Swiss Toni

The original Swiss Toni sketches were actually just a little bit more than "...is like making love to a beautiful woman." The whole point of Swiss was that he appeared to be suave, sophisticated, confident and in control, but that appearance actually underlied total insecurity, loneliness, psychological problems and probably impotence. Although there was not a great deal of development of the character throughout however many sketches he appeared in (probably fewer than 10), there began to creep in little signs of his problems, such as his disinclination to actually approach a customer and sell a car. Finally there was the sketch where the straight man having failed to persuade Swiss to go after a leaving customer, Swiss croaked out, "Can you not see? I'm - having - a - nervous - breakdown!" As an actor, Charlie Higson performed this really rather well, not surprisingly, as "Ted and Ralph" shows he is a past master of repression.

Translating this concept to the rigours of a 25-minute sitcom was a difficult but not impossible challenge, and might well have resulted in a comedy with the verve and originality of The Office or Spaced. Unfortunately they decided to wimp out. Changing Swiss Toni into a Basil Fawlty-type character with his insecurities clearly displayed for all to see simply misses the entire point of the character. It also, of course, completely lacks John Cleese's genius for farce. The situations presented in the series are limp, the weakest ideas from the bottom of the sitcom dustbin. To this bad concoction they added the inevitable laughter track, resulting in a show that really is not worth watching.

The character of Swiss works really well into a full length sitcom. OK, so it changed from that of the one-dimensional Fast Show character delivering advice in the form of analogies to Paul - which was perfect for a sketch show - but for a sitcom, you need to see a little deeper into the character, including weaknesses, in order to like them enough to keep watching. It's a bit like dismissing a movie because it isn't true to the book it was based on - you can in fact appreciate the differences and their often inherent necessity, the classic example being that of A Clockwork Orange: a great piece of cinema that worked better without the final chapter that contained Burgess's point - it was a stylish piece of cinema more than a message about the ethics of choice - but essentially, if you can remove all memory of the book, you stand a much better chance of enjoying the film.

And so back to Swiss Toni - the thing that really makes it work, as with all the great sitcoms, is the supporting cast, especially Jeff... and his affair (of sorts) with Swiss's wife. OK, so occasionally shows such as Bottom work with only two characters (the one on the ferris wheel is a classic), but Mayall and Edmondson have exceptional writing and acting talents and energy. As with Swiss, you see Jeff's weaknesses - close up at home with his tragic single life. Jeff's references to TV shows, music and porn are fantastically written and delivered with the most astonishing, paradoxically dry energy. The situations with Swiss's wife lead to the exposure of his gentler side and many more great comments/observations. You gradually get deeper into the mad world that is Jeff's head. His description of himself at speed dating is priceless. Paul's naivety leads to some great gags. And Miranda is feisty and, as Richie Benaud would say, pretty to watch. And the creativity of the new analogies about making love to beautiful women is unbelievable - they keep coming and just get better and better. Nobody I know has watched it - they just assume it will be rubbish - but the changes to Swiss's character and the rest of the cast make it one of the best (in my humble, post 1am after a few beers, ready for bed opinion) shows made in the last few years. To be honest, without Jeff, it would struggle. Simon day is hilarious. Check out Grass - all he has to do is walk in the room singing Bed and Breakfast Man and I'm in bits.

What a fantastic 'old school' comedy from Charlie Higson! The show just got better and better as it went on - the characters deepened, and Mr Higson cleverly developed Swiss from his Fast Show days into a much more complex and lovable human being in this delightful comedy. Of course, not every episode was equally brilliant - but how many shows are? But over the two series, we got laugh out loud farce, great one liners, superb interplay especially between Swiss and his staff, and some super little stories. The only character I didn't enjoy much was 'mother' whom I found rather irritating at times, but over all, a fantastic little gem of a series. Shame they don't make them like this anymore.

Swiss Toni continues to run his car salesroom with his small staff consisting of his receptionist, a junior salesman (Paul) and a drunken senior salesman Geoff. While selling cars may well be like `making love to a beautiful woman' Toni's life is not all roses.

The Fast Show is well loved for it's many, hilarious characters. Everyone has their favourite but many people enjoy the dirty, hilarious monologues of Swiss Toni and his ascertains that anything is `like making love to a beautiful woman'. The decision was taken to give this character his own series and it never sounded like it would work. While other characters have been given extended sketches or one-off specials and worked, this tried for a big extension and, in my opinion failed.

Toni is an one-joke character, true, it's a funny joke but it can't carry a 25 minute show. To try and hold it together other characters are brought in, but they don't manage to be of any consequence whatsoever. The jokes are pretty bland and pretty unimaginative. When Toni does his catch phrase you can't help but laugh - but mostly out of relief than anything else. The plots of the episodes I have seen (I gave up eventually) were quite dull and you could see the jokes that were being set up, miles before they were delivered.

Higson does the character well, but it is clear that he doesn't work well with the need to find a `character' within Toni and not just deliver a sketch. It isn't his fault but there is a great difference between a character that works well in a sketch and one that a series can be built around it. Day and Thomas are both good people but they don't have much to work with and it was clearly hoped that just surrounding Higson with other talent would fill the gaps - it doesn't.

Overall fans will want to avoid the series simply because it ruins the memories of the great sketches. The series is unimaginative and relies on a generous canned laughter track to make it feel funnier than it is. Shame that they couldn't just leave the Fast Show behind and move on - it only succeeds to spoil the character of Swiss Toni and make you want to go and search out the sketches instead.

Swiss Toni, a sketch from the fast show, the greatest sketch show in recent years, is about a man who lives with his mum and runs a used car dealership. He spends his time trying to get back with his ex-wife and his company is doing badly. With classic episodes including one with 4 different versions of the same story, one about a woman trying to be the next J.K. Rowling and one with the group bringing in a robot to be a salesman this show lives up to the fast show, especially Charlie Higson's amazingly pretentious character is amazingly likable, and sometimes sympathetic. With a young boy, an old alcoholic and a young beautiful receptionist, this sitcom really feels different, even though it isn't.