Anyone else catch Stu's return to TV last night? For the fools who missed it, it's currently on BBC's iPlayer, so you can catch up on 25 mnutes of splendid stand up and 5 minutes of slightly intrusive sketches that mainly didn't work and only seemed to be there to appease BBC producers uncertain of the televisual value of 30 minutes uninterrupted footage of a man on a stage, with a microphone.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
I caught the second half of it after several glasses of wine and found it hugely enjoyable so will check out the rest of it on iplayer.
I've been a big fan of his work for probably 15 years now so was glad that this wasn't disappointing.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
I meant to mention it on the phone yesterday but I kept getting distracted by this other thing.
I sort of rediscovered Stewart Lee just over a year ago, watching some stand up clips on YouTube, and enjoyed them so much I rounded up as much of his stuff as I could, and went to see him when he came to Oxford. Two of his DVDs are on Amazon, but there's another one that you can only get here because the subject matter tends to keep proper distributors at arms length. It's really, really brilliant, though and well worth a tenner.
[ 17.03.2009, 05:22: Message edited by: Thorn Davis ]
Posted by Tilde (Member # 1215) on :
I really like Stewart Lee too, I heard him talking on the radio a short while ago and found him really amusing, so went looking for some stuff on youtube to watch but was a bit let down as it seemed a bit shit. I'll have to check out your links.
Posted by McDirts (Member # 6680) on :
I caught him at a tent at a festival and was willing to give him a go because he seemed to be gaining plaudits left, right and centre. I was expecting uber-intelligent hilarity, the reality seemed to be a wryly amusing and intelligent monologue. Good quality but not much in the way of proper laughs to be had. I'll reserve judgement until I've heard a bit more however, as everyone can have an off day. Should he remain 'alright but not really all that funny' on a second listen I'll start not believing anything else you say Thorn. Should you then start drowning or getting eaten by a wolf that could well prove lethal for you.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
Ha. The joke is on you McDirts. Due to a nuclear accident that occured when he was 3, Thorn is actually able to breathe underwater and can control wolves with his mind.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
quote:So, if Asher D or anyone from So Solid Crew is watching, yes, I am disrespecting you.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
Does anyone know if Iplayer works on the Wii? I can't be bothered to trail cables across the lounge and would rather watch this on my tv than on a monitor.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
Wow. Second google result. I should have checked that first really.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
I particularly liked his observation that if a man in the seventeenth century was to read everything published in his lifetime, he would have read all of the great tragedies, comedies and histories of Shakespeare, all the great Greek and Roman classics, piles of theology and philososphy and science, and his head would be stuffed with all of these fine ideas and noble aspirations. But, if a man nowadays were to read everything published in his lifetime... he'd actually be stupider than someone who hadn't read any books at all.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
I fell asleep about 10 minutes in to the sound of femke giggling like a fool - I'll have to download it when I get home and check it out but what I did see was excellent..
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
It was the polymath Thomas Young he referred to, who didn't just read everything published in his lifetime - he read everything published up to that point in time. Buy a biography here!
[ 17.03.2009, 08:27: Message edited by: Thorn Davis ]
Posted by Octavia (Member # 398) on :
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: this other thing
Good work on that, by the way.
Posted by Octavia (Member # 398) on :
I was about to complain vociferously along the lines of 'why haven't you brought me a copy of this' then realised that in fact you have, and it's sitting in my mental 'to read' list. So. Sorry about that. As you were.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
LOL - Watched the whole thing last night and it was excellent.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
Last night's show wasn't as fall down funny as last week's (although Stewart did actually fall down) but it's still such a novelty to have intelligent entertainment on the telly.
Educate. Inform. Entertain.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
I though the first half was excellent. I really enjoyed that, but the second half I thought was awful. I actually felt uncomfortable watching it as it was so bad.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
You a DelBoy fan, then?
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
Del Boy... Falling through a bar... Trigger pulls a face.
Posted by Abby (Member # 582) on :
Stewart Lee lives a couple of doors down from me, and his flat is for sale at the moment. It looks nice from the pictures in the estate agents. True fact.
I shall watch the iPlayer thing tonight.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: You a DelBoy fan, then?
Not at all, I just felt it went on for so long and wasn't particularly funny. I'm a big Stewart Lee fan so I was really wanting it to continue being good, I just felt the whole Delboy section was quite weak.
[ 24.03.2009, 05:38: Message edited by: Cherry In Hove ]
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
quote:Originally posted by Cherry In Hove: I though the first half was excellent. I really enjoyed that, but the second half I thought was awful. I actually felt uncomfortable watching it as it was so bad.
That's weird - I had the opposite experience. Started watching and thought 'OK, this seems to have gone downhill a bit since last week', hated the skit with the shit pouring out of the telly. But the pay-off for the Delboy thing was brilliant, I thought. "That's the punchline I worked for. I beat my head against the floor for that." I kind of thought that that whole routine - pointlessly broken up by an unfunny sketch about Del-Day - became something genuinely brilliant and pointed. It meant he wasn't just talking about television; the whole act was a piece of theatre commenting on it.
Regarding feeling uncomfortable watching it - that seems to be something Stewart Lee plays with alot in his full stand-up routines. They almost always include a moment where the repetition of a single phrase or idea basically turns into a staring competition with the audience and here it worked especially well - for me, anyway - because he tests the audience's patience to beyond breaking point, and then literally pleads with them for applause at the end. Essentially he seems to holding in contempt the idea of feeding the audience desperate, easy punchlines (like the cliched gags he repeats three times in the first half of the set) and the Del-Boy routine is kind of saying "I'm not going to spoonfeed you obvious jokes anymore, we're going somewhere completely different with this". He's big into the idea that stand-up comedy is a theatrical performance, rather than a stream of gags and that's kind of what allows him to start doing things that make the audience feel awkward rather than just trying to make them laugh.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Spot-on analysis
Also, he's not simply dismissing the DelBoy scene because it's slapstick, he's hanging off the fucking bannister, here. He's pummeling the ground with his head.
