Richard Herring Christ on a bike review.

Richard Herring is really on form here. There’s a confidence and a relaxed feel to him, his stage presence and delivery seems natural and in control.
He seems to be relaxed with the subject material and this is paying off. The subject of this show is possibly wider than previous shows (a show about Hitlers Moustache for example) which gives him more to work with. He’s also done this show before. This is, if you like, the second coming. It’s the 10 year anniversary of the show, which Richard first did when he was 33, and was comparing his life achievements to that of Christ’s at the same age.

The worst part of the show was that the theatre has the most uncomfortable chairs in existence. Really truly awful. The seat part is flimsy, but the back of the chair as actively trying to hurt you, angled in such a way as to ensure it will dig into your spine. It would be forgivable if this was a makeshift area, but this is a full time theatre space. The last thing a comedian needs while performing is an audience so uncomfortable they want the half to end so they can stand up. Still worth it though.

Richard has suffered a few christian protests outside the gig venues, which I think are unfair. Does he blaspheme throughout? Well, yes. But does he attack religion. Not really. Should it put you off? If you go to something, determined to get angry, then you will. If you go for a comedy night, you’ll get comedy.

The biggest cheer of the night, possibly unfairly, was not for a joke, but for Richard memorising long list. In several different ways. And reciting them. Several times. I’ll leave it for you to see on the DVD, which should be out later this year at gofasterstripe.com.

Also available is Andrew Collings’ Secret Dancing, which, as promised on the podcast, Richard wrote “Shit” on for me.

In the meantime, go and see him, it’s a really good show. He’s nearing the end of the tour, so there are only a few dates left. Tour dates are here.

RichardHerring.com

Andrew Lawrence – Too Ugly For Television gig

Not this one. This one.

A bit of a last minute gig, I bought the ticket about a week before hand, but he almost filled the Hen and Chicken, my local alternative comedy venue, which gets much bigger names than Jongleurs ever gets. Good.

Andrew Lawrence is probably on the verge of big things. He recently had a short Radio 4 show (“What to do if you’re not like everyone else”), and was the only act worth seeing on the recent Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow. He has a fast pace and a vicious edge, despite that there’s a like ability about him that comes from his more self deprecating material.

At the moment I think the only thing holding him back might be a lack of new material. Despite only having seen him do brief 5 minute sets before, I felt like I already knew most of the routine’s. He’s gigging heavily at the moment, I’m sure when he gets a break, he’ll come back with new fresh material.

He said he was recording the show I was at, and that he would make it available as a free download on his website. I have no idea of a timeframe for this, as the gig was last week. If it does indeed see the light of day, it’ll be available at andrewlawrencecomedy.co.uk.

Here’s a 5 minute comedy store set, enjoy.

Stewart Lee – Vegetable Stew

“Stuart ‘man of the people’ Lee is nothing but a fringe alternative comedy act who wouldn’t stand a chance at a real comedy club like Jongleurs.” Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com. (more reviews here)

When reviewing a gig it’s always a good idea to go to the last show of the tour. So that’s what I did. This review is therefore useless to anyone planing on going to see the gig, as you can’t. It’s your own fault. I’ve gone on about how great Stewart Lee is before. See? I’m not lying!
I had tickets for the gig 5 months ago, so it’s not my fault. The gig was postponed for personal reasons. Stewart Lee’s, not mine.

Vegetable Stew

Kevin Eldon opened up the gig, with a tight twenty minutes of poetry. I’d seen him in Big Train, Brass Eye, Black Books, other programs beginning with B, and, you know, Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, before, but never knew he did stand up. But stand up he does, and very well. He did it as his character from Fist of Fun, Islington poet Paul Hamilton. He is just on the right side of sinister, and very funny.
Then Stewart Lee took to the stage. The act was split into two distinct halves, punctuated cleverly by an interval, and marked by the presence of a guitar in the second half.
What was unusual for Stewart Lee is that the two halves were actually separate. As in they could both be seen in isolation from each other, and you wouldn’t miss anything. This is probably to do with the new series of Comedy Vehicle that he filmed last month, which will be a series of 6 half hour self contained sets. It’s an unusual departure for him in the full 90 minute set format, but the show didn’t suffer for it.
Another difference I saw was that he seemed to be more relaxed than usual. He is a very measured performer, he knows exactly what he’s going to say and when, but this time, while retaining the same usual cadence, and structure, also had a different flow. This could well be down to the fact that it’s now right at the end of the run of this show, and the TV series is taped and done. At one point in the show he said, something along the lines of “this is clearly material that is ready to be discarded”. So, maybe it was the end of the run, the pressure being off with the TV taping done, the familiarity of the material. Possibly it’s because it’s a larger venue that I’ve ever seen him perform before, on TV or live, a chance in his personal style, or the addition of that guitar.
My recommendation, make a time machine, go back a month or two to when he was still touring, and see it. If you are really fast there’s about 3 dates left to go. 5 star, aces 10+.
With the new TV series coming up, I’m not sure if there’s going to be a DVD of this tour. But just in case and he’s undecided and happens to read this. Yes please. I’ll have it on pre-order just as soon as you let me.

