Can someone help me to appreciate Stewart Lee?
Posted by deleted_by_reddit@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 39 comments
I'm not trying to be grumpy or a killjoy for people who like him, and I know people whose tastes I usually trust who swear by him, but I just don't see it. He just seems arrogant and unfunny to me.
But given the weight of opinion in his favour, I am open to being persuaded.
Which clips (preferably small ones, rather than full sets) will persuade a sceptic like myself as to his supposed genius?
Hallstian@reddit
Just watch "Carpet remnant world ". If you're not howling by the time he gets to the bit on "jungle canyon ropebridges" and THATCHER, then we can speak of this no more.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit (OP)
The arrogance is mainly just an on-stage persona. A lot of his material is a meta/deconstruction of stand-up performed in real time - layers of deadpan, sarcasm, irony etc. If you don't find him funny don't worry about it.
aegeaorgnqergerh@reddit
Having met him in "real life" I can attest this is the case. He's quite a shy, quiet, and polite bloke.
AllThingsAreReady@reddit
I’ve seen him interviewed on podcasts etc and he seems anything but shy; he comes across as downright smug, unpleasant and vindictive. Is he ‘in character’ when he appears on podcasts?
Plane-Pen7694@reddit
Yes… he appeared as Stewart Lee. Not as the person. So he naturally performs the act of Stewart Lee.
AllThingsAreReady@reddit
He is just acting in every single interview and podcast he does?
Plane-Pen7694@reddit
He’s not like that in every single interview and podcast he does… and he also doesn’t even do thst many
tree_climber__ted@reddit
if i invited a comedian on my podcast id expect them to act the way they normally do as a comedian, not as the person they actually are. doing a podcast for a comedian is like advertising your business kind of- you want to let people know what theyre in for
merrycrow@reddit
Bridget Christie seems sound and funny, hard to imagine she'd put up with Lee if he was as bad as he presents himself to be.
bree_dev@reddit
r/agedlikemilk
Octo7000@reddit
He seems pretty arrogant when not performing too judging by his interviews and pod appearances. Feels like his only traits are smugness and forced irony.
McCretin@reddit
I can't stand him either.
His fans are like "the fact it's not funny is the whole point - it's a 4D meta ironic deconstruction satire blah blah and you have to watch a full set to get it". Well, sorry for expecting a comedian to be funny, I guess.
I think it's either for you or it isn't and I wouldn't force it.
darthlewis1@reddit
I find that the whole ironic meta style acts as a convenient get out clause for any criticisms of his comedy.
offensive? 'He's playing a character!' Not funny? 'Thats the point! It's part of the satire' Smug and elitist? - 'Thats the act - he is satirising the liberal metropolitan elite.'
With this in mind, I do find some of his sets funny and appreciate how he puts them together, but equally I just find some boring and are more a means of him showing off how clever he is rather then being funny.
Plane-Pen7694@reddit
That’s the point of the character… ironically supporting what you said. But your criticisms are all aligned with the valid explanations to be fair. If you don’t find the comedy funny that’s fine. If you can criticise the mechanisms and joke constructions that also fine. But your criticisms of his comedy are literally criticisms the persona exists to stir up. He’s “smug and finds himself clever” is the point of his persona. There’s a difference between making a criticism of the actual comedy and criticising the persona that’s designed to generate the criticism. That’s the difference between what you assert originally and why it’s actually the case that the persona isn’t a cheap “get out of jail” card for poor comedy.
Plane-Pen7694@reddit
It is funny… you just don’t find it funny. So your premise at the end is sort of defeated by you saying you expect someone to be funny. I’m sure you like a comedian I think is mad unfunny. But the fact that you like them makes them funny. Just not my type.
oso-oco@reddit
His fans are mostly, I said mostly, not all....utterly obnoxious.
But I might be being meta and triple ironic and this may all be a very clever 'joke' that flies over the heads of idiots.
It's isn't.
I would go as far to say that some Stewart lee fans are sone if the most obnoxious people I've met. They wear this as a bizarre badge of pride somehow.
tree_climber__ted@reddit
it sounds to me like you are just upset some people find happiness in places you dont
Lucky_Membership3525@reddit
No, he's right. They're the same kind of insufferable wankers that you'd find in student union bars in the 1980s badly re-enacting the Parrot Sketch. They spam the YouTube comments below his videos with endless variations of "xyz has let himself go" or "give it to me straight, like pear cider...". I'm sure there are some well-adusted and pleasant Stewart Lee fans out there, but the ones I've encountered are cunts, frankly.
tree_climber__ted@reddit
its an inside joke. its really not that big a deal. i feel like you're taking this very personally for what is effectively just people interacting with a comedian's routine
Lucky_Membership3525@reddit
Mmm...
