"NO OFFENCE!" ZIPPING ALONG WITH "THE FAST SHOW"

Back in in-action: the lovable Rowley Birkin QC, as played by Paul Whitehouse,  for THE FAST SHOW. Image: FOSTERS FUNNIES.

The idea of the comedy sketch show may be on the brink of death these days but back in the late nineties it was a pot of gold for the UK's BBC 2 channel with the undeniable success story that was the Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson created series THE FAST SHOW, whose superb and diverse range of inventive and much imitated comedy characters, including pervy car dealer Swiss Toni, Ken and Kenneth the sexual innuendo shop tailors, farmer Ted and land owner Ralph, the wacky idiots of the Spanish CHANEL 9 station ("Scorchio!"), drunken and often unintelligible QC Rowley Birkin, and Inspector Monkfish (played by "John Actor"), would soon grab the notice and affection of the general public by the millions and lead to a wave of popularity and water cooler talk the likes of which hadn't been seen or witnessed since the strike-out days of ONLY FOOLS AND HORSE and the earlier FAWLTY TOWERS. Here was a mostly wacky and out there comedy series, which also spawned an equally popular touring stage show, that actually appealed to all ages, and attracted fans not only in its home territory but also reaching out to Hollywood, too, with the likes of talent like Johnny Depp, who enjoyed the shows genius, often downright saucy, humour so much that he soon guested on the show in a very memorable sketch for one of its final Christmas specials.


Here's a few classic clips from the original series:


The Fast Show - Very drunk - YouTube
The Fast Show I'm Not Pissed - YouTube
The Fast Show - Comptetitive Dad -6- Tennis - YouTube
The Fast Show - Roy and Renée - Turkey.mp4 - YouTube


Not wanting the series to outstay its welcome, the shows talented writers/stars were certainly wise enough to end the phenomenon whilst it was at the top of its game, but over the years that followed, and despite success in other areas of the media, there would always be the odd inkling from its team members, especially Paul Whitehouse (who has had a long and versatile career creating and acting out his memorable comedy creations), to come back and dip into its unique universe at some point. Happily for us, that ambition has now been finally realised as THE FAST SHOW, with pretty much the entire cast (including Whitehouse, Higson and Arabella Weir) returning, is back to life with a selection of brand new episodes/sketches for the FOSTERS lager website, whose past foray into resurrecting popular comedy icons proved highly successful last Christmas with the return of Steve Coogan as the tragic Radio Norwich DJ, and Sue Cook's best friend, Alan Partridge.

Will Arabella Weir's abusive South African make-up lady return?

John Thomson and Paul Whitehouse resurrect Jazz Club: "Groovy!"

Car dealing sexual Lothario Swiss Toni returns! Photo: Tyson Benton

Ageing disgracefully, re-discover your FAST SHOW favourites here (including the chance to take part in a Twitter episode competition and win exclusive props and prizes): Foster's Gold - The Fast Show - Vic & Bob - Mid Morning Matters and Good Call by Brad & Dan

The Twitter comp launches this Thursday (24th November) after the episode at 2pm. Watch out for FOSTERS tweet a question from @fostersfunny [http://twitter.com/fostersfunny] about the Swiss Toni episode, then tweet them a response using #fastshowfaster and #swisstoni

UPDATE - NEW CLIP: Swiss Toni gives more advice on taming a lady: The Fast Show | Swiss Toni | Foster's Funny | 2011 - YouTube


Episode Two of the new series: The Fast Show | Episode #2 | Foster's Funny | 2011 - YouTube


UPDATE 1/12/2011: New fourth episode: Foster's – The Fast Show – Gold – Vic & Bob – Mid Morning Matters - Russell Kane and Good Call by Brad and Dan


Third episode: Foster's – The Fast Show – Gold – Vic & Bob – Mid Morning Matters - Russell Kane and Good Call by Brad and Dan