slcv0406

[@davidpowell8110]

Saw him recently doing Tornado/Snowflake. 2.5 hours of the best stand up I have ever seen. I get that he is an acquired taste but for me there is no better comedian.

[@jeremymusk]

If there weren't already enough reasons to despise living in America, the high unlikelihood of ever getting to see Stew live really puts the icing on the fudge abortion clinic.

[@andyreilly1126]

I saw him in edinburgh. He looked fat and depressed

[@user-uo8yo9pp8l]

I have to agree with you sir. I think tornado/snowflake is his best work so far.

[@listek981]

He fucked up my comedic taste. I wrote a short routine similar in style to Lee's approach just to fuck with the audience and get used to silence without getting stressed the fuck out... They laughed...

[@ДобрыйШирина]

@@jeremymusk л

[@Felstaff]

I was at this recording, at some scuffed-armchair working men's club in Stoke Newington. Queued for hours, but the room was full, so we could only get into the ballroom upstairs (where Stewart Lee wasn't). We watched him streaming (no pun intended) from a big projector screen. Basically I watched this KZbin video live, only I was 20 feet from the screen and had to pay £5.20 a pint (in 2015!) for the privilege. Still, I wasn't upset. It didn't affect me in the slightest. I wish there were an idiom for such a situation.

[@andrewt836]

I appreciate you giving it to us straight

[@Lauren-Algonquin]

I fell into this comment so much so that I tuned out of the video playing above it. You have earned the right to create the aforementioned idiom. Work at it, you owe me, because this comment has caused me to reflect on the cost of beers from New Jersey to San Francisco and fifteen dollars is too much and a bottle is not a pint and I’m listening to urine-themed comedy now. Some of us need the idiom.

[@yanikkunitsin1466]

5 young queens for a pint? It's a robbery in daylight.

[@englishsteve1465]

@@Lauren-Algonquin $15 bloody dollars ! fm that's extortion ! Ah well, urine themed is but one of the many lesser trod comedic pathways Mr Lee guides us down, with rare aplomb. Reflect upon that my friend and take heart.

[@declanmills]

@@andrewt836 ...like Pear Cider that's made from 100% Pears.

[@NattyTrugs]

"A cackling sycophant would have loved that seat"! 😆

[@declanmills]

Stewart Lee is the comedian that Ricky Gervais wants to be.

[@Degjoy]

Ricky Gervais is too sure of himself. He really believes he has answers to help the world. Stewart Lee projects more doubt. “Let doubt prevail!”

[@Superfantastictop10]

Is that weird sycophantic laugh Kevin Eldon?

[@MrJ2theC]

That's true. I do find Ricky Gervais funny I'll admit that, but it's not funny on the same level as Stewart Lee. Ricky Gervais is funny because he is brazen and has no fear, Stewart Lee is funny because he's thoughtful and has no fear. I prefer Stewart Lee over any comedian, but I still find other people funny.

[@brettjohnson536]

Literally 😂

[@MrJ2theC]

They have two completely different styles of comedy.

[@jasonhudson4209]

His ability to switch and shift topic and seemingly improvise from the audience reaction is something to behold.

[@thomasyates3078]

He very rarely improvises. That's his skill. He manipulates the audience, so it seems off the cuff, but it's all planned.

[@71poiuytrewq]

Of all his shows, this is the one I keep coming back to. Sheer genius it really is.

[@bobadams7654]

Is that it?

[@MahlerHolic1860]

This guy is the best. The pinnacle of what stand-up should be. Absolute genius.

[@seamusconlan9673]

Wanker...

[@sheppo]

Chris Morris making Stew cry with laughter is the icing on the cake.

[@zeeox]

Urinal cake?

[@robcousins231]

He’s a comedic genius. That routine is just brilliant.

