It’s good to have the old gang back together in An Evening With The Fast Show, more than 30 years since The Fast Show debuted on the BBC. And if many in the audience attending with parents, or even grandparents, weren’t yet born during the sketch show’s run from 1994 to 1997, they are testament to its longevity – and how good catchphrases can live for ever.
Catchphrases were the show’s stock in trade, along with memorable characters, fast edits and lots of sketches in each episode. Paul Whitehouse, co-creator of The Fast Show, explains self-deprecatingly the high sketch count was so that before the audience could decide if one was any good, another would begin.
That’s not true, of course, as this enjoyable trip down memory lane proves.
Whitehouse and co-creator Charlie Higson come on stage first, sitting in two of the six chairs on stage. Only two comics confident in their material would dare sit down for much of a show with “fast” in the title. But this evening is as much about the origins as the content – although there are plenty of sketches and catchphrases given a runout here, including Swiss Toni, "This week I'm mostly..." and Cheesy Peas, to name just a few.
Higson and Whitehouse tell us they met at university, got into writing for television, then The Fast Show was commissioned. One by one, colleagues Arabella Weir (“Does my bum look big in this?”, Mark Williams (“Suits you, sir!”), John Thomson (“Nice!”) and Simon Day (Dave Angel) join them, and relay some decent anecdotes about their time working together.
They’re generous about each other’s contributions, and talk about how the characters formed, while giving credit to other writers who worked on The Fast Show.
Two alumni are missing: Harry Enfield, who is himself on tour, and Caroline Aherne, who died in 2016. She’s the subject of a touching video tribute, while Enfield is mercilessly but affectionately mocked.
But then The Fast Show could always mix laugh-out-loud comedy with a hint of pathos; here Higson and Whitehouse recreate the first Ted and Ralph sketch, written by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, and Weir’s reminiscences include not just of the fun of being part of the gang, but of the rampant sexism in the comedy industry at the time.
It ends with a daft singalong led by Bob Fleming (Higson). Yes, the evening is dripping with nostalgia, but forgivably so because it reminds us just how good – and influential – The Fast Show was.
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