Click here to read my wife’s review of the audience. Short version, they were sub par, long version, CLICK.

StewartLee.co.uk

P.s. St Davids Hall lighting people
Some audience members were distracting, but not as much as the lighting that made it look like Stew had green eyeshadow
It made him look a little like Ming the Merciless on casual clothes friday.

The worst standup I have ever seen.

The worst stand up I’ve ever seen was the support for one of the best gigs I’ve seen recently. Pete Cain was supporting Jim Jefferies in Bristol. The contrast between the two was incredible, and it’s a testament to Jim’s performance that Pete didn’t leave a sour taste on the whole night.

Before I go further, I’ve read around this, and thought about posting it a lot. From what I’ve read, Pete Cain’s performance that night was in no way representative of his usual act. I think it was a very bad night for him. But I think it stands out as a perfect “when not to do it” example, and a reminder that you can’t “just wing it” and that if people have bothered to go out to a show, you should do your best to make their evening the best you can.

I was not aware that there was going to be a support act until Pete Cain walked out on stage. There was no mention on the ticket, on the booking, or in anything I’d seen about it. But, out he walked, and I’m getting two shows for one.
He came out and opened with “You know those days when you really can’t be bothered going to work, well this is one of those days for me, so we’re all going to have to get through this together. How long was that? 2 minutes? No? Just one? Shit.”

The crowd reaction was one where no one was sure where he was going. Is this his bit? Is he going somewhere with this? Or is he, as he says, hung over and can’t be bothered.
Turns out, he’s hung over and can’t be bothered. After explaining this, he says he’s going to try and get through the next 28 minutes without doing any jokes. After a couple more minutes he asks for another time check.
For another next twenty two minutes, he constantly asks the crowd how long he’s got left to go, tells us he’s still not going to do any jokes, and at one point, gets his iPhone out, reads out some half formed ideas from the notepad app, and then phones his friend to tell him how badly it’s going. Some of the crowd is laughing. It’s that nervous tense, “is this really happening” type of laugh.

In the last five minutes he does a half hearted attempt at a routine. It’s got potential, but in no way can it make up for the previous twenty five minutes.

We’re all there to see Jim Jefferies. We’re there to see comedy. This act was neither. It was insulting, irritating, and a waste of everybody’s time. I suspect the only reason he was on stage was so he got paid. As a performer you have an obligation to your audience to deliver a performance. You have a set, probably memorised. Even a half hearted attempt at delivering it is better than a refusal to bother. It was no surprise to him that he was due on stage. And three hundred people haven’t paid to see you do this.

Again, for a sense of fairness, he’s supporting Jim Jerreries, who is known for performing at his best while drunk. With Jim, often the drunker the funnier. And if you’re out drinking with someone like that, it’s probably hard not to get carried away. But you know this, and it’s mid tour.

One of two things is happening. Either this IS his act, in which case, it’s going horribly, and is certainly not a 30 minute piece. OR it’s not his act, in which case, WTF is he playing at?

The lesson, it would seem, is sometimes it’s better to not bother, rather than annoy the crowd. Especially if they’re not even expecting you in the first place. We would never have known any difference is Jim had come out on stage and he’d stayed backstage with a sore head.

As I said, I don’t think that night was representative of him. Here’s a much better set at the Comedy Store. I hope to get a chance to see him again, to see the difference between an off day and an on day.

