Stewart Lee: Not On Twitter

The following appeared in my email inbox today, from the REAL Stewart Lee's Mailing List, regarding the impostor @StewLee on Twitter. It made me chuckle heartily:

A cunt is pretending to be me on Twitter, which is annoying. 

It is not possible for me to stop this cunt without joining Twitter, which I will not do. 

The cunt is using a picture that is mine as his Avatar. 

It would be good if this cunt would stop pretending to be me before he creates problems. 

I will never appear on Twitter. I will also never pretend to appear on Twitter. 

The fact that a cunt can do this is partly why. I will not be held hostage by you people.

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle Rolls Back In To Town!

There are some jokes in this series of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. Four of them. Or maybe three. But there are definitely jokes! Okay, they all happen in this first episode, which deals with charity (and crisps), but they're there! You might have to look for them, but they are definitely there! (And in case you miss them, he tells you when they happen, so it's okay)!

Yep. He's back. And, as ever, if you don't know Stew's style already, don't bother. This stand up comedy show airs at 11.20pm on Wednesday nights on BBC2. It's not for everyone. I'd go as far as to say it's not for most people. But there is definitely an audience out there. Stewart Lee, as you know already, is a hero of mine. Not only the funniest man I've ever seen, but as close as possible to the nicest fella I've ever met. Comedy Vehicle is... well, his comedy vehicle. Stew deconstructs each joke, signposts each callback and pushes every last laugh into your face, rather than tickling it out of you.

I can't explain what he does or why it's funny. I can't say 'watch it for this bit when...' because it doesn't work like that! You either get it or you don't. If you get it, welcome to the very exclusive club! If it's not for you, that's perfectly fine! But we all think you're missing out... Watch the first episode on iPlayer now!

Stewart Lee - St David's Hall, Cardiff. March 4th 2011

You know before I begin that this little review will be biased and enthusiastic. You know full well that Stewart Lee is one of my "heroes". You also know, if you know who Stew is and what he does, that he's not everybody's cup of tea...

I went to see his latest show, Vegetable Stew, with two friends; one older than me and one younger. Neither really enjoyed the show very much, as far as I can tell. I, however, believed it to be hilarious. The show is a "work in progress" for a show which, due to the postponement of the show show in October, has already been filmed for BBC2. 

Tackling charity and government in his trademark repetitive, plodding, pause-filled, rhythmic style Stew once again takes pot shots at some of the most unusual victims. His cynical views on Russell Howard's agenda behind his charity work take the audience on a giggle-some guilt-ride which much of the room, including me, found side-splitting. A Stewart Lee audience is a wonderfully interesting thing - it has pockets of different types of people. Stew is the embodiment of the saying "you can't please all of the people all of the time". But Stew doesn't want to! He wants to leave people behind and have them feel as though they need to catch up.

As with most of Stew's shows he loses the audience with some very dangerous material about the IRA, a wonderful story about his days at Oxford where he became David Cameron's friend "for a few weeks" and crisps. Lots of crisps. It's a method that Stew - and only Stew - can really pull off. Losing and audience and winning them back is what makes Stewart Lee such a unique performer. There is nobody quite like him out there, even now, even after his twenty-odd years in the business. I laughed all night - I smiled inwardly at just how much respect I have for this man. He really is an inspiration. He's my Ted Chippington. 

But he's not everyone's idea of what a comedian should be. Michael McIntyre he is not. He is, you could say, the antidote to the comedy we have thrust upon us now. Stewart Lee's material is comedy as cooked by Heston Blumenthal - he's an artist. He deconstructs each and every nuance of his own routine, informing the audience in advance that he has few jokes and much of his material simply doesn't work! But it does. So well. 

The show was incredible. And, as usual, Stew hung about after the show to meet the crowd and sign books and DVDs. They say you should never meet your heroes. Well, I'm so happy that I did!

"That Which Began In Honey, Ends In Despair"

Forget what you know about Edward Lear's rhyme. It is idealist, fantasy nonsense. What occurred in reality was nothing short of a sick and twisted crime orchestrated, it would seem, solely to create misery and fear. A torture dreamt up in the minds of persons unknown, minds more sadistic than the most depraved of men. 

