Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Clock is running.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Okay, we're ready to go. I've always been someone who talks too close to the microphone.
Like, I get close like this, and I. I like the sound, the static.
Yeah. I never know where to put my mouth in relation to the microphone.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: Yeah. It's funny because when I teach a class, I'm like, listen, this isn't the hobo's dick. You gotta be right on the.
Right on the gob.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Such parlance as hobo's dick in a class.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
You win them over with humor talk, the language of the common people.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Would you ever consider me to be a comedy teacher after we've had all these shows and you've heard my philosophy on comedy philosophies?
[00:00:57] Speaker A: What, so you mean you hire me.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: To teach the youth?
[00:01:01] Speaker A: No.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: You're thinking about it. I thought it would be an abject.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: No, I'm trying to process because you're. You're an educational professional, and yet you scorn teaching in comedy. It's like, well, teaching's okay for this, but not for that. So you clearly have a compromised integrity in your worldview.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: I can't put someone. Compromise integrity.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Fair enough.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Front of teacher pupils.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Fair enough.
But I'm only partially compromised. The person you would hire would be fully compromised, I'm sure.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: No, I. I would hire people like me, who. For intake. For whom integrity is core value.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Yes. You're a man of your word.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: It's the only thing I care about, to be brutally honest.
It's the only value in humanity. Like, if you walk up to me and you, like, I'm gonna punch you in the face, and then you do. I value that more than someone who would walk up and go, I'm gonna give you $10. And then doesn't person A is better than person B.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: That's some. That's some deep and moral reasoning, some Emmanuel Kant type shit.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: That's not even moral, is it? And that's what I always tell people. Integrity isn't a moral ethical thing. Integrity is do what you say you're going to do.
It could be the worst thing a human being could do. But if you do it, you have integrity.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Even if it's a terrible act, it doesn't matter.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Integrity. Look it up. Integrity means I do that, which I say I will do. Right. And if I deal with people who have integrity, I can build. I could build a business. I could build things. I could do this.
If people don't have integrity, you're basically effed out of the gate because you're guessing at what's going to happen.
So people think, oh, integrity means you're moral and ethical. No, it don't mean you're moral and ethical. Just means you do what you say you're going to do.
Like we often say we're going to do a podcast about a special.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: We always do.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: And then spend 10 minutes of this bullshit.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah, because people want this.
They want. They want more of this from you. They want to know what makes you.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Tick more than what you think makes me tick.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: What do you think about Tom Green's act?
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Despair and desperation make me tick.
Next. What makes you tick? You know. I know what makes you love.
I knew you were going to go there.
You are an iconoclast. And what'd you call it? What's the similar thing? I need a second word.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: Visionary. Prophet?
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Vision. No. Iconoclast. You're a. You're a. How can I destroy. You're a just. You're a nihilist.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: I'm not.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: You're a nihilist.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: That's been said. But that.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: No, that's been said, but you refuse. That's been said 87 times to me, but I have refused to.
To believe it.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: You're a nihilist.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: Meaning nothing is sacred. I'll take anything down.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: You will destroy whatever can be destroyed.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Yeah. What does I read? No, I don't like to think of myself.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Who called you the nihilist? Was it like your 6th grade English teacher.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: In comedy? Yes, but another in other parts of life? No. I think it's good to be a comedy nihilist. Nothing is sacred in comedy. Right. Meaning nothing is above reproach.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: You can't just be in. In comedy.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Right.
Why not?
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Because it's an act. Your brain is wired a certain way. If you're a nihilist with comedy, you're probably a nihilist in other areas.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: No, I don't think so.
Take Andy Warhol. Are you familiar with the artist Andy Warhol? I know you don't frequent art museums and you're a philistine. Or as you say, philistine.
Yeah.
Andy Warhol, for all his subversive, weird, you know, pop culture, art, and it's appropriate to talk about it today. Went to Catholic mass every single day of his life. Now, you wouldn't.
You wouldn't think that, Right?
This guy was a devout, devout, devout. Some people say de Paul, some people say DePaul. He was a devout Catholic, but yet what is he known for? Being weird.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Yeah. He wasn't devout.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Sniffing poppers he was a devout. He went to church, went to Catholic mass every day. Never told anybody about it.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Yeah, but devout means observance of the thing.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Yes.
Also not gonna argue with your.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: So Warhol was.
Was hail marrying and not banging dudes and not.
No, he wasn't devout.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Oh. I seriously didn't practice the faith. But he wanted to.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: He probably got something out of it. But.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Well, you might say he's an art nihilist. Right. As I'm saying with comedy. But he was very different in his private life.
