You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged every episode of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle. This isn’t because they weren’t enjoyable, but because even if I could do justice to his humour, it would ruin the show for me to quote every funny line here.
This week’s episode, however, shows him at his very, very best and I would hate for you to miss out just because BBC2 is putting him on well past bedtime (well, well past my bedtime anyway).
He takes two underlying themes (musical comedy and how comedy now is different from in the ’80s) and weaves an utterly magical 30 minutes from them.
No one dissects comedy as intelligently and as funnily as Stewart Lee. His conversation between imaginary librarians, with them arguing over whether he is or isn’t a funny librarian is a work of art: “I think he is a funny librarian actually. It’s just that you have to have seen a lot of other librarians to realise what it is he’s doing.”
His destruction of lazy observational comedy is a joy to behold, and his meander into consumer advice is rather sweet. As is his dealing with someone who walks out of the recording halfway through (frankly he wasn’t hard enough on the one who followed suit with only 30 seconds of the show to go).
His Daily Mail-baiting IRA/Al-Qaeda comparison is brilliant, playing on exactly the sort of contradictions that the Fail displays on a daily basis: “The thing about the IRA , right, is they were decent, British terrorists… They didn’t want to be British. But they were.”
His comedy song was not just funny and musical, but also paid off on most of the earlier threads. And while I think the man who ruined the song is a total twonk, he did at least provoke an excellent final joke from my comedy hero.
You can watch this episode of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle on iPlayer now.
Posted by Jo the Hat
I first became aware of Stewart Lee, when he was on tv performing his last series. I found his style of comedy hilarious and became an instant fan.
This time round I couldnt wait for Tuesday night…..in my opinion the best show on tv.
Unfortunately this Tuesday, despite a promising start his material took a turn for the worst when he’s usually funny ‘ramblings’ turned to the IRA.
Both Mr Lee and myself are old enough to remember news reports every night on the tv about bombs going off here and there killing innocent people and young, british soldiers who through no fault of their own had to go over to Ireland as part of their job. Surely to make fun (even ironically) about the IRA being better than Al-Qaeda is in poor taste, and hurtful to the many relatives and friends who have seen their loved ones killed, for no reason.
I still think Mr Lee is a very talented comedian…but I would urge him to drop that particular part of his performance .
I can see why the routine wouldn’t be to everybody’s taste, but I think he takes care not to mock victims, families or soldiers. It seems to me to be a dig at the sort of people who said after the 7/7 bombings, “At least with the IRA you got a warning when they bombed something…” – yeah, that made the IRA much ‘nicer’ terrorists than Al-Qaeda.
I have to disagree with you describing his routine as ‘ramblings’ though! The last thing he does is ramble – he deconstructs things, repeats himself to make his point (and make us laugh), he is always leading the audience where he wants them to go . He’s got a mind like a steel trap lurking under the shambolic facade!
I agree with Jo about this one – the POINT is to make fun of the idea that IRA were “better” terrorists because they were British. And of course to play with the idea that it makes any kind of sense to talk about one kind of terrorist being “kinder” or less ruthless than another.
Presumably, you didn’t have a problem with the routine in an earlier show which played with the idea that he would have to go and murder a friend and all of his family, in order to put them out of the misery and boredom of having to live in the countryside – a concept which was then dramatised in the little sketch at the end?
It strikes me that if you want to put some subjects out of bounds for Stewart Lee to put into his routines, then you are watching the wrong kind of comedian – I think the whole point is that he doesn’t really think what he says – but he’s trying to shock you (when he isn’t trying to bore you by repeating things, or waiting for very, very long pauses) by playing with the audience expectations of a comedy routine.
Nice to read your review. The more I watch the more brilliant I think he is, he seemed to have matured so much since the Fist of fun days. My comedy Hero too
I totally agree with Val on this one….
Some subjects ARE ‘Out of Bounds’ or to be more precise ‘Just not funny’ no matter who the comedian is.
A ficticious scenario of killing someone who moved to the country and was going out of their mind with boredom is a different thing altogether, it was totally made-up.
The bombings by the IRA were totally evil, and destroyed many innocent lives. No way should this be included in a comedy routine.
Its ridiculous to say no subjects are out of bounds – what next? Lets all go down to the comedy store there’s a fantastic night of paediophile jokes and a really funny sketch on Mental Health issues.
Perhaps Mr P shouldn’t get so defensive and touchy when a critisism of S.Lee arises, unless your his Dad.
Everyones entitled to their opinion, no need to get sooooo stroppy.
“Everyones entitled to their opinion, no need to get sooooo stroppy.”
Excuse me, but do you REALLY mean everyone’s entitled to their opinion APART from me?
I strongly disagree with the view that some subjects are “out of bounds” for comedy. And I happen to think that if you neutered Stewart Lee in that way, he wouldn’t be so funny. The original writer of this review found the IRA as “honest home-grown terrorists” funny, and so did I.
Someone can say it’s not to their taste, or it made them uncomfortable – but the point I was aiming at is that “making the audience uncomfortable” is actually central to what Stewart Lee tries to do with his routines.
I’m against censorship in comedy. If it’s not to your taste, you should move on to something that is – not tell me that *I* am in the wrong because I found his IRA routine funny.
Totally agree with you Paul. For those worried about “off limits” comedy I would suggest you read this excellent article by Doug Stanhope (he really is a different kettle of fish)
http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/comment/guest-commentary/doug-stanhope-on-offensive-comedy-1.1083012
(Although I also fail to find that many of Frankie Boyle’s jokes funny… a question of subjective taste, I guess.)
In defence of Val, Stuart Lee does admit that he was rambling during the routine (but deliberately so!)
I think the point of ‘out of bounds’ subjects are that it depends how they are treated and intention behind them. I.e. they should be treated with care/respect/etc.
During the routine Stuart Lee does say he was being ironic hence NOT trying to be offensive for the sake of humour. Hope that is helpful.
Surely there’s another point here too – which he covered in the “achievable aims” part of his routine – about how society feels about a group of people with whom we can’t negotiate. Surely his routine is as valid as a Newsnight discussion on the changing nature of the terror threat, while at the same time taking a masterly and heavily satirical swipe at the knee-jerk reaction of much of the British press. He did make it clear that he was being ironic- by saying “I am being ironic”. You couldn’t miss it. I can understand it might be painful for anyone who has been a victim or terror – but only as much as any discussion of these issues. He was not making a cheap and unworthy joke,. In any case, I for one am prepared to sacrifice Lowestoft.