Found under the couch #1: Fist of Fun

The set-up of the series is simple; two men, one daft and chubby, one intellectual and skinny live in crates in the BBC, have special guests and allow a homeless man to live in their studio in exchange for Lifestyle tips for the single and pathetic.

FoF was ostensibly a sketch show, with a host of guest stars such as Ronnie Ancona, John Thompson, Al Murray (with hair), Rebecca Front and of course The Actor Kevin Eldon. The sketches were endlessly quotable, like the driving instructors who couldn't believe the stupidity of their students; "You're 25 and you don't even know that!?" to Stew's True Fables, which would go out of their way to debunk Aesop's harmful lies. The segments of the show where two unemployed, unemployable ex-students sat around and discussed the things that kept them up at night were darkly hilarious - Richard's shrine to future girlfriend Julia Sawalha (with its own well ... just in case), being a prime example.

While a sketch show format isn't exactly ground-breaking, Fist of Fun was at the forefront of technology. I recorded the show on Thursday night and would watch it over the weekend, my finger hovering over the pause button trying to catch the "blipverts" and splitsecond subliminal factoids that would flash up on the screen in an oh-so-new and exciting mid-90s way.

For me, the most memorable thing about Fist Of Fun beside the Rich and Stew characters were the regular, oddball, characters. Peter Baynham created lonely smelly Peter especially for the show and wrote all his sections himself, but his was a segment I hated when I was 15. Looking back now I see the genius of the lonely madman eating chicken lollies out of his warm fridge. Perhaps I just felt bad for him; even Richard thought he was better than him. Richard from Cheddar. Now that I'm older, I can just laugh at the less fortunate.

In series 1, Kevin Eldon played (amongst other things) King of Hobbies Simon Quinlank. Simon was creepy and demented, sending Rich and Stew videos of his various hobbies, such as Vicar-Bum Rubbing, and Old Man Collecting. There's no doubt his love of weak lemon drinks increased the sales of Robinson's Lemon cordial.

My favourite of Eldon's character's, who first appeared in Series 2 and continued through to L&H's next Project This Morning With Richard Not Judy was the one-armed, green jelly loving Rod Hull. He IS him.

Watching the show now, because they kept away from "topical" satire, it's still remarkably funny. Even if series 2 was so brightly lit. They moved it from Thursday night to Friday, but alas the viewing figures declined and the second series was the last of Fist of Fun.

Although there was this little speck of strangeness. As if the show couldn't get any more unexpectedly excellent - this happens.

Then, over on C4... this happened.



If I could insert the Bill O'Reilly "You Can't Explain That" meme, I would.

What's that? You want more? More?!? You want the moon on a stick, my friend. And I will give you that moon. Not only are many episodes of Fist available to watch on YouTube, but earlier this year Stewart and Richard announced a DVD of Fist of Fun is in the works which they themselves are funding and preparing the extras for. Now... isn't that just as good as the actual moon on a stick?

Watch the episodes now, and I guarantee you'll want the DVDs. I'm buying two; one for at home and one to carry around, just in case I ever meet Mr Lee again and I can simply say "Thank you for this. Can you sign my DVD please?"