Go You Big Red Fire Engine!

That is the title of the 2001 comedy show by Australian comedian Adam Hills. The name is a bit strange, but this is the story.

Earlier this summer I went to see Adam perform live at Toomler in Amsterdam. In one of his acts he asks a person from the audience to get to the side of the stage, then come on and in best James Brown style say their name, and the audience responds, also à la JB, etc.

Anyway, last year while doing a show in Australia, the audience participant, a fire fighter, thought that it would be better to shout "GO YOU BIG RED FIRE ENGINE". As you could expect the audience went absolutely quiet. However, the fire man didn't give up, but continued his "GO YOU BIG RED FIRE ENGINE", and the audience started reacting, and quite soon the whole audience was screaming it off the top of their voices. Adam thought this was fantastic, and decided to name a show after the incident.

In the show I saw he also got us all to shout it out loud, and I found that doing it repeatedly actually makes you feel good inside. Try it:

Go you big red fire engine
Go You Big Red Fire Engine!
GO YOU BIG RED FIRE ENGINE!!
GO YOU BIG RED FIRE ENGINE!!!
(Mmmm... feels good on the inside)

The goal for Adam is now to spread this as far as possible around the world. There are already several web pages for GYBRFE, and it has even been rumoured to be the closing comment by a Qantas steward, although I wouldn't want to hear "Go You Big Red Fire Engine!" right after I have landed.

Adam's show was nominated for the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001.

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