Stewart Lee

[Mockney]

90s Comedian is still probably his best show IMO (the one with Joe Pasquale and the long rambling Jesus story) then Stand Up Comedian (with the Scotland and Diana stuff) and 41st Best Stand Up...basically the three in his book.

The recent ones have been a bit hit and miss, and a lot of Comedy Vehicle has been a combination of stuff minded from the above 3 (the IRA stuff for example) and self conscious comment. Mainly cos those shows were what made him trendy, and the new ones have had a larger element of knowing about them. Plus it's always hard to play the unfashionable alternative outsider when you're selling out the Soho Theatre.

Im in danger of being a twatty Stewart Lee fan by over analysing it though. He's still very funny.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

Yep. I don't think he'll ever top 90's Comedian. Nor would I expect him to.

 

[decorativeed]

I've just found that all of TMWRNJ are in full, on youtube. The best thing to be broadcast at midday on a sunday morning, ever! (apart from maybe Gazzetta Football Italia) ...Watching it now, it's incredible the stuff they got away with for the time slot.

There was an interview he did recently with Richard Herring and they spoke about how they managed to get away with all kinds of things simply because nobody from the BBC was bothered enough to watch it or to check what they were doing was suitable.

My favourite bits from it were the Histor's Eye sections:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7bJ0s26UJw&list=UUTxNfVm4U1It_KeU4QOIIUw&index=9&feature=plcp

 

[Badunk]

Reading his book at the minute. Can't get enough of him, really. He is totally brilliant.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

The DVD for Carpet Remnant World came out today apparently.


Will be interesting to see how it differs from the relatively early version I caught in Leicester Square as I felt it was lacking something at the time.

 

[Badunk]

Carpet Remnant World is fecking hilarious! They showed it on Comedy Central X the other day. He is also hosting The Alternative Comedy Experience tomorrow night as well.

 

[jdmufc]

The DVD for Carpet Remnant World came out today apparently.


Will be interesting to see how it differs from the relatively early version I caught in Leicester Square as I felt it was lacking something at the time.

I just stared blankly at the screen throughout that whole clip, can't for the life of me see what anyone was laughing at.

 

[Count Orduck]

I just stared blankly at the screen throughout that whole clip, can't for the life of me see what anyone was laughing at.

Yeh I simply don't "get" him. Maybe we're not smart enough, jd?

 

[Badunk]

That would be my guess.

 

[JulesWinnfield]

The guy seems to have real problems with Michael Mcintyre, near constant direct and indirect attacks on him.

At least he's not annoying as a large section of his fans who seem to be the most smug, self satisfied people in the world. He could stand there throwing his own shit at them and they'd be finding it hysterical. Probably interpreting it as a comment on stand up comedy today.

 

[Badunk]

He says during the show "you know all the things I say on stage? I really think the opposite".

I think he doesn't rate McIntyre, though. And he's entitled to his opinion. McIntyre is painfully shit.

 

[Mockney]

The guy seems to have real problems with Michael Mcintyre, near constant direct and indirect attacks on him.

N.B. You can't really do the sarcastic "I guess we're just not smart enough to get him " routine, if you actually, genuinely dont get it.

Stewart Lee: What I really think about Michael McIntyre.

 

[JulesWinnfield]

N.B. You can't really do the sarcastic "I guess we're just not smart enough to get him " routine, if you actually, genuinely dont get it.

Stewart Lee: What I really think about Michael McIntyre.

He's gone after him various times before and after that article - name dropping him here and there. Pretty strange to do against someone who is completely inoffensive, regardless of what you think of the quality of his act. If you don't think that routine is a thinly veiled dig at him, then you yourself appear not to get it.

Although that article doesn't exactly make him sound great:

These days I mainly meet other comics at the 60 or so unpaid charity benefit shows I do every year, and I never see McIntyre at any of these, so I don’t know him.

And yes I know the 60 bit is a joke, but clearly to people not familiar with his act, which is a lot of people, it doesn't come across that way. I'm guessing he was surely aware of this.

 

[mufcwarm92]

I don't and have never found him funny. Like some others I struggle to see what the fus on here is about - I don't really know anyone who likes him outside the Caf.

 

[jdmufc]

It's really not that difficult to get, he's just not funny to me, there's no warmth in his comedy routines which to me just come across as him trying to lecture me into laughing, there's nothing wrong with trying to make a point with your comedy but for me he loses the comedy element whilst trying to put his point across.

you're never gonna get a belly laugh from Lee, yes he may make you think but that's about it for me.