[@Torahboy1]

He’s good……. But he’s no Tom O’Connor

[@MortimerDuke83]

Rob, you've obviously never seen Joe Pasquale he's like the Kanye West of Stand Up Comedy 🤟

[@FUNKINETIK]

Totally agree, I was going to write basically the same comment. So instead I wrote a little true story of being at a gig of his a couple of years ago. P E A C E : )

[@jaydubzonward]

@@Torahboy1 'are you a sardine?' he came out stu...

[@Torahboy1]

@@jaydubzonward I’m in oil

[@ollyrukes]

“… I was 28 years old” is the same as “…then I got off the bus” He just needs to be 100% straight up with us. Like pear cider made from 100% pears

[@davependragon1]

"Then I got off the bus..ahhhhhhhh" No not Aahhhh. lol

[@SerendipityChild]

100% pear. Not to quibble, but it's the singular 😊

[@Torahboy1]

@@SerendipityChild What? One HUGE pear?

[@SerendipityChild]

@@Torahboy1 quite a thing to contemplate .. a singular pear. :) just a little homophonic pun

[@Johnconno]

That? Still? You're still typing that?

[@HappyinJapan358]

This episode is legendary Been quoting some of these lines with friends for years

[@onlyme219]

Like a pear cider

[@Johnconno]

You mean to a mirror, the same as Travis Bickle?

[@Amethyst_Friend]

No, with friends

[@roba3438]

I do have the sense that this comment section is too cool to just admit that is so much fun. It's a journey that improves with every there and back again. Like a walk to the local chippy.

[@HappyinJapan358]

I’ve seen this several times and I still enjoy it immensely. He’s timeless

[@RJ1J]

What is interesting about this show is that by the 4th series, Lee had won awards for this series, which had a big impact on his life. So the front rows were likely filled with 'liggers', i.e. people who got front row seats from people they knew at the BBC, maybe some BBC execs. And many of them (About 6 or 7 of 12 - mostly middle-aged, middle class men) barely laughed and never clapped during this entire show. I think Lee called them out as he knew this was his last series for the BBC. I suspect he planned this from series 3, where he was much more unhinged and extreme, and as a result I think he didn't get renewed for a season 5. I know he got a two season deal after the huge success of season 2 because he talked about it in interviews. But clearly season 5 didn't happen. Why? Perhaps due to the unrealistic demands of the BBC. So he seemed to run out of good material for season 3 due to endless touring (Carpet Remnant World) which made series 3 weird as he couldn't re-use all of that material - some of it comes up in S2 and S3. But S3 seemed rushed and almost improvised, even if there were great moments. Because the BBC demanded he meet their deadlines, I reckon. Big mistake. After parting ways with the BBC for this series, his subsequent show was sarcastically called Content Provider, a parody of comedians having to work for corporations like the BBC proving. He was proving he is a hardcore comedian. Even if it wasn't great material like Carpet Remnant World, he held his ground. Few know that prior to Content Provider, Lee had toured a show that totally bombed after this season. He has removed all YT recordings of it, can't remember the name of the show, but it did well because of S4 of Stand Up being good. But I heard an audio recording of it, and it was awful (I love 90% of everything Lee has done), all new, probably rushed, material. It was really abstract, more like prose and stories, barely any laughs. Like he followed through on his promise from Carpet World to get rid of his mainstream audience. Crazy if true, but bands have done similar things. Then two years later he makes Content Provider, and it's new + recycled old material - getting him a one off BBC special. No-one mentions the failed tour and abandoned material in-between. This goes to show how difficult comedy is as an art form. Lee isn't a machine of genius. It takes time, rehearasal. Somtimes it just doesn't work. But he's not given up. And I love that he's allowed these videos from being taken down. Most comedians don't as it costs them on their DVD sales. The BBC just claims any ad rev rather than copyright striking. That might be due to Lee. Is so, fucking bravo. But he's got a new show, postponed due to Covid - by over a year. I bet it's totally different to how he started writing it. Can't wait. Still got my ticket for the 1.5 year postponed tour.

[@gigmcsweeney8566]

Thanks for taking the time to give that insightful critique. This show wasn't easy to watch, but then again, it's also great to see Stewart Lee fail occasionally, as he does it with such great aplomb.