Comedy review of 2010

This is not an exhaustive review of the year, just what I have personally seen, read or listened to. And it’s only stand-up comedians, and only things released in 2010.
Side note. Why are all the “mainstream” releases on DVD only? I get it for someone like Lee Evans, who doesn’t have jokes, just body motion propelled sweat, and is therefore mostly visual, but for most stand-ups, an audio CD is good, and for me, preferable. I’m just saying I’d like the choice.

CD’s

Myq Kaplan – Vegan Mindmeld.
Almost winner of some TV standup comedy talent show in America, Myq like words, and puns. This should irritate me, but he’s very clever with it, and instead of being annoying, he gets me everytime. When I say puns, don’t think Tim Vine or relentless one liners, like Jimmy Carr, but a well crafter set that inserts word play whenever possible. Check out his album on iTunes. or go to his website myqkaplan.com/

John F O Donnell – Live from outer space part 3.
John is a standup working in New York. He’s got a manic fast paced style, and his craziness always gets a laugh. He’s currently putting out this album for free. All you have to do is email him (details on his website intothewildcomedy.com/ ) and he’ll email you the mp3. Send him some cash and he’ll send you part 1 and 2. He’s definitely one to watch out for and for free, you can’t really go wrong.

Keith Malley – Can you imagine
One half of the excellent podcast, Keith and the Girl (katg.com) every year Keith put out a CD/DVD of new standup material. Performed once, recorded on the first performance, never repeated. As a result, the performance can be a little rough, bits that would change over time as comedians judge the crowds reaction and change things from show to show are there. But the result, is great. Each of the seven albums is loosely based around a theme and are full of thought provoking rants. Keith’s world view can be jarring, it’s hard to argue with his logic though. A great example is his “Don’t Vote” track.
Much as I like Keith’s standup, I’m not entirely sure it would hold its own if it wasn’t for “knowing” him through his podcast. Maybe he gets away with things that others couldn’t and makes assumptions about his audiences knowledge of him and his style. Maybe. Check out a free 15 minute sample here http://vimeo.com/8169551

Now, onto the more mainstream DVD releases

DVD’s

Simon Amstell – Do Nothing live
Simon’s first outing into standup comedy, and a successful one, as he turns his legendary attacking wit inwards on himself. If you like him in Buzzcocks this should be a no brainer. For some reason it was quickly discounted, and can be had for around £6.

Ricky Gervais – Science
Ricky Gervais at his, well, not his finest. I think he liked the idea of a science based theme, but didn’t have the material for it. And as someone who has followed his various podcasts, lifting a piece, verbatim, from Karl Pilkington and passing it as his own, is unforgivable. For me this ruined the set, which I don’t believe was as strong as his previous three DVD’s. Still good by most people’s standards, but the lack of focus on a clearly defined theme and lifting bits from Karl (even if Karl gave him permission, it’s so obvious so his podcast listeners that it doesn’t matter from an audience point of view if it’s done with permission) makes this not his best work.

Dave Gorman – Live
Dave Gorman is the king of powerpoint. This DVD is only available through his website, davegormanstore.com. Dave is a great story teller, and makes maths interesting and funny, all harnessing the incredible power of powerpoint. It has a similar feel to his googlewhack adventure DVD, and I think is better than it.

Richard Herring – Hitler Moustache
Richard Herring is a really hard worker. He just wants to be on the telly! I can’t think of a comedian who puts himself out there and gives away more free stuff than Richard Herring. But despite his Fist Of Fun days almost 15 years ago, has never really made it really big. It’s a shame, as his sets are always well thought out, full of good jokes, have a strong theme, a good concept and ambition. I think his delivery lets him down. I find that he’s not confident enough about his material to really own it, instead he’s asking the audience to join him, rather than telling them and assuming the authority. I think if he was a bit more assured with his delivery the audience would be right there with him. As it is, he’s a prolific comedian who just doesn’t have the extra edge.
Despite this, I really like his stuff and will be seeing him for the third time in as many years in March. As well as listening to his 6music show with Andrew Collins and the pairs independent podcast.
This years DVD offering is his Hitler Moustache project. He grew a toothbrush moustache to see if he could reclaim it for comedy and Charlie Chaplin from Hitler. The show explores the difficulties of living with this facial hair and explains through logic how the BNP are less racist than liberal Guardian reading types!