 

[Castia]

I haven't seen much of him to be honest so I cant judge his all round performance but that clip is shite, I mean McIntyre must be crying himself to sleep after such a low blow, right? if your gonna rib another comic at least do it proper and more importantly make it funny I thought that was terrible.

 

[I_live_cement]

And yes I know the 60 bit is a joke, but clearly to people not familiar with his act, which is a lot of people, it doesn't come across that way. I'm guessing he was surely aware of this.

Hang on, so even though you understood that it was a joke, you're getting angry on behalf of the people who wouldn't?

 

[Mockney]

He's gone after him various times before and after that article - name dropping him here and there. Pretty strange to do against someone who is completely inoffensive, regardless of what you think of the quality of his act.

I assume as someone who doesn't like Lee, you've obviously seen all of his shows and articles, to make sure that these weren't out of context?

I wasn’t being interviewed. I was in character. Context

I wasn’t there, and yet I’m continually quoted as the focal point of the rudeness that upset him

Apparently I represent ‘a slime pit of unpleasantness’ and once again, a Mail newspaper de-contextualises one line from my 45 minute 2009 routine ....

If you don't think that routine is a thinly veiled dig at him, then you yourself appear not to get it.

Yes. As someone who's seen the vast majority of his output, been to see him live and enjoys his work, it's almost certainly the case that I'm the more likely to have misinterpreted his schtick.

And yes I know the 60 bit is a joke, but clearly to people not familiar with his act, which is a lot of people, it doesn't come across that way. I'm guessing he was surely aware of this.

Pointing out that an out of context joke could be perceived differently to people who aren't familiar with his work is certainly an interesting way to make your side of the argument.

Not every comedian, or indeed every artist/performer of any kind has to cater their acts to people who aren't familiar with them. This is also basically the whole point of alternative comedy/music/anything. I don't understand what your point is what that at all tbh.

I’ve made the point, in a piece for the Independent, that McIntyre’s ubiquity means ‘alternative’ comics do, for the first time since the ’70s, have a clearly visible mainstream to define themselves in opposition to

My experience of Lee opinionators is that the dislikers are just as likely to be smug and arrogant. Very few of them can simply say they dont' find him funny. They have to tell you precisely WHY they don't find him funny, why they're above it, why the people who do are cnuts and why their usually second hand perception of him is definitely more right than the people who know him well's is.

I'm not saying Jules is being smug or arrogant fwiw, but there's definitely more defensive "him and his fans are cnuts" rhetoric in this thread from the anti-brigade than a "those who don't like him are idiots who don't get it" from the pro. Which is rather oddly counterproductive. And seems to be brought out entirely unprovoked.

 

[JulesWinnfield]

Yeah, in fairness it probably wasn't the wisest of ideas to come into the Stewart Lee thread and slag off a section of the people who like him. That's my bad.

 

[jdmufc]

I'm struggling to find much (if any) of Mockney's "but there's definitely more defensive "him and his fans are cnuts" rhetoric in this thread from the anti-brigade" dig at those who don't like Lee.

 

[Mockney]

What thread are you reading?

There is that about him. Sort of like Radiohead. I find him to be an intolerable cretin. Absolutely hate him. All he seems to do is criticise every little thing in the world, in a horribly angry way, without really saying what's wrong with it. Jack Dee has a similar style, yet I find him hilarious.

But as you say moses, only the really intelligent, cultured people who 'understand' comedy find him funny, whereas people like me, are all stupid.

What a condescending prick. God I hate him.

he comes across as a smug tosser. Of course, this smug tosser shtick may well be some sort hilarious post-modern satire on the status of comedians in society today. feck knows. He still comes across as a smug tosser regardless. Which makes it very difficult to laugh at anything he says.

Reminds me a bit of Ricky Gervais. We all know he is deliberately acting like a conceited prick as part of his routine. Keep it up long enough, though, and it gets harder and harder to see beyond the conceited prick to the bloke who once used to make me laugh a lot. Conceited pricks are never funny, you see. On the basis that they're pricks.

I've just watched that 'routine' and come to the conclusion that he's not only incredibly unfunny, but an absolutely dreadful person. He tries to justify his barrage of insults by going "It's just a joke like on Top Gear!"

I still don't quite understand why people don't like Richard Hammond, but if you don't, fair enough, but he doesn't seem to justify his seemingly intense hatred with anything substantial. Just saying that he laughs at Jeremy Clarkson. In fact, I don't know how anyone can find this funny. At all. If I went out and issued a load of a racial slurs then said 'just kidding!' it wouldn't wash.

