Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

[Alex]

...starts tonight at 10pm on BBC2, and could be the funniest thing shown on the channel in the last ten years.

Now that may sound a little bit over the top, but I think Lee is the best stand up working in the business at the moment, and each time I've seen him perform live he's had me in his hysterics.

It's apparently quite a 70-ish format, reminiscent of Dave Allen's old shows, as Lee performs a mixture of classic and new material. Having seen him live a lot over the past five years, and being part of the audience for the pilot of this series, I really believe this could be something special.

For those who don't know Lee's material, here's a couple of youtube links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YE9Kthyaco - Joe Pasquale joke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n-UGQcG3Jw - Taxi Driver argument.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1H913UqQ6w - Princess Diana.

[Alex]

I can see my excitement about the show was really infectious.

I thought it was excellent, anyway, I can't remember any episode of a tv show making me laugh as often and as deeply as this did - and he has much more stronger material than was seen here too. I loved the sketches as well, and thought they worked really well without breaking the tone of the stand up.

If you missed it, you can watch it on iplayer here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._Toilet_Books/

[Dino]

Sorry I didn't respond before Alex!
It was a good start and I'm looking forward to following the rest of the run.

[Jon Masters]

I was waiting until I watched it.

Excellent stuff generally, though there was just the odd moment where I got a bit restless as he belaboured the point too much (like describing the rap singers).

Good to see TMWRNJ stalwarts appearing in the little sketches too.

[Paul Monk]

Michael Redmond! ( I wonder if they could get him at the cottage!)

Anyway I loved it. I wasn't sold on the sketches but they were mostly short enough that that didn't matter.

[Dirk Gently]

...though there was just the odd moment where I got a bit restless as he belaboured the point too much (like describing the rap singers).

Oh yes, that point almost made me turn over to see what else was on. The punchline wasn't just signposted it was there on a billboard with large arrows made from neon lights saying "This way to the punch line".

To be honest I thought it was OK but it only ever made me laugh out loud twice, the Chris Moyles 'toilet book' & the AsherD "yes I am disrespecting you, 2Solid Crew". Other than that it only raised a smile. I'll watch it again but I'm not optimistic that it'll make me roar.

[Alex]

Yeah, I have to say the rapper part was the only moment that I didn't particularly get - but apparently live it's part of a longer joke about the way old people talk and works a lot better.

But the rest of it I thought was excellent - and it was so refreshing to see someone genuinely passionate about the subjects he was satirising. And the targets were spot on for me - when there's so many wonderful writers out there it's distressing to see the likes of Brown, Brand and Clarkson at the top of the book charts.

I would say that he's got plenty of stronger material Tim, so it's worth sticking with it - someone on another forum went to one of the recordings and mentioned how it was the weakest of the three shows he did that night.

[Dirk Gently]

It's quite annoying actually, I really wanted to belly laugh at something last night & this was all that was on offer. I laughed harder at Family Guy on BBC3, when Brian sees Peter in a Daisy Duke outfit & when he bends over to pick something up & comments "It's like watching a Walrus floss!"
And to have the weakest act as the first one of a new series is silly. Surely they should have shown a stronger one first & last with the others making up the rest?
As I say though, I'll stick with it...if only to fill the gap between episodes of Heroes.

[Alex]

I read in an interview that the Beeb forced him to start with either "Toilet Books" or "Television" (which is next weeks episode) as they'd be the most likely subjects to catch the casual viewers eye - apparently the more experimental stuff comes later on. Out of interest, did you watch the youtube video for the Joe Pasquale joke above Tim? I love it personally, and would be interested to see what you think of it.

[Dirk Gently]

Out of interest, did you watch the youtube video for the Joe Pasquale joke above Tim? I love it personally, and would be interested to see what you think of it.

I did & it made me smile & chuckle. He sets it up so well with the opening.

[Dirk Gently]

To give you an idea of my sense of humour, I'd rate those three jokes you posted in order of funny to not funny as 1st The 'Taxi Driver argument' by quite some distance, 2nd the 'Joe Pasquale joke' & last by some distance the 'Princess Diana'.

[Alex]

See I love all three pretty equally - I think the Joe Pasquale one makes me laugh the most, the line "lacks the most rudimentary of brewing equipment" just gets me every time, but the Taxi Driver argument has a great punchline in "Well, you can prove anything with facts". That said, as a concept, the Diana joke just makes me laugh so hard - though I do feel a bit cheated after recently finding out that it was an Alf doll he saw, and not an ET one.

I think he's definitely an acquired taste, but I hope you enjoy the rest of the series, anyway.

[Paul Monk]

For any Stewart Lee fans: He's the guest on tonights episode of Genius on BBC2 10pm.

[Paul Monk]

According to Armando Ianucci on Twitter, there will be a second series of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle.

[Alex]

I've just heard the news too, which made my day as I loved the first series - plus I know that financially he's struggled ever since the Jerry Springer The Opera fiasco and his poor health afterwards, so it's really good to hear he'll be able to take some time off to work on the show instead of being forced to tour constantly.