That's what I want. I want you to get to know me privately. I think you would see a much different person than what you've known to this point.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: All right.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: And speaking of iconoclasts, someone who refers to themselves, themself, Christian themselves. I think themselves, themself. Refers to themself. No, that doesn't sound.
[00:06:41] Speaker C: No, that doesn't sound right.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Refers to themselves as an iconoclast. Stuart. With a W. Lee. Now, I have written down with a uart, but I didn't learn it until the end of the show that it was S T E W A R T. Well, that's.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: That's key. Key to the. To the show.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Stuart Lee. Basically.
You get it.
[00:07:06] Speaker C: Basically.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Fun.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Very clever.
Oh, no, I know you didn't watch this.
[00:07:12] Speaker C: I did.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: You did not.
[00:07:14] Speaker C: I just did, like, right before coming here.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Well, you couldn't have because I tried to do the same and it was four and a half hours long.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Could have used a heads up on that because you're always saying that should never be more. That's not at a British accent. It should never be more than 45 minutes and you're out. Bollocks.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Except for Stuart Lee, who can sustain.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: This was an hour and a half.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Cosby esque. Yep.
I'm withholding showing my cards here on Studio.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: I know. And I'm.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: I know you're dying to know.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: I know what your cards are.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: What?
[00:07:51] Speaker A: First of all, you showed your first two cards of the hand last week when you. You deliberately said, this will be a revenge attack.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Yes, I say that.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: So there's two cards. Right, let's do the flop. The flop.
The flop is I sent a text. Are we doing the show? And you would. I can't wait. I can't wait to do it. So there's the flop. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm what I want out of it. Yeah. And then you walk in here and you've got this shit eating grin and boom, there's the river Your hands play. Your hands played.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Oh my God. See, you're a terrible poker player, right? You read things all the wrong way.
Yes, I did say that. I was wanting to take revenge at this.
And I did say. And last week I did say that, you know, unequivocally, Dave Chappelle. And I've thought a lot about this, right? I really went to board on this. Dave Chappelle is the greatest comedian to ever live past, present or future. He's the greatest.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Well.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: I've changed my mind.
The greatest comedian I've ever seen in my life, past, present or future, is none other than Stuart Lee.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, here we go.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: The nihilist.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Out he comes.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: I could not have enjoyed this shit more. I absolutely love this guy. This is. This is. This is why we do this show. Because I never would have put eyes on this guy. You had neither, right, Christian?
[00:09:38] Speaker C: Right.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: If it weren't for you. You've been hiding this guy from me.
He's British. You're not gonna like him. You're not gonna understand.
This guy's amazing. This guy should be huge over here. He's.
And I'm not saying this. I know you think I'm Christian.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: You think this is like a pre wind up. It's kind of a fish.
[00:09:56] Speaker C: I thought it was going to be at first. I don't think it is anymore.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: No, okay. No, no, listen. The hyperbole of saying anyone's the greatest of like I did for Dave Chappelle, I'd like to walk that back. Right. I do think very highly of Dave Chappelle. My wife always says, like whenever we go somewhere on a trip, we go to Des Moines or whatever. I'm like, I gotta. I'd like to live here. It's great wherever you visit. I like it here. I think I could live here.
So that's. That also happens with art and comedy and music. With me. I fall in love all the time. Right. I've fallen in love with Stuart Lee. I can't wait to watch more.
I laughed harder at him.
It points this show that I've laughed in any of the stuff we've reviewed thus far. And that's. That's no lie. Maybe because I had no. I had no idea what to expect. Right.
Totally got. He just got. And. And I did too. Watch this before we came in.
In the morning, I can half awake. I'm battling Covid actively right now. I've got. I'm in the middle of a Covid battle.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: That's good to know.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I didn't. I didn't mention that on the way in, but yeah.
[00:11:05] Speaker C: We'Re in a tiny room.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Crip his lime juice and back up from the microphone.
No, I don't even know where to begin. I've. I've made lots of notes, but I'm still laughing thinking about.
He does such great crowd work. The crowd work.
I love the way he does. I don't know how to describe how he does it, but, like, when he went bald guy, bald guy, bald guy with beard, bald guy with glasses. And then he started like, what's your T shirt say? What's your T shirt saying?
That is brilliant. And then I can't stop thinking about the old man in the front who never laughed. He keeps referring to his death or Ingmar Bergman and seventh Seal.
Oh, my God.
Loved it. It's so good. So good.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Well, I mean, Stuart Lee is kind of. I'm still waiting for you to, like, drop the subterfuge and go, I was full of.
Stuart Lee is like a three. I mean, he literally has a 30 year thread like you. You. The best highlight of this particular episode is when he just lays into what a bunch of sad bastards his own fans are for about 10 minutes.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: And it's.
