Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - Series 3

[Papa Lazarou]

"To spice things up, I've recently taken to wearing a pair of old jogging bottoms to bed
My wife says it makes me look like a Scottish heroine addict
Any more knock backs like this, I'll stop making the effort
Just another example of pornography raising levels of expectation "
Love Stewart Lee and the show was great

Very funny. Watched it on iplayer on the train this morning. I was sniggering a lot.

 

[keaton]

Controversial statement I know but I am going to suggest that many people who don't find it funny don't get it. (Cue the "I do get it and still don't find it funny" brigade - No, no you don't)

So no-one can understand what he's trying to do but think he's not clever or good enough to actually make it funny?

That doesn't like the argument of an intelligent person.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

It's certainly very smart comedy, I guess it depends on whether you find that funny or not.

 

[Nibble]

To be fair he's a very clever man, that's undeniable and he manages to make that very, very funny in my opinion. But you can't make someone laugh on principle, if one doesn't find it funny that's all there is to it. I would like to see what some of the non laughers think of his "Vomiting into the gaping anus of Jesus Christ" routine. Think that would tip them over

 

[keaton]

It's certainly very smart comedy, I guess it depends on whether you find that funny or not.

No it depends on whether you find HIM funny.

I watch lots of 'smart' comedy.
I can see what he's trying to do, but I don't think it works well enough

 

[BadFish]

So no-one can understand what he's trying to do but think he's not clever or good enough to actually make it funny?

That doesn't like the argument of an intelligent person.

My attempt at Stewart Lee Humour failed miserably

 

[Buzzer]

So no-one can understand what he's trying to do but think he's not clever or good enough to actually make it funny?

That doesn't like the argument of an intelligent person.

Agreed. I think there's an attitude with some people that he's a lifestyle comedian. By that I mean that they think that those who do think like that think that they are edgy, clever, away from the mainstream themselves. The rest of the population are not so sophisticated. That's why they don't 'get' it.

As I say, it's only with some people that I can see that attitude. I really like Stewart Lee, I find him very funny but then again I absolutely love Lee Mack's stuff - especially the work he's done with Tim Vine who remains one of the funniest comedians I've ever seen. I don't find the need to dislike all the comedians that Stewart Lee has pissed off.

 

[RowleyBirkinQ.C(deceased)]

Without googling. did Lee Mack really say those things about S.L. I'd be very disappointed if he did. Although a very different comedy style, Lee Mack makes me chuckle as well

 

[Buzzer]

Without googling. did Lee Mack really say those things about S.L. I'd be very disappointed if he did. Although a very different comedy style, Lee Mack makes me chuckle as well

I agree. I think Lee Mack's anger should be re-directed at the likes of David Mitchell, an interminably smug, unfunny prat and I don't think there's one funny panel show on TV now, the format has been done to death. I think Lee Mack has a point about the Oxbridge comedy mafia at the BBC, how in hell Mitchell and Webb get away with writing so much unfunny material can only be explained by their university links. Ironically Richard Herring and Stewart Lee's comedy series was just as self-indulgent and I used to dislike both with a passion but since they've gone their separate ways both seem, to me anyway, to be far more engaging and more importantly funnier.

 

[tinycowboy]

Tim Vine who remains one of the funniest comedians I've ever seen

Buzzer, please don't start me off quoting Tim Vine jokes again - once I start, I can't stop. The people I work with must have heard me regurgitating every single joke he's ever told, in the Colin Hunt style...

 

[Nibble]

Agreed. I think there's an attitude with some people that he's a lifestyle comedian. By that I mean that they think that those who do think like that think that they are edgy, clever, away from the mainstream themselves. The rest of the population are not so sophisticated. That's why they don't 'get' it.

As I say, it's only with some people that I can see that attitude. I really like Stewart Lee, I find him very funny but then again I absolutely love Lee Mack's stuff - especially the work he's done with Tim Vine who remains one of the funniest comedians I've ever seen. I don't find the need to dislike all the comedians that Stewart Lee has pissed off.

Agreed. Except for the Lee Mack bit, not my cup of broth at all.

 

[BadFish]

Agreed. I think there's an attitude with some people that he's a lifestyle comedian. By that I mean that they think that those who do think like that think that they are edgy, clever, away from the mainstream themselves. The rest of the population are not so sophisticated. That's why they don't 'get' it.

As I say, it's only with some people that I can see that attitude. I really like Stewart Lee, I find him very funny but then again I absolutely love Lee Mack's stuff - especially the work he's done with Tim Vine who remains one of the funniest comedians I've ever seen. I don't find the need to dislike all the comedians that Stewart Lee has pissed off.

I agree, many of the people that he chooses to slag off are fantastic comedians especially Lee Mack. I do wonder if they take it personally or if they recognise it as part of his act and laugh it off.

The bloke is a parody of himself and probably isn't taken too seriously by other comedians (Lee not Mack).

