Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

[hobbes]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

See that really did make me laugh.
Not so much the idea, but the lengths to which it was taken.

[garcia]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

yeah, but there weren't really any surprises, it was - what's the next stage back? fill in the blanks and repeat.

i did chuckle at the repeated protestations that he was sure the UKIP guy had the economic interests of bulgaria at heart.

[Come along, Min]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

The gist of Saturday's show was pretty obvious apart from the part where he complained about possibly not being able to have cheap immigrant labour to serve him his hot beverages. I hoped that was the angle he was going to pursue and was disappointed with how it concluded. It all seemed a bit cheap in the end.

[garcia]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

there was also a gag about liverpudlians going on and on about the past, but maybe i was watching it on the wrong level of irony.

[Come along, Min]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

garcia wrote: there was also a gag about liverpudlians going on and on about the past,

Yah, that was relatively daring. He skimmed over material that might have been more interesting in favour of shooting fish in a barrel.

[dalliance]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

I'm failing to see the need of the Chris Morris sections at all. It's just a reprise of exactly the same themes he covered with Iannucci last time round. I thought that itself was stretched wafer thin three times in each of the six episodes, but to sit through essentially the same stuff again another 18 times this round is a bit tedious.

[Ginger Yellow]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

He skimmed over material that might have been more interesting in favour of shooting fish in a barrel.

Well, yeah, but for the most part* the subject matter is immaterial in a Stewart Lee set. One of his best recent shows was about crisps. It's all about the structure and the delivery.

*The glorious Richard Littlejohn bit is an obvious exception, but even then, what makes that bit sublime is the way he sets up the punchline through repetition.

[Come along, Min]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Ginger Yellow wrote:

He skimmed over material that might have been more interesting in favour of shooting fish in a barrel.

Well, yeah, but for the most part* the subject matter is immaterial in a Stewart Lee set. One of his best recent shows was about crisps. It's all about the structure and the delivery.

*The glorious Richard Littlejohn bit is an obvious exception, but even then, what makes that bit sublime is the way he sets up the punchline through repetition.

Sure, but if the structure, delivery and repetition is basically so idiosyncratically similar every time, what we're left with is just repetition. Material counts and the digging at UKIP stuff just seemed to blend him in with a fair amount of other stuff that pops up on (dare I say it) the BBC. A bit obvious.

I generally like him though, he's an interesting enough performer. It's just that it looked like he horsed that particular piece together. It wasn't his best.

[Ginger Yellow]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

OK, I take back the subject matter comment. This (from the first five minutes of the series!) is spectacular:

"If you've stolen one of my live DVDs off the internet, that's the same as stealing food out of my kids' mouths. Well, not exactly that, but it does delay the point at which we've got enough money to move into the catchment area of a selective grammar school... How are my kids supposed to grow up to be campaigners for social justice without the benefit of educational privilege... Hear that? That's the sound of the middle classes applauding their own guilt...But they're not absolved...Only God can forgive."

[Jah Womble]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

I'm failing to see the need of the Chris Morris sections at all. It's just a reprise of exactly the same themes he covered with Iannucci last time round. I thought that itself was stretched wafer thin three times in each of the six episodes, but to sit through essentially the same stuff again another 18 times this round is a bit tedious.

See, I don't see it like that at all. The near-painful over-inflation of an idea is an essential component of Lee's toolbox. Those (very brief) segments stretch that skin to the nth degree, hence Lee's apparent attempts to avoid corpsing throughout.

The act is not flawless by any means, but watching a performer exhibiting skills created by, and unique to himself remains interesting and enjoyable.

[Ginger Yellow]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

I have to say that while I love those segments, I think it works slightly less well with Morris than with Iannucci. But only because Morris has his own history with hostile interviews of deluded characters, namely the stuff he did with Peter Cook. So when I'm watching these bits they start to feel like they should be operating in Arthur Streeb-Greebling mode, rather than "Stewart Lee" mode.

[E10 Rifle]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

I don't agree that his stuff works better in print. I find most of his columns kind of indulgent and unfunny, with the exception of his recent piss-take of over-reverential Bill Hicks groupies.

Have enjoyed this series so far, though I actually thought the first episode was better, particularly the "that is the sound of the middle-classes applauding their own guilt" gag, after his routine about needing enough money to move into the catchment area of a selective grammar school.