I was sat. I had to rewatch it this morning just to be like, okay, I have all my ducks in a row and I'm laughing my ass off. And Heather's wandering in, you know, because she very rarely sees me happy. Like, you know, she just gets the miserable.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: My wife.
What are you laughing?
[00:12:34] Speaker A: And I'm laughing my ass off. And then it gets to the bit where he's like, none of the women want to be here. And then it's just like, it's even worse than being at home with your old man because it's coming through the spirit speakers. And then he just says 10 minutes about what wankers all of his, like, fans are. And I'm like, how good are you that you can just berate your own hardcore fans for 10 minutes, pointing out what insufferable zealots they are?
And. And the people are just laughing their ass off even harder. Like, you are. You've nailed me. What a twat I am. And it's genius.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: I don't want to go right to the end, but, like, along that thread, like, how he. He describes their lives for, like 20 minutes of it is the same joke to me. It's like Letterman esque. He's just hitting the same note over and over and over about how, you know, you know, Monday morning.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: Morning.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Good morning. Describing their. Their. Their awful lives.
It's so great.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Yeah, he's talking about, you know, and he's. Obviously there's some English isms in there where he's talking about these hellholes. I have to travel around to your shithole towns and do this year after year. I mean, this was like. And I thought originally I'd pointed you to another thing to watch. And I did watch it just in case the carpet remnant. And I was like, ah, this is a bad introduction to Stuart Lee. I think if you really have a thirst for any, you get into them because he's just been cranking it out for 30 years, a new hour or two every time.
What he has theme. Like, you almost have to, like, go from show to show and kind of follow it. Like he's doing specials. Like, he, you know, he. He has a lot of. In jokes, like one early on, he goes, you know me, I can't bear repetition. And if you're a Stuart Lee fan, you know, that is one of his main tools. And I thought you might like that.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Aspect of it because that was what I was always trying to do. And I love that. And I liken him to Letterman in that way. He's just. It's not even that funny, but he's just gonna hit it over and over until it is funny and it's absurd.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: Yeah, that was. Yeah, that was the best of Letterman where a joke would tank and he would just keep at it through the whole episode until you're like, it's funny because you won't let it go.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Right, right, right.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: But, yeah.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: And this whole show turned out to be a good one because. For this. Because he was deconstructing Stand up and his hatred of it, which obviously we both kind of have. So he did the whole bit about. He. He does a bit. He what? One thing that is very odd for a comedian, he. He does not disguise his hatred of other comedians. I mean, he. He mentions Lee Mack, who he detests every time he can.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: So, yeah, that's his guy. He goes after all the time on stage.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: One of my favorite parts of it is when he talks about.
He's a. No, he's a genius and so am I, because I like him, is like the highlight. Right. But he talked about women in comedy and really did a very instructive bit about, you know, how comedy used to be, guys. And I mean, it's just. He just rips it apart.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that's such a funny bit how he's like, it used to be today the guy's gonna blow a firework out of his ass and another guy's gonna make his show his balls look like Charles de Gaulle. And then next we have a woman, right?
[00:16:29] Speaker A: British comedy in the 70s, like, he. He goes back a lot to how awful comedy was.
And you just remember, like, yeah, it used to be comedians who. Their act would be just come on stage and light a firework in their. And let it off.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Oh, but see, I want to know a Christian thought, right? But I always. Why I expected to hate this is because I've never really liked British comedy.
I guess what I saw when I was young, you know, when you're ingesting all this comedy when you're young, is like Monty Python and that kind of stuff. And I didn't get it or I didn't like it for what. I just didn't like it at a younger age. And so right then just kind of like, nah, I don't like British comedy. Right.
So anytime it's British comedy, I'm like, I'm not gonna like it. This was amazing. This was some of the best shit I ever saw. Christian.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
Oh, you want me to talk?
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Wake up over there.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I thought it was great.
I mean, I don't really have anything significant to add that has not already been said. One thing I was wondering, though, is he keeps mentioning how he keeps mentioning the date. September 1989.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:42] Speaker C: And so I was very curious to know what happened in October 1989, or if anything. And I kind of wanted to look it up. But I also wanted to know, Mark, is there something on that date? Like, is there. Is there significance to why he keeps referencing that particular month of that year?
[00:17:56] Speaker B: I think that's what started his act.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Yeah. That's officially when he started it.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: So that's when he was a 21 year old coming back from his first gig.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Yep. Literally. Yeah. I mean, he's. He's been at it that long. I mean, I remember the first time I saw him because I wasn't living in London, obviously, at that age, so I wasn't aware of him. Him and this guy.
There's a funny line in where he goes after. He's like, it's like a Richard Herring podcast. And that's his best friend. That's like the guy he started comedy with.
