Gerald & The Lads

Story & Characters
  

Gerald only officially appears (i.e. named as such) in four of these sketches. According to the creators themselves however, it is actually Gerald who's bickering about walks and marathons in the Losers sketch series as well. That means there are a grand total of six sketches in the Gerald universe at the time of writing (February 2021).

FAH sort their sketches into playlists on their channel, but they're not very precise about it. They have one playlist called How to be a Lad which includes the second sketch in this series but not the first, as well as an absurdLads sketch that doesn't feature Gerald at all. The latest Gerald episode was added to this one as well, but the previous one (Never Sponsor) isn't. They also have a playlist called losers, which has just the one sketch added to it (Walking, but not Marathon). FAH playlists clearly get us nowhere at all, so let's get started with a proper FAHnalysis.

Main Characters
Arms's lovable character Gerald is a soft-spoken, gentle, slightly posh 'good egg' who gets slagged for nearly everything he says by his (room)mate - or is it his partner? - for not being enough of a lad.

Gerald volunteers for the local hospice and probably takes care of an elderly relative on a daily basis. He loves wearing comfortable winter clothing and being outside. He's one of those relentless outdoorsy people who insist on making something of their lives and hold helping others in the highest regard. He frowns upon computer games and sitting cooped up inside in general. You can always rely on him to help you out, even if it means he will have to step out of his comfort zone. When provoked, he will defend himself, albeit a bit clumsily, but he would never be the one to pick a fight or start an argument. That puts him at risk of bottling things up though, and I'd advise him to get those frustrations off his chest before something will inevitably snap and turn him to the dark side!

He might actually already have an evil twin, that lad whose greatest fear is accidentally sponsoring hospices while trying to one-up his friend's tip at the local coffee house.



Stephen is a gym bunny who's into violent computer games. He prides himself on being on of the lads and is anxious about being accepted by his peers. This character is a bit of a Hyacinth Bucket type, always trying to keep up appearances in order to fit in with a class of people he holds in high esteem. He can be rude and condescending, quite mean even, whenever Gerald 'provokes' him by talking about something that doesn't match the lad identity.

Stephen is a high achiever who judges performance in terms of 'winning or losing', with nothing in the middle. Don't expect a pat on the shoulder for simply participating from this lad! Unless you do your physical exercise inside a gym with a trainer shouting abuse in your face, you're not doing it right, even if you did walk the length of two marathons. On the other hand, he doesn't care that he isn't very good at his job. What he does care about is not getting a big paycheque for it.

These observations point towards a simple conclusion: Stephen is your typical attention-seeking alpha male who can only be motivated by men more macho than himself. If you want to get him to do anything for you, you'll have to slag him to put him in his place. His is a lad-slag-lad world, and you better get used to it if you're gonna be living with him! Gerald is clearly a gentle and good-natured beta male, artistic and sensitive, hard-working and charitable. He's the antidote to macho culture, but perhaps a little too subservient for his own good.

More Gerald-Like Characters (a Playlist)
But is that all? Well, that depends how much you're into FAHn Headcanon theorising of course!

The essence of a Gerald sketch is two characters (typically played by Arms and Foil) wrapped up in an intense, densely worded back-and-forth about 'How to' behave, talk, dress or spend your time. The dialogue starts off light with a simple greeting, but they invariably end in a passive-aggressively delivered slag as the punchline. Foil usually plays the high status character who's pushing the low status Arms character's buttons, but in many sketches there's something of a status switch leaving Foil's character lost for words. It's a very interesting dynamic and appeals to any viewer who regularly suffers from what French philosopher Diderot called L'esprit de l'escalier (escalator wit): the predicament of thinking of the perfect reply too late. Or didn't you feel that surge of proxy-pride when Gerald slammed his sponsored wash reply into the back of the net at the end of Never Sponsor Someone?

There are many more sketches built around conversations like this, similar both in set-up and tone. I've compiled a playlist of plausible Gerald Sketches on my YouTube channel. Considering how character continuity is quite low on the Foil Arms and Hog production priorities list (exhibit A: the Thomas/Darren/Ben Conundrum, more on that on the McCormack Matters page), we're going to strategically ignore the names Arms's character has been given in these sketches.

Even though the subject matter is highly un-Ladlike in sketches such as Craft Beer Knob (no bags of cans?) and Organic Food Knob (where's the frozen pizza?!), Foil and Arms are always balancing between playing themselves and playing a Gerald/Stephen type 'couple'. The couple dynamic largely points to a close, long-term, intimate and intense platonic friendship. And we all want to be half of one of those, don't we!

