In Praise of Stewart Lee ...

[Fab Foodie]

Such as when he compared himself to a cat with a parasitic worm...

How did you guess ... and the functioning alcoholic of course ....


[EDIT ... and all the other bits as well ]

 

[Fab Foodie]

I like him, his humour is right up my street. Not really into stand-up that much, but the popular comedians that appear to be around now, John Bishop, Michael McIntyre, Frankie Boyle etc, do absolutely nothing me. I guess comedy is obviously personal thing.

This ^^^
My family don't find him funny either ... but howl at Graham Norton ... each to their own.

 

[Lullabelle]

I like him, his humour is right up my street. Not really into stand-up that much, but the popular comedians that appear to be around now, John Bishop, Michael McIntyre, Frankie Boyle etc, do absolutely nothing me. I guess comedy is obviously personal thing.

I don't like either of those 3

 

[theclaud]

I saw him recently in Brighton. I think he's a clever satirist but I don't find him all that funny, although people all round me were guffawing. Not my idea of 'stand-up' really.

Arguably, stand-up has nowhere much left to go...

 

[Fab Foodie]

Arguably, stand-up has nowhere much left to go...

It could sit down maybe?

 

[Crackle]

He's droll but ......

 

[theclaud]

Agreed. My personal reaction to Lee's monologues is more of a wry smile than a guffaw - but as I said to someone during the interval of his performance, an auditorium full of wry smiles wouldn't give the poor guy much in the way of uplifting feedback would it?

His act hardly presupposes universal guffawing, and indeed sometimes mocks it. I enjoy the element of hostility to the whole premise of stand-up and sometimes to the audience itself.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I like him and think the faux interview bits with Chris Morris this series were a great dig at the po faced artistes and lets deconstruct the world type critic shows. There's is different strands of humour & you can't really compare what he or e.g. Jeremy Hardy does to the subtle as a brick through a window style of Michael MacIntyre or Frankie Boyle.

 

[Ron-da-Valli]

I refer the honourable gentleman to my previous answer on funniest comedy moments.

Not strictly Fools & Horses but definitely funnier!

View: http://youtu.be/ew0qiozLtpU

 

[Fab Foodie]

His act hardly presupposes universal guffawing, and indeed sometimes mocks it. I enjoy the element of hostility to the whole premise of stand-up and sometimes to the audience itself.

Agreed. I think he prefers a knowing smile to a belly laugh. Mostly I'm having a warm smile on the inside and other times, like 'Marriage' I find my self guffawing with aplomb ...

 

[thom]

Agreed. I think he prefers a knowing smile to a belly laugh. Mostly I'm having a warm smile on the inside and other times, like 'Marriage' I find my self guffawing with aplomb ...

“I’m not interested in laughs. What I’m interested in is a temporary mass liberal consensus that dissolves on contact with air”

 

[ComedyPilot]

My favourite Lee work is the one with the 'mopping sick up with the cat's feet towel' piece.

 

[Salty seadog]

@Fab Foodie

Well I was going to start a Stewart lee appreciation thread and thought 'hmm, lets do a search' and who's the only person to have named him in a title? Only your good self sir. I have always liked him a lot and his sardonic very intelligent diatribes. I think he started to really push it with his comedy vehicle show.

Never one for belly laughs as said by yourself and others but the wry knowing smile.

Love the bit on Richard Littlejohn the execrable chap that he is. (starts at about 5 mins or so)

[Mod note: Contains swearing]



Oh and I was pleased to see a shout out for Jerry Sadowitz too. Easy to take offence at if you wanted too, bloody funny and an amazing close hand magician held in very high regard among his magical peers.

 

[Fab Foodie]

If it wasn't for that lovely wife of his, I could have had his babies....

 

[Salty seadog]

haha, steady on now.

It's about time he toured again. Saw both he and Richard Herring in Canterbury within a few weeks of eachother about 3 years ago. Good together when they were young and good on their own if completely different.