The Fast Show is back and it’s better than it ever was. I know you don’t believe this, but it’s true.
But it’s only online, there are no TV versions of the new 2011 series, so get yourself over to Fosters.co.uk and “give yourself a bit of a treat” as faux music hall legend, the Fast Show’s very own Arthur Atkinson may say.
And I’m glad to be able to report that the great man himself (Arthur that is) is also back, alive and well and with his totally unfunny catchphrase – “’ere, where’s me washboard” which when you’ve heard it often enough gets more hilarious each time with its inanity.
We also see the return of Ron Manager. Football hasn’t really been the same in Ron’s absence and we're still waiting for some of his observations on the modern game. So far, we’ve only seen Ron off-camera, lamenting the dangerous height of the studio’s stools.
The Fast Show has been off our screens since a “last ever” one-off version was screened by the BBC back in 2000. But YouTube gave it a real resurgence and creators Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson truly realised the potential of the web for sketch-based comedy.
The show is, after all, a series of short quick-fire sketches with the same characters coming back and back, so it makes perfect sense for it to be on the web only; it’s designed for us to dip in and out of. That was always the show’s ethos as it blazed a trail for other great comedy sketch shows in its wake like ‘Little Britain’ and ‘The Catherine Tate’ show which – whilst good – never quite seemed to achieve the same “laugh out loud uncontrollably” heights achieved by The Fast Show.
But a government health warning first; there are some very funny videos in the brand new web-only series being brought to us by Fosters.co.uk – along with a few other comedy legends like Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer.
As I’ve said – The Fast Show is back and it’s better – and I mean it; so just watch it!
Cartoonist
