Category: The Fast Show
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The Real Rowley Birkin
It always amazes me how much of The League Of Gentlemen takes its inspiration from real life. Equally, The Fast Show. Rowley Birkin, for example, the drunk QC, is based on a man Paul Whitehouse met whilst fishing in Iceland. Here’s Paul Whitehouse on a rare appearance on a talk show, this one with Parkinson.
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Alf’s Oven
I like this sketch a lot. Whitehouse’s performance elevates it, and the timing of the changes are spot on. What’s more, the design of Alf’s home is marvellous. That oven looks like many of the ovens we’ve explored in previous posts, but it’s not seen in any of those. I wonder how many ovens the…
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Tommy Cockles To Powergen
My first experience of Simon Day, I think, was as Tommy Cockles, appearing as a regular on Paramount City, right at the start of the 1990s. It was a good few years before The Fast Show. Here he is, as Cockles, on Wogan in 1992. The applause at the end seems a little sudden. Was…
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The Genesis Of Swiss Toni
Swiss Toni made his first appearance on screen in an episode of The Smell Of Reeves and Mortimer. The character is a creation of Bob Mortimer and Charlie Higson, and this is how he arrived on the show. He later moved to The Fast Show, but Mortimer receives no writing credits on that, so he…
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Smashie and Nicey: End Of An Era
It’s been a while since I’ve seen this, but it’s always worth a watch. And here’s a great article on Dirty Feed about the differences between the broadcast version and the VHS release.