Similarly, FAH have a certain type of abstract sketch in their repertoire where they poke fun at a specific type of conversation or behaviour in familiar social situations. Sometimes, their portrayal of the 'characters' in these sketches can be vaguely Gerald & The Lads-like as well, either because there's slagging involved or because there's a similar miscommunication between a high and a low status character, leaving one of them frustrated and annoyed. Check out How Not to Tell a Story, How to Sneak a Peek at Someone, and How to Pretend you are Listening. Let me know if you agree.

I recently hosted a #FAHwatchparty called #FAHnsMissGerald in January 2021 where we watched this playlist with a small group of FAHns while tweeting our running commentary. Here are some of the most insightful tweets sent out (reposted anonymously by default - if you attended the party and wish to be credited for your tweet, let me know!).

Hog's Appearances as "the Lads"
In Lads 1, we meet the first unnamed Hog character. This guy should probably sign up for some lad lessons himself, seeing as he's making the tell-tale mistake of having an opinion. Gerald is pleased as punch to be able to point it out. A step up the lad ladder for him! Hog's lad character comes across as an everyday guy, someone you'd happily have a chat with at any party. In fact... could the character in this earlier How-to sketch be one and the same guy? It's not inconceivable that on-point pretend-listening is an essential lad skill as well!

  

In Lads 2, all we're getting is an annotated list of lads from Foil's character (and all their slaggable characteristics): Shane (a chef), Seán (bald), Dave (red hair) and Peter (who got dumped by his girlfriend a week ago). It's uncertain if Hog's character in Lads 1 is meant to be one of them.

Hog's character in Never Sponsor Someone (Unless They Suffer!) - the full title is relevant to the argument here - could have been lifted straight from the Realistic Career Guide sketch who claimed: "I like torturing people and inflicting pain on others" He's even wearing the same black zip up funnel neck jumper! We can see the same wig on Hog playing Joe (or Kevin?) the massive time waster in First Dates, and as Ciara's cheating jailbird boyfriend in How to Destroy a Family. There's clearly a pattern here and it's fair to call this prop the Arsehole Wig.  Check out the page on Wigs & Facial Hair in Foil Arms and Hog sketches! 

  

For the first time, some of Gerald's friends (and foes!) get a mention too. They are:
 * Ben Canton (way too much banter)
 * Liam Nolan (never shuts up, has halitosis aka bad breath and is always smacking his lips)
 * John, a lad and a charlatan for skydiving with a parachute



Lads Outside the Gerald Series
There's another Lads sketch that doesn't involve any Geralds at all. It's safe to say that the Gerald we know and love would've felt very out of place at Lads' College!

The characters, dialogue, jokes and setting of this sketch all point to a fictional plane quite different from the homeliness of the How to - lad sketches. If I had to choose a sketch pairing for Lads Graduation Ceremony I'd choose a sketch like Millennials Funeral. Both these sketches feature a familiar figure from everyday society delivering a lengthy monologue, whereby the form and tone match our expectations perfectly. These speeches are however stuffed with exaggerated statements about essentially the same (Irish, yet also international) stereotype: the 20 to 30 something (& friends) in the 21st century. And of course, both sketches lack an apostrophe in the title. It's the content that provides the laughs, especially when contrasted with a monotonous delivery and a formal setting. There isn't a single member in the online audience who hasn't had to suppress a fit of the giggles at an occasion similar to these at least once in their lives!

When listening to Stephen talk about what being a lad is all about in Lads 1, it should be obvious that '''there's another famous lad present in the FAHniverse... ''' (swipe right to view!)

The Art of Slagging
Slagging is mostly illustrated by examples by these characters. Slagging can be as simple as pointing out the obvious: "Look at him and his - !" To which the only valid answer is shouting: "WAHEY!" (even though "OI OI!" seems a reasonable substitute as well.) These noises are also the standard reply to someone saying something filthy or dropping a glass.

Slaggable offenses include:
 * wearing a new jumper, having a new pair of runners, wearing something deliberately fashionable
 * a new haircut, being bald, having red hair
 * getting dumped

The characters themselves have defined slagging as:
 * being mean to someone else
 * putting somebody else down (Gerald in Lads 1)
 * causing emotional hurt (Stephen in Gym Instructor)
 * causing emotional hurt (Stephen in Gym Instructor)

The central idea in every sketch is more or less How to win at slagging, so who's winning this slag-off? Because the Loser sketches don't specifically mention slagging as part of Irish lad culture or etiquette, I'm also going to count plain insults as slags.