Stewart Lee – if you prefer a milder comedian please ask for one.
Stewart Lee if my all time favourite comedian. He absolutely gets how an audience works, comic timing, what is funny as well as why. Every show he does he makes deliberately hard for himself, and then delivers on it. In this DVD he explains his battle with Care Nero, how he would have liked Richard the Hamster (not a real hamster) Hammond to have been decapitated in that crash, and the importance of context within comedy. My personal DVD of the year.

Sean Lock – Lockepedia
Sean Lock is a happy curmudgeon. An odd combination. The DVD is funny, but nothing that will stay with you.

Dara O Briain – This is the Show (TITS)
I like Dara’s combination of crowd work and his set pieces are always clever and funny. His review of the film 2012 is definitely worth seeing. If you like him on mock the week, you’ll like this.

Kevin Bridges – The Story so far
I’m afraid Kevin Bridges is one of a group of comedians who are very forgettable, content wise. I know I’ve watched it, I know I laughed. Can’t remember any of what he said though.

American – The Bill Hicks Story
Not a standup DVD, but a biographical documentary. Superbly done, with the little footage and pictures they had, mixed with interviews with friends and families, this documentary will bring you closer to one of the greatest comics of all time than ever before.

Frankie Boyle – If I could reach out through the tv and strangle you I would
If you’ve read about or seen the fuss over Tramadol Nights, you will be very familiar with this. The standup parts are identical, and just as lacking in context, focus, or actual comedy. This is horrible. A real case of punching down. Frankie always used to complain that the BBC censored him, and didn’t allow him to do the hard hitting political stuff. Where is that hard hitting political stuff now? Is it hiding behind the Susan Boyle is ugly jokes? Or is it next to the jokes about Katie Price’s disabled child? Fuck you Frankie, you’ve put me on Katie Price’s side of an argument.

Bill Bailey – Dandelion Mind
Bill has lost it. What he had before was really memorable songs and stand out musical ditties. In theory it’s all still there, but it doesn’t have the edge of Bewilderness.

Lee Mack – Going out live
Lee Mack has a very solid set, and he gets a lot of jokes out. It’s a lot of wordplay, not quite puns, but not story telling jokes. Somewhere in-between. I’ve also been watching quite a bit of Not Going Out this year, which is very similar, as it should be as he wrote it!

Jim Jefferies – Alcoholocaust
The man is a drunken genius. But the DVD wasn’t as good as he was in person live. Maybe it’s because his set wasn’t the same, and he repeated a major routine as part of it. I think possibly he was told he couldn’t do the set as is for commercial DVD release so substituted one of his most famous bits in. Either way, one of my comedians of the year.

Gigs

Marc Maron
Marc is an American comic who most of the British readers wont have heard of. This is a shame as he’s one of the most intimate, open and honest comics I’ve seen in a long time. He manages to connect with the audience with tales of his life, insecurities, and thoughts. He’s an experienced comic and it shows in his ability to casually own the stage. He has a podcast (free) which is one of the best going. Each episode he interviews a different comic and as on stage, it gets way beyond most interviews, and you really feel like you’ve had a heart to heart with the interviewee. In the past he’s interviewed some of my favourites, Stewart Lee, Doug Stanhope, Jim Jefferies, some big names, like Robin Williams, some controversial, like Carlos Mencia, and a lot you may not have heard of, but will want to look up after his interview.

Stewart Lee.
I was If you want a milder comedian this year and it’s very close to being my favourite gig of the year. I think he possibly ties with Jim Jeffereies. The delivery was as flawless as his DVD’s, he doesn’t let up just because it’s a smaller venue. What really stood out was how grateful he seemed afterwards while signing DVD’s. His on stage arrogance was replaced by someone who is genuinely pleased that you’ve come and enjoyed his act. This is why he’s the best.
I had tickets to see his Vegetable Stew gig in Cardiff, but this was postponed to later this year for personal reasons. I”m really looking forward to it. He’s still touring the show, you should definitely see if you can get a ticket.

Richard Herring (Hitler moustache)
Again, not much different from the DVD, which shows a consistency in the material and delivery, this is a comic you should not miss live if you get the chance, and, as a good comic does, he is touring again. This time rebooting his Christ on a Bike tour.

