My husband hasn’t bought me a book as a present for YEARS. He says he has no idea what I like any more. But he bought me Content Provider by Stewart Lee for Christmas.
We’ve been fans of Stewart Lee since the late 90s, when we loved him so much that we used to watch live recordings in London of his show This Morning with Richard not Judy with Richard Herring. More recently, we have found Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle on TV absolutely hilarious.
Content Provider is not my usual sort of book. Because it’s a collection of short pieces of prose – mainly newspaper columns. I mistakenly bought a book of short stories a while back and I haven’t got round to reading it yet, because I don’t like to read in that way. I like a proper nice long story that I can get my teeth into. But at first I actually enjoyed reading a couple of complete pieces of Content Provider at a time.
The articles are very funny, but also very intellectual. I can see they wouldn’t be many people’s cup of tea. He’s also included some of his negative online comments after the articles – mainly from people saying he’s sh*t or who completely miss the irony.
This made me properly laugh out loud
There were plenty of times when I laughed out loud, but I must admit, by about halfway through, I was starting to get a bit bored. You can have too much of a good thing and some of the articles were starting to get repetitive. Reading a column every week in a newspaper would probably feel like a treat, but reading several a day for two weeks started to feel like a chore.
I’m never going to go off Stewart Lee’s stand-up, but his writing is definitely for die-hard fans only (who most definitely, like myself, wouldn’t be David Cameron supporters!).
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Dick Socrates, Twitter
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Whoiscuriousgeorge, Youtube
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Neva2busy, dontstartmeoff.com
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Nicetime, Guardian.co.uk
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Henry Howard Fun, Twitter
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Richard Herring, Comedian
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Kozzy06, Youtube
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Liam Travitt, Twitter
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Birmingham Sunday Mercury
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Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
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Emilyistrendy, Youtube
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NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk
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Al Murray, Comedian
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Mini-x2, readytogo.net
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Frankie Boyle, Comedian
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FBC, finalgear.com
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Joycey, readytogo.net
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Rudeness, Youtube
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
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Peter Ould, Twitter
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Rowing Rob, Guardian.co.uk
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Anon, westhamonline.com
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Guest, Dontstartmeoff.com
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World Without End, Twitter
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Aiden Hearn, Twitter
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Carla, St Albans, Dailymail.co.uk
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General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
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Etienne, Chortle.com
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Carcrazychica, Youtube
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Someoneyoudon'tknow, Chortle.com
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James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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Patrick Kavanagh, Guardian.co.uk
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BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
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Shane, Beverley, Dailymail.co.uk
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Cabluigi, Guardian.co.uk
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Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
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Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
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Anamatronix, Youtube
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Tweeterkiryakou, Twitter
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Gwaites, Digitalspy
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Sweeping Curves, Twitter
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Brighton Argus
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Sidsings000, Youtube
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John Robins, Comedian
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Pudabaya, Twitter
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Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
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Cojones2, Guardian.co.uk
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Iain, eatenbymissionaries
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Keilloh, Twitter
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Neolab, Guardian.co.uk
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Gabrielle, Chortle.com
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Joskins, Leeds Music Forum
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Lancethrustworthy, Youtube
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Chez, Chortle.com
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Leach Juice, Twitter
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Joe, Independent.co.uk
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Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com.
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Dave Wilson, Chortle.com
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Lenny Darksphere, Twitter
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Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
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Shit Crit, Twitter
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Jackmumf, Twitter
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Peter Ould, Youtube
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Genghis McKahn, Guardian.co.uk
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Syhr, breakbeat.co.uk
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DVDhth's grandparents, Twitter
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Tokyofist, Youtube
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Lents, redandwhitekop.com
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Mearecate, Youtube
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Guest1001, Youtube
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Lucinda Locketts, Twitter
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Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
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Danazawa, Youtube
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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Secretdeveloper, Youtube
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Microcuts 22, Twitter
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Stuart, Chortle
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Brendon, Vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk
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Jamespearse, Twitter
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GRTak, finalgear.com
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Borathigh5, Youtube
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Pirate Crocodile, Twitter
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Gmanthedemon, bbc.co.uk
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Robert Gavin, Twitter
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Zombie Hamster, Twitter
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Fairy Pingu, Twitter
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Aaron, comedy.co.uk
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Spanner, dontstartmeoff.com
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Dahoum, Guardian.co.uk
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Peter Fears, Twitter
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Esme Folley, Actress, cellist, Twitter
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Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
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Wharto15, Twitter