In the first sketch, Marathons, it takes six insults from Stephen (delivered in just over a minute) for Gerald to finally stop fruitlessly defending himself and dish out a couple of slags himself. Notice how they both refer to each other as ''loser'! Turns out Gerald will raise his voice and use (mildly) bad language when provoked. We're obviously meant to side with Gerald as he's the one talking sense, but he doesn't actually get the satisfaction of winning the argument in the sketch. Stephen continues his gaming and has learned nothing from this conversation, while a stunned Gerald goes off with his tail between his legs.

Lads 1 shows a much more mellow and convivial relationship. Stephen's simply doing his best to teach Gerald essential lad skills. You could argue that Gerald launching into a lecture about morals is his version of a slag. The only actual slagging that isn't used as an example during Gerald's training, occurs at the party scene and is actually delivered by Gerald himself. He clearly won that round, with bells on, slagging his own tutor about the first lad faux-pas he ever got taught! In Lads 2, the energy is a bit more chaotic but there's still no direct slagging, only references to a list of slags to be delivered on rotation at the expense of the lads.

Lads Vs Losers
The common denominator of Gerald sketches is a fast-paced conversation between two roommates (or partners perhaps) with noticeably different personality, morals and interests. There's always an event or proposition with some urgency (happening in a minute, or that evening, or the next day) and the mismatched reactions and opinions to this subject are the source of the laughs, with some wordplay and Irishisms thrown in for the craic. It's basically the FAH take on The Odd Couple : one is sweet and the other... a lad.

Gerald is constantly being pushed out of his comfort zone by Foil's character in these sketches. Perhaps one day we'll be treated to a sketch in which Gerald is teaching Stephen essential posh skills such as how to sip a champagne flute and how to pronounce hors d'oeuvre before taking him to the opera? May I suggest  My Fair Lad  as the title for this sketch? Comfort is actually a good word to start off from. Gerald has such a sweet and gentle nature that anyone would feel comfortable around him. That includes bullies feeling at ease taking the piss out of him too.

However, there are clearly two separate strands of Gerald sketches:
 * 1) Lads: two roommates/partners have a conversation in which the concept of being a lad (sort of an Irish homie) is being treated as a matter of greater importance than it should logically be. The tagline for Lads sketches is straightforward: a lad wants to train a non-lad friend in lad etiquette (mainly slagging) to make sure he fits in and doesn't embarrass him in the company of the other lads. In the latest instalment of the series, the lad-training strategy backfires and the slagger becomes the slaggee. It's no coincidence that these sketches have a how to - in their titles. These sketches are:
 * 2) How to be a Lad
 * 3) How to be a Lad 2
 * 4) How to be a Gym Instructor (renamed to Home Gym Instructor)
 * 5) Losers: one roommate fruitlessly tries to defend a perfectly common and wholesome activity or idea in the face of the other roommate's fierce and fairly mean commentary. It's perfectly clear which character has the moral high ground and which character is, in fact, the real loser. These sketches are:
 * 6) Marathons are for Losers
 * 7) Walking is for Losers
 * 8) Why You Should Never Sponsor Someone

Consider the following arguments:
 * Foil's character from the Lads sketches isn't nearly as aggressive and cruel as the one in the Losers sketches. He never even raises his voice in Lads 1 and he only got mildly agitated at the very end of Lads 2 in order to deliver a snappy punchline.
 * Arms's character is only named in Lads 1 and 2, which premiered one year apart with (part 2) clearly indicating a direct follow-up. From Lads 2 onwards is he consistently called Gerald even though the sketches are again one year or more apart. Creating a sequel to any sketch usually hugely increases its characters' popularity, because it's so tempting to start getting involved in their lives. Naming characters even amplifies this effect, which is possibly why Foil's character finally got his own name in Gym Instructor.
 * Marathon and Lads 1 premiered only 3 weeks apart. Yet in Lads 1, we're introduced to these characters afresh, as if Marathon never happened.
 * Walking premiered before there was a second part added to Lads. Taken together with the previous argument, there's no real reason to identify the characters in either Losers sketches as Gerald and his roommate. The Losers are undoubtedly tied together but less strongly as the Lads are, since they remain unnamed.
 * In Never Sponsor Someone, the main characters' behaviour is more in line with the pair from Losers: Arms's character doing outdoorsy charity work with a big smile on his face, Foil's character showing nothing but contempt for his efforts and ridiculing him throughout. Hog's character is wigged up which usually denotes a larger-than-life portrayal, as exemplified in plenty of multi-character sketches (e.g. Realistic Career Guidance or First Dates. More about the wig in a moment.).
 * The Home Gym Instructor elaborates on the close bond between both characters and hints at them being more of a couple than roommates, which wouldn't be a plausible situation in the Losers sequence but effortlessly matches the dynamic between Foil and Arms in both Lads 1 and 2. And of course, slagging gets a literal callback. FAH had by then got a lot of feedback from FAHns about the Gerald sketches and that might have influenced Foil's take on these characters a bit.