Stewart Lee's scratch-piece, Pea Green Boat, is quite simply a masterpiece. Exploring the baffling logic, or lack thereof, behind an Owl and a Cat sailing together in an inappropriately-coloured vessel, the terrifying feeling one must feel when one finds oneself the object of its natural predator's lust, Pea Green Boat is funny because it's true. If you were to ask me what this was, I wouldn't say a comedy. I wouldn't even say a theatre-piece. I'd call it art. 

Telling the well-known tale in the form of The Owl's Diary, this piece charts the Owl's terrifying descent into what can only be described as "mental illness". It's paranoia, hallucinations, fears and hopes are drip-fed to us over twenty-one minutes of heartbreaking loneliness and bizarrely recognisable, yet achingly sad, senility. I've never felt more concerned for the mental welbeing of an Owl since Richard Herring claimed to have made love to one in the late 1990s. 

Don't make the mistake that these are the anthropomorphic characters you know from reading the rhyme as a child. What we have here are an actual Owl and an actual Cat, set upon by a mysterious foe and tortured to madness. The entries in the Owl's diary and that of the Turkey shed little light on the realities of the journey, only that you wouldn't want to be stranded on a small rowing boat with an Owl at its wit's end. The closing entry in particular, from the Turkey's journal, actually brought a tear to my eye. I can imagine this work being adapted into a three-man stage play. But there really is no need as Pea Green Boat is as near-perfect a piece of performance art as you will ever find.

I highly recommend you purchase this. It's not expensive at all and is available on CD or as a limited edition vinyl release. You can get it from Go Faster Stripe. You should get it. I urge you to. Then we can remember the ill-fated animal sailors together.

As It Occurs To Me Back Catalogue! Listen Again!!

Podcast fan? Good news! Then read on... Because this years' series of As It Occurs To Me, or AIOTM, ("AIOTM!!") is over - and has been for ages! Which is sad news, since we don't get any more AIOTM ("AIOTM!!") for bloody ages. Well, May 2011. But there's good news, as I mentioned above! Because it's not like the old shows are unavailable or anything! In fact, quite the opposite! They are available! Series One and Two of AIOTM ("AIOTM!!"), along with the Autumn specials, are available right here for download. If you have no idea what AIOTM ("AIOTM!!") is then panic not, just give it a go, blind. It's great. It's funny. It's very sweary. It's not one for the easily offended. 

Richard Herring Joins UCL Occupation (Briefly)

Comedian Richard Herring has shown his support for the students currently occupying UCL in protest against the bloody Tories (there's more to it than that, obviously, but that's enough in itself, isn't it?). 

After being Tweeted by students taking part in the occupation, he took time out of his busy schedule to visit them and tell a couple of jokes,in the hope of cheering them all up a bit, lifting the mood...

You can hear a short interview with Rich here, where he explains his position in their support. You can also hear more of Rich's (foul-mouthed, almost-illegal) opinions on the podcast he records with "colleague" Andrew Collins, here. If you've never listened, you definitely should. 

Comedy And Sharing - A Laid-Back Look?

DISCLAIMER: Before I start, I'm not accusing anyone of anything, here. I'm not saying anyone stole anything or that anyone's material is better/more worth stealing than anyone else's. There are no accusations or any kind of blame being applied here. The following is simply an observation, or series of observations, in support of a comedian of whom I am massive fan (yawn, sorry). The following is not very well structured, or very eloquently worded, but here we go:

In the words of Stewart Lee, "there has always been a tradition of, sort of, main stream acts stealing our jokes and passing them off as their own" which I suppose, is something that just happens. 

Other than taking the material-thief to task over such instances there's an element of "deal with it" about the whole thing. Quite recently, on Twitter, Keith Chegwin was accused of stealing other comics' material and passing it off as "either his own work, or traditional gags minted by long-dead comics". Citing the age-old "intellectual property ownership blind-spot" argument. Indeed, I've heard jokes on TV or at stand-up shows and retold them without crediting the source myself. I do not, however, have armies of "fans" who give me a virtual back-pat for my wonderful sense of humour. Recently, I've noticed a number of different instances of jokes that would normally not be heard by mainstream audiences, written by some of the most influential comics, retold credit-free on Live At The Apollo and the like.

