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Foster’s Ads Put You In The Moment

May 28, 2012 By

Foster’s series of good call ads are great little comedy sketches in their own right. With the stars of the show, fictional characters Brad and Dan, who sit in their Heath Robinson shack on a sizzling hot beach in Oz, you get placed right in the moment. You can feel the heat rising off the beach and imagine the satisfaction that the guys are getting drinking their ice cold tubes of the amber nectar while they sit in the shade.

That’s the thing that draws you into this series of ads in a way that some other ads just miss the mark. You know how the guys feel, sitting there sheltering from the blazing sun, and you can identify with what makes them tick. These two guys represent what so many people want – a life of ease and indolence in the hot summer sun. They’re bound to be popular with the British viewers the ads are aimed at, who will look out of the window to see overcast or cloudy grey skies 90 per cent of the time.

The Foster’s ads give us Brits a little taste of how sweet life could be – if only we lived on the other side of the world! Of course, we know that life’s not like that, and that if it was it would be pretty shallow, but for escapism purposes, the lazy idyll of Brad and Dan’s lives is perfect!

We love to watch the guys fixing ignorant British boys’ dilemmas too. They give out some cracking advice while they’re enjoying their beer. Don’t tell your girlfriend how bad her hair cut is, because you’d hurt her feelings and “telling lies is what separates us from the animals!” Enjoy the fact that you’ve got a hairy back – it proves how much of a real man you are. If you’re worried about your girlfriend turning into her mother, don’t be. That time is a long way off and you’ll have other concerns by the time it actually happens – like how scotch eggs are made.

Foster’s ad campaign is fun and light, and that’s what makes it work so well. You can watch any of the Brad and Dan ads at fosters.co.uk.

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Some Questions Have No Answer

April 19, 2012 By

There are some queries in life that even Brad & Dan, stars of the Fosters ad series, are flummoxed by. Usually nothing throws these two laid back Aussies, who sit answering calls while drinking chilled cans of Fosters in their beach shack.

But when they answer the bloke who starts off with: “I’m thinking about shaping my eyebrows…What’s better, plucking or waxing?” the two Aussies look perplexed. Instead of saying anything, they put a Dictaphone on the table, on which a woman’s voice repeats “You are held in a queue, you are held in a queue…” and make their escape from this creepy caller.

Over the last year Brad & Dan have dealt with all kinds of tricky questions, posed by British lads without a clue. They’ve covered issues such as how to get out of getting a girlfriend’s name tattooed on your body, whether to shave or wax a hairy back (“Remember, Jacko, waxing’s for cars!”), and how to deal with someone who stands too close in the pub.

But for the ones they just can’t cope with, the boys reach for the Dictaphone to handle the call!

In the latest Fosters advert seen on British TV, we see a great example of the clashes between British and Aussie culture.  Brad is out of the shack and at an English garden party. He calls Dan because he’s confused: “They’re serving Foster’s Gold…but all the sangers have just got greenery in them” Dan’s back in Oz cooking sausages on the BBQ and wants to make sure he’s heard right: “No sausage? That is a crime against sliced bread!”

Brad’s thinking about refusing to eat the sandwiches on the grounds that he’s an Australian, and a man. Dan says no, he should play along and feel sorry for them as they can’t afford meat for the sarnies.

The Fosters ad ends with Brad telling his host that his secret’s safe with him: “Spent all the? sandwich money on Gold eh?” You little ripper!”

The two agony uncles from Australia have been keeping us amused for a good year now, this one could run and run.

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Comedy DIY

January 1, 2012 By

There seems to be something of a trade off in life between those who are good technically – and those who are truly creative.

 

This is a gross over simplification, but in no area of the arts does this standard cliché seem to ring more true than in the world of comedy.

 

Comedians positively relish the opportunity to ridicule techie geeks – and who can blame them when techies are such easy fodder? You get the odd geek now and again who is aware of his/her lack of right-brain thinking and comedic creativity, but many others seem blissfully unaware.

 

So why does all this matter and where are we going with this?

 

The reality is that the production of good TV comedy has necessitated the marriage of the truly creative and the truly technical. But this is often a marriage forged in hell. Sometimes, opposites can attract, but very often, they simply meet head on; so it is with comedy.

 

But in the internet age with YouTube where any punter can upload the shakiest, worst quality funny video clips ever – shot from a mobile phone – we’ve learned that production quality doesn’t matter too much as long as it’s vaguely watchable at least. In fact, the poor quality sometimes makes things funnier – and this in itself has been parodied by some of the most gifted amateur comedians around.

 

So the clear lesson here is NOT to ever let your lack of technical prowess limit your ability to be truly creative – with whatever rubbishy tools you have at your disposal. “People will come” (to borrow a phrase from an aggravating Kevin Costner film) if it’s funny. And if you have any real comedic talent, it will shine through whatever is put in its place to dim it.