[@TheImperfectionist91]

@@gigmcsweeney8566 You do realise this was all on purpose, right? His "failing" is literally part of the gig.

[@Jabingla2810]

Erm, yeah this was all an act and planned routine… I think it’s gone wayyyyy over your head mate

[@hanreality.7266]

I kind of died of boredom before I got to the end of that.

[@craigmontserrat1919]

But he always does jokes about people who have turned up by mistake. I also went to the work in progress shows where he tried out this material.

[@daveotter7942]

This is possibly his finest routine...and that's saying something. Genius.

[@SoSo-li6dn]

Yeah - really exemplifies his approach, most comics start on their second best joke and end on their best joke. Stew tells one joke, and thats the routine.

[@trevorsmith8950]

The "walking through a forest of ghosts to see...you" line is a line one can savor for a long time. Like a piece of gum that doesn't lose its flavor.

[@thomasyates3078]

It really is. It's even funny that it's not ironic that his best work doesn't get as many laughs as many of his other sets.

[@lysandersensale2792]

There's a better delivered version, i think it's from one of his recorded tours rather than Comedy Vehicle.

[@SidneyBroadshead]

He makes an aside at the start about how it's not going to be all about urine. His fans know that it couldn't be - it's just the jumpoff. Then he does a set that has urine as its central premise.

[@demonicsquid7217]

"Sometimes it's just all about what chair you are sitting in when the music stops." - that line is absolutely brutal.

[@deanieleet]

😙👌

[@mrkeogh]

That Robin Williams line is f*cking incredible 😂

[@Zkkr429]

He would have liked it!

[@skyblazeeterno]

"a cackling sycophant would have loved that seat" hahahahaha

[@ValiantGarton]

I keep coming back to all of Stewart's routines but I must say this one really is a banger. I think it really shows how he can abuse and belittle a crowd and lose his shit and we still love him and think he is as funny as Fk. Also how well he crafts his sets to perfection. His theatrics and his ability to emote. The way he can elicit a reaction from the crowd and then respond as if it is all spontaneous and he hasn't steered the audience into reaction in the first place. Until I found Stewart, I really didn't realise how much crafting can go into a comedy routine. This man is a genius at it. A lot of other comedians have eventually bored me. In that, I either no longer re-watch a routine because I no longer laugh or I just lose interest in watching their new work at all. This man makes me laugh hard no matter how often I watch his routines. Even the stuff he scolds the audience for laughing at. I really love how he says, "Dog." in a high pitched voice. Truly my favourite comedian.

[@vee__7]

Chris morris is a gem. Love his bits in this.

[@leonardmccannon3136]

There are levels to the craft of stand up. Stewart Lee simply let’s us discover more of them. Just brilliant.

[@paulembleton1733]

I used to like standup comedy, but now I like only Stewart Lee. He’s as good as killing the audience comedians.

[@onlyme219]

The comment section has said it numerous times but let me reiterate ,Stewart Lee is a comedy genius

[@Not--All--Thatt]

i think this is genuinely one of the best pieces of stand-up i've ever seen

[@HoneyTheFracking]

This is the closest I've ever seen Chris Morris come to genuinely laughing on camera

[@yorkie471x3]

He didn't like it but he had to go along with it

[@Misteryowl]

Ha! Where is the scene where they're both laughing at 'something happened...'

[@robertdarby6553]

This is one of his finest sets.

[@debrucey]

So funny watching him and Chris Morris cracking up at the end lol

[@jeremymusk]

I don't know how this went from < 100 views in six years to over 3k in less than a week. But it pleases me.

[@tonygriffin_]

The algorithms have raised their game.

[@RDRF_SB13]

Just popped up for me after watching Limmy talking about James Cordon on his stream. Im guessing the criticisms both men have overlap.