I'm going to use Stewart Lee (surprise, surprise) as an example of how easy it is for a joke to be seen as stolen and/or misused. Now, Stew is revered among his peers as "the comedian's comedian" - and rightly so! He has written for the most unlikely of now-mainstream acts. 

Lee, in fact, directed The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett in their first major stage show, Arctic Boosh, which has remained the basis for their entire chemistry as an act. The point; they aren't strangers to each other. I was watching Live At The Apollo a while back, the one Noel Fielding was on as a solo performer, and he said something that stopped me enjoying his routine, since it distracted me so much. I forget exactly what the material was, but that isn't really relevant. What's relevant is, when one of his jokes was laughed at before the punchline arrived, he used a like something like "now you're making your own jokes, it's like psychic comedy! I can come out and you can make the jokes yourselves in your heads. That way, if you didn't like the show it's your fault for being shit". A clever and funny line, no doubt ad-libbed. 

It would have been funnier if the ad-lib was Noel's. If you know your Stewart Lee, then you'll all know of the bit he does about the possibility of watching a split-screen broadcast of Charles and Camilla's Wedding/The Pope's Funeral where he delivers a feed-line, which the audience use to guess the punchline. 

Stew uses the same line as Noel, some years before that episode of Live At The Apollo, about the audience being responsible for not enjoying the show if they are making their own punchlines up before he delivers them. It's a great - and, more importantly, written - line that belongs to Stew! Now, it's not as structured as many jokes out there, and the way in which it was used was slightly different. But it is, essentially, the same line. 

Again, when watching Dara O'Briain's latest stand-up DVD he focusses on an audience member who is illegally recording the gig on his mobile phone in plain sight. He says to the kid filming, "there are 8 cameras in this room, it's being recorded for a DVD". Not a joke. Just a line. However, in Stew's new DVD, filmed before Dara's, he also has a run-in with a fella recording the gig. Stew, too, uses the line, "there are 6 cameras here, mate, it's being recorded for a DVD!" - similar, but not exactly the same. Again, not a joke. Just a line. It's very difficult to apply ownership to a line like that... it's not FUNNY in itself, it's all in the delivery. Also, from the same show - but again, in a completely different context - both comics explore the social relationship and power-structure between fairytale favourites, The Three Bears. It's not theft. It's very unlikely that either comedian is even aware of the others' material* or if they are, are not looking at it as being the same in any way. 

But it's not the first time that Stewart Lee has (allegedly) had material "borrowed and adapted" for mainstream audiences. This link offers a very interesting discussion on the similarities between Stew's work and other comics - comics who are better than this - like Gervais, Patrick Kielty and Jack Whitehall. The latter - and I swear this is true! - was on some show a while ago making jokes about being accused of material theft; he made some funny remarks, all his own! Then, with no degree of irony AT ALL, he spewed out a joke that is definitely a Frank Skinner gag! 

I can't remember the actual gag, I'm afraid, which I'm aware makes my argument less than credible. But my point is, even when caught mainstream comics "borrow" material, deliberately or not - it must be difficult to remember if you've had an idea yourself, (especially when they happen as fast as they must do in the mind of Jack Whitehall☨). It happens. It will always happen and it's reached a point where it is now largely ignored. I like Dara. I like Noel. I like Gervais. I also like Stewart Lee, I don't know if I've ever mentioned that... 

But, you know what? Even Stew uses jokes that aren't his. Even Stew puts jokes in his shows that he didn't write. In fact, the very first TWO jokes in the very first episode of Comedy Vehicle are not his. But what Stew does, as anyone should, is credit the people who wrote the gags openly. The end-credits of said episode feature the credits "Two Book Jokes by Simon Munnery" and, in a later episode, Stew even credits his own wife with providing a joke he uses. That is how to use others' material. As a Gentleman should. 

