Stewart Lee - Breakdown

Stewart Lee

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Stewart Lee = Comedy Genius

[@boing615]

Some comedians grow dimmer with age but this guy just burns brighter every year.

[@flankspeed]

I was craning my neck to watch this from the Gods... My face hurt from laughing for a good hour.

[@mtsingrenny]

Life-affirming.

[@Pulsewave0]

This is probably my favourite climax to any comedy DVD yet, but it really does suffer for being watched in isolation. You need the full setup.

[@popitinpete]

True, in fact all SL's output is best taken in full context.

[@92RedRevolver]

I also love the fact that the climax of one 10 minute long joke is 'one massive pear'. :)

[@michealjohn7192]

supper got to love him theres no one like him

[@spj_7]

I'll never get bored of the comment sections on Stewart Lee videos. N'aww!

[@johnny207]

What a fucking genius. Impeccable timing!

[@MarkTarmannPianoCheck_it_out]

@hgilbert most today don't have the patience for any thought process requiring more than 3 seconds of concentration, and you actually have to listen, and give him a chance to let it develop. genius stuff, brilliantly played.

[@mpersad]

Outstanding!

[@sinistersounddotnet]

Lee is a genius, he deserves the kudos he receives. We are lucky, comedy has never been so advanced - he should wear tin foil like a home made spaceman.

[@myloverisbillmurray]

sublime.

[@tomgrant29]

This is amazing

[@jimdaw65]

Stewart, if you're reading this I want you to know that as a result of watching this clip I went out and BOUGHT the DVD for 20 quid. It seemed only fair.

[@CMDR_Verm]

same here

[@cmeyrick1]

This is outstanding.

[@MrJupiterLo]

Thanks for explaining the beautful thing about art

[@eyemoeba]

joy throughout the whole room. pause it and look at their faces

[@claremorris89]

I feel guilty watching this for free now !!

[@A.Rosser]

07:50, possibly the best improv ever recorded.

[@fredrikjonsson1974]

Brilliant!

[@BuGp0wDerDuSt]

Finally, a worthwhile comment. Please accept this thumbs up.

[@careyisthebest]

Very true. If you find him funny, then you get him pretty much.

[@GoodbyeCharlemagne]

which DVD is this off of?

[@markreynolds1436]

Don't worry about it. Just download it and save the money.

[@ackerjawaka1966]

If you would prefer a milder comedian please ask for one but 41st best comedian and 90s comedian are much better ⚡

[@moodini99]

You absolutely right. Although, I don't see hoe someone can fail to 'get it'; it's not very hard to understand. Great comedian, by the way. Can't wait to see him at the fringe.

[@JackCalico]

Milder comedian has to one of the greatest stand up sets of all time.

[@SMThomasson]

I think this is the finest, cleverest, and most hilarious - yes, hilarious - bit of stand up I've ever seen. The joke with Stew is that he sets himself up as the middle class liberal lefty type but then pricks his own pomposity by telling us how the world continually lets him down. You can't help but love him, especially with the more extreme digs at himself, like his being an orphan. The best stand up working today, and for the past 20 years.

[@moeoh4968]

SMThomasson u still like him like that or u changed ur mind

[@stunthumb]

Fast becomming my new favorite stand-up - was a fan years ago, back in the Lee & Perring days, but been catching up on youtube... maybe will see what DVD's Amazon has for £2.49.

[@duckingforcover09]

If you're referring to Vegetable Stew, that was material he was putting out for the Second Series of Comedy Vehicle, Carpet Remnant World will be released this November.

[@ElMufro]

Love it

[@metalfacedoom71]

@7:45 ... comedy brilliance... man is a monster!!! should be in parliament!!!!

[@Hysteria98]

Well, let's be honest, it's probably the most intellectually challenging and safe comments section we may ever come across.

[@FireSinger]

I cannot help but imagine Stewart Lee as Bob Mortimer's evil twin...