Also, I don't know if it's simple repetition/reworking or if it was a deliberate reference to his previous material where his Mum preferred Tom O'Connor to him. The foetal crawl, the desperation, the need for validation and acceptance... It was good. The funny man told a good joke.
Also, I even liked the Del Day sketch. It reminded me a bit of the other Ianucci classic, the Village Sniper.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
Oh. I've just had a look and Ianucci has nothing to do with Comedy Vehicle.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: It reminded me a bit of the other Ianucci classic, the Village Sniper.
Heh. The Armando Iannuci Show was another brilliant thing that no-one watched. I've also enjoyed the Comedy Extra interviews that they do on digital, although this week I was disappointed to note that they stole a couple of gags from my fake 'making of' 18 months ago.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Oh. I've just had a look and Ianucci has nothing to do with Comedy Vehicle.
He's the producer isn't he? That's why he does the interviews on Comedy Extra afterwards. "If you think of Stewart as the driver of the comedy vehicle, think of me as the man who can have Stewart sacked".
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
Speaking of Iannuci, this is coming out at teh pickchers in a couple of weeks.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis:
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Oh. I've just had a look and Ianucci has nothing to do with Comedy Vehicle.
He's the producer isn't he?
A different guy's listed on the BBC website.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
Ah. Executive producer apparently. Whatever that means.
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Speaking of Iannuci, this is coming out at teh pickchers in a couple of weeks.
Carnt wate. d'YOU SEE HIS DIARY AT THE WEEKEND?
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
Having watched the Stuart Lee DVD back catalog last week I can that repetition is a big part of his act as is shock.
There's a large section in one of his DVD's about vommiting into Christs open mouth and then his gaping anus.
I forget what the punchline was..
Posted by Black Mask (Member # 185) on :
Looks good CiH won't like it. No David Jason and no falling through bars.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: There's a large section in one of his DVD's about vommiting into Christs open mouth and then his gaping anus.
I forget what the punchline was..
The punchline to that is brilliant. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but to jog your memory, it has to do with Joe Pasquale.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
That's the one - Brilliant !
Thanks Thorn.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
Disappointed to see that last night Stewart stole my rant about consumer credit and passed it off as his own.
Posted by Darryn.R (Member # 1) on :
But what a rant...
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
You'd think that if he's browing TMO for material, he could at least post occasionally.
I thought last nights episode was excellent. Perhaps as good as the one the week before which I enjoyed hugely.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
Unless of course one of the regular users of TMO writes for Stewart Lee?
Do you think Jonesey is nicking your ideas and then selling them onto BBC comedians?
Or Fish?
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
quote:Originally posted by Cherry In Hove: Unless of course one of the regular users of TMO writes for Stewart Lee?
Do you think Jonesey is nicking your ideas and then selling them onto BBC comedians?
Or Fish?
Very likely - which is why they added in that transparent nonsense about it being recorded 3 months ago.
Yeah, it was a brilliant show although I lost sight of whether or not I was really laughing at the gag or just gleefully gurgling along with a bunch of stuff I agreed with.
Still hate the sketches, though.
Posted by Tilde (Member # 1215) on :
Watched it twice yesterday. I never do that, loved it. Now in my mind Stewart Lee is an older fatter funnier Thorn. Who choose standup comedy rather than online bulletin boards.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
Hooray! I win at being young and slim and posting on bulletin boards!
Posted by herbs (Member # 101) on :
There was a young Thorn on that 'finding a coherent teenager' debating programme, too. He gets about in time, doesn't he.
Posted by Deep Freeze (Member # 841) on :
I haven't watched any of this, but I've recorded it. Hope that helps.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
Recorded LOL. It's like it's 1993 again.
Posted by Deep Freeze (Member # 841) on :
LOL
Posted by Kanye West (Member # 837) on :
watched this. Was good. His delivery was what impressed me the most. Almost hypnotic. The use of repetition, the gradual change in tone. The end, where he's talking about houses of sand was a pretty powerful bit of television.
Posted by Cherry In Hove (Member # 49) on :
I finally got around to watching this weeks episode on the Wii (Religion episode).
Excellent stuff. I haven't laughed out loud as much at any episode as I did at this one. I thought the bit about the guy coming to his door with "Jesus is the answer, what is the question" was absolute genius.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
I had a disorienting moment during the Religion episode, when Stewart mentioned that he'd found a book which clarified the Muslim position on dogs, and held up a copy of 'Animals in Islamic Tradition'. Which we published.
Posted by MiscellaneousFiles (Member # 60) on :
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Which we published.
I saw a copy of Oilopoly in a prime position in one of Reading Station's WHSmiths the other day.
Posted by Thorn Davis (Member # 65) on :
Yeah, this fucking stuff is everywhere it seems. i can't turn on the radio now without one of our fucking authors gobbing off about current affairs or some shit. And now the Douglas Adams estate is attempting to sue us because one of our books is called 42, which is a number he had dibs on, apparently.
Posted by McDirts (Member # 6680) on :
shit man, someone should sort that Douglas Adams out once and for all.
![[Mad]](mad.gif)