Jim Jefferies
As I said above, this was a fantastic gig. Jim was on top form and the crowd really let him lead the way. He’s a very forthright comic. He doesn’t hold back at all, and his stories about the two girls at the Canadian comedy festival and the one about his porn star ex were face achingly funny. Also until you’ve seen a man attempt to sell a “Cunt” mug to an audience, well, you just haven’t lived

Tim Minchin
 I think I”m the only person in the world who doesn’t find Tim Minchin funny. Certainly the only person on twitter. Don’t get me wrong, he comes across as a really nice person, I just don’t get his act. I usually find that musical comedy is trying to mask the fact that the set is devoid of any actual jokes, and the audience is tricked into thinking its clever because it rhymes. It works for some people. I did like the Ginger song, and the pope song.
Anyway, I saw Tim Minchin at Camp Betival. I really tried to go with an open mind, and to be honest, he didn’t manage to change my mind. He got to the last song, the Ginger song, and he lost it, the words just went from his head, and his crowd work at this point was the first bit to raise a laugh from me, not because he was failing at the song, but because he was being funny.
Doodling along on the piano he tried to remember how the song went, and was obviously not going to get anywhere, when out of no where, a man in the audience starts playing along on his trumpet(!) that he just happened to have with him. Trumpet man played a phrase of the song, Tim Minchin played a phrase back. After a minute it became obvious the trumpet player could play, and Tim beckoned him on stage. What followed was about 5-10 minutes of improved piano vs trumpet battle. It was one of the most memorable and astonishing moments I’ve seen at a comedy gig, and that is why you should go to live gigs.  

Books

Keith Malley – The Great American novel
Keith writes how he talks. This is both a good and bad thing. A good thing, because when you hear him talk, there’s a tone to it that tells you where he’s coming from, and a bad thing, because it may mean you need to have heard his podcast or standup to get the book. However as the book is only available through Keith’s website at katg.com/store, it’s not likely you’ll read it without knowing who Keith is.

Sarah Silverman – The Bedwetter: stories of courage, redemption and pee
A brave an frank book. Bedwetting is one of the least embarrassing of the stories Sarah tells in this book, with one or two genuinely fist in mouth moments.

Dara O’Briain – Tickling the english
A tour diary, Dara’s banter comes across well in the book. You wont get more out of it than watching one of his DVD’s, but it’s a pleasant read.

Stewart Lee – How I avoided my certain fate
I’ve previously reviewed this here In short, read it, read it now, any comedy fans who haven’t read this are wasting their time.

Richard Herring – How not to grow up
Richard tells the story of his 40th year. This is where it becomes apparent that his comedy lacks delivery, because the hesitance doesn’t come across in the book, and it’s an entertaining read. I believe it’s loosely based on his “Oh fuck I’m 40″ tour, which I haven’t yet seen.

Coming up in 2011

Stewart Lee Comedy Vehicle and Vegetable Stew.
Stewart got a second series of his brilliant “Comedy Vehicle” which is due to start recording this month.Watch out for it on TV. A DVD of his latest tour is likely to follow shortly afterwards.

Marc Maron has just recorded a new CD, I don’t know when it’ll be out, hopefully this year. For now, “Final Engagement” and his podcasts are excellent listens. marcmaron.com

Jesse Joyce is another New York based comedian. His debut CD, Joyce to the world was a brilliant CD and I’m looking forward to his second. It’s due out on the 18th of Janurary and you can pre-order here.

Marcus Brigstocke – Godcollar book (gig review). The tour happened in 2009, and Marcus says there wont be a DVD, however he’s working on a book based on the act. The gig was amazing, and I have high expectations for the book. Macus’s twitter indicates he’s currently working on the book, so it may be 2012 before it’s released, depending on what stage he’s at!

So, that was my comedy 2010. How was yours? Any recomendations?
 

How do you want me?

This program finished over 12 years ago, the DVD’s been out for 4 years, yes I’m late to this, yes, there will be spoilers,

I rented the two series from LoveFilm after searching Amazon for Dylan Moran. It’s written by Simon Nye (writer, Men Behaving Badly) and stars Dylan Moran (Black Books), I’ll give it a go.
The description I got, from reading the synopsis was “a man from the city moves to the country for his wife Lisa (Charlotte Coleman), and struggles to adapt to the rural lifestyle, while starting a new photography business, failing to win the approval of his in-laws, with hilarious consequences. What I got was much, much darker. Take the League of Gentlemen, mix it with The Wicker Man, and chuck in awkward silences, and you are left with the disturbing story of a man who gives up his lifestyle for the woman he loves, to find himself bullied, humiliated, attacked and beaten down to alcoholism and reckless abandon. He tries constantly to fit in and be liked, but no one finds him funny and they are all pre-disposed to hate him.

