Stewart Lee - The J. L. Austin of Comedy

[@johnglenn30csardas]

I’m looking at the JL Austin books on my shelf-and drowning in a tsunami of my own tears.

[@oliversomething]

Congratulations! You are 100% Stu's target audience, at least as far as Alan Bennet is concerned.

[@johnglenn30csardas]

@@oliversomething Without irony, meta-meaning, or other convolutions, I want to thank you for introducing me to Stewart Lee. I'm a retired American with a "very advanced" philosophy degree (which very much included the (study of Mr. Austin), now living in Hungary. Ok, so maybe there is some material for irony or meta-comedy in the previous sentence. Nonetheless, I appreciate your efforts at the promulgation, indeed the propagation, of Mr. Lee's work, of whom I had never heard before the YT algorithm served your channel up to me (now subscribed). Say what you will about artificial intelligence, sometimes it hits the nail on the head. And knocked out I was by SL's comedy. Alan Bennett's "An Englishman Abroad," directed by John Schlesinger, is one of my favorite films. And I had watched Bennett's LRB annual journal pieces over the past few years, so I suppose I left a trail for the bloodhounds. In any case, thanks again for your efforts.

[@oliversomething]

@@johnglenn30csardas I'm just sharing something I love in hopes others love it too, but thank you nonetheless for the kind words.

[@thompsonnoel]

@@johnglenn30csardas You must be the Erving Goffman of Stewart Lee's audience

[@TerriblyNice_Not]

And yet Lee is wrong about Speech Act theory

[@CalvinKlown]

I like how he gives it to you straight. Like a fat General Ratko Mladic made from 100% Erving Goffman.

[@jtarry1967]

“I’m the him of this”….love that line ❤

[@oliversomething]

It's funny because it's true.

[@mrbtapir]

Read your comment and immediately lol'd, it's a great line, and I immediately heard it in Stew's voice.

[@jonathannathan7299]

The “all the different xxx” gag will never stop being funny

[@thedolphin5428]

As soon as Stu brings out a folded piece of paper from his pocket I know things are gunna ramp up into realms of comedic brilliance.

[@kieranwalsh1241]

Or when he says "for example..."

[@DirtBlockGames]

@@kieranwalsh1241and that’s when you know we’re going into a tightly scripted bit

[@thedolphin5428]

​@@DirtBlockGames And so? It works to comedic effect (on me) even BEFORE he starts reading it. And ... it is often so ambiguous as to maybe be factual or maybe not. Scripted or not (obviously is) is not the issue. It's brilliant storytelling to the heights of absurdity.

[@DirtBlockGames]

@@thedolphin5428 "and that's when you know we're going into a tightly scripted bit" is a line in one of his stand up sets. it was just a reference

[@thedolphin5428]

@@DirtBlockGames Oops, sorry. Ah, yes, NOW I remember that! ☺ I had thought you were denigrating his act. Sorry.

[@phillipburke9522]

It's fun being a Stewart Lee fan. It's like being part of the cool club, only everyone not in the club thinks you're a f****ng tool. 😂

[@0228christian]

Damn, the “I’m the him of this” line right after describing the philosophy of language of JL Austin is legitimately the most intelligent joke I’ve ever heard. 😂

[@stoolpigeon4285]

yeah, I love it

[@Freethinkingtheist77]

The irony of this clip is that I've always said Alan Bennett is the Stewart Lee of book reviewers.

[@mrbtapir]

He's the him of that

[@bobburroughs6241]

J.L. Austin's let himself go.

[@RinpochesRose]

Oh, he is wonderful. 😂

[@woebegone_jabroni]

For some reason Stewart Lee reminds me of this random guy I saw many years ago, this short fat parking lot attendant guy who was just sat on a stool and he was wearing glasses that were too small for him and were visibly leaving an indent on his fat head. And he's the him of this.

[@Wildescape_uk]

Pure genius.

[@Crinklechip-s]

This show corpsed me from beginning to end. Love him!