Nothing I write will change any of this, of course. But hopefully one day more and more people will take notice of the comics who don't necessarily reach wide, TV audiences. Comics like Stew, Richard Herring, Josie Long, Robin Ince, Milton Jones and countless others who, if you know your stuff, you will see having jokes borrowed left, right and centre by the more "mainstream" names. If we all go to see one of these acts live then the next time we hear one of their jokes repeated on The Royal Variety Performance or something, then we'll think "sorry mate, we've heard it done before, better, by the fella who wrote it originally!".

* Although, they both frequent the same venues and "comedy festivals" so probably are aware of the stuff.
☨ This IS irony! This IS a Stewart Lee joke (originally concerning Joe Pasquale). Clever, aren't I?

Richard Herring: Saying Things We Know To Be True But Are Scared Of Saying, So You Don't Have To!

It's like this: Every now and again, I go all hard over a certain "type" of "something" and spend all my time writing and reading about that thing. Sometimes it's consumerist bullshit like The X Factor (well, it's always that) and sometimes it's a little band that no-one's ever really heard of - a band like Melt Banana, a real acquired taste, or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. And sometimes I look right back to my earliest days of knowing, instinctively, what funny is. Ladies and Gents, Richard Herring is funny.

If you don't know him, you should be ashamed. Not really... Let me educate you, though, to avoid embarrassment in the future. From Cheddar in Somerset came a man. That man was he. In the dying days of Alternative Comedy Richard Herring took his 2:1 in Modern History from Oxford and with it (as many with degrees do nowadays) began a career in comedy.

He is probably best known as "The Fat One off Lee & Herring" (not my description) - the best comedy double-act there has been in modern times (my description). Together with Genius-Equal Stewart Lee, Rich wrote for some of the best performers and programmes Britain had to offer. On TV, Lee & Herring gave us Fist Of Fun (which began on Radio 1, back when it was good) and the show that I honestly think formed me as a person (gush), This Morning With Richard Not Judy - a near-the-knuckle Sunday lunchtime show parodying the ITV Richard AND Judy shit-fest which was so popular at the time.

It is as a solo performer, though, that Rich's strengths lie, if you ask me. He's not afraid to say the things we know to be true, but are too scared to say; his various solo stand-up shows are all based on ideas most of us wouldn't let get past the "idea" stage. Between 1994 and today he's given us more than ten great shows; the best - for me - being Christ On A Bike (2001), The 12 Tasks Of Hercules Terrace (2004) and the wonderful Hitler Moustache! It is the latter I wish to talk about.

The name itself is almost unfair. But if the show were to be called The Charlie Chaplin Moustache then it wouldn't have the same pull, would it? As I'm sure you have guessed the show is about the misunderstanding of "The Hitler Moustache" and it explored whether it was the facial hair that made Hitler evil... But it's far more interesting and infinitely more thought-provoking than that. 

The exploration of racists' views by questioning whether hating JUST black people is actually worse than general misanthropy is inspired! Richard argues an uncomfortable point with wit and intelligence - just like every topic he tackles - and brings to our attention our very own deeply-disguised almost-racism. I watched the show and, as well as laughing heartily throughout, found myself looking at myself and giving myself a 'silent-ticking-off' about the awful things I've never noticed I think. As always, when I review stuff I want people to experience for themselves, I don't want to tell you "this happens" and "he says this funny thing" and what have you, but I will say this: The DVD has just been released; it's not expensive; it IS worth every single penny. 

This isn't one for the easily offended or the stupid, though. Intelligent people with open minds ready to be shown a skewed yet lucid side of a topic that many run from for fear of saying the wrong thing will love this. Richard Herring, as fans of any of his work will know, is not a man who "holds back". He is an innovative and cutting-edge comic (quite a feat considering he's been doing this for pretty much 20 years straight). I can't heap enough praise on him. Watch all his shows. They're mostly available from Cardiff life-savers GoFasterStripe and I urge you to begin your collection now. 

