Father Ted Mathews first met while working at "Hot Press". In the late 1980s, Mathews, Paul Woodfull and Kieran Woodfull formed The Joshua Trio, a U2 tribute band. The trio began writing comedy sketches to accompany their act. Mathews created the Father Ted character for his short-lived stand-up routine. Before The Joshua Trio played at gigs, Mathews would occasionally come on-stage as Father Ted and tell jokes involving his great friend, Father Dougal McGuire. In 1991, Mathews left his job at "Hot Press" and moved into Linehan's London home. Over the next three to four years, they worked on rough ideas for
Are You Right There Father Ted? looks out the window and sees a family of three Chinese people watching him. He is horrified, and tells Dougal that he will catch up with them and explain that he is not a racist. But by the time he leaves the house, rumours that Ted is a racist are already flying all over Craggy Island; most of his honest attempts to prove otherwise are blighted either by incongruous objects or downright ill luck. At one point, he is seen standing behind a window with a perfectly square bit of black dirt on it, thus appearing to give him a