Thanks muchly to the latest pledgers. Here’s a post on one of my favourite comedians and why he’s analogous to my favourite literary form.
Last March I navigated Devon’s gloaming, bucolic lanes to watch comedy’s version of the short story: Stewart Lee. Why the facetious analogy? Perhaps because both enjoy a cult, minority status, one where irony, intellect and a playful contempt predominate. In short: they are both a bit difficult. Not for everyone. Too clever for their own good. They are slippery, alienating creatures, but ones with which you have a heightened, almost religious relationship. Certainly in both cases the audience/reader must do a fair share of the work themselves: there is no free ride, no light entertainment here. Lee, as the short story is to badly-written genre fiction, is the antidote to the legions of vapid, mainstream onanists, who spoon-feed you their inane one-liners, a boys’ (for it almost always is) club of panel-show self-congratulists.
As if to further align himself with literature’s most demanding form, Lee played that night in a village hall to around 150 people (presumably he owed a favour to a friend on the parish council, having already toured all the iconic gig venues in the UK). The intimacy might have overwhelmed a more egoistic sleb; for Lee it was the chance to amplify his faux-mocking style: ‘Come on, Lustleigh – raise your game,’ he scorned, as we responded with nervous laughter to subjects no doubt chosen to elicit our discomfort. As with the short story, much of Lee’s act is found in its silences and spaces, in the repeating motifs and subtexts, which embed themselves subliminally, stirring you a few nights or weeks later.
Perhaps Lee’s politics – or at least those adorning his ‘act’ (think Jez not Dave) – seduce me, muddying my judgement of his comedic aesthetic. Certainly the two are inextricably bound, though never in a crass (and as it turned out, specious) Ben Elton-esque way. Lee’s skill, as with the short story, is in turning the mirror on his audience, luring them into a sense of comfort, only to gloriously betray this trust, playing mischievously with the line between character and self, between author and reader. A truly unreliable narrator.
There’s a routine (easily found via all good search engines) in which Lee is flippant (and worse) about Top Gear’s Richard Hammond and his near-fatal car crash. It is both brutal and shocking, until you realise Lee is pastiching the programme’s own cynical insensitivity and bigotry to parody it, at which point it becomes hilarious. His routine on political correctness is also gloriously original.
Lee is often touted the comedians’ comedian, as it is often said only writers of short stories read them. A well-kept secret. But with both, it’s becoming a secret harder to keep. Lee would be high on my list of best-dinner-party-guests-if-you-could-have-anyone, right up to the point he turned the mirror on me.
Peter Ould, Youtube
Peter Ould, Youtube
Meninblack, Twitter
Meninblack, Twitter
General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk
NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk
12dgdgdgdgdgdg, Youtube
12dgdgdgdgdgdg, Youtube
Rowing Rob, Guardian.co.uk
Rowing Rob, Guardian.co.uk
Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
Fowkes81, Twitter
Fowkes81, Twitter
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Sidsings000, Youtube
Mini-x2, readytogo.net
Mini-x2, readytogo.net
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Guest, Dontstartmeoff.com
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Spanner, dontstartmeoff.com
Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
Iain, eatenbymissionaries
Iain, eatenbymissionaries
Neva2busy, dontstartmeoff.com
Neva2busy, dontstartmeoff.com
Liam Travitt, Twitter
Liam Travitt, Twitter
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Dahoum, Guardian.co.uk
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Peter Ould, Twitter
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Maninabananasuit, Guardian.co.uk
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Shit Crit, Twitter
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Chez, Chortle.com
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Peter Fears, Twitter
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Fairy Pingu, Twitter
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Lents, redandwhitekop.com
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Pirate Crocodile, Twitter
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Lenny Darksphere, Twitter
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Dick Socrates, Twitter
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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Mrdavisn01, Twitter
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Henry Howard Fun, Twitter
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Genghis McKahn, Guardian.co.uk
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Contrapuntal, Twitter
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Idrie, Youtube
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A D Ward, Twitter
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Tweeterkiryakou, Twitter
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Horatio Melvin, Twitter
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Zombie Hamster, Twitter
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Tres Ryan, Twitter
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Neolab, Guardian.co.uk
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Sweeping Curves, Twitter
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
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Birmingham Sunday Mercury
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Joskins, Leeds Music Forum
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Whoiscuriousgeorge, Youtube
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Slothy Matt, Twitter
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Foxfoxton, Youtube
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Pudabaya, beexcellenttoeachother.com
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Alex Quarmby, Edfringe.com
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Syhr, breakbeat.co.uk
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Leach Juice, Twitter
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Brendon, Vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk
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Richard Herring, Comedian
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Pudabaya, Twitter
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Microcuts 22, Twitter
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Al Murray, Comedian
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Jamespearse, Twitter
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Rubyshoes, Twitter
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Bosco239, youtube
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Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
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GRTak, finalgear.com
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Guest1001, Youtube
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Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com.