[@ptwotwo2055]

glad to see people appreciating his level of comedy

[@jaediccacairns4754]

Enjoying the fact that we few enthusiasts are still as smug at recognising his deconstructing mainstream and laughing at us…is a bit weird….. One day his art will be recognised…I hope we have all dropped him by then, just to make him happy….

[@jaediccacairns4754]

I’m worried that he will do a Dylan, go electric and never do Scooby do, Pirates, and Top Gear again….perhaps a Live at the Apollo, no false indignation , just trying to please really….. Oh it’s all so hopeless….

[@rossco54]

"Forest of ghosts" is the pinnacle.of this episode.

[@manchestercanals]

He's definitely the 41st best stand up. By miles 😅

[@thiccrat]

fuck maaaaaaaan i didn know this guy existed before today when i saw the clip of him slagging off james corden! this shit hits me so hard, like he is the PERFECT example of what ive been desperately reaching for in dark comedy. his own lived experience, not shitting on vulnerable people. its exactly what i wanted. such good fortune i havent offed myself before finding him ❤

[@gazriley624]

this is hilarious and depressing at the same time i'm not sure how that's possible

[@-xirx-]

Can't decide if it's hilariously depressing, or depressingly hilarious.

[@robnewton3368]

@@-xirx- : he’s evoking both pathos and bathos in equal measure to leave you as an emotional wreck. I really will have to go to a Stuart Lee gig one day.

[@onlyme219]

It's like pear cider

[@tommymurphy459]

Sad comedy?

[@kenlieck7756]

@@-xirx- It's delariously hipressing.

[@JohnEvans-oy8tt]

The funniest comedy routine I have ever seen. Absolute genius Stewart 👏

[@bigrips7734]

My favorite comedians make me laugh at things lkke "sometimes its what chair youre sitting in when the music stops".

[@MrChrisBarker]

Stewart lee is just too good.

[@onlyme219]

Like pear cider

[@darren_mcgarvey]

Always come back to this. A powerful routine.

[@garwoc216]

This is this.

[@jaysilverstone7221]

It's not really a comedy routine it's a confession, beautiful in many ways

[@spinnigold]

Sat here alone worrying that I might be being cheated on as my partner is on a night out, Stewart Lee’s urine story cheered me right up; thanks!

[@leowatkins1518]

same

[@gs8204]

Hope everything's OK.

[@shugmchugh5107]

Split up. You can't be wasting your time worrying like that

[@Jammy_Jim]

I watched this a week ago and it's still getting recommended to me every time I open this app. KZbin loves this video suddenly...

[@benjaminbillington4087]

A masterclass in crowd control

[@mrglobemcglobeglobe]

23:34 and the following 'to camera' monologue is wonderfully dark and sardonic... and then the abrupt cut back to 'Live at the Apollo' patter... Just fantastic

[@petewelsh9978]

It doesn’t get much better than this. Mitch Hedberg RIP

[@comanchio1976]

"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too...'

[@markfox7764]

It really does

[@Jagar_Tharn]

@Wee Red Fox No it doesn't.

[@garymct6860]

why did you randomly name another comic?

[@petewelsh9978]

@@garymct6860 it’s not random - listen to Stew

[@motelghost477]

Watching Fist of Fun back in the early 90s, I NEVER in a million years would have thought Stewart Lee would turn out to be this funny or clever (I only watched FOF for Kevin Eldon).

[@christheghostwriter]

Are you referring to the actor Kevin Eldon?

[@FretFriendGWaL]

I love intelligent comedy! Only very recently started to watch (hear) or even become aware of Stewart Lee. I really like this :)

[@robertjsmith]

Stu loves all the comedians,that bloke from Leicester

[@kasperg5634]

Watched again and again and it just gets better.

[@onlyme219]

Just like pear cider

[@baTonkaTruck]

I’ve watched this routine like 5 times, for some reason I just can’t get enough.

[@grizzyb4149]

I love music and art, but I think Stewart Lee is the greatest artist of all time.

[@LethalJizzle]

20:00 the little hop when he says hands! is perfect

[@vinstyles]

he is the greatest comic, storyteller the world, ever.