But, I mean, you must have laughed at that line, like, it's just an old man.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: I don't know who he is. Right. I don't. That's the thing. Like, that's what's amazing is 90% of the references in here, whether they're political, they're, you know, geographical to England or pop culture, I don't know. I'm a. I have no idea who he's talking about. And it's still funny.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Right. So I'm just imagining Richard Herring is like, just some asshole has a podcast and doesn't listen to his guests. Right?
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: I don't even need to know who he is.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: To a whole. A whole bunch of those. Yeah. Like, where I. I didn't understand. I didn't know the details of what he was talking about, but I understood what he was talking about.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: You know, you can put it together pretty quickly what he's saying, and, you know, somebody like that, you know what I mean? You can like, like, copy and paste your own example into the scenario.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: I took a couple of comedy tours to. To England, and this guy who ran one of the legendary venues in. In London, I said to him, what should I tell the American comedians specifically, culturally or whatever? And he goes, just tell them. Do whatever they would do if they were on stage in New York, Louisiana. Whatever. Because if it's good, people will fill the gap in. They'll go, oh, that's a person who.
You know what I mean?
So. Yeah.
[00:19:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: So when I. When I asked you, I wanted to see if you, who'd never seen this guy before, loved it as much as I did, or were you just like, yeah, it's good, or what? Like, because I. I totally. And hopefully by now you realize I'm not kidding. I absolutely love this.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: Yeah. I was all into you. Loved it. Yeah. I could tell from pretty early on that this was. This was something a little bit better than. Well, I mean, at least what we've been reviewing in the past. But also, it was. It was upper echelon comedy.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: Absolutely.
But when you said, well, you changed at the last second for us to watch this, and you said this, you know, this one's not as British, or what did you say? Like, this one's too British.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: Carpet remnants a little bit British. But, you know, maybe now you. You watch it and go, yeah, I get this.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: Well, it didn't take right away from me. Right. Like, as he starts and, you know, and starts with some of this political stuff about Therese Coffee, and I'm like, this. The other one was too British. I have no clue what this guy's talking about. And if he's going to talk about, you know, the House of Parliament for this next hour, and 30 minutes I'm fucking. I'm not going to make through this.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: He don't normally do that. And he said at the end of it, like, well, there's some jokes that I hate.
You know what I mean? Me talks actively about hating to do that sort of thing.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:02] Speaker C: He talks about people on social media saying that he, he doesn't have that ability. Right. And that's why he did it, you know, which is just like another breadcrumb to follow. Like, okay, what's he got next? You know?
[00:21:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Doesn't have what ability?
[00:21:15] Speaker C: The ability to write economic. Economic jokes.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: He gets. He goes, I'm not really a comedian. And. And there's plenty of people on social media who'll back that up or whatever.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: Well, I want to. I wrote down a bunch of.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: I thought you'd hate the crowd work stuff, though, because. Crap. He always talks to the crowd. I mean, he's like, that is huge.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: No, I loved it. I don't normally like crowd work. Like, if you look at, like when we watched Matt Rife Special, just about crowd work, I hated, I absolutely hated, hated that in the way he did that. Right. Like try to like, construct jokes out of.
Oh, God.
And the farther we get away from it, the more I hate it. Right. But this is like, I don't know, it's just so.
I don't want to say natural. It's not natural. It's just so basic that it's. That it works. Right. He's not trying to be super clever. He's just, you know, calling out what's on a guy's shirt and then moving on to the next.
I thought it was great.
I did want to talk about some of these references he makes.
Like when he says brunch at Carluccio's, what the hell does that mean?
[00:22:30] Speaker A: He was talking about moms.net right. Which is.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Yeah. What's that?
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Yeah, Mumsnet is like this all powerful website where middle aged women just shred the world. And if you get in trouble with momsnet, you've got like an army of middle aged women or whatever, like coming after you.
And they obviously detest Stuart Lee because he hates, like conservative reactionary values. So what he's basically just saying is all these women that are on mom's Net, they've got a glass of rose and they're just like, I'm angry.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Is there an equivalent to that here, Mom's Net? Like, what would be the American equivalent to that? It's like Facebook or something.
[00:23:11] Speaker C: Get it? Talking to the mic.
[00:23:12] Speaker B: I'm sorry.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't. I mean there's a lot of anger on angry boards. I don't know if there is a.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: We need a mum's net.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: I mean, like, don't people in America get their anger out on like Reddit and stuff?
[00:23:27] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe that's.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: Is the Reddit like the loony place?
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Kind of. I guess I'm just now getting into Reddit.
[00:23:33] Speaker C: So Reddit was more like for information. Very relevant information.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: It's like a chat room.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought, you know, and I don't have really any Internet thing, but I. People had referenced Reddit as a place where right wing lunatics gather to plot.
