Fast Forward

From Free net encyclopedia

For the process of moving through storage media such as cassette tapes, see Fast forward

For the children's magazine, see Fast Forward (magazine)

Fast Forward was an Australian commercial television sketch comedy show that ran for 95 episodes from 12 April 1989 to 26 November 1992. It starred several former members of the ABC series The D-Generation such as Magda Szubanski and Marg Downey, as well as other Melbourne-based comedians such as The Eleventh Hour's Steve Vizard and Peter Moon, and Jane Turner and Gina Riley who are now famous for Kath & Kim. It also marked the first time that Kath & Kim stars Turner, Riley and Szubanski worked together on screen.

Fast Forward was formatted to simulate continuous channel surfing, and after the punchline, each sketch would abruptly switch to a momentary segment of static, followed by another sketch, simulating the effect of the viewer repeatedly switching channels. It featured many spoofs of television programs of the day, politicians and television advertisements.

The series' composite style, which blended direct TV parody with traditional sketch comedy followed several earlier Australian sketch comedy programs such as The Mavis Bramston Show, The Naked Vicar Show, Australia You're Standing In It, and The D-Generation. Fast Forward was succeeded by the series Full Frontal, which starred some of the same cast and marked the TV debut of comedian and actor Eric Bana.

The complete first series is now available on DVD.

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