[@RalphBrooker-gn9iv]

Love that *this* kicks off with Chris Morris, another who turned reality inside out to make us laugh.

[@jakemcbride5357]

The morrissey of comedy ( both brilliant) 👏

[@richardhunt809]

He’s right, you know. This is this. I’ve looked at everything else and it isn’t any of that.

[@pamdemonia]

"toxic to weasels" kills me.

[@jonathanrussell1140]

And "visible otters" from earlier...

[@pamdemonia]

Yup.

[@timmoss8510]

Only Stewart Lee can make people not getting his comedy and deriding those who do get it funny, is brilliant.

[@baTonkaTruck]

There a cackling sycophants who would love that seat!

[@ryannoble4789]

Ko,s😅

[@bennyd345]

Absolutely fantastic.

[@yanikkunitsin1466]

"This is this" part with Morris is paraphrase from Deer Hunter with Robert DeNiro, about only one bullet that does the thing, the one that you have and the one that will kill you.

[@baTonkaTruck]

One shot.

[@damienx0x]

Nah

[@WinstonSmith-mu7ku]

Two things are guaranteed when I watch a Stewart Lee video on here: (1) no jokes that I can properly belly laugh at, (2) the comments section full of giggling sycophants, and (3) lame variations on the theme of 100% pear cider has let itself go.

[@jeremymusk]

But did you agree the fuck out of it, at least?

[@WinstonSmith-mu7ku]

@@jeremymusk Yes, but in a smug condescending metropolitan liberal elite sense, that evaporated on contact with life north of Edmonton!

[@jeremymusk]

@@WinstonSmith-mu7ku Oh, you're no fun anymore.

[@dielaughing73]

We wouldn't have it any other way. That's how we know we're really really clever

[@MrMhdw]

@22:16 - ‘THIS IS BEING FILMED!’ makes me laugh SO much. 😂😂😂😂

[@asheij]

Saw him live last week, brilliant as ever :))

[@jimisi7424]

90s eskimo face…..has let himself go

[@truesurrealist]

I walk onto the stage every night through a forest of ghosts....a great example of comedy turning to poetry in the face of a horrible audience. They deserve it.

[@Lee-bv6iv]

Traffic wardens in Mel Square, the Digbeth flyover. This is a nostalgic glance back at a Birmingham of yore.

[@Magicalfluidprocess]

My favourite comedian with a pulse

[@adude9882]

I didnt even know Robbie Williams was dead. RIP.

[@MartinBroadhurst]

He's actually too funny

[@eridgeboy]

A duplex lego man, that has been occasionally melted using a blowtorch for several seconds at a time...... has let himself go

[@eridgeboy]

A vision of Frankenstein's monster succumbed by the ravages of age as imagined by a drunken child, has let himself go

[@baronbullshyster2996]

Yes This is this. This is. This is all there is.

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

If he’d been a few years older. He would have been the lead singer . Of a groundbreaking death metal band.

[@GothamClive]

Do you mean something like Napalm Death?

[@thetruth156real3]

Vic and Bob were the first to comment on comedians remembering stuff in their spoof of Masterchef.

[@onlyme219]

You just wouldn't let it lie

[@eridgeboy]

Do you member vic n bob membering things?

[@thetruth156real3]

@@eridgeboy Well, I remember something? I think, wether or not it was metaphysical or real or both is at this stage hard to tell but I do remember remembering something to do with Vics vapour rub bobbing about in a little chef in a carpet world.

[@AshleyChist]

He is just absolutely brilliant!

[@PersianGato]

I was there for the filming, sitting at the back just behind a few cackling sycophants. He was in fact very rude to the audience; it sounded more like an aggressive lecture. You wouldn't know 'cause some of the worst bits have been cut for TV. But I didn't really mind, he was just giving it to us straight, like a pear cider that is made from 100% pears.

[@christheghostwriter]

He wasn't rude. It's an act.

