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As a partnership, the two have quietly been inserting their combination of overt daftness and gently unsettling queerness into all manner of places only the most dedicated viewer would detect.

He has contributed to many sketch shows, including Harry Enfield and Chums , The All New Alexei Sayle Show and, notably, the Ted & Ralph segments of The Fast Show.

However, it was with Father Ted (3 series, 1995- 1998) that Linehan & Mathews (as the pair are often referred to) made their biggest splash on the public imagination.

Both Linehan and Mathews worked on the first series of sketch show Big Train but only Mathews had a hand in the, less fondly remembered, second series.

Nevertheless, Mathews has continued to provide material for many of the shows respected by hard core, thirty-something, comedy junkies, particularly Brass Eye and Jam.

The pair made a rare appearance in the hugely accomplished sitcom I'm Alan Partridge as two Irish men considering Alan Partridge ( Steve Coogan) for a contract. Typically, they went away with a strong urge to employ somebody else (Partridge: "Sunday Bloody Sunday. Really captures the frustration of a Sunday, doesn't it? Nothing to do but go to Ikea" Note: Not the exact quote, can anyone provide a transcripted version?)

In the absence of a picture, Mathews is the fairer haired of the two in the scene mentioned. Those looking for another point of distinction between the two should note that Mathews contributed to only one episode of the first two series of Black Books, whereas Linehan had a hand in six.

In late 2003, the writing duo were named two of the 50 FunniestIn December 2003 The Observer newspaper printed its list of the 50 people it considered funniest and/or most influential in British comedy. The list was not ranked but presented alphabetically. List 3 Non-Blondes Caroline Aherne Rowan Atkinson Bill Bailey People In Britain by The GuardianThe Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is a serious broadsheet newspaper with relatively left wing politics. Until 1959 it was called The Manchester Guardian and the paper is still sometimes referred to by this name, esp. [1]

1 Further reading

• Well Remembered Days: Eoin O'Cellaigh's Memoirs of a Twentieth-century Irish Catholic -- Arthur Mathews (Paperback - Macmillan - March 9, 2001) BooksEnthsiast.com

A comic novelA comic novel is a work of fiction in which the writer seeks to amuse the reader: sometimes with subtlety and as part of a carefully woven narrative, sometimes above all other considerations. Some notable British comic novelists include Martin Amis, Terry

• "Father Ted": The Complete Scripts -- Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews. (Paperback - Boxtree - October 20, 2000) BooksEnthsiast.com

2 External links

The Guardian Newspaper's 50 Funniest People In Britain