[@thedolphin5428]

".... all the impressions ... ... Alan Bennett ... ... ... ... all the different impressions ..." Lmao. Nice call back to " ... all the cheeses ... ... Red Leicester ... ...... ... all the different cheeses ..."

[@thedolphin5428]

@skozzdog Huh? I never said he recycled. It's also an inside joke to those who remember it. If it works well once, you re-use the comedic template. Every comedian does that. It's like whenever he gets a letter out of his pocket (the Pirate, Pestival, Bin Laden episodes). You laugh at the absurdity which you know is coming. Tbh, I've never heard Stu recycle anything.

[@TheDiamond2009]

Red Leicester.

[@thedolphin5428]

@@TheDiamond2009 Yes, correct. Edited.

[@kieranwalsh1241]

Yeah, we got the reference

[@Man-From-Another-Place]

And that was a callback to 'I like all the different flavours of crisps..................plain..........all the different flavours of crisps'.

[@duuuad2350]

Constative utterance has let itself go

[@GeoffCullen001]

The Red Leicester Cheese decade plus reference/callback deserve a much bigger laugh!

[@unthenner5519]

Oh right it's likening Allen Bennett to Red Leicester cheese? I don't even know who Allen Bennett is so perhaps that's still going too far!

[@jonathannathan7299]

Red Leicester itself was a callback to an earlier bit about crisps.

[@Man-From-Another-Place]

@@jonathannathan7299.....plain

[@contactlight8079]

Nice to get a preview of Michael MacIntyre's upcoming show...

[@emmaprocter4062]

Just wonderful

[@mrbenoit5018]

The shadow over Innsmouth has let itself go

[@all_is_1485]

more of this!

[@thedolphin5428]

Tears of joy. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@dr.biscuits]

The fella...is a comedy genius.

[@ajp069]

Brechtian Alienation has put on a few pounds

[@pedrojiminez3404]

Stewart Lee is like watching Frasier. When you're a kid you think he's intellectual, then when you get older you realize the joke is that he's not, he just thinks he is. All time great show, all time great comedian. Although I doubt he'd take that as a compliment.

[@oliversomething]

Stu's always been the first to admit that the character of "the comedian Stewart Lee" is regularly perplexed at the publics inability to grasp his genius, but it's just a part of the act.

[@thedolphin5428]

@@oliversomething Ssssh. Don't let on. 🤫

[@oliversomething]

@@thedolphin5428 _Behiiiiiind the wizard's curtain!.._

[@thedolphin5428]

@@oliversomething I love Stu, but don't find EVERYTHING he does funny. I appreciate that all humour is subjective. But I do laugh at those who don't get him. Imo, his genius is the WAY he has broken the style of traditional humour. Invented character, good and intentionally badly written jokes, improv, audience interaction, camera work, faux-moodiness, surreal props, conceptual originality, mockery of other comics and styles -- all top class.

[@oliversomething]

@@thedolphin5428 I'm with you 127%. Even when Stu's not at his best, I always appreciate what he's trying to achieve.

[@zetaconvex1987]

"And I'm the him of this."

[@christianhansson6231]

He is like a erwing goffman who has let himself go

[@petercolledge2236]

Love it, Stew. And Alan Bennett as well. Sorry.

[@mrbenoit5018]

YORCKH

[@diveinnjim]

David Hockney has let himself go.

[@oliversomething]

I must admit, even as an unapologetic elitist Stewart Lee snob, that I didn't care for _Snowflake_ but _Tornado_ made up for it.

[@vollsticks]

Same.Well, Snowflake was better than 99% of any other comedy show this year but Hurricane was...up there with his best. Absolute banger

[@oliversomething]

@@vollsticks I probably would've liked Snowflake if I wasn't obsessively familiar with everything Stu's done before, but a bit too much of it had the same structure as jokes I'd already heard. Plus, a comedian with an acoustic guitar is never great, unless you're Bo Burnham. Haven't seen _Hurricane,_ but I'll try watching _Tornado_ on the Eastern seaboard to see what happens.

