Martin Carthy – Essential Martin Carthy REISSUE - May 2011 May 8th, 2011

Martin Carthy, English folk pioneer and national treasure, celebrates his 70th birthday at the Royal Festival Hall next weekend, and here’s a two disc career overview. The hypnotic, chunky, acoustic guitar style arrives fully-formed on the earliest tracks, from ’65 and ’66, pulsating round the purloined ur-folk licks on which Paul Simon and Bob Dylan…

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle - May 2011 The Arts Desk - By Veronica Lee - May 5th, 2011

One of the great pleasures of being a critic is watching a career develop, and Stewart Lee’s is one that I’ve had the pleasure of, so to speak, for many years. I’m not a Stewart Lee completist but I enjoyed his early days on television with comedy partner Richard Herring in Fist of Fun (just…

“Comedians are meant to be funny” - May 2011 Holy Moly - By TimC - May 5th, 2011

On the day it was announced that Fist of Fun would finally be released on DVD it was a curious coincidence that Stewart Lee gave us perhaps his silliest work since that much loved, but mostly ignored then axed BBC comedy series. Against the odds, Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle has returned for another series. And…

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle - May 2011 The Times - May 5th, 2011

…the BBC had a third moment of thrilling sanity and balls-finding this week: recommissioning Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle. Initially axed after the first series, a campaign by Lee’s fans resulted in Vehicle returning for a second series, to the relief of anyone with an interest in modern comedy. Lee doesn’t really tell jokes — something…

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle – Crisp Comedy - May 2011 TV Pixie - By Liam Tucker - May 5th, 2011

Stewart Lee’s twenty-first century television output continues with a second series that perhaps wasn’t expected to see the light of day. Maybe ‘light of day’ isn’t the right turn of phrase, considering Comedy Vehicle now goes out past 11pm on a Wednesday night, though I doubt either Lee or his fanbase have serious problems with…

Tedious. Problematic. Brilliant - May 2011 Chortle - By Steve Bennett - May 3rd, 2011

‘I’d imagine watching this at home would be incredibly tedious.‘ That’s Stewart Lee’s own verdict on the second series of his Comedy Vehicle. It comes in the second episode, during an apparently interminable conversation he has with a fictitious estate agent that turns into a running meta-commentary on the progress of the show. ‘Unbearable’ is…