My final take on this Lads Vs Losers issue is that in Never Sponsor Someone two sketch universes collided and merged into one. The Gerald character matches Arms's Loser character well enough, but Foil's character seems to suffer from mood swings. Would the guy who made his roommate "feel shit about running a marathon" want to introduce that same person to his school pals? In all probability, Foil got inspired by the Marathon characters to start writing a sketch around Irish Lad Etiquette. And after having settled on making a series out of the Lads couple, the Losers got thrown into the mix to add some extra flavour, either knowingly or accidentally.

Relationship Mechanics
What is the nature of Gerald's relationship with Foil's character Stephen, based on what we can tell from these six sketches? (We'll go into comments and replies by the lads later on.) I will discuss this topic for the Lads and Losers sketches separately, as I've made my point about how different I feel Foil's characters are. Let's try and answer some basic questions for each.

First of all: are they roommates, just friends, or even a romantic couple?

In Lads, the relationships between the two is the most ambiguous and can easily be read either way. These two guys are clearly living together, because if not it'd be an odd request from Stephen for Gerald to go change his outfit in Lads 1, or for Gerald to have a diffuser in his pocket in Lads 2. They're clearly close, but the various misunderstandings do imply they don't go 'way back'. Additionally, it's quite common in both relationships and roommate situations to have a circle of friends you don't share with the person you're living with, your pals from school being the perfect example. Less common is for you to drag your roommate along to a school friends reunion in town, if that's all he is. Gerald and Stephen's relationship is certainly close enough for them to indulge the other's different tastes, habits and activities. A regular roommate relationship doesn't usually include having to attend book festivals with them when that's not your thing. How about a middle ground: cohousing friends? Still, not losing face in front of 'the lads' is a huge concern for Stephen, enough for him to lie to them about time spent with Gerald if his chosen activity wasn't laddish enough to pass. I wonder if Gerald returned the favour by going fishing by the canal with Stephen some other time... The Home Gym Instructor is very generous indeed with the couple vibe, which climaxes in the close up on Gerald when he's talking about Stephen's 'fear of intimacy'. Two and a half years after Lads 2, Foil clearly decided to go with Arms's reading of the Gerald scripts, based on what we know from a Patreon livestream. It's possible that both the roommates and the relationship scenarios are equally true, depending on which actor you ask! The sneak preview of the finished set by Hog even had a caption describing it as 'their' living room, so there we are. Again, both partners having a completely separate circle of friends isn't unheard of in a romantic couple.

In Losers, only a dysfunctional relationship in which most of the romance is gone would make sense, and it's highly unlikely FAH had intended to write their characters in that situations. The most logical interpretation is to see the pair as reluctant roommates, spending a large chunk of their time together getting annoyed at each other's habits and opinions. Reactions such as 'Why are you being such arseholes' and I can't believe you're making me feel shit about running a Marathon can turn up in any fight, whether you actually like (love) the person or not, of course. In Never Sponsor Someone, Gerald is at the Fringe of the friends circle: familiar but not well-liked, just barely tolerated as someone you keep on hand in order to have an easy target to slag.

Next question: How does Hog's character's presence change the relationship?

Hog's first appearance as Gerald's slagging target practice in Lads 1 is more of a cameo role. Hog's portrayal reminded me of other low status characters such as Karl in Break Ups: Worst Advice Ever (whose friends are, frankly, savage!). This is not a lad to fear, and he seems quite relaxed himself about taking the huge risk of offering an opinion.