And I agree that, on a similar theme, the issue of the "need" to have his tea and coffee served by sub-minimum wage Bulgarians might have been a better subject to mine more extensively than the other stuff he ran with.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Yeah, his craft is stand-up. He works the room like a master room-worker; his whole act is built on those dynamics.

His written stuff's always good compared to just about anything else today's editors would consider replacing it with, so that's good enough for me. It's not as if I have to pay for it.

[Ray de Galles]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

I find his columns terrible but his two books of and around his stand up material are great.

I have his novel somewhere but have never got round to starting it.

.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Comedians' novels .

[Benjm]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

I saw a copy of Russell Kane's novel on the pound table of the damned outside the local discount book shop the other day. It could even be one of Russell Kane's novels, who knows?

It wasn't quite as sad as one of Robert Newman's novels discovered in the same heavily reduced circumstances some years ago that turned out to be a signed copy on closer inspection.

[Giggler]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Benjm wrote: I saw a copy of Russell Kane's novel on the pound table of the damned outside the local discount book shop the other day. It could even be one of Russell Kane's novels, who knows?

It wasn't quite as sad as one of Robert Newman's novels discovered in the same heavily reduced circumstances some years ago that turned out to be a signed copy on closer inspection.

Robert Newman's playing a room in a pub in Oldham tonight.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Add me to the list of people who thought the first show was much funnier than the second. Mainly because the "one end of a telephone conversation" device fits his style brilliantly, and some of the lines on that phone call were awesome. I think my favourite was "I'll know it's you" to the customer who wanted 3 tons not one ton.

[Bored Of Education]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Only just caught up on the first one but it is what I love - Lee pushing the boundaries of what can be done with comedy by taking a meta- approach. Then he sticks a bit of actual genius comedy like the telephone routine in. If he has a bit as good as that in, I can wait 25 minutes for it.

[Tony C]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Tonight's show was my favourite so far this series.

The part at the very end with the mice replicating the JFK murder had e helpless with laughter. Just the absurdity of it - not, you know, satirical.

[Ray de Galles]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Yes, just seen the third and he is on top form. Out of all three series so far it seems to be the one that best captures the live show. The Chris Morris inserts and film at the end worked perfectly too.

[Ginger Yellow]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

The thing I enjoyed most about it was seeing Chris Morris corpsing at the end.

[Jah Womble]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Anyone else catch the last of these over the weekend? There were, of course, several strands and trains of thought to admire, but have to say I felt it very unfocused and lacking in syntax compared to the previous editions. (I've also been a bit baffled since by the universal excitement at SL's made-up beer names: I mean, anyone can do that, no? Maybe it's me, but I didn't quite understand the target there, either.)

A mighty fine stand-up, of course, and I hope it won't be another three years before we see a further series from him. Knowing the BBC, however, I'm not holding my breath.

[Ray de Galles]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Series four was commissioned together with the third so I think it will be with us fairly soon.

I tend to agree with you about the last episode and I think the series as a whole hasn't matched the second one. The relative lack of focus and rhythm you refer to above was noticeable almost throughout.

I did love the final insert with him and Morris corpsing through the interview/analysis section though, topically the two of them riffing off each other reminded me of why I love 'The Trip' so much.

.

[Bored Of Education]

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Watched the last one over the weekend (only have one more to catch up on). Interestingly, watched it with the wife who is much more a fan of straight Michael McIntyre comedy (which I am not totally averse to) and she really enjoyed it even though it isn't, obviously, laff-a-minute.

Whatever criticisms of him (and I think it has come from expecting so much fro him), I don't think there is anyone better presently who is doing straight stand-up. I haven't seen any of the comedians that he defers to - Daniel Kitson, Simon Munnery - for years if at all so can't compare, it has to be said, but they would have to go it some.

Indeed, I would say that, although he wouldn't be at all impressed by the comparison, Lee is now getting to and possibly surpassing the stage that Hicks seemed to be getting to before his death. A mixture of spoken word, experimenting with format and how far the audience will wait for a laugh and bringing in meta- aspects. Obviously, very funny as well.

The only consistent issue I have is why (apart from as devices for jokes) Lee bothers with slagging off other comedians. It has now been pretty constant in his books and stand-up for a while and is beneath him. He is so much better than them. I know that it, along with the bits about not winning awards and the delay in recommissioning the series, adds to the bitter schtick but he could drop it with no loss of quality.