[00:23:51] Speaker C: I'm sure there's a section. Yeah, I mean there could be a section of anything that's that. But I don't think that's the majority. I don't think that's the general idea behind it.
[00:23:58] Speaker A: But anyway, he's just basically saying these women are just angry winos, you know.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: And that, that comes out of the, the J.K. rowling stuff that I don't fully get either. I don't, I don't follow her. But what is, what is the deal there with the Jake. So he has some kind of past with J.K. rowling and bashing her. And what's with. I know she writes under a pseudonym of male name, but like what. He kept saying that, like this is a man's name. This. I don't, I don't know what that's about.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: Okay, so J.K. rowling has been in a lot of trouble recently for her views on trans people.
She's. What do they call it? A terf. A trans exclusionary radical feminist. I mean, she's feminist, but she. Trans women, forget about it. And Stuart Lee said something about that and just got shredded by Mom's Net women.
Because I like the bit about. He says, a friend of mine called me from Ireland and said it's terrible what happened to you. And he never like Stu Lee says over and I never go on the Internet. So he has to look up like that he fact that he's got canceled even.
But yeah, so the, the obviously the whole thing of. I mean that's a genius move in it saying this woman like hates trans but writes under a male suit in him. What does that tell you about.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we have to have a section every week where you explain the jokes to me. Like I didn't get the Chappelle Titanic joke.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: I think his comedy to me and I thought I was brilliant for. Because I kind of captured. I was like, he talks a lot about his act and the way he's delivering it and the jokes he just did. Like, just from the very beginning, when I thought it was brilliant how he calls out the latecomers, right? And I was like, but then he calls out the next latecomers and how they didn't get the. They weren't there for the latecomers jokes. But he's constantly referencing things he's talked about in his actual earlier in the show, what he's talking about now. He's very meta in that way, right? Where he's describing what he's doing while he's doing it, and I can't. I'm sure there are other comedians that do that. But then later on in the show, he talks about how he does that, and that's part of his act. And for you who've been watching him forever, that's just. That's the act. And to me, that was very different. Never having seen him before. I don't know if there's another comedian that does that kind of deep. And I don't know if the special is about deconstructing standup comedy, but he's doing that, at least in this special. Does he do that all the time?
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Pretty much, yeah. I mean, he.
He. He always goes on about how unpopular and hated he is, and he'll like. He swings. He does that nice swing of like, one minute, he'll say, yeah, I'm the greatest ever, and then I'll just talk. And, you know, that's why I'm hated and all this. But he is like. Like I say, his act isn't like, I'm gonna watch this and walk out. Like, the next routine that he does will be the sequel to this. It will.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: They're all tied together. Every special kind of picks up where the other one left off.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: No, because he does talk about how he is zeitgeisty. Like, he likes to get a theme and go, right, I'm not just gonna do jokes. I'm gonna talk about.
So he has one called Content Provider, where he just talks about the pressure of comedians constantly having now to be, okay, where what's my Instagrams, what's this, what's this?
But throughout there, there is always this thread of, like, ragging on his own fans of people not understanding it, how he hates it when new people.
One of the best lines he ever did to my is, he has this section in Carpet Remnant World where he reads out all his Internet Hate, you know, like all these comments.
And one of the comments is, Stuart Lee caters.
What is it? Almost exclusively to, like, middle aged male Guardian readers. And then he just turns to the camera, he goes, not quite as exclusively as, I'd like to be honest, because he's been ragging on the audience the whole time. So he just. That's like a thing. And it's almost like a callback without the callback. Because, like, you're like, if you're a Stuart Lee fanboy like me, you're like, here we go. Like, this is. It's gonna be the really good bit where he just laces into the audience.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: That's what you really look forward to, is when he's gonna eviscerate his fan.
[00:28:24] Speaker A: I love them. He's what? He's the only comedian I know who will denigrate other comedians. Denigrate his own audience. I mean, you talked about this with Chappelle. Nothing sacred.
This guy is the true. Like, nothing sacred.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Maybe someone went over my head, but I didn't think he came off as nasty that way though, like, as a. I mean, even when he's.
[00:28:49] Speaker A: Yeah. He's not like, Andrew dies claying it. No.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Right.
I didn't. I don't feel like it's mean spirited in any way. Right. Like, even when he's going after his own audience, it's just funny. It's just. I mean, you can, you know that there's an appreciation there for. For them. Right. But to, to.
To not just, you know, fluff them and, and to, you know, go after them like that, I think is.
That's amazing. It's brilliant.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: I suppose it's one of them things where, like, I don't notice this so much in America, but in England, it's definitely this.
