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Amazon.co.uk Review
Built up from sketch ideas rejected when they were working on Harry Enfield and Chums, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson conceived The Fast Show as a lean, protein-packed comedy package. The idea was to cut the essence of sketches and characters without undue build-up--hence the high number of catchphrases the show yielded. "Suits you, sir", "Brilliant!", "You ain't seen me, right?" and even "Chris Waddle" were all quickly established in 1994's opening series, whose highlights are on this video. Despite its relentless verbal riffing, slapstick and gleeful use of four-letter words, such as Whitehouse's "Arse!"-grunting sidekick to Coughing Bob Fleming, there's a very knowing subtlety about The Fast Show and a freshness to the subject matter. "Channel Neus", the skit on the TV station of indeterminate foreign origin is very cleverly turned, as is Whitehouse's incomprehensible pre-war comedian Arthur "Where's me washboard?" Atkins, while the sketch in which old man Unlucky Alf walks up a road and falls down a hole is, although it may not appear so on paper, a mini-comedy masterclass. Then, there's the perverse pathos of young landowner Ralph's infatuation for his elderly gardener, Ted. This pair are the least "Fast", yet possibly best characters on the show. --David Stubbs
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Fast Show, like Viz comic and Private Eye magazine, is one of those comedic institutions whose principal appeal is its utter predictability. The jokes in every episode are exactly the same, every sketch an only slightly different path to one of a few familiar punchlines ("I'll get me coat", "Where's me washboard?", "Scorchio!", "Suits you, Sir," and so on): once the viewer or reader is in with the jokes, they feel part of the club. This sort of reductive comedy is extremely easy to do badly: it is testament to the writing and acting of Paul Whitehouse and his team that not only are most of the set-pieces funny every time they reappear (the overly prurient tailors, the pub know-all, the Trevor Brooking-esque football pundit Ron Manager), but that each individual sketch is funny more than once.
This first series of The Fast Show does not include a couple of characters who became well-loved mainstays; neither the licentious car salesman Swiss Tony, for whom everything was "like making love to a beautiful woman", or the incomprehensible raconteur Rowley Birkin QC, had been developed at this stage. However, aficionados will regard this collection as indispensable for the beginning of the saga of awkward young aristocrat Ralph and his unrequited passion for his gardener, Ted: a funny yet oddly affecting rendering of love thwarted by circumstance.
On the DVD: The Fast Show--Series 1 on disc includes interviews with the cast, and English subtitles. There is an episode selector and an individual scene selector, though the latter is confusingly laid out. --Andrew Mueller
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Fast Show content and jokes were being continually refined as the program progressed into the later series. Looking back now, the first series now looks like an extended pilot -- or rather multiple pilots -- for what would be someting far more rounded, mature and satisying by series 2.
There are a lot of ideas here which are weak by comparison with, for example, Rowley Birkin or Swiss Toni who didn't materialise until later. And the nature of the program -- which repeats a gag remorselessly -- shows up some of these weaker ideas.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
"This week,i have been mostly watching The Fast show" The Fast show is one of the best British comedy series ever made, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson has created a classic sketch series of characters created by Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thompson, Annabella Weir. Kenny and Kenneth should get their own televison show. because they are one of the most crude and funniest characters on the show
ANYWAY! BBRILLIANT.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
The Fast Show is one of the best comedy shows to be produced in Britain in the last ten years. If you haven't caught it yet, this video is where you should start. It's actually a 'Best Of' covering Series 1. It doesn't contain all the material in the first series (unlike the video sets for series 2 and 3) but it has some wonderful highlights. Buy this video and witness the humble beginnings of Ted and Ralph! Genius.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant stuff!
The Fast Show really is brilliant, once you get past the rather bizarre opening titles piece. After that you get introduced to a whole plethora of fascinating characters, all in a... Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2010 by Robert C. Charley
tody ill mostly be eating..
i recently bought series 1-3 as i loved the show when it was first aired.on watching the first season however my attention wained after the 3rd episode, because of the... Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2006 by P. poland
The begining of a comedy legend!
What more can I say? Brilliant character acting (Especially Paul Whitehouse), brilliant writing and very very funny.
Published on 10 April 2005 by D. Unsworth
classic british sketch comedy- the new python
a brilliant video and as i found it for 3 pounds in my local video shop it was evening more rewarding
i dont care how you find this video- buy it
i dont care how you find this video- buy it
Published on 30 Jun 2004 by "hellodudeycheese"
Watching this show is very much like...
...no, mustn't mention Swiss Toni, they haven't thought of him, roight?
But this is still as funny now as when it was broadcast, which, if you haven't seen it, is very funny... Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2003
Almost Brilliant!
The Fast Show seems to have revived the genre of the Sketch Show, but one look at the current crop gives the indication that nothing will ever match it. Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2002 by Party Marty
Watch one episode and you've watched them all
Once British comedy ruled the world - it this what it's descended too? The fast show is nothing more than a series of uninspired catchphrases. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2001 by Queen Latifa
bland middle of the road comedy
Paul Whitehouse is a brilliant creator of characters, and an extremely charismatic person. And Simon Day is always good when doing his rapid fire cockney know-it-all routine. Read more
Published on 8 May 2000 by S. Clark
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