If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One

It's no secret that I have a hero. Since I was 12 years old I've admired and followed Stewart Lee, from his days as "the thin one" in Lee and Herring, through Jerry and the fuss, to his triumphant return to the comedy circuit in the early to mid '00s. His first three stand-up shows are a must for anyone who knows and appreciates his style; don't bother if you don't. Stew is like, as many would suggest, the "'Marmite' of Comedy" - you either love him or hate him - but I won't use such a clichéd simile. I don't think he'd appreciate it. 

Instead, I think he's the "'Jerry Springer: The Opera' of Comedy" - if you're a forward-thinking, intelligent, reasonable person with even the slightest understanding of irony, satire and parody as tools for comedy then he's just the comedian for you. He certainly doesn't pull any punches in what he says, there are few real belly-laugh-inducing jokes and a lot of the subjects discussed so eloquently will undoubtedly make you unsure whether you should be laughing in the first place, anyway. If you're a Mail-reading hate-figure-seeking vulture, I'm sure you'd like his stuff too - for very different reasons! But, "If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One". I'm sure Peter Kay has another DVD out. As it stands, I'm a "Leftie, Guardian-reading bore". As bad as this sounds, Stew is the comedian of choice for me.

And his most recent stand-up DVD - the above, titular - is, I believe, a satirical masterpiece. There are only a few "jokes" in the 1 hour 45 minute show; the pirate one, the Top Gear one and the Magners one... But Stew works his magic on these topics with such a practised hand - as always - that the time flies and before you know it he's signing DVDs in the foyer. Again, in a good way! If you know Stew then you know some of what to expect; repetition, pauses, self-deprecation, audience-splitting based on ability to understand his routine... But there is something else in this show that sneaks out as the tales grow taller and taller and the now-obligatory "falsified satirical breakdown" approaches it is clear that this is a thought-provoking and important lecture. Tackling the hypocrisy of broadcast and print media, the perils of knowing Stew at school (maybe) and the inevitable truth that much of what Stew does is available online, through countless bit.torrent sites, before the commercial DVD has even been burned, I found myself smiling more than laughing. It's less comedy and more a comedic way of bringing important and everyday occurrances of oft-ignored society-wide moral blindness to light.

I sat in awe as Stewart Lee ended what was as near-perfect a performance as he is able of giving without de-constructing even his own methods and means (which he does, actually) with the revelation that he was about to break the final taboo of stand-up comedy by "attempting to do something sincerely and well". 

This turns out to be a relevant and heartfelt version of Steve Earle's 'Galway Girl' - a song that meant something to Stew until it was used to advertise Pear Cider. Who knew he could sing pretty well too? He can! Ironically, the main body of the show along with the wonderful closing musical number are available to view on Youtube, despite Stew's berating of an audience member caught red-handed while recording the final fifth of the show on his mobile phone, in clear view of a slowly (but methodically) emotionally unravelling Stewart Lee's face. The song is the perfect end to an uncomfortable and much-publicised show, which plays out like a house built on sand, collapsing and crumbling into nothing, leaving a perfect and beautiful dune - something far more attractive than that which it once failed to support. There's none of the gushy, washy, stadium-jarring piano pseudo-emotion that you get at the end of a massive Lee Evans set, no! A guitar, a violin, a singer who isn't a singer singing a song he used to love - it's the one story Stew tells that could be 100% true (and 0% false).  

If you've never seen Stewart Lee perform live - as I haven't (but I have tickets for March) - then this is the closest you'll get to genuine "Comedy As Art/Art As Comedy" until you buy a ticket for the soonest possible Lee gig. I won't tell you to watch this DVD because it's hilarious. I'll tell you to watch ALL the Stewart Lee shows and become one of us who are in on the joke. My Aunt thinks he's boring. She's never been so offended than when she watched this DVD. She can't get too angry about it, though. Not any more. She's 41, after all...

Buy Stewart Lee DVDs and see much more of his older stuff on his website HERE.