You just eviscerate your best mates all the time, you know, but really and truly, they're your mates. They're what's holding you together. And I think that's what he is with his audience.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think comedians are too afraid to do that. Right. To alienate their audience or not alienate them because he's not doing that, but attacking their friends because they keep coming back.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: I shouldn't do you. Spoilers. But there's a bit in Carpet Remnant World where he talks about some of the audience here were bought here by the friends. Like, you're going to like this guy. And now they're looking at you like, is this at least the main comedian? Like.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: Yeah, we talked about that.
[00:30:06] Speaker C: This one.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: When they're driving to the show. You like him. You should see.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: And now they're just looking at you like, yeah, bought me to this.
But yeah, yeah. I mean, it is. There's a thread. I think the good thing about a Stuart Lee type comedian is every time you see them, it's like, just.
It's not like, here's some jokes, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you go back and see him and you're back to square one. Because they're just jokes.
Every minute you see of Stuart Lee is like a. It's like a compound interest because you know that it's gonna make you laugh even harder at the next one that.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: You see, meaning the next joke in.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: The show or the next show, the next thing. It's just like this snowball.
I know, I'm ruining it now.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: No, no, not at all.
[00:30:56] Speaker A: So I can't even setting you up for disappointment.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: Well, I can't imagine it being anything but downhill from this one. I enjoyed it so much.
But if anything, though, I think, you know, there's a. There's a connection to some American comedians. And I wrote down Seinfeld, and most of these jokes are about nothing. They're really like, he's. He doesn't really have. And he talks about it and calls himself out on it. Like, he doesn't really have jokes. I don't mean like.
And I love when he says all jokes are the same with just the words changed.
Right.
But I mean, if this is an hour and a half, like, 75% of it is. There's. It's just fluff. There's nothing really there other than him just being him. And that's what's great.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: He.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: This guy can just show up in a room and just improvise the whole time like this. And everyone, you know, his fans will love him. If you like this kind of thing, he can do no wrong. He's. He's in a space where he can kind of like chappelle. Like, when we talked about him, he. He can just exist and talk and he doesn't have to have any jokes or have any relevant content. And he's still funny. Right.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: Do you remember the Kaufman revival in the 90s where people are like. It only becomes hilarious when you've just done it too far.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: What do you mean?
[00:32:21] Speaker A: Like, someone would do a bit and then they would just keep doing it and keep doing it and keep. And stay on it until half the audience drops off and goes, all right, this is too far now.
But then they might come Back at the end.
[00:32:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:36] Speaker A: You remember that type of gag?
[00:32:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Like when he read, you know, the jazz. War and Peace or something, like for an hour and a half.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Or the jazz thing where you're like, okay, we've got the jazz joke now, but he just ain't letting it go.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Yeah, there's some of that in here.
Yeah. Like you could say Stuart Lee. Stuart Lee. Stuart Lee. Stuart Lee. You know, like, Jesus, how many times he gonna say. Just keep saying it.
[00:33:00] Speaker C: Same thing with Morning.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: Morning. Morning. Yeah, Morning, Morning.
[00:33:03] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, that's definitely a mechanism that he's very.
Uses a lot because he knows it's like a button pusher, right. And it's almost salt in the wheat from the chaff. Because it's like Sean, right, Sean Cole to me.
We'll bring up a. A friend of ours. When he used to do comedy, half the room would be on the floor pissing itself, laughing, and the other half would just be staring at the other.
[00:33:33] Speaker B: Half going, they didn't get it. Yeah.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: That is an immense thing in comedy to me.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's. I think Chappelle talked about that one too, Right. How he's a lazy comedian because he's happy if just a couple people really enjoy the laugh or really enjoy the joke. Right.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: What a great expression. That's got to be the expression of the.
The week. The wheat from the chaff. You don't hear that very often. I use that in modern day. Yeah, Yeah. I don't hear a lot of people using that one. That's what separates the wheat from the chaff. Have you ever been to these places, Scumford?
[00:34:07] Speaker C: What?
[00:34:07] Speaker A: Oh, I thought you were gonna say something.
[00:34:09] Speaker C: Oh, actually, no, I do have something to say.
Before we get too far, you need.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: To get like a bell over there. Yeah.
[00:34:15] Speaker C: When you have something to say, you.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: Ring the bell and then you say, I have something to say.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: Going back to the jazz thing, he went through this whole bit where he was talking about how if he plays jazz, to do his normal routine that he does when he reads something sad and has jazz playing and goes on this whole bit of telling the audience they have to imagine it, which I thought was brilliant. And then also explains that he has to pay $6,000 if he does it at this show, so he will not do it. And he goes on then to that bit, you know, telling everybody. So you're gonna have to imagine it, you know, and then instructing people how they have to imagine it and saying, not like this, like this, but I'm not gonna tell you how to do it. And that lasts for a while, and then a long while. A long while. And then a little while later he starts in on the monotonous, boring work life routine. And all of a sudden a jazz saxophone comes in. And at first I thought it was recorded, you know, because you don't see he has a live saxophone player in the aisle when you're watching, when you're watching it until the camera switches and then you see the guy playing the saxophone. So at first I thought, oh, he's just completely disregarded. He's now saying, like, well, screw that, I'm going to pay the $6,000. Which I thought, well, that's, that's pretty.