In Never Sponsor Someone, Hog looks like more of caricature, thanks to the black wig he apparently insisted on wearing (including during the outro). This time, the character is extremely unpleasant indeed. Overall, the performances from all three are a bit more over the top in this sketch, with Arms dialling up the whininess of Gerald to 11 while Hog is channelling the sadist from the Career Guidance sketch. When Foil's character explained the concept of slagging to Gerald (and us viewers) in Lads 1, is this what he had in mind? It's possible that Hog's character just brings out the worst in Stephen. The gap between the Gerald characters 's portrayals across sketches in this series has never been as wide as between Lads 1 and Never Sponsor Someone.

More on the Hog characters below!

And finally we've arrived at the pertinent question: Why are these two even together?

There's plenty of evidence that Gerald is very fond of Stephen. For one thing, he keeps asking him out on 'dates'. His entry is always cheerful and hopeful, a bit like Ernie bugging Bert for attention in every single episode of Sesame Street (incidentally, the Bert/Ernie relationship is quite controversial as well!). He's willing to step out of his comfort zone for him, especially in Gym Instructor where it looks like he's discovered a new talent.

On the flipside, Gerald disapproves of a lot of things he doesn't really know anything about but that seem to matter a great deal to Stephen, such as playing computer games. He's not very keen on Stephen's friends either, before even having met them he calls them bullies! And if that's not enough, he even badmouths his own friends behind their backs (poor Liam Nolan can't help he has bad breath can he?). Prejudiced, I'd call that! Furthermore, it only takes him a few practice rounds in both Lads 1 and Gym Instructor to discover he has quite the talent for being a bit of a meanie! I wouldn't trust this Gerald, he seems like the sort of person who could hold a grudge for years. I'd rather take Stephen's what-you-see-is-what-you-get way of dealing with people.

Stephen is very fond of Gerald in return. He's on his team, going out of his way to prevent Gerald from getting slagged by the lads, while also making sure Gerald doesn't give them anything to slag him about either. Being around Gerald must make Stephen feel safe and secure, able to be himself in good and bad days. Through thick and thin eh! Sounds a bit like a relationship to me lads... Lying about his activities with Gerald to the lads just shows how uncomfortable Stephen really is as a lad. Maybe he doesn't really fit in with the lads as well as he'd hoped? He shouldn't feel embarrassed about having Gerald as a (boy)friend anyway, because Gerald had already proven himself to be something of a slagging genius!

Stephen doesn't fare well on his own. He needs a partner to sound off of, to keep him company, to make him feel better about himself. Unable to see the lads during lockdown, his mood visibly deteriorated and he seems to have completely stopped taking care of himself. Remember, this was the lad who was very particular about which exact clothes to wear in Lads 1 & 2! Gerald is possibly the best addition to anyone's support bubble, because he'll indulge your whims while trying to talk sense to you. It just so happens that Stephen greatly underestimated Gerald's talent for slagging and will now have to pay for it. It might do him a world of good!

Writing
Foil is the principal writer for both the 'Lads' and 'Loser' sketches. He shared a page of the second Lads script with a FAHn after they asked him about his character's name during the very first Patreon Q & A (at around the 24-minute mark if you want to rewatch the whole stream!).

Character Creation
It's fun to try and get at what moved Foil - universally known as the nicest one of out FAH (and that's a HIGH bar!) to come up with all these insults. They mentioned during a Patreon Q & A that the writer of a sketch also gets to cast it, so why did he pick out Arms to pick on? It certainly motivates me to bug him about the origins of that other classic Foil and Arms back-and-forth, the sketch that's fittingly named Insults.



Will the name stick after all these years? I think we can safely guess the answer to that question.

But there's something else about this script that's quite interesting indeed. If you compare it to the final product, i.e. the sketch, you can see that they cut the lines that reveal Dave has a girlfriend. The conversation goes straight from Foil's character replying (about the promotion): "No Gerald, they won't" to Gerald responding with a confused "Okay..." And then straight on to the matter of parking the car.

To me, this makes it look like the 'girlfriend' lines were recorded but ended up on the cutting room floor by the resident FAH editor, Arms himself. If so, Gerald's okay... was taken out of context slightly. There are many reasons for a scene or bits of dialogue to be cut, one important one for a comedy sketch being the flow: if a dialogue is a bit slow, the jokes simply don't work. But in my opinion the 'probably have kids' line is much funnier - more ridiculous - than the one about the promotion. Could it be they (or just Arms) wanted the lads' relationship status to be a little more obscure until they figured out where they wanted to take the dynamic between these two characters?

This clip from the Q & A in question tells us a lot about the lads' attitude towards character backgrounds. Hog isn't even sure who Gerald is exactly, Arms is going with a couple storyline and Foil is sticking to his original script of them just being roommates.

