Across the city, under the auspices of newly formed estate agents Pennington Lee, Michael Pennington (aka stand-up Johnny Vegas) and Stewart Lee have devised an hour-long perambulation through a semi near Old Trafford with the title Interiors.
It’s a skit on the obsession with design and property which swerves into something more disconcerting: Pennington, as vendor Jeffrey Parkin, whose ‘design initiatives’ on the house aren’t quite finished, and who really wants to go into property in Montenegro, unravels – room by room, joke by joke – only inches away from his audience.
A wobble-spirited, wobble-bellied, Parkin, a more tentative persona than the abrasive Vegas, greets his spectators/prospective buyers at the door of the house (equipped with ‘liquid flush-toilet’ and ‘water-dispensing body-wash shower’). He’s all boasts in the kitchen, which has a fridge stuck with snaps of Montenegro, a weird gap where a load-bearing wall has been taken down (if it had been allowed to stay, half the audience ‘would be ignored’), and a massively eulogised (totally standard) pan rack, ‘modelled on sketches I did of the Humber Bridge’.
Things get a bit edgier in the sitting-room (unsafe gas fire, sofa with a grey blanket, standard lamp ‘for atmos’), as he works out which would be the best still from Farinelli: Il Castrato to project as a subtly teasing cultural reference on his wall.
They get desperate in the bedroom, where an unseen partner has unstylishly intervened: the bed provokes a raging riff on Ikea, ‘flat-pack paedophiles picking on the weak and vulnerable’ and a stretch of wallpaper gets attacked with a scraper – ‘It’s not even wallpaper: it’s a dirty protest. You just smear it on.’ They get explained in the final and only finished room: a perfect, empty nursery. It’s not greatly startling, this attack on consumerism, but it’s finely done, and it’s well worth doing. How did we get to the point where the word ‘interior’ always had a colour chart attached to it?
Dick Socrates, Twitter
Dick Socrates, Twitter
Carcrazychica, Youtube
Carcrazychica, Youtube
Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com.
Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com.
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Joe, Independent.co.uk
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World Without End, Twitter
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Secretdeveloper, Youtube
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Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
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Peter Fears, Twitter
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Someoneyoudon'tknow, Chortle.com
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Richard Herring, Comedian
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Brendon, Vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk
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Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
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Meninblack, Twitter
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Len Firewood, Twitter
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Tin Frog, Twitter
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Mearecate, Youtube
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Al Murray, Comedian
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Liam Travitt, Twitter
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Rudeness, Youtube
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Pirate Crocodile, Twitter
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Brighton Argus
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Coxy, Dontstartmeoff.com
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Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
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Z-factor, Twitter.
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Slothy Matt, Twitter
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Microcuts 22, Twitter
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Zombie Hamster, Twitter
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Ishamayura Byrd, Twitter
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Idrie, Youtube
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Frankie Boyle, Comedian
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Stokeylitfest, Twitter
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Neva2busy, dontstartmeoff.com
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Shit Crit, Twitter
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Mini-x2, readytogo.net
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Tres Ryan, Twitter
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Iain, eatenbymissionaries
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Syhr, breakbeat.co.uk
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Anamatronix, Youtube
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Keilloh, Twitter
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GRTak, finalgear.com
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98rosjon, Twitter
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Gmanthedemon, bbc.co.uk
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Bosco239, youtube
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Wharto15, Twitter
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Tweeterkiryakou, Twitter
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Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
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Cyberbloke, Twitter
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Robert Gavin, Twitter
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Alwyn, Digiguide.tv
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Fairy Pingu, Twitter
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Rubyshoes, Twitter
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John Robins, Comedian
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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Stuart, Chortle
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Sidsings000, Youtube
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Shane, Beverley, Dailymail.co.uk
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Jamespearse, Twitter
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Kozzy06, Youtube
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Patrick Kavanagh, Guardian.co.uk
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Maninabananasuit, Guardian.co.uk
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Anon, westhamonline.com
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Cabluigi, Guardian.co.uk
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12dgdgdgdgdgdg, Youtube
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Joycey, readytogo.net
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Aaron, comedy.co.uk
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Hiewy, Youtube
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Contrapuntal, Twitter
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Cojones2, Guardian.co.uk
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Spanner, dontstartmeoff.com
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Clampdown59, Twitter.
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Lenny Darksphere, Twitter
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Lucinda Locketts, Twitter
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Gwaites, Digitalspy
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Nicetime, Guardian.co.uk
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Dave Wilson, Chortle.com
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Horatio Melvin, Twitter
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DVDhth's grandparents, Twitter
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Mpf1947, Youtube
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Peter Ould, Twitter
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Foxfoxton, Youtube
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Sam Rooney, Youtube
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Carla, St Albans, Dailymail.co.uk
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Deepbass, Guardian.co.uk
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Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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Mrdavisn01, Twitter
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Tokyofist, Youtube
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Etienne, Chortle.com
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Pudabaya, beexcellenttoeachother.com
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General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
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Rowing Rob, Guardian.co.uk
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Esme Folley, Actress, cellist, Twitter
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Whoiscuriousgeorge, Youtube
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Joskins, Leeds Music Forum
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A D Ward, Twitter
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Jackmumf, Twitter
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James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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Gabrielle, Chortle.com
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Lents, redandwhitekop.com
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Visualiser1, Twitter
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Funday’schild, youtube.
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Chez, Chortle.com
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Guest, Dontstartmeoff.com
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Alex Quarmby, Edfringe.com
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Pudabaya, Twitter
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Lancethrustworthy, Youtube
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Neolab, Guardian.co.uk
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Aiden Hearn, Twitter
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Danazawa, Youtube
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Birmingham Sunday Mercury
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Leach Juice, Twitter
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Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
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Fowkes81, Twitter
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Bobby Bhoy, Twitter
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Sweeping Curves, Twitter
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
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Anonymous, don'tstartmeoff.com
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Dahoum, Guardian.co.uk
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Henry Howard Fun, Twitter
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Peter Ould, Youtube
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Borathigh5, Youtube
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NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk
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Pnethor, pne-online.com
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Genghis McKahn, Guardian.co.uk
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FBC, finalgear.com
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Emilyistrendy, Youtube
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Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
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Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
Guest1001, Youtube
Guest1001, Youtube