Stewart Lee's "How I Escaped My Certain Fate" (Faber & Faber)

"The worst comedian in Britain, as funny as bubonic plague." - The Sun

"I never wanted to be a comedian." writes Stewart Lee in the introduction to his brilliant book. "When I was very young I wanted to be a writer, first of all a writer of philosophically inclined thrillers like Robert E. Howard, Ray Bradbury or Stan Lee," he continues, "and then later a writer of thrillingly inclined philosophy, like Albert Camus, Franz Kafka or Samuel Beckett." - I dare say he has succeeded on both counts!

First of all, it is impossible to read this book on the toilet. It doesn't have a handy wipe-clean cover. It is slightly too large to hold comfortably in your hands while emptying your bowel. However, it is - to borrow from the Goldilocks story - 'just right' for a prolonged and hungry single-sitting read on a rainy Wednesday night. But I'm getting ahead of myself! Before I move on to the subject matter of this must-have piece of genuine writing (as opposed to page after glossy page of recycled "scenes we'd like to see" jokes from Mock The Week), I want to tell you about the trouble I had buying this book in an actual shop.

The plan was my parents would buy this book, along with Stew's recently released and just as long windedly-titled DVD, "If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One", for Christmas. But I couldn't wait. I had the money in my hands, in coins, which I planned to spend on the book and just get the DVD from Father Christmas. I went to Waterstones in Cardiff, who told me that they had one copy in stock but couldn't find it anywhere. They even checked the "Celebrity Hardbacks" section - against my many protestation. What an ignorant man he was. Anyway, they couldn't find it anywhere. So I went to W.H.Smith's to see if they had it. Again, there were two in stock. One was missing completely and the other's cover was torn to shreds. Worse still, it was shelved between "Richard Littlejohn's House Of Fun: Thirteen Years Of (Labour) Madness" and some mini-book about Justin Beiber, in the Entertainment section, no less!

I wanted a pristine copy in the hope that I would get it signed by the man himself when I saw his new live show, "Vegetable Stew" at the postponed St David's Hall date (I shall keep the book safe until March). So I meandered toward HMV - I got my copy of Disgusting Bliss there a few weeks earlier, so you never know - and asked the purple-haired young chap with eye-liner at the counter if the store stocked it. He didn't even know who Stewart Lee was! Using my eyes I looked in the "Book" section for my prize and discovered, to my amazement - and that of the camp man behind the counter - the last copy they had, in perfect condition.

And I think that word - perfect - sums up the content of the book fairly well. Comprised of extensively annotated transcripts of his three Stand-Up shows, Stand-up Comedian, 90s Comedian and 41st Best Stand-up Ever, interspersed with detailed and informative - and very funny - autobiographical intros to these shows, How I Escaped My Certain Fate (or HIEMCF, as I shall call it in homage to earlier Lee masterpieces) speaks always honestly, sometimes brutally and often emotionally about Stewart Lee's rise and fall-cycle, which has led to him being known in the trade as "The Comedian's Comedian". I found that I couldn't put the book down! 

As I mentioned in my opening paragraph above the "real life" stories he tells read like a personal diary more than a celebrity autobiography - which, of course, it sort of it. Filled with open and occasionally shocking revelations (£600 for an appearance on HIGNFY?) and the sort of anecdotes that actually interest people (there's nothing in here about "that time I was at Elton's place on Brits night and Cilla Black was in the pool...") the chapters between the transcripts are beautifully written, witty, clever, honest and filled with references to comics I had never heard of; comics I have now looked up and fallen in love with. 

The whole thing reads as a kind of love-letter to the art-form of stand-up. Reading of Lee's ups and downs, from glass-strewn Bangor stages to the National Theatre, via Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh (every year bar one) and every other sticky-carpeted, brown-walled pub back room on the way, you can't help but get swept along by his enthusiasm for an industry that he clearly loves. If you're not a stand-up fan then it's very unlikely you'd have heard of Stewart Lee, let alone bought his book. But if you are a fan of stand-up comedy, this perfect-bound stack of 378 pages is everything you've ever wanted to read about. 

