‘The Fast Show’ cast announce 30th anniversary reunion tour

The cast of The Fast Show are reuniting for a live tour to celebrate the sketch show’s 30th anniversary.

Today (January 25), it was announced that An Evening With The Fast Show will run between February and April 2024, with cast members Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams, and Arabella Weir all featuring.

In a statement, the show’s promoters said: “Fans of the iconic TV programme The Fast Show are in for a real treat as the original cast members – Simon Day, Charlie Higson, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Mark Williams and Arabella Weir – bring their comedic genius to theatres across the country this spring.

“This celebratory live tour will be a huge treat for fans of the multi-award winning quick-fire TV sketch show and provide a real behind-the-scenes insight into some of their favourite characters and catchphrases as they come alive on stage once again.

“The cast will chat together about how it all began, how they made the TV show, and created the characters and the fun they had doing it. This will be interspersed with performances of some of their best-loved sketches monologues and songs, with on-screen inserts and a moment to remember their former collaborator, the late, great Caroline Aherne.

They added: “Fans will be thrilled to see the return of many of their favourite characters, including: Ted & Ralph, Jesse, Swiss Toni, Does My Bum Look Big In This?, Dave Angel, Jazz Club, The Suit You Tailors, Ron Manager, The Mad Painter, Rowley Birkin, Bob Fleming, Competitive Dad, Professor Denzil Dexter, and The Girl Who Boys Can’t Hear.”

On the announcement, Charlie Higson said: “Taking The Fast Show out on tour is very much like making love to a beautiful woman.”

Paul Whitehouse jokingly added: “I’m afraid I was very drunk.”

A list of tour dates for An Evening With The Fast Show can found below. Tickets are on sale via Ticketmaster:

18 February: London, Pleasance Theatre
18 March: Stoke-On-Trent, Regent Theatre
19 March: York, Grand Opera House
20 March: Glasgow, Pavilion Theatre
21 March: Oxford, New Theatre
22 March: Basingstoke, The Anvil
23 March: Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre
25 March: Sheffield, City Hall
26 March: Newcastle, Tyne Theatre & Opera House
27 March: Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall
28 March: Birmingham, The Alexandra
29 March: Bristol, Beacon
30 March: Bournemouth, Pavilion
31 March: Brighton, Dome
01 April: Liverpool, Philharmonic

The Fast Show debuted on BBC Two in September 1994, and ran for three series up to 1997. Three specials followed, including the three-part series The Last Fast Show Ever in 2000.The show has previously gone on tour twice before, in 1998 and 2002.

Speaking to The Sun, Higson said: “It’s been 20 years since we last did anything on stage and thankfully we all still get along, probably because we’ve allowed each other to do other things outside of The Fast Show. Sleep with other people and the marriage stays strong.”

He also teased: “We’ve had some ideas about using the characters in another format, like the Carry On films, or even a panto, so this tour is just to test the waters.”

Explaining how the idea for an anniversary tour came about, the Swiss Toni actor said: “I posted a thing on X [Twitter] saying the old team are back together [for a charity tribute for cast member Felix Dexter] and there was a massive response as people assumed The Fast Show was back and we’re going to do a DVD and live tour. So I had to say, ‘No, it’s just for a one-off charity event’. But we thought, ‘OK, people are interested’, and Paul and I have been talking about doing something live for a long while but never had the time where we’re available to do it. That [anniversary date] was a spur to say, ‘Let’s do this’.”

Whitehouse jokingly added: “It will be great fun, we just need to get it wrapped up before we all peg it.”

The stars have however ruled out the possibility of another television series, with Higson saying: “I don’t think we’ll do any more TV stuff, we can’t do anything better than what already exists.

“We’re all quite old. If you try and do new stuff, people will just say, ‘Oh, this new stuff isn’t as good as the old stuff’. And if you just do the old characters, they’d be like, Can’t they just do something new?’.”

The post ‘The Fast Show’ cast announce 30th anniversary reunion tour appeared first on NME.