A phrase adopted by Australian comedian Adam Hills, usually used as an expression of affirmation or
encouragement.
It was coined during a 1999 stand-up
performance in Melbourne, Australia. Hills had invited an audience member on stage to yell out his own name; instead, the man shouted "go you big red fire engine!" The phrase quickly became an audience chant, and Hills subsequently used it as an affirmative mantra,
eventually basing a stand-up show around it in 2001.
"Go you big red fire engine!" came to be regarded as a general expression of encouragement, and with Hills' urging it began to weasel its way into pop culture: it ended up appearing in a Detroit newspaper and on a Swedish website, as well as being yelled out in the Australian Federal Parliament by then-Senator Natasha Stott Despoja.
"
The only way I could get through every night (of a bad gig) was, as I
walked on, to just go, 'go you big red fire engine!' I could face anything after saying that!" -
Adam Hills, "Go You Big Red Fire Engine" (2001)
