Oh! Do I love Stewart Lee or what?

Great piece

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/11/bake-off-stir-pot-immigration-amanda-platell-chocolate-mosque

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He’s rather good isn’t he.

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DM really is plunging to new depths with this. Utterly pathetic.

Nice that this comes this same week May made those comments about a lack of cohesion.

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One thing the Bake Off showed is how multi-culturalism CAN work but is it wrong to question unchecked immigration? The trouble is as soon as anyone does they get labelled a racist.

Still my favourite

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Essentially, while I am allowed to exaggerate for comic effect (if it is considered by the lawyers that the exaggeration is obvious and clearly authored by an unreliable and biased character, ie me), I am not allowed actively to lie. And it struck me as strange, as I watched the eggs rain down on Conservatives this month, that my standup comedian’s lowly standup comedy routines are held accountable to higher legal standards of truth and decency than, for example, a prime minister’s conference speech.

Cameron’s repeated smearing of Corbyn in Manchester, for supposedly saying 9/11 was not a tragedy, when he obviously did the complete opposite, is the case in point. Paradoxically, while the BBC can broadcast Cameron’s lying speech in full, without any critical analysis or disclaimers, if I had written the same comments in a standup comedy routine the lawyers would tell me it could not be transmitted.

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How was Doug Stanhope pap?

Originally posted by @Goatboy

How was Doug Stanhope pap?

Alright. We were speaking with a couple of people on the tram yesterday, and I think we all agreed that it was an end of career performance. Can’t really knock the delivery, but you can see that he’s perhaps not got the passion for it that he once did.

Salford Quays is just weird in general. Very impressive buildings. Nary a soul around the place. We had to drink in a fucking Beefeater before the gig.

Much as I like Doug Stanhope, I’ve always felt he is hugely hit and miss. I know it’s his whole ‘bit’ to toe the line, but for me he often goes a bit too far without making much of a point. Getting picked up by Charlie Brooker has probably done wonders for him, it’s a short snippet of his best bits, plucked from shows where there’s likely an even(ish) split between hilarious and looks round the room accompanied by varied ‘errrrms’.

Granted I’ve not seen him in the flesh, m’self, but the full shows I’ve watched of his can have me howling then slightly unsure before howling again in the space of minutes.

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Growing on you yet pap?

:lou_wink:

I’ve been watching Stewart Lee’s stuff for years, KRG. Just didn’t agree with what he said about Bill Hicks.

Haha yeah, I remember you saying. I just quite like the ‘pap hates Stew-Lee’ meme :lou_lol:

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Agree with this. Listening to some of Stanhopes podcasts is uncomfortable at times and excellent at others. I don’t mind being offensive if there’s a point but quite often he seems to forget about the point he’s making so that its just offensive or, even worse for a comedian, unfunny. Too inconsistent for me to listen to regularly.

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Yeah, I’m with you on that. A lot of it just seems like it’s offensive for offensive sake, which is really just lowest common denominator stuff for me. Sure there are people that like that stuff, but it’s not for me. No problem with going close to the bone, but if you are going to do it, I want there to be a point. Otherwise you are effectively the loud mouth at school get laughs for farting in class or just shouting the c-bomb at any given opportunity.

I know you’re with me on that, I was agreeing with you first. You can’t agree with me after I’ve agreed with you. Silly cunt.

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More I see of him the worse he gets. Though he is reasonably intelligent, I’ll give him that.

Stewart Lee the stand up comedy persona is not Stewart Lee the person. He puts so much thought and work into his routine. His tours are based on constant rehearsal. He’s written of his admiration for Bill Hicks, he made one joke that made reference to it being easier to be a dead comic was part of his act. He’s a fan of commedia dell’arte and the tension of live performance and dividing the room. It doesn’t come across on youtube but if you see him live it’s amazingly effective.

The footnotes and thoughts on each routine were a bit of an insight

Stewart Lee is without doubt the best of all the gigs we’ve seen in the past 12 months and we’ve been to loads.

Just back from seeing Henning Wehn. Very different and a good laugh.