Look at the box, what clues are there here to the darkness within, even the font says “gentle mid 90’s whimsical comedy”.

The shots are all English country side, it’s always overcast, the scenery, while it should be picturesque, adds a layer of bleakness to the situation, while the incidental harmonica music, always the same, is eerie and foreboding. The writers aren’t afraid to end an episode on a downer, in one, the camera pans away from Ian’s sister in law Helen, standing by her burnt out shop, financially ruined by the business decisions and carelessness of Ian.
Without giving too much away, Ian gets bribed to divorce his wife by Astley (his father in law), is locked in a turkey shed with thousands of angry turkeys, has naked photos of himself and his wife stolen and passed around the town, burns down his sister in laws shop, shoots his father in law, turns to alcohol, has his car put in a tree, gets hazed, almost murdered, and generally humiliated. One of the biggest thorns in his side is the imposing Peter Serafinowicz who plays Ian’s brother in law, Dean. He almost seems to like Ian, but at the same time, he’ll back his father completely and is loyal to his sister. This leads Dean to in private, beat, blackmail and threaten Ian, and uses this to force Ian to join in with him and his mates at the pub, or on the football pitch. It’s a Cable Guy like character, minus the wackiness.

So, did I like it? Well, despite what you may think from what I said above, yes. Yes I did like it. Dylan Moran plays a character that he seemingly based Bernard Black on. Bumbling, prone to drunkenness while being slightly abrasive and dismissive of other people. The script is good and the characters compelling. Despite everything, you can believe that Ian will put up with this for Lisa. The series ended, due to the passing of Charlotte Coleman, but honestly, I don’t think it could have continued anyway. Like the office, the story had run its course. I think the biggest failing of this series is the marketing. It’s sold wrong. Don’t think of it as a sitcom, think comedy drama. I also think it suffered from being ahead of its time. If it had been made 5 years ago instead of 12, it wouldn’t have been much different, but would have done a lot better.

You can buy it here. At the moment it’s under a fiver. Bargain.

Stewart Lee – How I escaped my certain fate

If you’ve never seen Stewart Lee perform standup, what are you doing reading this? He is quite simply the greatest comedian working today. Come back when you’ve spent hallf the day following the link below and the subsequent links it will give you.

Part of what makes Stewart Lee such a good comedian is his ability to take a point and thread it through 90 minutes of material, a lot of it needs to be viewed in context of the whole piece. This makes it hard to show clips of him and is possibly the reason that he is not more successful, in our current culture of talking heads, panelists and “duck house” jokes. This is partially solved by his BBC show, Comedy Vehicle, 6 half hour sets, which is not only the smartest comedy the BBC has commissioned in a long time, but has also been commissioned for a second series.

Amazon.co.uk – Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle

A quick look at what’s available could lead you to think that Stewart has only been around for 10 years or so. Even looking at his home page you see his DVD’s from 2001 onwards. The truth is he has been around for about 25 years, doing Edinburgh shows, small tours, and most famously, working with Richard Herring (also excellent, and also touring/putting out DVD’s) on TV shows including Fist of Fun and This Morning with Richard not Judy. Stewart helpfully provides download for these otherwise unavailable shows on his site here.

To the book:

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I pre-ordered this book. I guessed it was an autobiography from the title, and I was half right. What I got was not what I expected, but as is so often the case, infinitely better than what I was expecting. What Stewart has done is take the story of his life while he was being sued for blasphemy after “Jerry Springer: The Opera”, and how this bought him back to comedy and how he came to perform the three (to date) DVD’s he has and dissect them, until they are laid bare before you. These bits sit between full transcripts of the three DVD’s.

Now, Stewart Lee is known for not being afraid to throw a joke and then laboriously dissect what was wrong with the joke and why it isn’t funny. This is where he gets his laughs and it is brilliant to see.
When I started the book and realised what he was doing, the thought of someone dissecting and explaining his dissection and explanation of jokes was a bit off putting. I needn’t have worried. What we have here, is not only a story of how a failing career re-started itself and came to what it is today, but a deep insight to the thought processes and reasons for what he has done. The transcripts of the DVD’s (as well as the narrative parts of the book) are heavily annotated (I think there are more footnotes than actual transcript) and this is where the real insight is. He will tell you where he gets an idea from, why he’s phrased something very precisely, when and why he has lied or exaggerated, and loads of backstories and anecdotes.