That's, that's, that's respectable. And then, and then I realized, oh, it's a, it's a live person playing it. And then I wondered if that's how he got around paying the $6,000. If it's a live saxophone player, then he doesn't have to pay.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: It could be.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, he's, he's had like live musical accompaniments to those bits.
[00:35:45] Speaker C: So that's not, that's not a first for him.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: No, he, I mean, like I say, he almost makes fun of him. His like, regularity with doing certain things. So, like, he very often will end a show with like a musician accompanying him, saying and doing something or whatever.
[00:36:06] Speaker C: He seems like a big jazz fan.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Oh, he's, he is religious about jazz. I mean, he, he often talks about, like jazz and stand up comedy are the two great American art forms.
Because he got a. There's a good. I've never listened to podcasts, lol. And I listened to the Matt. Mark Marin one when he had Stuart Leon.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Oh, he had Stewart Leon.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Because obviously a lot of people have said to Mark Maron, you gotta check Stuart Lee out, obviously. And he. Yeah, he talks about his love of like jazz and American stand up. In that.
[00:36:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
What you're talking about Christian too. He did. And I didn't realize until you were saying that was.
And I noticed at the beginning where he's got a camera shooting up from this bottom of the stage and he looks down on it. Right. And talks into it. Right. Which I don't think I'd really seen before, you know, it.
I mean, he's obviously looking out into a camera, but then he looks down and talks. It's like he's talking to his producer or whatever. Like, we'll have to edit that one. Right. And looks at him but that ties into the whole thing about, you know.
[00:37:15] Speaker A: Fleabag and that's why he was so annoyed about it.
[00:37:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: Because he, he had a really, really good TV show called the Stuart Lee Comedy Vehicle which was just mind blowingly good.
And he always did a talk to the camera. So he would do these show for the thing in there, but he'd go, but the people in the at home watching it now, they don't get that. And he would turn to the camera and kind of do a bit and he just embedded that into everything he was doing. So I think that's why he was so annoyed about Fleabag getting all these accolades for breaking the fourth wall or whatever they call it. Yeah, he's like, what do you. I was doing that for years.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And yeah, but. And I didn't realize he's been doing that the whole show and then. Yeah, yeah, it's good. So many layers. There's, there's so much here and I don't, I don't know if I just walk away at this point from Stuart Lee. Never watch another one. Just enjoy this, Enjoy perfection.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: You know, because it couldn't have been better for me or do I keep going?
[00:38:14] Speaker A: I meant to bring. So I've got downloads of. He has two specials from.
I think they know because he talked about them. The two specials before it that he released, Snowflake and Tornado.
I think you can back into them. Just perfect. Just fine.
Yeah, they're an hour each.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: It didn't seem long though.
[00:38:43] Speaker C: No, it didn't.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: I was enjoying it so much.
I was just worried I'd, you know, I'd cancel the rest of my day. You know, it's playing catch up the rest of the day.
You know what else I was fantasizing about because I was enjoying it so much, us going to see Stuart Lee. Does he ever come here?
[00:39:00] Speaker A: So here's the thing. For about five years, every year, annually, I had a reminder ting ting in my email to email his agent and say, please tell me like what it would take to get Stuart Lee to Chicago.
And the agent would always like nicely mail back like, hey, no plans to tour internationally right now.
One, one year.
His, his wife is a pretty accomplished stand up comedian really. So the agent is like, but you should consider booking his wife. I'm like, no, Stuart Lee. Like, but that's, I can, I can book his wife.
[00:39:46] Speaker B: Then you get him to come with her here and then, hey, you know, amicably divorced now. But.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know. I would have Cuz, you know, in the Internet age, I am a fan. I am unashamedly a fanboy of his and we'll wank on about it forever. And so obviously, you know, I'm putting clips on the Facebook when I was on that, and people are just coming out of the woodwork like, oh, God, we worship Stewart. Like American people. And I'm like, that makes sense. Like in this day and age, like real hardcore comedy fans, they're not bounded by whatever, you know, so this, there's probably. I bet you if you put Stuart Leon in Chicago, you would sell out in a. It's like when we did James Acaster. I was telling you about him. I've never heard of him, but there's people flying across America to see the guy, you know, I mean, I think that's what Stuart Lee would be because he's cultish. I mean, he talks about it. His fans, what cult lunatics they are.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I believe it, but I'm still. I can't believe that. I've never even heard of him.