Foil shared another little insight into the FAH character creation process with a FAHn in a Patreon message (late January 2021). Cait explained to Foil how Gerald has become a bit of a queer icon, because he's perceived by most FAHns as a non-straight character. She added:

To which Foil replied:



That Gerald script was of course to become The Home Gym Instructor. Incidentally, its original title was How to be a Gym Instructor, making it fit neatly into the how-to series as a third episode, but FAH's new hobby seems to be changing sketch titles a week after they premiere. How perfect would a title like Sponsored Walks are for Losers have been for a well-balanced Gerald series: three Losers and three How to be somethings! Even ''The Worst Home Gym Instructor would've been better... far more clickbaity! People love watching others fail at things they think they could do better if only they felt like it, don't they?

Which other sketches might feature characters that came into existence because of the lads not wanting to wig up? A good contender is the 'couple' who are trying to get Foil (again) to see sense about his tea consumption levels in Tea Addiction (not surprisingly also a sketch on the Gerald-like playlist!). Traditionally, this couple would be a mum and dad talking to their teen. From 90s era 'roommate sitcoms' onwards that did change, but there's still a strong couples vibe present in this sketch because of the way it's set up: the intervening pair sitting across from the target.

Admittedly, there are only three people in FAH... but I'd be happy to go along with the idea that they wrote these characters as a stereotypical family (much like Coming Out in fact) and then decided they weren't going to bother with all those costume changes!

Narrative Structure
This overview is loosely based on the three-act structure, a classic narrative device with roots in ancient Greek dramatic structure theory, and should be taken with a whole pint of salt. Use the scroll box!

Camera Angles & Movement
Every sketch in the Gerald canon is (mostly) filmed hand-held with cameraman Hog (or Arms!) balancing the camera over his shoulder, the angle at eyelevel. Without any image stabilisation the closeups look organic and feel rather intense, as if you're right there in the room, getting slagged yourself. The camera movement used for nearly all scenes is called the point-of-view shot. That means we're looking the lads more or less straight in the eye while they're delivering their lines, as if we're switching roles from one character to the other in the conversation. This is an interesting tactic that's not used in other FAH sketches all too often. One example of consistent POV throughout the entire dialogue would be a now deleted sketch called When a Festival Sells Out.

  

What's the point of the POV angle in these sketches? The choice of camera movement is too consistent to be an accident so it's a fair question, and quite interesting to try figure out what it does to us, the viewer, making eye contact with these characters. These characters' eyes speak volumes and we're getting the full effect of every glance and glare those blue-eyes boys shoot at us.

The conversations are supposed to be intense AND make us feel tense, witnessing their back-and-forth. As a viewer, you're drawn into this argument, but you're also seeing both character's point of view in a metaphorical sense. Yeah, Gerald's the lovable softie, but do you really agree with his arguments one hundred percent? Doesn't his roommate sometimes have a point, even though he's not being all that nice about it? And I have to admit, having a couple of pet peeves myself, I'd love to be able to launch into a rant in the secure knowledge that my friend will ask me to come on a walk again the next day anyway.

This choice of filming technique is therefore absolutely spot on. These sketches revolve around two characters with a different point of view, and the camera movements and angles illustrate exactly that. Brilliant stuff! Still, the latest Gerald sketch The Home Gym Instructor abandons the POV shot in a couple of places:

Organic Food Knob is a great example of mixed camera angles: the opening shot is a so-called two-shot with both actors on camera as the viewer's looking through the unbroken fourth wall, the rest of the sketch is mostly filmed using the POV angle. The switch to the two-shot serves as a way to show some extra context such as the setting and the physical distance between characters. After all, body language can reveal important clues about what these guys are REALLY saying to each other! The two-shot is also used in the epilogue in How to be a Lad (part 1), to be able to properly show the gestures involved in the lads' chant.

Compare this POV angle with the more common over the shoulder shot used in sketches such as How not to tell a story or Travel Knob Guy, where the focus is on just one main actor. You can also find this type of shot in most dialogue-heavy sketches such as the Word Play series and other (often two-hander) sketches taking place in a shop, but in those cases a shot-counter-shot structure is used, with the camera pointing at the actor saying the line, give or take a couple of reaction shots for comedic effect. Interestingly, there's one sketch that could have worked just as well in POV but ended up being over the shoulder: Craft Beer Knob. Yes, that one's on my Gerald playlist as well!

