Venue:
The Dome, Brighton
Date: 28/02/2015
A try-out for the fourth series of Comedy Vehicle, the show consists of six roughly half hour routines (of which he does three in one show). On the night we went we got Islam, Urine and The UKips all of which were brilliant. Lee is really at the top of his game at the moment with the deconstruction of the ‘jokes’ funnier than ever. His piece about the Ukippers which really isn’t about them (but it is really) is genius. His new hearing aids means that he can hear the laughter which seemed to lighten his personae, except for the bit mentioned below!
The audience:
A full house for his second night in Brighton (a third has been added in June). But why can’t people sit for 50 minutes or so and watch the show, at times it was non-stop. So much so that Lee finally snapped and called the six people wandering about C**ts which got a huge cheer. There was much less movement in the second half!
It made me think..
A fantastic evening with Britain’s top comic, all of this without appearing on Live at the Apollo!
Were you there on the night when somebody was shouting , “This is not funny!”
Lee’s response.
Somebody from the Afterword I’ve no doubt.
Some people will laugh at anything.
Especially when it’s funny.
Fucking genius as I said on last blog that lived here.
I like the fact Stew is bullet proof to criticism. He completely understands why people don’t find him funny and moves on.
“His stated goal is an unusual one for a comedian: “Within a few years these “jokes” as we comedians call them, will have been entirely purged from my work in favour, exclusively, of grinding repetition, embarrassing silence and passive-aggressive monotony”. He refers to this process as “refining my audience”.
He gets this idea from musicians…. only they mean it.
As does he.
I recall a similar moment when I saw Steve Coogan in the late 90s. He said something like “when you talk with your friends about this show, and your heckling, your friends are not going to pat you on the back and buy you a drink. If you bring it up, there will be an uncomfortable silence.”
Saw him perform the same set last month in London. Absolutely superb.
DFB is quite right – he’s a genius.
Saw him tonight in Cardiff. On very good form.
A case could be made for him being the finest stand up currently working anywhere ( certainly in English). True or not, he is without doubt an absolute master of his craft, to the point he can actually play around with the form of a bit whilst simultaneously explaining what he’s doing to the audience – and still get big laughs.
Anyone who doubts that stand up comedy can actually be an art form should check him out. He am the best IMO.
The lack of an adequate response to this shows that the AW has changed. Here is the standard response if you want a bit of pre- November 2014 nostalgia:
This man, who is not Me, makes people laugh, some of whom may be Women. I, in my throbbing masculinity, feel threatened by this. Stewart Lee* and everyone he loves therefore has to die, preferably by being beheaded on YouTube. TMFTL…. possibly
(*for Stewart Lee read Any Comedian)
I do not understand the above.
I do not understand the below.
Ah well
We’ve all seen them, haven’t we? The Afterworders, with their alphabetised music collections, the Afterworders, with their inclusive yet exclusive take on culture, the Afterworders…with their The War On Drugs*…the Afterworders…
Is it they who are truly evil? Or is it the businessman?…
* or any other AW fave
…or AWs who disagree with you JJ?
By the way I also think SL is at the top of his game.
JJ – very good 🙂
Stewart Lee may be many things…… but funny isn’t one of them.
Joe, Joe. Have you not read any of the above? He’s not trying to be funny.
“A fantastic evening with Britain’s top comic”……..”He’s not trying to be funny”……. uh ?
Sounds good. I loved his last series with the Chris Morris inserts. He is, as you say, bulletproof re. criticism or when a routine tanks; it all gets churned back into material.
I’d describe Stewart lee as a guilty pleasure. Passive aggressive liberals just shouldn’t be that funny.
Has somebody woken this thread from the dead in the hope of a dust-up?
Surely not.
New series on tellybox this week. On strength/weakness * of tour material it’s sure to be a belter / shite *
*delete as applicable
I was on a bus the other day and there was this 13 year old girl who was liberally using “the c-word”, or the cunt word as some people call it. 13 years old.
To be fair her daughter was playing up a bit…..
Ahhhh. Then I got off the bus.
Arf!
And on RadMac tomorrow too. 1-4 6Music.
I saw part 2 last night having already enjoyed part 1. I did actually lol more than once. So pretty good then. I actually like him better now. Previously there have been quite long unfunny stretches, some nearly 30 minutes long in a 30 minute routine. He seems to have picked up the pace and varied it all more, to my mind. Either that or I’ve seen the light, but I don’t think that is the case because I tried an older clip from youtube and it was tiresome. It was the much celebrated ‘pear cider that’s made from 100% pears’ routine. Oh God.