[@theawecabinet]

My turn! He's just doing social commentary & observational comedy but about absurd, fake, exaggerated & often surreal subjects. The clever bit is that the ESSENCE of his observations & commentary are still valid despite this. The corporate consumer culture *really is* pillaging everything that's sacred & authentic. This validity of the central message is what allows him to be silly without being idiotic, and it also juxtaposes well with moments of (also deliberately absurd) pathos & truth. :)

[@dominicpeterson5018]

Entertainment is anagram of art in tenement. Make of that what you won’t

[@dielaughing73]

Ha! Stewart Lee's website links to this clip via the page 'Did you illegally download my DVDs?

[@miamijim5964]

No I bought them from a car boot down the football. car park....

[@kasparm]

I bet that guy never took his umbrella to theatre again

[@rhodes2k7]

Amazing routine

[@Wubslin]

Going to see him next month, can't fucking wait.

[@CarlIsRoy]

Twelve people own umbrellas.

[@jeracaruna9]

I don't think it's about 'getting it' but I think you are underestimating the amount of work that he puts into his routines. I know it's a fine line between that and appearing elitist, but that's why Stewart Lee is so great; with most comedy there is maybe two or three layers and a joke can only really be interpreted one or perhaps two ways, but with him there are so many layers that people can look at it in so many ways, and that's the whole point, I think.

[@cecinestpasunename]

I have here a list of the true values of Stewart Lee: 1. Make people laugh 2. Make people laugh 3. Perpetuate elitism 4. Make people laugh 5. Perpetuate elitism again; this time by ironically discouraging it. The sheer dishonest naked hypocrisy of even imagining for a second that such things exist as the values of Stewart Lee.

[@--___--d]

He seems ok

[@mizofan]

the elitism is that of the rich and powerful exploiters, the racists, the people who believe one ethnic group or nationality is superior to another, the bankers, the New World Order, the hypocritical billionaire media tycoons pretending they're somehow on the side of the poor and working class, the greedy minority with their age-old reliance on divide and rule ..

[@Fladoodle11]

We're all watching this on the internet for free..... >.>

[@gerrabath]

thanks

[@captaincorleone7088]

The link to this video on Stewart Lee's website describes this as... *"an illegally uploaded youtube clip of me talking about illegal online sharing of my DVDs."* LMAO!

[@CaPoComedy]

Thanks, pietzsche! Nice! That makes it even funnier. I love the layers like where he is play acting that he would use this phrase in real life even though it is complete garbage. Wow. What's up with Welshs over there? That's the most awful catchphrase in recent memory...

[@revilo314]

This is his last gig without glasses.

[@conansdog]

@sixfootpigeon You are absolutely correct. Pear cider is a marketing phrase made up for a perry and I'm glad that someone else feels the same because it has annoyed me for a long time. Anyone that has had the dubious pleasure of shopping with me will testify to my "its not a pear cider its a perry" rant.

[@dashmore85]

being ranked the 41st best standup is a disgrace! as far as im concerned he is the finest standup in the world ever. Saw him at Edinburgh this year and it was hilarious, before the show he was in the street handing out fliers and then at the end he walked to the back to sign anything you put in front and him and to thank everyone for coming. the least pretentious artist I have ever seen. Johnny vegas and Kayvan Novak from FoneJacker were in the audience as well pissing themselves.

[@holm81]

Yes it is. He even practically says it, when he talks about holding on to a little way of thinking, when the workingclass people moved from the countryside to the city. The phrase "give it to me straight..." that meant something to the those people, is taken away from them for the purpose of selling cider.

[@randomsamno9]

Who did mock breakdowns first? Johnny Vegas has been doing this for years, but I think I first saw Lee do one in a DVD he did in Wales. I'm not sure if comedians did it before Vegas and Lee though, any suggestions?