 

The Fast Show 2011 is an excellent case in point whereby the creators decided to go down the web only route as they realized where the future of good comedy lay after so many people searched for their old (TV based…) stuff online.

 

So get out there and have a go at a little comedy DIY– and don’t sweat the techie stuff; for the geeks and masses will follow wherever you lead.

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DIY comedy inspiration

December 19, 2011 By

If you’re an aspiring comedian or comedy producer and you need a little inspiration, check out the Fosters website.

The site is hosting a few comedy classics including Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer.

The pair’s afternoon delights simply aren’t to be missed of your tastes run to the slightly comic bizarre.

Charity Peter, the talking charity collection mannequin makes an appearance lamenting his lack of work and explaining how his best ever job consisted of being a large inflatable outside a car showroom.

Also – be sure not to miss Reeves and Mortimer’s “free running in the environment” parodying today’s youth via a little free running in the concrete jungle to a base backbeat. The youths’ stand-out phrases are continually repeated by a Stephen Hawking-like voice synthesiser. “It’s like trench warfare out there in the urban environment!”

The Fosters site is also playing host to the legendary Fast Show the hit BBC sketch show series from the mid 1990s.

The show’s 2011 version can only be seen online and maybe that’s the most appropriate way for comedy to go these days – particularly if it’s non sequential comedy like the Fast Show which consists of a series of sketches only.

This is a show that can really inspire. It was the inspiration for so many other hit comedies like Catherine Tate and Little Britain.

The Fast Show in turn, drew a lot of its inspiration and some of its main creators from Harry Enfield and friends – another source of inspiration for would-be comics and producers easily accessible online.

The beauty of the web is there’s nothing to stop anyone having a  go. Hit the right buttons and you could go viral and be catapulted to overnight success. Just ask Swiss Toni, Bob Fleming, Rowley Birkin or charity Peter for a few ideas.

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Fast Show fans should check out comeback!

December 4, 2011 By

The Fast Show is back and is faster than ever. The popular 1990s comedy show made a comeback earlier this month, but don’t go anywhere. The new series is closer than you think.

The show which made its name on the BBC in the mid-1990s will run on the web for 12 episodes, the first of which went live on the internet on November 10. That is right – you can Watch the Fast Show online right now.

The Fast Show lived up to its name. At times, a 30-minute episode featured almost as many sketches and the show became famous for catchphrases such as ”Suit you, sir!”, “Does my bum look big in this?” and “Scorchio!”

Catchphrases are nothing without characters and The Fast Show had them in abundance. Swiss Toni, Ted and Ralph, Competitive Dad – all these signature characters became synonymous with the show which ran for three series from 1994 to 1997. The show returned for a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000, which appeared to bring the curtain down on one of the most popular comedies of the modern era.

However, the series created by Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson has joined other popular comedy shows from days gone by making a comeback on the internet. Alan Partridge and Vic and Bob enjoyed successful revivals on the web. The Fast Show wasted no time joining them and has come back with an even faster show.

The new series features episodes around eight minutes long. That will come as a disappointment to fans of the show. Don’t worry, though, the funny video clips you became accustomed to just got even funnier.

 

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Your favourite Fast Show character

November 25, 2011 By

So who was (or is…) your favourite Fast show character?

For me, it has to be the legendary Dave Angel, “eco warrior”. As the great man once said for his intro: “Heey! My name’s Dave Angel, eco warrior. Behind me there is my missus Shirley, and we haven’t had sex for twelve years, which is fine because we got better things to do.”

Now just in case you’re, let’s say, 21 or under, and you have no idea what The Fast Show was, then that’s very sad, arguably unacceptable, and you really ought to be searching on YouTube and the like to “give yourself a bit of a treat” to steal a phrase from Arthur Atkinson (another Fast Show character based on the late Arthur Askey).

Anyway, I digress; The fast show was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series between 1994 and 1997 with a special “Last Fast Show Ever” following in 2000.

Except the last one ever wasn’t, because The Fast Show is back every Thursday at 1pm courtesy of Foster’s; just go to their website and enjoy!

But I digress again! Dave Angel was, for my money, given a very close run by garage owner Swiss Toni, a car dealer with a bouffant quiff and silver-grey double-breasted suit with silk handkerchief in pocket who is clearly going through a mid-life crisis.

Swiss Toni sees himself as a kind of guru-figure to trainee Paul, to whom he gives constant advice, likening every situation in life to “making love to a beautiful woman”. Here’s an example: “Washing a car, is very much like making love to a beautiful woman. You’ve got to caress the bodywork. Breathe softly and gently. And give every inch of it your loving attention. And make sure you’ve got a nice wet sponge!”

Watch it.

 

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