For someone like me, the book is like a handbook, how to do comedy. From what I have seen on twitter and elsewhere on the internet, it would seem that most comedians in the country are poring over this book and loving it. It’s also very funny, adding another layer of funny over three already brilliantly funny DVD’s. It’s a bit like a directors commentary on the DVD, but as it’s written there is space to really deeply get into the subject.

You can buy the book here.

Stewart is currently touring, info and dates here.

Pre-order Stewart’s new DVD – find out the real story about the Richard Hammond controversy

StewartLee.co.uk

Listen to an interview with Stewart, by one of my favourite American comedians, Marc Maron

GoFasterStripe.com – buy Stewart Lee’s and Richard Herring’s (and others) DVD’s

A Perfect Fool Stewart Lee’s first novel, if you liked American Gods by Neil Gaiman, you’ll probably like this.

No sex and no city.

There will be spoilers. If you can call giving away Sex and the City 2, “spoiling” it.

Downfall was an extraordinary piece of film, a gripping acting performance portraying a man on the brink of insanity. A man who despite his situation couldn’t accept it, so ate cake and directed imaginary squadrons of troops against attacking armies to the west and east. Part of the films hook is the way we are watching in horror as this monster of a man lives out the final days of his dictatorship and life as those around him watched in horror, seemingly unable or unwilling to intervene.

In many ways, Kim Cattrall’s Samantha in Sex and the City 2 has a similar descent into lunacy, culminating in a vivid scene which is burnt onto my retina, as she stands, legs astride, pumping her fists against the air holding a strip of condoms and half growling, half shrieking “I HAVE SEX” to a crowd of onlooking horrified Muslims. Unfortunately, and I may be wrong here, not being a fan of the series, but I think the audience is supposed to like her. It’s clear her agent doesn’t.

In many ways SATC2 is a truly remarkable film. Remarkable in that there was not one single redeeming character or plot device. The editor should have been shot (2 and a half hours???) and the script writers are similarly culpable for trying to glue together two weak story lines together to make one badly thought out film. What was probably intended as overzealous empowering “the world can’t change me” attitude, fell utterly flat when you take the characters outside of their comfort zone. When the country that your film is set in refuses to allow you to film there on the grounds that it would be offensive to their culture, maybe you should have a good long hard look at the script again. Maybe they would have noticed that relocating the girls only serves to show them up as ignorant facile and self indulgent. When faced with being evicted from the country after narrowly avoiding facing public indecency charges, the girls reaction is to go “ooh, shoes”.

In many ways you can’t blame them this. They all live in a world without consequence, or reality. Their concession to the recession was, apparently, that Carrie couldn’t sell her flat. I can’t sell my flat at the moment. Guess what I’m doing? I’ll give you a clue, the answer isn’t to buy a much more extravagant one in the heart of the city. The rest of the film was dripping in excess, from the swans at the gay wedding, to the suggestion from big that they buy a third apartment for “personal space”.

So many of the characters come close to having redeeming moments, so close but then they blow it.

Big receives a phone call from Carrie, who tells him she kissed her ex. His response was to flatly tell her he’s busy and have to go, leaving her to stew in the guilt she tried to offload onto him. However his follow up to this display of backbone is to buy her a diamond ring. Again, you sometimes feel like you can’t blame her for her lack of sense of consequence.

Miranda is complaining about her boss treating her like shit. And it looked for a moment like she was going to stand her ground, but instead she jacks her job in. Apparently an income isn’t an issue for any of these girls, as she heads off to join her stay at home husband as a new stay at home wife, with a housekeeper. While they may well have savings and be able to do this, the fact that the film was written with showing the effects of the recession in mind, only shows it up as totally lacking in any sense of real life and responsibilities.

Carrie, who has spend 6 series and a film searching for a partner, someone to settle down with spends most of the film trying to destroy this. She finally has her husband who just wants to spend time with her, and all she wants to do is drag him out and then get annoyed when he has a good time. She then decides to see her ex, kisses him, and then tells Big about this, but only so alleviate her guilt. Actually she doesn’t have a redeeming moment does she, a bit like Samantha.

