely but gently offends everyone she meets with her incessant: "What did I say, Roy?" But the others have reunited to perform an hour of new stuff (in two parts) in honour of BBC2's 50th year and their 20th. As you would hope, they will be delivering the greatest hits. Sketch fans, rejoice. After 13 years, The Fast Show will soon be back on our television screens. The much-loved comedy classic returns on BBC2 this Friday (May 23rd, 10pm) with original cast members Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Arabella Weir and John Thomson reuniting for an hour of stuff new to TV – the characters were originally revived as part of the Foster's online series – in honour of BBC2's 50th year and their 20th. As you would hope, they will be delivering the greatest hits.
Achingly awkward groundsman Ted and his aristocratic employer Ralph rekindle their unrequited love affair, Jazz Club is back and Rowley Birkin QC articulates two words in every 10 while inaudibly recounting tales of his drunkenness. I can't wait.Achingly awkward groundsman Ted and his aristocratic employer Ralph rekindle their unrequited love affair, Jazz Club is back and Rowley Birkin QC articulates two words in every 10 while inaudibly recounting tales of his drunkenness. I can't wait.
In the mid-90s the show overturned tradition with the sheer volume of material thrust on to the screen, often cramming more than 20 sketches into half an hour. The parade of oddballs, foreign news presenters, folk singers and cockney eco-warriors whizzed past like the conveyor-belt prizes on The Generation Game.In the mid-90s the show overturned tradition with the sheer volume of material thrust on to the screen, often cramming more than 20 sketches into half an hour. The parade of oddballs, foreign news presenters, folk singers and cockney eco-warriors whizzed past like the conveyor-belt prizes on The Generation Game.
With a team of writers and performers from a cross-section of backgrounds, the show's targets were many and varied, but it always hit the mark. And just when you were recovering from the latest exploits of Ken and Kenneth, Whitehouse would break your heart with Birkin's affecting monologue about the loss of his first love. His catchphrase, "I was very, very drunk," punctuates the end of the sketch like the tolling of a funeral bell.With a team of writers and performers from a cross-section of backgrounds, the show's targets were many and varied, but it always hit the mark. And just when you were recovering from the latest exploits of Ken and Kenneth, Whitehouse would break your heart with Birkin's affecting monologue about the loss of his first love. His catchphrase, "I was very, very drunk," punctuates the end of the sketch like the tolling of a funeral bell.
Even though comedy has moved on, this stuff just doesn't get old. This Friday I will mostly be watching The Fast Show.Even though comedy has moved on, this stuff just doesn't get old. This Friday I will mostly be watching The Fast Show.
Six of the best Fast Show sketchesSix of the best Fast Show sketches
My favourite ever edition of Jazz Club featured Jeremy Kwee (Simon Day doing his best Jamiroquai impersonation) and Kumquat, the backing band which immediately disappears beneath the shadow of Paul Whitehouse, playing the flute. That's all he was doing – blowing a shiny pipe. But it brings real tears to my eyes. Perfect.My favourite ever edition of Jazz Club featured Jeremy Kwee (Simon Day doing his best Jamiroquai impersonation) and Kumquat, the backing band which immediately disappears beneath the shadow of Paul Whitehouse, playing the flute. That's all he was doing – blowing a shiny pipe. But it brings real tears to my eyes. Perfect.
Johnny Depp loved The Fast Show and Paul Whitehouse in particular, so much he begged for this part in a sketch with the psychotically over-friendly tailors Ken and Kenneth in The Last Fast Show Ever.Johnny Depp loved The Fast Show and Paul Whitehouse in particular, so much he begged for this part in a sketch with the psychotically over-friendly tailors Ken and Kenneth in The Last Fast Show Ever.
There is no one like Charlie Higson's character Johnny, the affable landscape painter, for stripping back comedy to its original purpose: distracting us from death. Almost every week his pleasant, pastoral sojourn with his nice, even-tempered wife would descend into black despair at the mention of the word black. It was dark stuff and written brilliantly.There is no one like Charlie Higson's character Johnny, the affable landscape painter, for stripping back comedy to its original purpose: distracting us from death. Almost every week his pleasant, pastoral sojourn with his nice, even-tempered wife would descend into black despair at the mention of the word black. It was dark stuff and written brilliantly.
Bob Fleming is another of Higson's creations: a charming, old-school folk singer with a terrible respiratory illness. This clip is a festival of silly physical comedy with almost no actual scripted words which culminates in a symphony of deft physical comedy.Bob Fleming is another of Higson's creations: a charming, old-school folk singer with a terrible respiratory illness. This clip is a festival of silly physical comedy with almost no actual scripted words which culminates in a symphony of deft physical comedy.
How do I reference Channel 9, the foreign cable channel, without supporting unbridled xenophobia? All I can say is that TV in another language does sometimes look like this to an outsider. Who could forget Mikki Disco and his repulsive gyrations to Disco Baby Sexy Baby Hot? Not me. Not in all these years.How do I reference Channel 9, the foreign cable channel, without supporting unbridled xenophobia? All I can say is that TV in another language does sometimes look like this to an outsider. Who could forget Mikki Disco and his repulsive gyrations to Disco Baby Sexy Baby Hot? Not me. Not in all these years.
Simon Day's characters are a standout for me. Here, Billy Bleach, his supreme pub bore, tries to divvy up some change with the punters in his local. And honourable mention must go to Grass, the sitcom Day went on to write with Andrew Collins, about Bleach's time in the witness protection programme. One of my favourite lost comedies.Simon Day's characters are a standout for me. Here, Billy Bleach, his supreme pub bore, tries to divvy up some change with the punters in his local. And honourable mention must go to Grass, the sitcom Day went on to write with Andrew Collins, about Bleach's time in the witness protection programme. One of my favourite lost comedies.
So many to choose from. But what are you favourites?So many to choose from. But what are you favourites?
• This article was amended on May 22nd. We originally wrote that the material was entirely new, rather than new to television, and suggested that Caroline Aherne would not be appearing in it.