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Borathigh5, Youtube
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Wharto15, Twitter
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Nicetime, Guardian.co.uk
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Z-factor, Twitter.
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Keilloh, Twitter
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Aiden Hearn, Twitter
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Visualiser1, Twitter
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Sam Rooney, Youtube
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Cabluigi, Guardian.co.uk
Alwyn, Digiguide.tv
Alwyn, Digiguide.tv
John Robins, Comedian
John Robins, Comedian
Coxy, Dontstartmeoff.com
Coxy, Dontstartmeoff.com
Etienne, Chortle.com
Etienne, Chortle.com
Dave Wilson, Chortle.com
Dave Wilson, Chortle.com
Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
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98rosjon, Twitter
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Danazawa, Youtube
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Gmanthedemon, bbc.co.uk
Brighton Argus
Brighton Argus
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Shane, Beverley, Dailymail.co.uk
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World Without End, Twitter
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Ishamayura Byrd, Twitter
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Tokyofist, Youtube
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Emilyistrendy, Youtube
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Anonymous, don'tstartmeoff.com
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Cyberbloke, Twitter
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Stokeylitfest, Twitter
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Len Firewood, Twitter
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Patrick Kavanagh, Guardian.co.uk
Cojones2, Guardian.co.uk
Cojones2, Guardian.co.uk
Jackmumf, Twitter
Jackmumf, Twitter
Someoneyoudon'tknow, Chortle.com
Someoneyoudon'tknow, Chortle.com
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
Hiewy, Youtube
Hiewy, Youtube
Gwaites, Digitalspy
Gwaites, Digitalspy
Carcrazychica, Youtube
Carcrazychica, Youtube
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Secretdeveloper, Youtube
Mearecate, Youtube
Mearecate, Youtube
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DVDhth's grandparents, Twitter
Lucinda Locketts, Twitter
Lucinda Locketts, Twitter
Joycey, readytogo.net
Joycey, readytogo.net
Tin Frog, Twitter
Tin Frog, Twitter
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Frankie Boyle, Comedian
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Carla, St Albans, Dailymail.co.uk
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Clampdown59, Twitter.
James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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Esme Folley, Actress, cellist, Twitter
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Anon, westhamonline.com
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Aaron, comedy.co.uk
Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
Robert Gavin, Twitter
Robert Gavin, Twitter
Rudeness, Youtube
Rudeness, Youtube
Kozzy06, Youtube
Kozzy06, Youtube
Anon, BBC Complaints Log
Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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Pnethor, pne-online.com
Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
Deepbass, Guardian.co.uk
Deepbass, Guardian.co.uk
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Lancethrustworthy, Youtube
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Mpf1947, Youtube
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Anamatronix, Youtube
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Funday’schild, youtube.
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Gabrielle, Chortle.com
Stuart, Chortle
Stuart, Chortle
Bobby Bhoy, Twitter
Bobby Bhoy, Twitter
Joe, Independent.co.uk
Joe, Independent.co.uk
FBC, finalgear.com
FBC, finalgear.com