Then he has a go at Clarkson laughing at Gordon Brown as a partially blinded child. "It's not funny to laugh at a child going blind." I assume this is part of his hilarious irony that he employs, but it isn't funny. I also get the impression that he looks upon his audience, the people who pay his salary, with nothing but contempt. What a cnut.

But of course I'm most likely missing the 'joke' which hopefully someone would be kind enough to explain to me and my simple mind.

That's without even getting into how fecking annoying all the in-jokes amongst his fans (e.g. about his charity work). In-jokes are never funny. At any level. Why not wear a wee fecking badge from the Stewart Lee fan club instead? It amounts to the same thing.

Some of the audience do have that "Look at me, I'm laughing at all the jokes. I get it, I am so awfully clever" persona though. Same as you get at gigs though where someone will shout stuff out to the band all the time and sing all the words just so everyone else knows what a dedicated fan they are. Put that together with people thinking that Lee's irony and sarcasm does not extend to his comments about the various sections of the audience responding differently to the jokes and you end up with a fair few people taking that at face value, feeling intellectually and culturally superior, then expressing such quite vocally after the show. Wankers basically.

And yeah, some of his fans come across as utter cnuts.

Yeh I simply don't "get" him. Maybe we're not smart enough, jd?

At least he's not annoying as a large section of his fans who seem to be the most smug, self satisfied people in the world. He could stand there throwing his own shit at them and they'd be finding it hysterical. Probably interpreting it as a comment on stand up comedy today.

Then there's this thread...And this thread.

https://www.redcafe.net/f27/stewart-lees-comedy-vehicle-241143/

https://www.redcafe.net/f27/michael-mcintyre-vs-stewart-lee-232487/index3.html

 

[jdmufc]

my point is about you saying eveyone is calling his fans "cnuts" , not much of that going on really, and most of those quotes are on the defensive after someone else saying "well, you just don't get him or his context"

posting about other threads is irrelevant to your argument, but maybe you are being a little over sensitive about your comedy hero?

 

[CassiusClaymore]

Aah. The Stewart Lee hater brigade.

Ironically the funniest section of his latest show is basically him standing on stage reeling off a list of increasingly bizarre and offensive insults/reviews from folk online.

I wonder if they should ask for some kind of royalty pay out actually?

I mean, there's lots of people I don't find funny but there's definitely something about Lee that puts people on the defensive.

 

[jdmufc]

Aah. The Stewart Lee hater brigade.

Ironically the funniest section of his latest show is basically him standing on stage reeling off a list of increasingly bizarre and offensive insults/reviews from folk online.

I wonder if they should ask for some kind of royalty pay out actually?

I mean, there's lots of people I don't find funny but there's definitely something about Lee that puts people on the defensive.

that's a pile of cack, pretty much every comedian has people who dislike them just as much as people who like them.

 

[Eriku]

Luckily Stewart Lee, like Ronaldo, feeds off hate.

And I get the whole "Lee-fans are smug", thing. Sure... The man is so far out of the box when it comes to comedy that you can't help but think that these people who prefer the Comedy Roadshows to him are a bit simple... at least in terms of their appreciation for comedy. And when I see Liam comparing him to Radiohead and then trashing them in the same sentence, I can't help but feel that there might be some bleeding over effect, at least in certain people ;P

[/smug]

 

[SteveJ]

I actually like him as a person, even if his comedy isn't quite my taste. Maybe he's the Rafa of comedy, with his ardent defenders & detractors.

 

[Eriku]

OI! That analogy has me as a Dipper! :@

 

[SteveJ]

Sorry, mate. YAWN etc.

 

[jdmufc]

I actually like him as a person, even if his comedy isn't quite my taste. Maybe he's the Rafa of comedy, with his ardent defenders & detractors.

this is a about where I'm at with him, personally he seems like a decent chap, comedically he's a million miles away from what I find funny, plus he was privately educated so purely by that rationale he's a cnut

 

[SteveJ]

I've a lot of respect for Mockney and Plech but I suspect that, unlike them, quite a few Lee fans aren't as discerning about the reasons for their admiration. In fact, I know a couple of people* who watch Stewart for all the wrong reasons; they aren't really genuine fans.


*Caf Anecdotal CE Logic activated.

 

[jdmufc]

I've a lot of respect for Mockney and Plech but I suspect that, unlike them, quite a few Lee fans aren't as discerning about the reasons for their admiration. In fact, I know a couple of people* who watch Stewart for all the wrong reasons; they aren't really genuine fans.


*Caf Anecdotal CE Logic activated.

I've heard all three of them went to the same school so the "old school tie" thing definitely comes into play.