For what it's worth, I liked Fist of Fun and was a fan of This Morning with Richard not Judy. I don't particularly dislike Stewart Lee, but a little of him goes a very long way. When part of a larger ensemble cast that included the likes of Kevin Eldon, his whole snidey-sneery-smug comic persona was far easier to swallow, but I can live without his 90-minute standup shows. Or his books. Or his Guardian articles. Or his podcast appearances. Life's too short. I mean, I love the old Itchy and Scratchy bits in the Simpsons, but I don't think an entire 23-minute episode would be a particularly enjoyable experience, you know?
And yes, the archetypal Stewart Lee disciple is basically just Colin Hunt from the Fast Show.
tree_climber__ted@reddit
ur entitled to ur opinion. i definitely know what you mean, i guess it just comes across differently for me. i hope there are comedians out there you like the same way i like lee!
oso-oco@reddit
Very strange take.
Fan I take it.
tree_climber__ted@reddit
nah not really. i dont watch a lot of stand up routines. i just think its weird to label an entire demographic of people obnoxious bc u met some dickheads. im sure there are loads of lovely stewart lee fans out there
oso-oco@reddit
Not too hot on the old reading there eh?
What does my first sentence say?
'entire demographic'?
Again, my first sentence.
oso-oco@reddit
'His fans are mostly, I said mostly, not all....utterly obnoxious.'
weirdo76@reddit
Bit late to the party but his takedown of William Wallace “Braveheart” to a Glasgow audience is sheer genius.
keithb@reddit
Try thinking of it like this: Stewart Lee is a writer and actor who has been for many years developing a series of single-hander plays about a bitter and not very successful comedian called “Stewart Lee” who tells long, rambling anti-jokes in a superior and patronising tone.
pinkhobgoblin@reddit
Oooh, thank you! I loved fist of fun and TMWRNJ back in the day and was genuinely surprised when I listened to a few podcasts recently (and saw a live recording - a friend got tickets) and didn’t find him funny at all. I’m going to give them another go with this in mind.
BigChunk@reddit
I don’t think he’s a great podcast guest tbh, I’d recommend watching his stand up show comedy vehicle if you wanted to get into him
notonthenews@reddit
Yes, his Comedy Vehicle was unjustly cancelled by the BBC,as was The Mash Report.
Lucky_Membership3525@reddit
Comedy Vehicle ran for four series on BBC2. Hardly cut down in its prime.
The Mash Report was dogshit.
Johntheflaptist@reddit
While other comedians are secretly jealous of his intellect and talent.
inexplicably-hairy@reddit
wow its so funny cos its a meta joke. hes not funny ON PURPOSE. wow its so clever. wow its so meta. im dying of laughter
keithb@reddit
Yes, that’s right.
LordMogroth@reddit
I've seen Stewart Lee 3 times at Edinburgh over the last 15 years or so.
Disappointed every time. Yeah it's long form jokes but it's still not for me. The first year I went to Edinburgh i saw Lee, Frank Skinner, Eddie izzard and Ed Byrne. Around 1998 sometime. Lee was easily last out of the those four. Skinner was probably the best, but close run with Izzard. Skinner was at his height then and he mercilessly ripped the shit out of me for wearing a Judge Dredd tshit.
Bobbyrafa12@reddit
I saw Eddie Izzard years ago and I thought he was awful. It was almost cringily unfunny. Saw Stewart Lee tonight and wasn’t expecting to like him but loved it
ihavenoego@reddit
I wonder if half the planet are stooges for Stewart Lee.
darthlewis1@reddit
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Stewart Lee. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of Deconstruction theory most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Stewart's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from extrême contemporain literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Stewart Lee truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Stewart Lee's existencial catchphrase "Jungle Canyon rope bridges," which itself is a cryptic reference to Jacques Derrida's Grammatology. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Stewart Lee's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Stewart Lee tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
LeatherExpress5607@reddit
That's just one of the reasons why I don't appreciate his humour. There's a aren't we all intelligent to find this funny which I find annoying and pretentious. You can understand what he's talking about without finding it funny. My husband loves him and my son met him and said he was lovely so I guess he is a nice guy.