[@biggusdickus5986]

Seculariranian, maybe you shouldn't have gone if you don't realise it's all an act, the abuse everything.

[@bobadams7654]

Ricky Gervais plays Stewart Lee like pear cider.... 100% straight. Brilliant!

[@casualgamers6020]

Had me crying man! This is timeless, what a genius!

[@thiccrat]

i cant lie, i did my weird little mentally ill laugh at the suicide jokes. i wouldve been so obnoxious in that audience! Nobody laughing, just me going "EEEH HEEE HEEE"

[@iamreg1965]

The blokes fucking fearless. I don't know another stand up who can do what he does, and that includes Frankie Boyle.

[@whatsthatnoise5955]

Fuckin work of art

[@edwardbyrne4109]

They weren’t a horrible audience, he said they were horrible. He controls every second of his shows, he manipulates the audience brilliantly.

[@larkmars8182]

This is pure genius at work on its finest craft

[@robertjsmith]

more urinal jokes from stewart Lee,not the 9/11 urinal joke or the chino's urinal joke,but the bullied in a urinal joke,hes let himself go urinal joke

[@bluehorizons2508]

This fella can - truly - make you laugh at anything.. and I mean ANYTHING!!

[@flamingspinach]

"you like that? the scraping?"

[@SidneyBroadshead]

He's making a joke about the phrase "like a child's urine off an old man's face". Mark Watson is livid. It's an old Welsh saying that he'd heard as a child used by his family. It's a folksy turn of phrase they'd use all the time. But now he can't use it because Stuart Lee stole it to prop up his flailing comedy act! He'd hoped to teach his sons that phrase!

[@GuusJanssen]

Like pear cider made of 100% pears. I wonder how many get the reference.

[@SidneyBroadshead]

@@GuusJanssen 90% of the comments under Stuart Lee's videos reference his standup. He's a human meme.

[@SidneyBroadshead]

@@GuusJanssen Whenever I see Mark Watson, I think "John Oliver has really let himself go."

[@SerendipityChild]

It's a vintage reference now. Did you see the Richard Herring interview? Watson dug himself a hole and filled it with one of every flavour of moral rationalisation. Herring eventually took pity and made some wank jokes to change the topic, but wow it was brutal

[@haxichoz]

Meh..its just boring family in joke

[@rouxenophobe]

just brilliant, GOAT

[@Saff999.]

Mentioning Lenny Bruce a coupl’a times, then channeling him … Lovely piece of set-up and Timing. ThanX fo posting this Will’ … you Ham :D

[@regplasma7906]

I'd love to say this was piss poor , but he simply is one of the funniest guys on the planet.

[@kenlieck7756]

So it's piss delightful then?

[@craigmartin8766]

Rest In Peace Robin Williams xx

[@johnnorth1961]

Stewart Lee is brilliant 👍

[@npxmnpxm]

Pushes the envelope. Then takes a flamethrower to it. Then pole-vaults over the rest.

[@enemyofthesun000]

This is genius. This is this

[@HappyinJapan358]

How do Americans see him? There must be an audience there.

[@somaticjet2717]

Wow that was absolutely amazing

[@zodjenkins2595]

stewart lee is the closest most will get to a rich old uncle 🙆🏻‍♂️

[@Flightfitness84]

Genius

[@richardboland1935]

Sergei Shoigu has let himself go

[@nialloconnor9686]

this might be the best destination he's gone to

[@dessertstorm7476]

look at that it isnt that

[@andygcl6]

I was just thinking that

[@officercrown]

Stewart’s The Smartest Comedian Ever

[@Macca-rb5ok]

A master of his craft.

[@Torahboy1]

The BBC has let Stewart Lee go…….

[@jonsgreenfingers]

I just clicked the little "i" in the corner that offers more information...... there's a link to a michael mcintyre show. Observational comedy

[@RinpochesRose]

Tornado and Snowflake. Just seen them. Great. Had forgotten about Stewart Lee but NOT NOW

[@brucemadge8147]

Brilliant