 

[Mockney]

my point is about you saying eveyone is calling his fans "cnuts" , not much of that going on really

Erm, Yes there is, most of them in fact..

That's without even getting into how fecking annoying all the in-jokes amongst his fans (e.g. about his charity work). In-jokes are never funny. At any level. Why not wear a wee fecking badge from the Stewart Lee fan club instead? It amounts to the same thing.

Some of the audience do have that "Look at me, I'm laughing at all the jokes. I get it, I am so awfully clever" persona thoughy.

And yeah, some of his fans come across as utter cnuts.

Yeh I simply don't "get" him. Maybe we're not smart enough, jd?

At least he's not annoying as a large section of his fans who seem to be the most smug, self satisfied people in the world. He could stand there throwing his own shit at them and they'd be finding it hysterical. Probably interpreting it as a comment on stand up comedy today.

Again, what thread are you reading? This isn't going to work if you're not going to read this one.

and most of those quotes are on the defensive after someone else saying "well, you just don't get him or his context"

No they aren't. Liam started up his rant apropos of something the thought moses said (which also said people who like him are pretentious cnuts) and the rest were entirely unprovoked. If they are though, presumably you can find some quotes? Like I've helpfully done.

posting about other threads is irrelevant to your argument, but maybe you are being a little over sensitive about your comedy hero?

Eh? I was responding to you, who had directly said you'd read the thread and couldn't find any examples of what I'd said, despite there being plenty. So I provided you with them. Is that beng defensive of Lee?

 

[jdmufc]

my point was that you made the "cnut" remark, only one person called his fans cnuts, most of the others called his fans smug, the smug part I don't take issue with, it's the cnut part that bothers me as you're not a cnut.

 

[sammymc]

Aah. The Stewart Lee hater brigade.

Ironically the funniest section of his latest show is basically him standing on stage reeling off a list of increasingly bizarre and offensive insults/reviews from folk online.

“Stewart Lee is about as funny as a car crash. He really is the most boring comedian out there. I thought he was unfunny last time I saw him. Surely a tiny requisite for being a comedian is to be at least slightly funny? A total hypocrite - he has a go at people making money from writing books - which is something he does and then goes on to make other points that he himself does. Stewart Lee is just a hypocritial, unfunny, weird looking g*******. He'd be crap on Top Gear. He seems to be from the Jack Dee school of unfunny monotone comments that are just comments. Not funny comments or ones you agree with. Most of the laughter comes across as sympathy 'Wow, this fella is really boring and as funny as my cat eating whiskers'. I think Stewart Lee is a total c**k, unfunny as a dose of the clap and boring as s**** and therefore don't watch him. He had a go at Clarkson for making money off a book. He himself makes money off books. The 'comedian' had a go at someone else for making money off books. And he makes money off books himself. He is saying 'not good' for something he does himself. = Hypocrite. An unfunny c**k. ” Andy@allerton, redandwhitekop.com


yep...Andy from RAWK and YAWN...a complete fruitloop

 

[Mockney]

my point was that you made the "cnut" remark, only one person called his fans cnuts, most of the others called his fans smug, the smug part I don't take issue with, it's the cnut part that bothers me as you're not a cnut.

Come on now. Semantics. But thanks. You cnut.

 

[SteveJ]

I've heard all three of them went to the same school so the "old school tie" thing definitely comes into play.

But seriously, the people I'm on about are always at pains to tell everyone that they're middle-class...which, curiously, seems to be a badge of pride for some folks.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

that's a pile of cack, pretty much every comedian has people who dislike them just as much as people who like them.

Yeah but they don't always feel the need to prefix their dislike with the statement " it's not that I don't get him..."

Who cares. Comedy, like music, like any art is entirely subjective. No more needs to be said other than " he's not funny to me." It's like people feel under threat because he pokes fun at their favourite comedians and by proxy their own sense of humour.

 

[jdmufc]

Yeah but they don't always feel the need to prefix their dislike with the statement " it's not that I don't get him..."

Who cares. Comedy, like music, like any art is entirely subjective. No more needs to be said other than " he's not funny to me." It's like people feel under threat because he pokes fun at their favourite comedians and by proxy their own sense of humour.

but you can also reverse that and say that it makes you feel better about yourself because he pokes fun at other people who are popular but you may not find funny or don't get.

and starting your reply with "who cares" when you obviously care about your opinion and other peoples opinions of him is kind of pointless.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

I didn't start my reply with that at all.

Get your eyes checked.

 

[jdmufc]

I didn't start my reply with that at all.

Get your eyes checked.

it was still part of your reply thus the point still stands.


I still have 20/20 vision, it's my brain that doesn't work properly!!