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)