Locations & Sets

 * Lads 1 is recorded at the old office without any set dressing at all, as was the FAH modus operandi as that time. Check out the sketch from the week before,Anxious The Board Game, in which you can even spot a couple of live show posters. In the 'party' scene in Lads 1 you can clearly see a huge OINK poster in the background, lit up by Christmas lights! There's plenty of stuff visible that might have nothing to do with the sketch and everything with the lads simply not bothering to clear it from the frame. It hardly takes away from the story, in fact it adds to it! Those worn-down walls coated in awful bland pale yellow paint that's flaky at the corners, random stuff on the floor (suitcases, a trumpet, another (framed) poster upside down against wall in a corner,... it's just the perfect lads' gaff!


 * Lads 2 is recorded at a snazzy gaff they rented during their Fringe runs of 2017 and 2018. As lads' gaffs go, this one is FAR too slaggable. If this 'set' had been a deliberate artistic choice made by a director of a sitcom, he'd have a huge storyline gap to explain. But of course it isn't, which is why a wooden giraffe in the room runs zero risk of slagging while a mint and lavender scent is the end of the... well, sketch. The open kitchen is used to full effect, giving us one of the prettiest opening shots in FAH sketch history in my opinion. You can see more from this very same living room and kitchen in August sketches from 2017 and 2018, collected in a gallery on this page. Have fun spotting the giraffe and don't forget to check out the outros for an even better view!


 * Never Sponsor Someone and The Home Gym Instructor are both filmed on a set they custom built at their new office. The former looks like your typical Oisín & Parents living room, the latter has yellowy wallpaper instead. Did Gerald redecorate? It's safe to say that any item found in these 'living rooms' are put there on purpose instead of simply being random office mess the FAH lads forgot to clear away.

Hog posted a picture of the Home Gym Instructor set on Instagram the week before the premiere. The name change from Dave to Stephen got some in-the-know FAHns all jittery on the socials of course!

Wardrobe: the Underestimated Icon of the Understated Style
This chapter was kindly written and researched by Lillian aka @Lilium_sylvanum.

How can we describe Gerald's fashion style? The short answer is... No, not "Ye" but button-down. Some can even call it plain, but I prefer to think that it's a low-key and elegant style. I base my opinion on five canon sketches about Gerald and his (room)mate and two sketches that are not exactly about them but Arms' character is very close to what can be accepted as Gerald.

Two first and maybe the most important for defining his style sketches are How to Be a Lad, part 1, and Never Sponsor Someone. They are united by a crucial element of Gerald's image: a hat. If you think that a knitted hat with a big pompom is for children and isn't suitable for a grown up person, you clearly haven't seen how gorgeously Gerald wears it. Whether it's a plain blueish grey one or a grey and blue with red print one, he looks just a little bit too cute for a human being in both. In How to Be... also appears a chequered black and white scarf that unfortunately never comes back again.

We can say Gerald's favourite pieces of clothes in every day life are jumpers and shirts. We can see him wearing them in all the sketches except two that are somehow about sport events. For example, in How to Be..., part 1, he is wearing a blue shirt with each and every button done. Can it slightly remind us one of the main personages from the Arms' favourite book Harry Potter, Severus Snape? This powerful and enigmatic hero always had all his numerous buttons done. Fine, let's leave this comparison here and move on. I'd like to mention that when the atmosphere is not that formal Gerald prefers to wear chequered shirts as in a restaurant with the girl in Lying on Tinder (black and white one) or in Never Sponsor Someone (wine red and dark blue one).

Now jumpers... Plainest, most boring, least slaggable. Black in How to Be..., part 2, grey that was later changed to a light blue one in The Matchmaking Estate Agent. Reframing classics: "But it's jumper so you can't complain".

Now we came to the final stop that is Gerald's sport outfit. Our physically active lad was spotted wearing deep blue with some black elements sport coat in Walking is for Losers but his look is much more curious in Marathons are for Losers. Do you think it's because of that bright yellow sport T-shirt? No, it's because of this pretty pink blush he had after running all those kilometres.

Those who are still not convinced that Gerald's fashion style is really an understated one, go check out his strict but original black cardigan without collar from Lying on Tinder (also with all the buttons done by the way). I mean, who on Earth cares what is written in his profile after seeing his stylish photos?

''Additional note by Heleendje: Gerald's knitted beanie bobble hat has reached iconic levels in the FAHniverse by now. Should replicas of this hat ever end up in the Foil Arms and Hog Merch store, these lads could buy as many wooden giraffes they can eat!''

