This first series of The Fast Show does not include a couple of characters who became well-loved mainstays; neither the licentious car salesman Swiss Tony, for whom everything was "like making love to a beautiful woman", or the incomprehensible raconteur Rowley Birkin QC, had been developed at this stage. However, aficionados will regard this collection as indispensable for the beginning of the saga of awkward young aristocrat Ralph and his unrequited passion for his gardener, Ted: a funny yet oddly affecting rendering of love thwarted by circumstance. On the DVD: The Fast Show--Series 1 on disc includes interviews with the cast, and English subtitles. There is an episode selector and an individual scene selector, though the latter is confusingly laid out. --Andrew Mueller
RRP: £15.99
Our Price: £8.74 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Fast Show, like Viz comic and Private Eye magazine, is one of those comedic institutions whose principal appeal is its utter predictability. The jokes in every episode are exactly the same, every sketch an only slightly different path to one of a few familiar punchlines ("I'll get me coat", "Where's me washboard?", "Scorchio!", "Suits you, Sir," and so on): once the viewer or reader is in with the jokes, they feel part of the club. This sort of reductive comedy is extremely easy to do badly: it is testament to the writing and acting of Paul Whitehouse and his team that not only are most of the set-pieces funny every time they reappear (the overly prurient tailors, the pub know-all, the Trevor Brooking-esque football pundit Ron Manager), but that each individual sketch is funny more than once.
Excellent comedy but very disastrous delivery
Review date: 2007-06-12 Rating: 2 out of 10
Well, I watched this on telly and wanted to buy this for my collection.
I have been a customer of Amazon for 7 years and I had never made any complaint and I have never returned any goods. I have also shopped online from several other companies.
The delivery company Citylink is simply a disgrace for such a reputable company like Amazon to use. I was home for the past one week and stayed in the lounge all day to wait for the products. However, I tracked these items online and found out Citylink claims that they had attempted to deliver these items and 'carded'. Funny enough, no one rang the doorbell and no postcards were left. I called Citylink early yesterday morning and told them I'd leave the door wide open and lights on and I would be at home all day. At 2pm, I tracked it from citylink's website, it said they had attempted to deliver at 1PM. This is a complete joke and lie.
You can type in Citylink and review in google and find out other customers' experiences with citylink. Enough said.
If you want your items fast, select first class, not express.
But this is still as funny now as when it was broadcast, which, if you haven't seen it, is very funny indeed. In fact, the first shows are parhaps funnier on re-watching as this time you know the characters, so you don't spend the first couple of shows getting to know them, instead, you can chuckle at the catchphrases before they arrive. There may even be niche in the market for a karaoke version of the show...
Bono Estente. Nuevo Chanel 9 DVD gizmo - karaokos muchos, oooh! Chris Waddle! Boutrous Boutros Ghali.
...but until then you'll have to make do with this.
I bought it, and watched it and found it very funny, so I watched it again. Which was nice.