 

[BadFish]

I agree. I think Lee Mack's anger should be re-directed at the likes of David Mitchell, an interminably smug, unfunny prat and I don't think there's one funny panel show on TV now, the format has been done to death. I think Lee Mack has a point about the Oxbridge comedy mafia at the BBC, how in hell Mitchell and Webb get away with writing so much unfunny material can only be explained by their university links. Ironically Richard Herring and Stewart Lee's comedy series was just as self-indulgent and I used to dislike both with a passion but since they've gone their separate ways both seem, to me anyway, to be far more engaging and more importantly funnier.

I heard Lee Mack talking about David Mitchell on a pod cast last year. He described Mitchell as one of his few genuine friends in the business and someone who he clearly has massive respect for.

I would be interested to know if he did say those things about Stewart Lee as I found it quite difficult to believe after his comments on the podcast.

Both Mitchell and Webb make me cry laughing, love peep show and have watched it over and over.

 

[Nibble]

I've never understood the big problem people have with Mcintyre. I find him amusing. I saw him live many years ago and he was quite a bit ruder than he is these days and very funny for it. I rarely find Lee Mack funny though. Or Tim Vine. Vine's stand up is okay if you want to be spoonfed one liners with no quality control, imagine that would get quite boring after about ten mins. I've seen him ruin a few shows I like such as QI because he doesn't get involved he just sits there thinking of puns and then blurts them out in minute long punfests, very dull. He's quite good in Blandings though. Tim Vine works best when someone else is writing for him but he has got terrible comedy timing.
On that terrible Not Going Out sit com you can see both Mack and Vine literally counting down each others dialogue, almost nod, say their lines then back again. Truly terrible.

David Mitchell can be funny but he is increasingly samey these days.

 

[Stato]

The remarks that Stewart Lee makes about other comics can't always be taken at face value.

He explains in his excellent book:http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/18/stewart-lee-how-escaped-fate that the character version of himself he uses on stage has to have low status in order to rail against something. This became more difficult to carry off given that he was continuously being feted by peers and critics and given his own TV show. Therefore he uses his lack of commercial success in comparison with the likes of the stadium comics like McIntyre and Russell Howard to give his persona reason to consider himself a failure.

Offstage he is very serious about comedy as an art form and does have some serious points about the domination of certain agencies, but I'm not aware of him criticising other performers. It would be my guess that Lee Mack's comments may have been inspired by a perceived criticism of him as he is represented by one of these agencies (Avalon). As a comedian I find Lee Mack funny, but found his sitcom quite annoying because his insistence on going for every joke often broke any dramatic set up.

 

[Keeping The Dream Alive.]

"To spice things up, I've recently taken to wearing a pair of old jogging bottoms to bed
My wife says it makes me look like a Scottish heroine addict
Any more knock backs like this, I'll stop making the effort
Just another example of pornography raising levels of expectation "
Love Stewart Lee and the show was great

See, I thought that joke was very 'Lee Mack'...

 

[RowleyBirkinQ.C(deceased)]

Just looking at this thread, comedy is such a subjective thing. I've got quite a diverse taste in comedy, Anything from the late great Bill Hicks to Frankie Boyle. From Eddie & Ritchie in Bottom to re runs of Frasier.
A friend of mine hates all the comedy I like and only really likes stuff from Roy Chubby Brown, Jimmy Jones Ect. The only comedy we agree on is only fools and horses. Nobody should sneer at other people's taste in humour, apart from if you like Roy Chubby Brown, dreadful man

 

[Stato]

Just looking at this thread, comedy is such a subjective thing. I've got quite a diverse taste in comedy, Anything from the late great Bill Hicks to Frankie Boyle. From Eddie & Ritchie in Bottom to re runs of Frasier.
A friend of mine hates all the comedy I like and only really likes stuff from Roy Chubby Brown, Jimmy Jones Ect. The only comedy we agree on is only fools and horses. Nobody should sneer at other people's taste in humour, apart from if you like Roy Chubby Brown, dreadful man

I agree with you about Roy Brown. The likes of Bernard Manning seemed to me to be a good gag teller who went into the shock area because that's what made him laugh / made him money, but I have seen footage of Roy Brown being family friendly and being blue and he is just terrible at telling jokes. It seems to me that shock is the only thing he has going for him. Ditto Andrew Dice Clay.

 

[W.C.]

I heard Lee Mack talking about David Mitchell on a pod cast last year. He described Mitchell as one of his few genuine friends in the business and someone who he clearly has massive respect for.

I would be interested to know if he did say those things about Stewart Lee as I found it quite difficult to believe after his comments on the podcast.

Both Mitchell and Webb make me cry laughing, love peep show and have watched it over and over.

They don't write Peep Show though do they? Well, they might contribute a bit of ad libbing here and there.

I love Peep Show. It's the one comedy that rivals Partridge as my favourite. So, after watching a few series, I went in search of Mitchell and Webb's other works. I found very average sketches.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Ironically, I could just see Lee Mack delivering the line "Shitbottle...twinned with Bouteille Du Merde, France and Scheisse Flasche, Germany".