Swiss Toni, Competitive Dad and a pair of unsuitably smutty tailors were among the comic creations introduced by BBC sketch series The Fast Show which first aired in 1994. To mark the catchphrase-packed programme’s 30th birthday, they will reunite for a UK stage tour that brings together other memorable characters to ask “Where’s me washboard?”, “Anyone fancy a pint?” and “Does my bum look big in this?”
The series’ originators, Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse, will appear alongside Simon Day, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and Mark Williams for 13 shows, starting on 18 March at Stoke-on-Trent’s Regent theatre and ending on 31 March at Brighton Dome. The production, An Evening with the Fast Show, will revive popular sketches and songs from the series and include a cast discussion bringing together their memories. There will also be a tribute to their former co-star, Caroline Aherne, whose characters included an ebullient TV meteorologist constantly predicting “scorchio!” conditions. Aherne died aged 52 of cancer in 2016.
Among the characters appearing in the stage show are Jazz Club host Louis “nice!” Balfour, groundsman Ted and country squire Ralph, car salesman Swiss Toni and the woman, played on screen by Weir, whose views are drowned out – and then appropriated – by the men around her. Several characters were based on real people that the performers had encountered. Competitive Dad, who always wants to outdo his children, was inspired by someone Simon Day saw at a swimming pool: “He had two kids in water wings and he suddenly raced off doing front crawl, the kids panting after him.”
The series originally ran from 1994 to 1997. “When the first episode went out, some people liked it, some were confused, some hated it,” said Whitehouse. “We had a small cult following but it didn’t reach the mainstream. The second series caught on, however. I’d get catchphrases shouted at me in the street … people loved it. It’d be churlish to moan.” The cast reunited in 2020 for a Gold TV special, The Fast Show: Just a Load of Blooming Catchphrases.
