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BBC<\/p>\nPauline McLeanScotland arts correspondent<\/p>\n
BBC<\/p>\n
Johnny Depp appeared in the final episode of The Fast Show in 2000 with the “Suit You Tailors” played by Mark Williams and Paul Whitehouse<\/p>\n
It’s more than three decades since Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse created The Fast Show.<\/p>\n
And things have come full circle for both the comedy sketch show and its creators.<\/p>\n
The format – as the name suggests – involved rapid fire sketches, some lasting just ten seconds and none lasting longer than three minutes.<\/p>\n
For those watching in the mid 1990s, it was a ground breaking proposition which quickly developed cult status with characters and catchphrases embedded in popular culture.<\/p>\n
And since the show ended in 2000 \u2013 with an appearance from Fast Show fan Johnny Depp \u2013 it has found a new audience on social media.<\/p>\n
Stories you may have missed<\/p>\n
“The Fast Show has been kept alive by social media GIFs and memes, all these little snippets people keep,” says Charlie.<\/p>\n
“It was almost as if we saw the future and that it was going to be lots of short clips,” adds Paul Whitehouse.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know if any of you are aware but I actually invented social media. Just by accident.”<\/p>\n
“Well it’s got out of control now,” says Charlie. “What were you trying to create?”<\/p>\n
Higson and Whitehouse have been making us, and themselves, laugh since 1977 when they met at university.<\/p>\n
“We always made each other laugh but we never envisaged we might do comedy together because that was well before alternative comedy became a thing,” says Charlie.<\/p>\n
The late Caroline Aherne’s characters included Channel 9 weather presenter Poula “Scorchio!” Fisch, seen here with Paul Whitehouse and Paul Shearer.<\/p>\n
Jazz Club presenter Louis Balfour introduced the nation to such greats as Jackson Jeffrey Jackson, Piles Hussain, and acid skiffle supremo Jeremy Quee. Nice.<\/p>\n
But other friends were getting into comedy, including Harry Enfield, who was developing his own character-based TV show and asked Charlie and Paul to write for him.<\/p>\n
Characters like Stavros and Loadsamoney quickly became a hit with audiences and Paul and Charlie found themselves being commissioned to write for other shows.<\/p>\n
By the early 1990s, they were working extensively with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, writing, performing, and in Charlie’s case, also producing. <\/p>\n
Caroline Aherne, Simon Day and Mark Williams – who would go on to become members of the Fast Show team – were also regular collaborators.<\/p>\n
And it was at that point they decided to try to create their own sketch show.<\/p>\n
“There were so many sketch shows around but what we were doing with that first show was just kind of honing what we’d learned from all the character sketch shows that we’d watched when we were kids, like Benny Hill or Dick Emery or Monty Python,” says Charlie.<\/p>\n
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Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson are part of a 30th anniversary tour remembering the show they created<\/p>\n
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Whitehouse and Higson met at university and went on to create The Fast Show<\/p>\n
They made it shorter and faster, to appeal to an audience used to new fast-paced pop videos on MTV. <\/p>\n
And it was packed full of new characters like Ted and Ralph, Swiss Tony and Monkfish.<\/p>\n
An average show could squeeze 27 sketches into 30 minutes, compared to nine or ten in other shows. It had a huge influence on their other comedy shows.<\/p>\n
“I think most of our characters were quite warm and quite engaging and we didn’t sneer at them or mock them,” says Paul.<\/p>\n
The exception was Ken and Kenneth (Paul Whitehouse and Mark Williams). <\/p>\n
Two tailors in a formal menswear shop who bombard their customers with sexually explicit innuendo and their catchphrase “Ooh, suit you sir”.<\/p>\n
They’re among 70 characters revived in the stage show, which has been touring since 2024. And their catchphrase is the one most often shouted at Whitehouse in the street.<\/p>\n
“People love the show and it’s a celebration of that,” he says.<\/p>\n
According to those who come along, the show often reminds them of important times in their lives, when they watched with parents and other family. <\/p>\n
Seeing it on stage reminds them of the closeness they had while watching first time around.<\/p>\n
The show unites six of the Fast Show cast \u2013 Arabella Weir, Mark Williams, Simon Day and John Thomson \u2013 along with Paul and Charlie.<\/p>\n
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