[@vollsticks]

@@oliversomething Sorry, I meant Tornado! Get my extreme weather conditions mixed up! My point was that generally a crap Stewart Lee set is still better than 99% of current comedy; UK or otherwise :)

[@oliversomething]

@@vollsticks I wish you hadn't made that mistake, for I have suffered a multitude of egregious bites from sharks falling from the sky. _If I'd only known that nobody was safe!_

[@thompsonnoel]

Even though Snowflake had some genius bits, the way Tornado is constructed was so immensely satisfying I did end up in a tsunami of my own urine.

[@77jamess]

Mark Kermode has let himself go.

[@norfolknchance657]

I'm the me of that

[@An_Arbitrary_Miscellany]

What's extra poignant for me about this, is that I am the him of me.

[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

A lesbian sociology lecturer has let herself go.

[@rhall2307]

With the specs on looks a lot like the late Ronnie Barker

[@julieatkinson5910]

😆

[@garyrigby21]

Who's Irving gofman lol

[@Deedee-ee1sg]

Alan Bennett reviewed Stewart Lee?! Or just a skit? Whatever, that was very funny and drole.

[@pramitpratimdas8198]

not a review per se but para dedicated to him in a london diary article

[@colinpoole7653]

The top hat has let himself pass go £200 please

[@tonysmyth4116]

Go Straight To Jail. Do Not Pass GO. Do NOT collect £200. - that was a terrible joke.

[@tonysmyth4116]

... but I liked it.

[@mikislives]

Erving Goffman has let himself go

[@sacundim]

Irving Goffman was funny, actually

[@tarico4436]

2:00. Erving Goffman? (The following proves I know how to generate LOLs too.) I got my degree in Sociology from a university that is/was somewhat known/revered for its accomplishments in that field--the University of Oregon--and I've never heard of Erving Goffman, the "most influential "Sosh"-iologist in America in the 20th Century...." (Its shortened version is usually pronounced "sosh," but in full it's pronounced "sos-ee-ahl-oh-gee," not as Lee pronounced it: "sosh-ee-ahl-oh-gee.") I paused writing this comment, went to Goffman's Wikipedia page. In it I found that though few knew him or of his work, of those he did influence, it was said that he "greatly influenced them."

[@jonasjorgensen8759]

He was big in the litterature when I did my bachelor a few years ago 🤷‍♂️

[@scottshershow3148]

I don't think that's quite the complement you think it is.

[@MCTonra]

Mike Brewer's let himself go.

[@acoustic-gymnastics]

subbedddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

[@andrewbowen6875]

I don’t believe him that this actually happened

[@kickthestoat]

It's actually true...

[@artetas-army5982]

The review exists

[@jrgholden]

Is this actually happening?

[@shack7631]

Stewart Lee is a prime example of a comedian who is not as funny as he thinks he is.

[@DamnDealDone]

And your comment is a prime example of what a thick, bell-end might write.

[@shack7631]

@@DamnDealDone I am not saying he isn't funny, he has his moments, he is just not as funny as he seems to thinks he is. He can come across as being rather smug at times, despite his routine frequently attacking others for being just that. Then again I don't expect his fan boys to see that. Go watch some Doug Stanhope fo see how it should be done.

[@DamnDealDone]

@@shack7631 I like Doug Stanhope as well. Imagine being able to like multiple things at once. Can you imagine that?

[@shack7631]

@@DamnDealDone Well you have certainly mastered how to type and be an asshole at the same time, l will give that.

[@billhicks8]

@@shack7631 How on earth do you have access to the knowledge of how funny Stewart Lee thinks Stewart Lee _actually_ is??

[@petercolledge2236]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erving_Goffman...major post-war sociological figure, Stew. I admit, I've never heard of him either, but I expected your own vast eclecticism to shine through here.

[@vollsticks]

I have a feeling that he probably knew who and what Goffman is known for.

[@petercolledge2236]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._L._Austin....British philosopher concerned with language, developed a theory of speech acts.

[@kurisensei]

Mark Kermode has let himself go