Chewin' the Fat
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| Chewin' The Fat | |
|---|---|
 Complete collection DVD cover |
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| Genre | Sketch show |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Starring | Greg Hemphill Ford Kiernan Karen Dunbar |
| Country of origin | Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original run | January 13, 1999 (Scotland Only) , June 23, 2000 (United Kingdom)–22 February 2002 |
Chewin' the Fat is a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Comedians Paul Riley and Mark Cox also appeared regularly on the show.
Chewin' the Fat first started as a radio series on BBC Radio Scotland. The later television show was first broadcast on BBC One Scotland but series three and four, as well as highlights from the first two series, were later broadcast to the rest of the United Kingdom. Although the last series ended in February 2002, annually, there was a 'Hogmanay Special' shown on New Year's Eve and with regular repeats of the series throughout the year. On 18 November 2006, it was announced that 'Chewin the Fat' would not be on at Hogmanay 2006, instead a hogmanay special of 'Still Game' will appear. This is a possibly that the show has now officially ended.
Chewin' the Fat gave birth to two spin-off shows: Still Game, a sitcom focusing on the two old men, Jack and Victor, of the series and The Karen Dunbar Show, which is another sketch show featuring comedian Karen Dunbar.
The series was mostly filmed in and around Glasgow and occasionally West Dunbartonshire.
[edit] Recurring characters
- Alistair and Rory
Two eccentric documentary presenters from the Scottish Highlands, fascinated with Scottish history and nature. They are constantly harassed by two Neds, who often play practical jokes on them and taunt them. The characters are based in part on Scottish history programmes such as Weir's Way.
- The Big Man
The Big Man is the stereotypical "Alpha Male", who turns up to solve people's problems by means of intense intimidation and violence. Keeping with the "hard man" theme, he has a very deep voice. The Scottish author William McIlvanney's 1995 novel was called The Big Man and like all of his books, was based on hard-living characters whom solve most of their problems by brute force. It is unknown if the creators took note of this. The character first appeared in a parody of Scotland Today's "Call The Lawyer" section , in which people having problems could get legal advice. The writers knew that most of the Neds the show often parodied would be likely to call the assistance of the Big Man. The character was so popular after his first appearance, he appeared in other sketches; his catchphrase remaining "Is there a problem here?".
- Bish & Bosh
Bish & Bosh are two very dodgy decorators who are usually stealing things from the houses of people hiring them. In the sketches, they are normally seen having a tea break talking about something inconsequential that one of them drags into depravity, only to be told by the other, "You've taken that too far".
- The Banter Boys
Two camp men that are seen around places where people of a Glaswegian accent are heard talking. They usually show extreme (almost orgasmic) pleasure at hearing idle chit-chat in the local banter. The characters are in the form of the stereotypical Kelvinside housewife, with the same pretensions and turns of phrases.
- The Lighthouse keepers
Two men that work in a lighthouse, usually featured at the start of a show. One of them endures pranks from his work-mate while pleading "Gonnae no dae that?". They may have been based on two bored lightkeepers in an "Alas Smith & Jones" sketch during the 1980s.
- The Lonely Shopkeeper
A lonely, bored middle-aged woman working in a village grocery store who constantly attempts to be over-friendly with her customers, usually inviting them for "individual fruit trifles", and invariably frightening them off.
- The Depressed Taxi Caller
This sketch features a woman taxi controller crying down her headset to the drivers about her terrible life and her boyfriends dying in bizarre circumstances. She generally smokes and drinks large volumes of whisky throughout the sketch, in order to "dull the pain".
- Jack and Victor
Two OAPs that get up to mischief, featuring the characters that were later to appear in the series Still Game.
- The Boy That's Just Started Masturbating
A 14 year old boy that is constantly embarrassed by his by parents who announce proudly to anyone they meet that he has just started masturbating.
- Betty the Auld Slapper
A female OAP that has an obsession with recounting her x-rated memories of the war; usually sits with her legs spread and skirt clearly open.
- The Community Mobile van
A van that brings various cultural amenities to the car park of a council estate. Ranging from things like swimming pools, to an art gallery, to a theatre. The staff of the van are often harassed by a ned or two walking past. In reality, such vans would contain something like a Mobile Library, or the "Bionic Bus" councils would send round the council estates to keep local children amused.
- The Chemistry Teacher
A highly-strung teacher that gets overly offended by just about anything her fairly well behaved class says, and who take pleasure in winding her up as a result. Apparently based on a chemistry teacher show regular Karen Dunbar had in school.
- Ballistic Bob
A man that attempts to do a normal task, fails multiple times and ends up trashing the surrounding area in a frustrated rage. This was featured as an advert for broadband where Bob smashed up an office when a file took an infuriatingly long time to download from the Internet.
- The Smoking Family
A family of serial smokers, that only spend their money on cigarettes. They have all lost their voices (due to throat cancer) so they have to rely on voice boxes to communicate - including Snowball the cat (who was white, & now is nicotine brown).
- The Sewer Workers
Two sewer workers that find strange ways of amusing themselves in the sewer, including playing with faeces.
- Ronald Villiers
The world's worst actor, with a monotonous voice. Registered with the agent "Widdecombe and Pump". He is incapable of remembering simple lines, often completely misunderstands the directions of the director, and attempts inapproriate ad-libs. His character is quite similar to Pam Doove from The League of Gentlemen
- The Sniffer
A man with an extreme fetish for sniffing other people's shoes, he usually distracts them and then sniffs them in a surreptitious manner.
- Bob & Alan
Two overbearing salesmen in an electronics store who frequently try to put their "sales pitch" on unexpecting customers. They will often attempt to completely confuse the customer, often using entirely fictional or inappropriate terminology to describe everyday electronics equipment. They also end up insulting the customers by using offensive and overly familiar terms.
- Oo-oo-hh, fancy!
A sketch featuring a different group of people each time. The group will be comparing items (packed lunches, drinks bought at a bar, etc.). All but the last item will be stereotypically "normal" or "working-class" - but the last person will have something considered "posh". On hearing this sophisticated item everyone else in the group will put their hands by their cheeks - wiggling their fingers - and chant 'OO-OO-HH Fancy!'. The most infamous example is the "Cheese Baguette", as being slightly more sophisticated than an ordinary cheese sandwich.
- Eric the Activist
A deranged animal rights activist who would do to a person what he/she is doing to an animal, such as pour salt over a man who is salting slugs - followed by "Now you what it feels like eh? 'Mon The Slugs!"
- Harry, Linda and George
An abusive husband Harry often gets unjustifiably angry at his wife Linda whilst doing the simplest of things like playing Monopoly or Countdown and ends up being verbally abusive to her. George - a family friend with a soft spot for Linda - always gets caught in the middle of these arguments while trying to stop them. The final sketch with the characters, based on a Hogmanay party at the couple's house, Linda and George end up kissing passionately in front of Harry after he makes a fuss about some sausage rolls she said she'd made herself but had in fact bought meat and pastry and "put the sausage rolls together" which, Harry tries to make clear, are not the same thing).
- Brenda
Brenda repeatedly injures (often seriously) her husband, she then shouts "HELP HELP, there's been a terrible accident!", Her husband replies with "Brenda!, Ya bastard!".
- Rab McGlinchy
Rab is a stereotypical shellsuit-wearing, chain-smoking, hard-drinking glaswegian ned in who is employed by the television company to translate the Scottish news, narrated by a newsreader, into the dialect of the Scottish working class. He is introduced "...and here is Rab McGlinchy interpreting for the neds"
