Stewing
Stewart Lee gets a certain amount of preferential treatment in some quarters, and I can see why - he’s probably the closest thing we have these days to an “alternative” comedian in the old-fashioned sense of the word, and a ferociously intelligent performer. Unfortunately this makes him as infuriating as he is interesting.
While positioning himself as a cut above your average comic (he’s spoken out quite strongly against brainless Jongleurs hen/stag-night type stand-up), Lee is as venomous in the abuse he metes out at his chosen targets as anyone else, however much this vitriol is adorned with clever wordplay and delivered in a deadpan, offbeat style.
In the first show of his new Comedy Vehicle, Lee had a go at Chris Moyles. Now I’ve always found Moyles to be amusing, but at the same time he clearly is a boorish egotist. That second book of his which Lee picked apart does sound horrendous, and of course just because you admit something is a cheap, lazy cash-in doesn’t in any way excuse it from being so. Ok, fair point.
Lee then did a mini-rant about adults who read Harry Potter, which really set my teeth on edge. It’s such a hackneyed old complaint, and seemed out of place in a show which is meant to be something a bit fresh and new. Let’s get this straight: the Harry Potter books are for kids. This does not mean that adults shouldn’t be allowed to read them. Just because an adult does read them does not mean they don’t read more challenging (and, by implication, acceptable) books too.
This was cultural snobbery at its very worst, at least until the final minutes of last week’s show. Apparently the fact that Del Boy falling through that bar on Only Fools is always voted the funniest TV moment ever (hmm, hardly a rock-solid assertion) rather than something from Python or Spike Milligan just encapsulates the idiocy of the vast majority. So, whilst watching Lee you can not only laugh patronisingly at the uneducated proles but also revel in a shared sense of cultural superiority.
I’m being somewhat harsh here, and I’m aware that exaggeration and hyperbole are an essential element of good comedy. Nevertheless, the Del Boy sketch is funny on some level, the comic timing of David Jason’s fall is impeccable if nothing else. And the whole shit flying through the TV bit on Monday night was hardly sophisticated humour. Lee is funny and genuinely different, but please let’s not hail him as the Messiah.
While positioning himself as a cut above your average comic (he’s spoken out quite strongly against brainless Jongleurs hen/stag-night type stand-up), Lee is as venomous in the abuse he metes out at his chosen targets as anyone else, however much this vitriol is adorned with clever wordplay and delivered in a deadpan, offbeat style.
In the first show of his new Comedy Vehicle, Lee had a go at Chris Moyles. Now I’ve always found Moyles to be amusing, but at the same time he clearly is a boorish egotist. That second book of his which Lee picked apart does sound horrendous, and of course just because you admit something is a cheap, lazy cash-in doesn’t in any way excuse it from being so. Ok, fair point.
Lee then did a mini-rant about adults who read Harry Potter, which really set my teeth on edge. It’s such a hackneyed old complaint, and seemed out of place in a show which is meant to be something a bit fresh and new. Let’s get this straight: the Harry Potter books are for kids. This does not mean that adults shouldn’t be allowed to read them. Just because an adult does read them does not mean they don’t read more challenging (and, by implication, acceptable) books too.
This was cultural snobbery at its very worst, at least until the final minutes of last week’s show. Apparently the fact that Del Boy falling through that bar on Only Fools is always voted the funniest TV moment ever (hmm, hardly a rock-solid assertion) rather than something from Python or Spike Milligan just encapsulates the idiocy of the vast majority. So, whilst watching Lee you can not only laugh patronisingly at the uneducated proles but also revel in a shared sense of cultural superiority.
I’m being somewhat harsh here, and I’m aware that exaggeration and hyperbole are an essential element of good comedy. Nevertheless, the Del Boy sketch is funny on some level, the comic timing of David Jason’s fall is impeccable if nothing else. And the whole shit flying through the TV bit on Monday night was hardly sophisticated humour. Lee is funny and genuinely different, but please let’s not hail him as the Messiah.
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