Now I'm gonna watch Stewart Lee's first stand-up special, because it seems like the right thing to do.
@groofay his 14-minute nuke-the-site-from-orbit on the topic of 'Top Gear' is still one of the finest sequences of pure outrage in modern comedy. Closely followed by the 'Paul Nuttall of the Ukips' bit.
@prismatic7 Well, let me give it to you straight, like a pear cider made from 100% pears...
It's really unbelievable that the Top Gear bit and the Pear Cider bit both came from the same show, and one right after the other at that. What a sheer masterpiece of theatricality in stand-up.
@groofay inorite. He's one of those comedians who doesn't appear to be pushing to form on first glance, but it's as if you shift your gaze slightly and the whole dazzling edifice comes into play.
As opposed to Daniel Kitson (for example) who is basically screaming LOOK AT MY CRAFT! LOOK AT MY CRAFT! WORSHIP MY CLEVER CALLBACKS AND RUNS!*
*I quite like Kitson but through random chance saw 7 and a half hours of him in two shows and a film this #micf which kind of burned me out.
@prismatic7 I haven't seen Daniel Kitson before, but I definitely know those comedians. I enjoy them too, but there's a point at which...yeah, not so fun.
Your point about Stew appearing not to push to form is part of why I find Carpet Remnant World (and SLCV 3) almost disturbingly brilliant in how he plays audience against structure. He deliberately undercuts a joke so he can drag the audience through the mud for "not getting it" until he can make his next big structural point. Unbelievable.