It's a rare thing. I want to talk about what's in it, but I REALLY WANT you all to read this book. Since reading the book a second time I've decided that there is more to Stewart Lee than most give him credit for. He's not just the most intelligent and interesting stand-up working today, but a true artist. People say he deconstructs comedy and that's his trick, but I think they're wrong. I think Lee sees comedy. Stew gets that what he does is clever; he sees that there is an audience he will never win. And I don't think he wants them. Much of what he does he talks about in terms of "losing a room and then winning them back" which is daring. He speaks of his wish to make form and rhythm the most important aspect of his comedy, even over material! Again, daring. Stewart Lee does what most comedy audiences - and this isn't arrogance, here - simply don't understand: he takes a joke and tells us why it's funny. 

Sidestepping actual punchlines, even when they present themselves blatantly, in favour of a turn-of-phrase or even just a look, Lee provides more seasoned comedy fans with something better. His book is a must buy, then you'll all know what the hell it is I've been talking about all through this post. 

To me, in the nicest possible way, Stewart Lee is like going to the cinema while taking A-Level Media Studies. I have found myself watching Lee Evans in his stadium shows, huge and sweaty on 30ft screens, and getting ahead of him. I've watched mainstream comics like Michael McIntyre and his "Comedy Road-show Massive" telling jokes that have already been explained to me by Lee and others like him. I was appalled to hear Noel "The Mighty Boosh" Fielding telling a joke on Comedy Roadshow (BBC) last week which Stew had made in his 90s Comedian, and made much more effectively, about the audience making the jokes in their heads, thus rendering themselves and only themselves responsible for their possible lack of enjoyment. I saw this joke retold, not verbatim, granted, and thought to myself "this isn't theft... this is influence". Stewart Lee. A name that is known by those who know it, and those alone. My Mother hates him despite never having seen him at all, simply because he's "so slow". She doesn't get it. But then again she's seen the best stand-up she'll ever see; she was on this Cruise once...

Stewart Lee's book, "How I Escaped My Certain Fate - The Life And Deaths Of A Stand-Up Comedian" is available to buy from Stew's website, here. If you only read one book... etc.

Stewart Lee

Without question, the cleverest comedian of our time. A true scientist of comedy. Very rare!

Reliving My Childhood With Richard Not Judy

Remember when Richard & Judy did This Morning? Every weekday they'd sit there, talking about a woman who married her own brother one minute and Coronation Street the next, in true One Show style. I hated that. Partly because it was the sort of TV that eats your spare time without your consent, partly because I was in school when it was on, so always missed it! It was awful. Both the fact that I couldn't see it and the show itself!

Sunday, though, offered something even better. Infinitely better, in fact! Something that would never be shown in today's modern, cuddly, sheltered, censored, artistically-muted BBC schedule. Something more "near-the-knuckle" than The Friday Night Project (and , again, infinitely better). Something wonderful. Anyone remember This Morning With Richard Not Judy? I hope so, for that is the show of which I speak!

Stewart Lee and Richard Herring's hilarious alternative Sunday Lunch was about as anarchic and shocking as the BBC could get on a Sunday Lunchtime. 

What sticks in my mind most is Lee's side-splitting diatribe to "...the stupid, fat, drunken idiots..." who would be watching the Friday late-night repeat from the first show. Also, from that same show, the "aim" they vowed to achieve of assassinating BBC Director General (at the time) John Birt, to take over the BBC and ensure that The Simpsons, Seinfeld and Larry Sanders is broadcast at a reasonable time of day, when people would actually be watching - "even if there is snooker on!". How the hell they got away with it is beyond me, on a Sunday lunchtime. I've just watched The Five Types Of Woman - The Spice Girls, where Herring describes "an ugly sporty spice jumping into a home" and raping a man, as this would be her only means of reproduction! ON A SUNDAY LUNCHTIME!!

When I was young - 12 years old when this show began - I didn't quite understand much of the double entendre offered as seemingly innocent, family-friendly material. Watching it back is double satisfaction! If you've never seen the show, please go here, to Stew's website (video clips page) to watch all eighteen 45min episodes in full! I guarantee you, you will not regret it! Also available on that page is the complete Fist Of Fun, Comedy Vehicle and many links to YouTube classics from what is, to me, Britain's Uncrowned Kings Of Comedy.