I'm glad it's on.
But I dunno, it seems kind of....not brilliant. I'm not sure if I genuinely enjoy it a lot, or if I'd just watch anything by Stewart lee.
The channel 4 thing, dismissing the whole channel. The joke was funny enough, if a bit OTT. But for it to be repeated so much, it's almost on a par with the old woman pissing on the floor in Little Britain.
I enjoyed the "28 years old I was" stuff, but only because it's a TMWRNJ reference.
"lazy setups, predictable gags. Lazy, boring, comedy slags"
And I think a lot of the laughs weren't appreciating the irony, just enjoying a tired old joke.
2 weeks in a row he's gone into a desperate repetitive almost manic whinge. Which is the joke. Unless he's doing a TMWRNJ and following a formula and going to step it up more and more every week, it could wear thin a bit.
I'm a fan of Stewart lee, I watched TMWRNJ when I was 8, but he does seem slightly too elitist nowadays. The slow, style is what he does. I don't know if the laughs quite pay off. A series of 30 minute stand ups shouldn't follow the same pattern as a one off 80 minute session.
The illustrated sections don't always add anything to it, and it comes across as a good idea on paper.
I do like it, don't get me wrong, I'm just not sure how great it really is.
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barkmonster
15 years ago
I'm a fan of Stewart lee, I watched TMWRNJ when I was 8, but he does seem slightly too elitist nowadays. The slow, style is what he does. I don't know if the laughs quite pay off. A series of 30 minute stand ups shouldn't follow the same pattern as a one off 80 minute session.
Notice he was doing his "pliny" voice while laying down on the stage, not to mention squinting to try and look like ben watt as much as much as possible.
For anyone not familiar with his earlier work or aware that he's actually an Atheist and a member of the British Humanist Association, he does come across as a bit of a bible thumper from all the references to it too.
I know if you're going to work religion into comedy, it's the only "safe" one that won't get you branded a hate monger, racist or blown up for being an infidel but still...
I loved the bit about channel4 and the gushing sewerage though but for someone who was branded the "voice of 90's youth culture" when I was in my late teens/early 20s and his comedy was the most relevant, he's certainly gone very high brow with all the theatre references. I wonder if that's a scene he's being exposed to since "Jerry Springer. The Opera"?
www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html (Sim Virus)
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