[00:40:55] Speaker C: And speaking of that, when he does his whole bit about his fans, you know, like the guy saying like, oh, well, I like him, so I'm smart too. I was wondering, because every time we've, we've talked about it on this podcast, we, you know, you've said, Stuart Lee is your favorite comedian. When he goes into that, do you see him talking about you at all?
[00:41:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, the whole dialogue where he goes like, you should really check him out. You won't get him.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: I mean, I've done that. That's been you talking to us.
[00:41:22] Speaker C: So you can look at that and say like, ah, you can, you can identify. Yeah, yeah, that's what I do.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: He does a bit about, oh, he's your husband.
Piece of. Husband's lying in bed with his laptop watching clips of me for like. I'm like, Jesus Christ.
[00:41:37] Speaker C: I mean, one minute long clips and being like, well, you got to see the whole thing to really.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, how could you not laugh your ass off at that and just go, jesus Christ, he knows me better than I do.
[00:41:49] Speaker B: Yeah, well, let's give me something else. Change my life some more.
[00:41:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I got to put it on. I meant to put it on a flash drive and bring it.
[00:41:57] Speaker B: No, not give me another name. Give us another name.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: Another really good one.
[00:42:03] Speaker B: Who will love.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: Let me have a think about that. Let's pick someone else instead. No, Christian's picking them. That was the system we said, yeah.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: Christian, who are we gonna look at next week.
[00:42:16] Speaker C: Oh, I don't have anything right now. No, I gotta think about it. I just watched the Stuart Lee one. We just talked about it. Give me like 13 more seconds.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: All right, well, I think we're unanimous here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
[00:42:28] Speaker C: Can we do Larry the Cable Guy again?
[00:42:30] Speaker B: We can.
[00:42:31] Speaker A: The same one again.
See? Three weeks down the line. Is it better?
[00:42:35] Speaker B: Well, it. I know we want to rap, but, like, Larry the Cable Guy also has his audience. Like Stuart Lee. Right. Compare that and he panders to them, I would say, by, like Walmart.
Right. But is he making fun of them the way Stuart Lee is making fun of his audience?
You love Walmart.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess. I mean, he never calls it out. Yeah.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: It's just different, you know, There was one that I thought about a few days ago. However, I. I would like to think of somebody even though the Stuart lee special was 2024.
I think we've been doing specials that were like older comedians lately. So I wanted to do somebody more current. But one thought that I had was Gallagher.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: Is he even still?
[00:43:20] Speaker C: No. Well, I mean, I don't know, but I doubt dead. Yeah. I don't even know if he's alive.
[00:43:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay.
[00:43:26] Speaker C: I just think it'd be an interesting watch.
[00:43:28] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: All right.
Is there a definitive Galaga?
[00:43:33] Speaker C: I have no idea.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: I have a VHS Gallagher.
[00:43:37] Speaker C: That sounds like a party.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: Well, we have to come over to the basement.
[00:43:40] Speaker C: It's a pizza party.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: Does the player still work?
[00:43:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I just check the tape work.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: Do you have another VHS player?
[00:43:47] Speaker A: I have multiple VHS players.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Let me get one.
They rent them out at different places, like Alamo Drafthouse. These video stores are coming back open. Like there's a video store by the music box that just opens. They're renting VHS videos all the way.
[00:44:03] Speaker C: Back to how it started happening.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, Christ.
All right. What have we learned today?
We've learned that we love Stuart Lee. Now we all love him. You loved him. And now you've made me love him. And I don't want to speak for you, Christian, but you seem to like him.
[00:44:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I thought it was very special.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: We love Stuart Lee. I no longer hate British comedy.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it's all as good as Stuart Lee.
[00:44:29] Speaker B: It can't be. It just can't be. Benny Hill. You know, I always liked Benny Hill because of the sexual content.
I did not make love to my wife today. I came here instead again. Nor did I make love to her last week. But I did find some time on Monday. I ran home. There's like a half hour window there.
Ran in and told her to take her trousers down.
[00:44:51] Speaker C: Gross.
[00:44:52] Speaker B: We had a half hour love making and I don't. You know, he's the greatest comedian of all time. I don't want to say that.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: Well, hang on. We got Gallagher next week.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: I'm not worried about Gallagher taking him down. I didn't think Stuart Lee would.
[00:45:07] Speaker A: What if Gallagher takes Stuart Lee down? It's just a domino.
[00:45:11] Speaker B: Then you'll know I'm just. I'm just around. Yeah.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: Just a long time.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: All righty.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: All right. Good stuff.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: All righty. Hooray.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: Time as honest one.
