Topic: Stewart Lee - Content Provider

[bgmnts]

(I got the impression that he is very fond of high fantasy, but the character of Stewart Lee considers GoT to be low brow consumerist shit for the masses, and therefore to be scorned with any and all similar cultural entities without consideration of their cultural value.)

Which, to be fair, is probably correct.

[NoSleep]

Well, of course it's correct that he doesn't actually despise GoT as he portrays.

[FerriswheelBueller]

Well, of course it's correct that he doesn't actually despise GoT as he portrays.

...which is why my use of the phrase “the character of Stewart Lee” was absolutely valid.

[bgmnts]

Finally going to get stuck into this, the iffy feedback (I view Stewart Lee at being at the highest peak of the comedy Mount Olympus do any negative feedback makes me nervous).

Alan Moore though so can't go wrong. Although 5 mins in and already a gag from Comedy Vehicle, yet a good chuckle just before. I hope its as great as I hope.

[RedRevolver]

Finally going to get stuck into this, the iffy feedback (I view Stewart Lee at being at the highest peak of the comedy Mount Olympus do any negative feedback makes me nervous).

Alan Moore though so can't go wrong. Although 5 mins in and already a gag from Comedy Vehicle, yet a good chuckle just before. I hope its as great as I hope.

My opinion? Either come to a conclusion (i.e. punchline) in a future show, do something actually new with it without it being almost a carbon copy of previous tour or wrap up the audience hostility. It often takes away from the performance. Unless this is my Shilbottle, and it will get hilariously funny again lon his 2022 tour or summat.

This has the best closer to any Stewart Lee set that I've seen, however.

[DeGrise]

My opinion? Either come to a conclusion (i.e. punchline) in a future show, do something actually new with it without it being almost a carbon copy of previous tour or wrap up the audience hostility. It often takes away from the performance. Unless this is my Shilbottle, and it will get hilariously funny again lon his 2022 tour or summat.

This has the best closer to any Stewart Lee set that I've seen, however.

I think those two things are precisely linked.

It starts with familiar tropes, and indeed lines that have been used before. The fans are all onboard, and have seen it before.

But throughout the show the antagonism builds and builds, until the end when he has dismissed the lives of the entire audience as worthless.

And then the glorious conclusion.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Only just got round to watching this tonight, and wrote the following before reading the thread so apologies for any repetition.

By far the weakest thing he's done. Not to say that there weren't some very funny moments which made me laugh out loud but I'm sick to death of him playing around with his perceived status and criticising parts of the audience for not getting the joke. It was funny ten years ago, but he's done it too often and I'm just painfully bored of it. I said this after Comedy Vehicle ended but he really needs to mix things up and explore new ideas as I'm tired of this shtick and he just hasn't done so at all. And it pains me to say such a thing as I used to love the man enormously, but Content Provider is the first time I haven't seen one of his shows live since 2005 and I'm actually glad I waited for the tv broadcast as I found this a struggle at times. Still, on the plus side I loved Alan Moore's appearances, Lee's capable of a great turn of phrase and there's some strong ideas he plays around with, but yeah, overall it was a bit of a disappointment.

[FerriswheelBueller]

I enjoyed it a lot more on the 2nd watch.

“Urrr nurrr, I don’t have a future now. Still, I’ve got this new phone.”

...followed by prolonged mugging to camera. Very funny.

He does a lot more physical comedy and impressions/accents etc in this somhe is trying new stuff, but yeah the “audience criticism” stuff was a Stewart Lee trope. I think he was doing the “who brought friends” material on the 41st Best Comedian tour and that was bloody ages ago.

[BlodwynPig]

Loving this so far...just got to the second Alan Moore segment. "This will be in front of your audience" had me howling - the delivery by Moore made that.

[Brundle-Fly]

The audience dividing is one of his signatures though. It's like saying Frankie Howard should move on from all that meandering and showing distaste for his audience.

[DrGreggles]

The audience dividing is one of his signatures though.

There's also some truth to it.

[NoSleep]

There's some possibility of a little truth in it.

[Satchmo Distel]

The audience dividing is one of his signatures though. It's like saying Frankie Howard should move on from all that meandering and showing distaste for his audience.

Howerd

[Twed]

Howerd

Russell

[DrGreggles]

Russell

Ken

[Twed]

Ken

wood

[Hecate]

wood

Victoria

[DrGreggles]

Victoria

Northwich

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

I can no longer differentiate between any of his output. It's the same stand up routine over and over. Something about Ukip/Brexit. Divide the room. Something about gammon/David Cameron. Call a mid-level comedian a cunt. Superficially insult the audience/actually tell them all the things they want to hear. Hang off the mic stand and cast a shadow of a toad with non-treatable gastroenteritis.

I think he reached his peaked at Pea Green Boat.