[@RichardHerrero]

@danbo1984 I was watching stu on utube, wife came in n said "oh, I've some bad news wasn't sure whether to tell u" She didn't look happy n for a horrible mo I thought she wuz gonna say he'd died, but all it was was his next gig near us was sold out (even tho its months away) and she was gonna surprise me with tickets, bless! So pity for us but great for Stu. Funniest stand-up no question, fer me anyway (And he had Alan Moore on his TV show)

[@moceanu]

whoa a new DVD? do you have a source for this? i saw CRW live, it was excellent

[@TheDom2701]

which DVD is this on? I want to buy it like it's Michael McIntyre or something

[@YGriffiny]

To me, I think that Stewart Lee wants that. This is art. An aesthetic experience. Lee thrives on his elitist following. He is the T.S. Eliot of comedy. Fragments of our lives, shorn against the ruins of an unreality, permeated by reality. Lee wants you to take from it, what you will. Suggesting that there is a limit to interpretation and condensing it into a reductive cliché, is totally at odds with the values of Stewart Lee Ltd. You gaylord.

[@randomsamno9]

@92RedRevolver He's definitely going up in the world, trouble is he probably doesn't like that as he is now probably considered more mainstream by some, just because he is more popular.

[@rnburton57]

"One massive pear!" LOL..!!

[@heliskinki]

Some of the enjoyment of this sketch is stripped out by people here over intellectualising something that is, in essence, really fucking funny.

[@iainjames03]

@tyrannosaurusdead kind of... If you mean the modern commercial pear ciders they are at best made from pear concentrate - and just like cheap carton orange juice they can still claim to be 100% fruit. Some are even just pear-flavoured ciders. Proper perries are made, like proper cider, from freshly pressed fruit that is allowed to ferment and age.

[@cecinestpasunename]

yeh stew I tried to buy your dvds but they're not available in America

[@92RedRevolver]

@dashmore85 they did an updated one and he was like 9th or something.

[@cabjdavid]

One massive pear Hahaha

[@nutsackmania]

+Animal Lemonade you watched til the end congratulations!

[@captainpanic08]

No, seriously. His comedy really is this engineered. Every single word is chosen very carefully. His book, 'How I Escaped My Certain Fate' goes into it.

[@pietzsche]

The ad is real, no-one outside the ad ever uses the phrase. The point is he's complaining about marketing co-opting, and destroying culture for it's own image/ends, but he's doing it ironically by using a phrase which was actually original, but is shit, implying that marketing either ruins things by co-opting them, or creates absolute shit.

[@PuffTheMagicDragon86]

I love that he has this linked to his website about ripping his DVD. Oh the irony XD

[@grahamlive]

Is it still up? :)

[@viz8746]

Hahahahaha! 😂😂😂

[@feloniousmonk94]

Maybe it does betray some hidden elitism, but I think his interpretation is as valid as any. He is merely proposing a framework within which to view the joke. It is up to us to accept, reject, integrate or ignore it. I think if there is perhaps any measurement that captures that which is great about art, it may be the number of interpretations that it can offer suffient support to. I think that the audience creates the comedy in their own head with varying degrees of help from the artist.

[@Littlehickish]

5:19 haha that poor woman

[@GlassPike]

@MrHennessy30 Bearing in mind he's done probably thousands of gigs, and had all the time in the world to think of some cutting way of taking the piss out of someone who's taking pictures, what he said wasn't specific to that scenario, just anybody with a camera.

[@harryhume]

Saw this live and he really grilled a guy for scooting to the loo. ...can you imagine my disappointment...

[@richieblackhearted]

All Stewart Lee's shows are filled with subtle ironies. The part in this where he complains that people will download the show illegally instead of buying it for example. Stew has never done stand-up for the money. He prefers to do small, out of the way venues. He does it because he likes it. He has earned enough from the other stuff like Jerry Springer the opera to never worry about selling a DVD again.