I’m starting to wonder why the others haven’t staged an intervention on Samantha. Her self destructive, abusive and dependant relationship with sex shows all the symptoms of addiction. She doesn’t HAVE SEX, sex rules her. She’s so blinkered to her surroundings and the affects of her actions on others that she gets herself ejected from the hotel and almost set upon by an offended group of Muslims. The reality of her situation is that she is staying in a very religious part of the world which doesn’t tolerate, and even has laws against public displays of affection. This disregard for her surroundings and safety and the safety of the others around her is all the doctors would need to lock her away.

Still, if it wasn’t for her antics, we wouldn’t have been treated to the spectacle of the crew donning niqāb’s and re-enacting Nuns on the run. The world would be a lonelier place if it weren’t for that scene. Maybe.

PS. Yes I know there’s a fourth one. She’s irritating and inconsequential, you may not trust your husband, but poor nanny, all you do is sing her praises, but assume she would be unable to resist an advance from your husband.

PPS. I was asked which film was worse, SATC2 or Moulin Rouge. I am still pondering the answer to this. I am leaning towards SATC2 as at least one person I know likes Moulin Rouge, this is one more than SATC2.

PPPS. I know this film is not for me, I didn’t ask to watch it, and was cajoled into reviewing it. That’s my excuse for the sloppy Godwin right at the start.

Marcus Brigstocke: God Collar

Tonight I was lucky enough (due to only finding out about the gig via a pre-gig twitter post two days ago) to be able to go and see Marcus Brigstocke perform his show “God Collar’ at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. The venue was bigger than I expected, probably around 400 seats, and the fact that it sold out 3 days in a row is comforting, that there’s 1200 people in Bristol, or indeed anywhere, who will take the time, money and effort to go and see challenging comedy like this.

Wow, just wow. If you’ve ever heard Marcus rant on The Now Show you’ll be familiar with the intensity, insight and pace of his act. You’d expect him to let up while doing a two hour set, you’d be wrong. From start to finish he careers from angry, impassioned, laugh out loud funny and insightful and doesn’t let up for an instant. Whoever you are, and whatever you believe in, he will challenge you on it. Great comedy makes you think as well as laugh. This delivers all that.

This was easily one of the best comedy gigs I’ve ever been to, I laughed till my face hurt. If you get a chance you really should go.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Straight off, I’m not a big gamer. Games fit into the small amounts of time when the kids are at school/asleep, I’m not at work, am not watching tav and have nothing else to do. But I did pick up a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 today, and even managed to play it for around an hour.

I wont say how far I’ve got. I’m told that people dislike spoilers as much as in movies, and also I don’t want to be laughed at for how crap and slow I am.
This game, like others before it has brought up national debates about violence in games, the state of youth today and how we are all morally bankrupt serial killers with no social skills.

I’ve been playing video games since I was a kid, about 8 or so. Admittedly the games were different back then, we had blue hedgehogs and plumbers. But we also had Doom, Wolfenstein and Duke Nukem. Gaming was just as violent, just more pixelated.

Story telling has always been violent, tales of war, murder, revenge have existed for as long as we’ve had stories and story tellers. And our interaction with these stories has always got gradually more immersive and interactive. Stories were told, then acted, put on stage, put on radio, cartoons, films, tav and now video games.
People do ask things like, “how can you play that, it’s so violent, how can it be fun to shoot those people”, and they worry that people who play games are as violent as the game.
Well, the reason I can play a game where the objectives include shooting people, is because it’s so disconnected from reality. No one plays these games and associates it with reality. It’s not a substitute for real violence. It can be intense, it can be immersive, but it’s make believe. This is not my way of shooting a baboon. It’s not even close. No one is learning what it is means kill from playing this.

So that’s why these games can be fun, and that’s why the people who play them aren’t sociopaths. It’s just a game, an experience, a story, a pastime. It’s tactical, and interactive, it takes concentration and thinking, but it’s not real life. Yes, people get involved, get upset, but people get upset about their football team losing. I’m not concerned about negative effects on me, and when my kids are old enough, I wont be concerned about the effects on them either.

Now, the kids are in bed, where’s my sniper rifle, I have people that need to be shot in the face.