[gib]

The funniest SL things were when he did the william wallace routine in scotland, the one with the scotch bloke sat the front of the audience who looked a bit like frankie boyle, and 'gentleman bombers'

i'm up for another hour so please stand by in case i have any more insights

[Small Man Big Horse]

The audience dividing is one of his signatures though. It's like saying Frankie Howard should move on from all that meandering and showing distaste for his audience.

Nah, it's a shit and tired device which he needs to retire and find something new, at least if he wants my money. And he does, he keeps on begging for it.

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

If he doesn't sort out some new material, he's in significant danger of becoming a sort of non-ironical hard left Bernard Manning "Those fookin' Brexiters. What a load of a shithouses. You see them don't you, with their gammon faces." As with the late Manning, and the relatively extant Sadowitz however, enough people will pay to hear the same material over and over. He'll just fall off the radar for whatever's left of the mainstream press by then.

[Steptoes_Son]

Only just got round to watching this tonight, and wrote the following before reading the thread so apologies for any repetition.

By far the weakest thing he's done. Not to say that there weren't some very funny moments which made me laugh out loud but I'm sick to death of him playing around with his perceived status and criticising parts of the audience for not getting the joke. It was funny ten years ago, but he's done it too often and I'm just painfully bored of it. I said this after Comedy Vehicle ended but he really needs to mix things up and explore new ideas as I'm tired of this shtick and he just hasn't done so at all. And it pains me to say such a thing as I used to love the man enormously, but Content Provider is the first time I haven't seen one of his shows live since 2005 and I'm actually glad I waited for the tv broadcast as I found this a struggle at times. Still, on the plus side I loved Alan Moore's appearances, Lee's capable of a great turn of phrase and there's some strong ideas he plays around with, but yeah, overall it was a bit of a disappointment.

I get that the dividing the audience aspect is a part of his technique/style/persona, but the problem for me is the extent to which it can now dominate the material. Look back at Stand Up Comedian, 90's Comedian and 41st Best Stand Up and its there but nowhere near the extent that it is now and I would argue those 3 shows are richer in terms of material than Content Provider and even CRW because there's more time and room given to other ideas/development of the through line.

My problem with Content Provider, which I did enjoy both live and on TV, is that the first act, although it does feature some great lines and moments, feels like a slog due to way the "you've brought friends/mixed ability room" seems to dominate. The second act has less of this and explores more ideas, features more material and is a lot stronger and funnier for it. If the second act was just a repeat of the first, I think the show would overall have been much poorer. I don't want to be an arse and say the second act saves the show, because the first act does have its moments but it makes for a lopsided show as it stands.

Considering Lee is very much for experimenting with the form of stand up, and that the 4th series of CV featured him experimenting more, more often than not successfully for me (I like the Liddle routine, none of us are perfect!), I'm surprised he hasn't tried to experiment more with ways to divide the room. He tends to fall back in the 'should have been more for that joke/mixed ability' thing, but surely there are plenty more ways he could divide the room and keep things fresh, for him and his audience?

[Brundle-Fly]

Howerd

He was actually born Francis Howard, so shut your faces.

[DrGreggles]

He was actually born Francis Howard, so shut your faces.

Trevor

[FerriswheelBueller]

Trevor

Nelson

[Hecate]

Nelson

Muntz

Aha! Get out of that one!

[Kelvin]

I gave at the one hour mark precisely for the reasons discussed on this page. Too formulaic and repetitive, and far too much tedium without a good enough payoff. The intentionally annoying stuff is a bit like shock humour, really, in that it's only really effective and impactful if you don't rely on it throughout the entire show.

As it was, the entire thing felt like a compilation of techniques and cliches you associate with Stewart Lee. Perhaps the last hour subverts that, or moves into new territory, and no doubt I'll watch it eventually, but based on what I saw, I hope this show acts as a full stop to this particular phase in his career, and pushes him to explore something new and unexpected with his future shows.

[Twed]

I think what Stewart Lee is lauded for isn't what he's best at. "Deconstructing" comedy, eh, not really. He does it the same way every set. At this point it's just him being meta about the same things in a particular tone of voice.

I thought the splitting the audience was beyond tired by Milder Comedian, eight years ago.

The first half of this had at least three re-used bits from major releases. Gah.

But then the second half was great, because of the pitch perfect, pathetic on-stage breakdown bit. Yeah, he does that a lot, but it's the only part of his act that rings true to his 'jazz' leanings. He senses the audience, tweaks things on the fly, and gives a very funny breakdown performance that feels like it's including the viewer. You are part of this shambles. That's what I love about Stew.

[NoSleep]

I thought that him grinding on with the stuff that some people here are saying he's been doing for too long was part of the comedy of this particular set. There was some of that going on in the last season of Comedy Vehicle, too.