[@MrHennessy30]

Any Stew fans here reckon the camera thing was staged? The material was a bit too well developed to have been delivered purely by chance, and I hadn't heard him use it in previous shows. A bit like the 'walkout' during the toaster song on comedy vehicle perhaps?

[@superhamzah85]

What DVD is this from? Is there a torrent?

[@yngvaibucketrucci]

nah it was nearly done after about 3 hours of uploading and then it stopped for some reason, I'll try it again now

[@thembrown]

'One massive pear?'

[@grahamlive]

That'd be cool but I'll probably end up buy a copy at some point. Maybe when I'm a bit lees skint. :)

[@EdDueim]

Actually, in the advert he says 'pears.'

[@Unlixes]

Yes. This is definitely it. How do I make this the top comment? That hgilbert fellow's intentions are fine but I would question his analysis. This, on the other hand, is completely sound.

[@Lindelamare]

Yeah, nice summary. I thought that the essence of the joke wasn't "between the lines", it was in his "advertising creative on hundreds of millions of pounds a year" line, and then he extended it into other themes.

[@somerandomer]

I think it's somewhere between the two. The galway girl section at the end genuinely was something that he felt the magners adverts had taken from him, but obviously it's much more funny to do the routine about a genuinely awful advert, because the idea that that phrase would have been such a personal thing, passed down through generations, is absurd.

[@boggedmaffus]

@lewistrundell Fair enough, but why look at and comment on one of his youtube vids then? ::S

[@redwraith122]

But his analysis is spot on. :c

[@eyemoeba]

in ONE afternoon

[@nickglenister3832]

'Like captured partisans digging their own mass grave'......fucking comedy genius!

[@imnothere220]

Is this the apex?

[@CaPoComedy]

Did Welshs actually use the phrase or is that made up? I'm not British so I'm just trying to figure out the joke.

[@ronaldchapman2806]

Morrissey's really let himself go.

[@holm81]

It's about a way of life and a way of thinking, amongst the exploited working classes, being overruled by commercial propaganda in the name of profits for the wealthy.

[@kenny28100]

funny.

[@ChristyOFaghan]

i liekd tghe bit wer hi shuted @ the ladee lol

[@yngvaibucketrucci]

as much as I hate to break it down so much there seems to be some disagreement so I will give my 2 cents He is exaggerating and deliberately making too much of the illegal downloading thing, he doesnt really care that much about it and is parodying other people He is also exaggerating about the pear cider thing but that is an honest opinion, he just went out of his way to push the point for maximum effect I hope I am right about the first one because I am currently uploading the full show

[@elicohen6348]

One massive pair ? Where is she ?

[@redwraith122]

It's more of a part about cultural robbery. The same thing has happened to the terms nerd and geek.

[@kpotassium]

Sure, there are underlying themes like that but the main focus of the joke was the ridiculousness of the statement which while apparent in the advertisement itself is made much more apparent when Stew claims it was catchy and relevant enough to have been intentionally used and passed through generations. Sort of makes you think 'as if anyone would accept that and go on to use it again after hearing it.' which then leads you on to thinking 'this advert is absurdly bad, who decided to air it?!'

[@HahaMunich58WasFunny]

There are many theories on here about what stewart is getting at with the pear cider routine, and probably most are true on one level or another, but mainly I think he's just having a dig at mark watson, the stand up who was in the adverts, he hates comedians doing adverts

[@danielcropp8553]

666 likes!

[@hufclufc]

Definitely aint gonna buy the dvd now

[@pepperpie88]

ONE MASSIVE PEAR?!! LOL

[@theawecabinet]

"..With Stewart Lee the joke is in between the lines. It's a joke about a joke...." Actually the joke is about the fact that it's not about that, even though it comes across like it is to people like you who think you 'get' it but that's precisely what the joke is about because it's only meant to look that way to people like you who don't really get it because you think you do. Basically it's a trap.

[@skysten2605]

Wow you have barely scratched the surface