Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - Series 2 Page 12

Not really seen a lot of SL before now. But this series has been a delight. The stand up episode was by far the stand out episode of the serie so far.

It seems more likely, from having seen him live a few times, that the walkouts weren't scripted but that he is well practiced at dealing with people who walk out.

The walkouts looked genuine to me. It's not as though they were needed to make the act funny.

We were kind of locked-in during the recordings and the booze had been free up to that point. People were also told they weren't allowed back until the break if they left.

He was genuinely annoyed (angry, in fact0 when people walked out and there were three or four who had to leave (seemingly couldn't hold it in anymore, tbh, rather than leaving cos of the material).

I did think they were all genuine on the night, though having watched it on telly was more suspicious. At the time (and he did record four episodes that night, including this one right at the end after about four hours) it all looked genuine to me.

Dan

Enjoyed this series far more than the first one. He doesn't give a damn about attracting new fans, which is really refreshing.

The Al Qaeda routine really made me laugh. And the potshots at Russell Howard last week were enough to warm the heart.

I know this might sound odd but he looks really comfortable this series. Like he's happy with the format and that he's on top of his game.

The walkouts looked genuine to me. There can be a reinforcement element where once one person does it others think it's okay - certainly that's something I've seen happen at the Pleasance in Edinburgh. Couple of years ago I watched Russell Kane's show the day after he'd been nominated. Absolutely brilliant show but twenty minutes in someone walked across the front of the stage to get to the loo. He dealt with it in an incredibly funny way, but you could almost see people thinking "well if he can do that and the comedian can just be funny about it, that must be okay" and maybe thirty people walked across the stage during the course of an hour long show! He carried on being hysterically funny throughout but it really massively disrupted a complex show.

Andrew O'Neill is this week's extra: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h5x0b

Dan

I think he's truly the UK's equivalent of Andy Kaufman after watching this series.

Watching this episode again, I laughed my tits off.

I think this proves my earlier point that you need to be in the right mood to fully enjoy this stuff.

Still a bit pissed off that he re-used the IRA/Al-Qaeda material from 90s Comedian (was it?) but strung it out from a few lines to five minutes.

Quote: Badge @ May 27 2011, 12:36 PM BST

I know this might sound odd but he looks really comfortable this series. Like he's happy with the format and that he's on top of his game.

Fully agree.

Quote: Kevin Murphy @ May 28 2011, 5:00 PM BST

I think this proves my earlier point that you need to be in the right mood to fully enjoy this stuff.

Probably true; it's much easier to watch a more straight ahead comedian and let the one liners wash over you; Lee is not an 'easy' comedian, you have to connect with it more. He's probably not going to cheer many up if they're in a flat mood to start with!

I really enjoy the Armando Iannucci bits

:)Been on hol so I have to catch up guys!

Trust you had a pleasant trip D

:)

I am moving to the country soon so his insane ramble about the country cracked me up. I too hope to have a horse to look at.