Props
Certain items turning up in different sketches tells us precisely nothing about the way the characters in said sketches are linked together, for the simple reason that FAH have a limited amount of stuff lying around in the office and some of it just happens to end up on screen. At least, that WAS the case until Hog turned pro as a set dresser! Nevertheless, it's too much fun to deliberately read way too much into props, so let's take a look at what we can find hidden away in the Gerald sketches. You can find a prop slideshow for each of the six 'true' Gerald sketches below.

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The vinyl records have been identified as: THE VERY BEST OF THE BEACH BOYS VOLUMES 1 & 2, Graceland by Paul Simon, The Jam - The Gift and The Last Goon Show Of All by the Goons.

The Anxious! box turning up in both Gerald's and Stephen's frames (in a shot-reverse shot sequence!) points to a deliberate placement as a prop. When the camera is pointing at Gerald it's hardly visible, stuffed away in the IKEA unit behind him. It's probably only in Stephen's shots that the FAH prop department thought of using it as a deliberate piece of set decoration. It doesn't quite make sense for one item to be in two places at once during a conversation, but continuity is FAH sketches is notoriously non-existent.

Why do FAHns love Gerald?
The character of Gerald strongly resonates with a bunch of FAHns, as the comments strewn across social media platforms have clearly shown. Many viewers feel they either ARE a Gerald, KNOW a Gerald or want to BE a Gerald. Some may possess enough self-knowledge to realise they might have some of his roommate's characteristics too, but they wouldn't be as quick to point that out for everyone to read in the comments section now would they?

But why would this be? Gerald is whiney at best and his roommate's just mean. Yet it would appear that the Gerald sketches are the closest thing to a comfort blanket in the FAHndom. If you follow any FAHns on social media, you will have noticed I'm sure. I've collected a couple of gems for this section. Snuggle up and read on!

Comments about Gerald Sketches
The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Enjoy some excerpts from outpourings of Gerald love from within the FAHndom, taken from various social media platforms. If you'd like to add anything, feel free to hit that edit button!

Comments to sketches
A 'best of', including FAH replies of course, found in the comment sections on the YouTube, Facebook and Instagram uploads for each (canon) Gerald sketch in chronological order.

Tweets
These quotes were selected from my #BringBackGerald thread on Twitter and the group chat conversations that followed.

This one is definitely my favourite... oh, the potential! Hold on to your hats, FAH!

Gerald-themed FAHn Creations
This is what happens if FAHns take the "Gerald" concept and run away with it! Got any Gerald-themed FAHnartwork of your own you'd like to share here? Don't hesitate to contact me and I'll give your work a spot on this page!

Note that most of these creations were made for and shared via Twitter and Instagram. This collection is meant as a reel of highlights to browse and click through on, in case you weren't around at the time these were posted or if you want to reminisce a little bit.

I believe it's fair to say that my own hashtag campaign #BringBackGerald, on the occasion of the 1 year anniversary of Never Sponsor Someone, has stirred FAHn emotions and sparked some of the creativity presented here. The expressions of love and longing for this character has certainly reached new creative heights in 2021, even before the newest Gerald sketch premiered! And isn't it just lovely to see...

Gerald's Bumble Profile
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Straight after the third Gerald sketch Never Sponsor Someone aired, I felt so sorry for him that I wanted to help him find the perfect walkathon date. Using name-drops from the various Gerald-themed sketches already compiled by then, I made this Bumble profile. To my delight, this effort was endorsed by FAH in the comments to my Instagram post... twice! - by Heleendje

Gerald FAHnvid homage
When you have a collection of sketches loosely tied together by virtue of a similar character portrayed by the same actor, you can start building your own story! FAHnFic is one well-known way to tie scattered existing storylines together, but it can work quite convincingly in FAHnvids as well. You only need to watch out for name inconsistencies (if that sort of thing matters to you...). For example, this was my homage to Gerald using a bunch of sketches from my own Gerald & The Lads playlist:



#BringBackGerald Campaign Teasers
I (@Heleendje) launched a poster on the 1 year anniversary of Gerald's appearance in Never Sponsor Someone in the form of a Missing Person's poster. Still not quite satisfied, I added a video experiment (created in After Effects). When Gerald's hat (which is obviously also Arms's hat) turned up during the next Patreon livestream, I know I had to add a third attempt.

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A Children's Book
Check out FAHnWriter @MathildeHoeg's Children's book How Gerald Became a Lad on the FAHn Comics' page!