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Episode 4: Comedy Vehicle #1.1 - Toilet Books (2009)
567 Plays8 months ago
Dan and Joe dive headfirst into Stew's Comedy Vehicle series, starting unsurprisingly with episode 1 - Toilet Books.
This episode explores the world of literature through the prism of it's lowest forms, principally the work of Dan Brown, former Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles and rap singer/Jesus like figure Asher D of So Solid Crew. Stew also takes aim at Jeremy Clarkson, Russell Brand and the Harry Potter franchise (the latter of which prompted a challenging but ultimately healthy debate between Dan and Joe) and includes sketches featuring the likes of Tony Law, Paul Puttner, Tara Strong and Miles Jupp, amongst others.
As per the DVD commentary, this episode includes two jokes written by Simon Munnery.
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Transcript
Introduction to the 'Across the Shuniverse' Podcast
00:00:34
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Across the Shuniverse podcast, the only podcast in the world of podcasts that is a podcast about the comedian Stuart Lee.
Stuart Lee's Career: 'Comedy Vehicle' Series
00:00:44
Speaker
The satnav is off because we are into comedy vehicle now. So in the previous episodes, obviously we've been looking at Stu's comedy specials.
Rediscovering 'Toilet Books': A Debate on Harry Potter
00:00:56
Speaker
and now we have reached the point in time at which Stu was back on the tele and the BBC commissioned the series comedy vehicle so this episode we'll look at series one episode one which was toilet books um joe and i got together to have a little chat about that the episode toilet books um i'd completely forgotten
00:01:22
Speaker
a ton of this because to be honest the first two seasons of the first two series of comedy vehicle and not I wouldn't consider them my favorite stew stuff so I haven't watched them for a long time but that being said there is a ton of good stuff
00:01:41
Speaker
in those first two series they're not personally my favorite and I haven't watched them for a while so I kind of rediscovered a bunch of stuff that I really liked that I'd completely forgotten about and obviously Joe was watching them for the first time because of the kind of content of the episode and the fact that it touches on Harry Potter and Joe is a Harry Potter nerd we got into a little bit of a heated debate about Harry Potter and whether or not adults should like Harry Potter
00:02:07
Speaker
and I think we came to some sort of consensus but all I'm saying is don't bash us in the comments on reddit if you agree or disagree because quite frankly I don't care so yeah that's about it really so without further ado here is whatever number episode this is on comedy vehicle series one episode one toilet books
00:02:38
Speaker
We're back, Joe.
Feigned Enthusiasm vs. Genuine Enjoyment
00:02:40
Speaker
We are back. We're back and we both sound thrilled about the fact. Can you hear my fake enthusiasm? Yeah, exactly.
00:02:49
Speaker
No, but yeah, not think about this. No, I was going to say, we kind of have to caveat this and just be very clear on the fact that this is something we enjoy doing, even though we don't sound like we do. We 100% do. But I think, as we were just saying before we started the recording at our age, the act of just doing a thing sometimes is quite
00:03:15
Speaker
You know, because you try to, you fit stuff in around life.
Comedy Performances: Gigs and Roasts
00:03:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. The logistical act of getting a thing together is quite difficult. Yeah, especially comedy sort of things. Fucking hell, just a bit. Quite a bit of energy.
00:03:34
Speaker
Well, we're not going to spend too much time on a preamble today, but because we don't get to chat as often as I'd like, we'll just have a quick couple of minutes catch up on what we've been up to.
00:03:49
Speaker
When did I last see you? Was it Leicester the last time I actually saw you? Have I seen you since Leicester? I think so, yeah. It was Leicester. Well, we did a podcast. Yeah, but what I'm saying is in terms of, like, physically in the room. Yeah, physically in the room, I think it probably was Leicester. So, since we did the record for the Basic Lee episode, which, by the way, got a little bit of criticism
00:04:16
Speaker
really yeah not massism and i've got to be honest with you i don't really read the vast majority of it but just because obviously normally we're quite forensic in what we do yeah um whereas with the basically one a we'd waited two weeks to record the episode so we couldn't remember any of it so we were struggling to remember things and and b you know again logistics wise we were both trying our hardest to fit it in and it became
00:04:48
Speaker
apparent towards the end of the recording that we were kind of rushing through to get to because we had like an hour I think yeah at best so yeah no it was I enjoyed I enjoyed it and I enjoyed doing the recording but I think a couple of people have sort of said I know like I did I think yeah I think you're right I think the certain days
00:05:13
Speaker
when we just kind of had to get it done. Yeah, that's it. And, you know, can't be superstars all the time, Joe. No, exactly. No, exactly. I think I would imagine I've not seen one yet. And I've seen him many, many times. But I would imagine even he has bad gigs.
00:05:33
Speaker
Oh yeah, absolutely. Even now I imagine he has bad gigs. So yeah, I'm sure we can be forgiven. But no, what was I gonna say? So since I saw you last... Speaking of bad gigs... Go on. No, I... Yeah,
Challenges of Performing at Various Venues
00:05:50
Speaker
I've done a couple gigs since then. The bad gigs? No, no, like... Last night was a bit weird, so it was the first of my open mics for church holiday. Yeah. And I don't emcee too often.
00:06:03
Speaker
Yeah, but I've already read, funnily enough, it was only yesterday and I've already read a glowing review. Oh, from Danny. Yeah, bless him. Danny's really good. I've never seen Danny before, actually. Have you not? Oh, right. I'm interested in your take on my case. Definitely up my alley.
00:06:22
Speaker
Have you been in it? Not too bad. I've done a few bits and pieces. I think I told you about this on Messenger. I did the hot water comedy Roast on Mother's Day. Listen, it was okay. It was good fun. It was a roast. Yeah, it was what I expected it to be. But it's not, as you and I both know from the chats we've had, it's not in my wheelhouse.
00:06:47
Speaker
I was kind of doing it just so I could do hot water, just because I'd never been to hot water before I wanted to do it. Did you do five minutes beforehand as well? No, I was disappointed by this because when we got there, they'd kind of changed the format of it and said, oh, look, I know we said in the email, you're going to do five minutes beforehand, but we're not doing that now. It's just the roads. Right. So I was kind of annoying. I sort of felt like it was a bit of a wasted trip in the end. You can't get your material out like you just tried to do that.
00:07:14
Speaker
Listen, you know, people get in trouble for getting their material out, Joe. Well, yeah, it's true. So yeah, I did the roast and it was all right. I didn't win, obviously. I didn't expect to. Phil Milton, who I was up against, is an incredible joke writer and, you know, a one-liner comic. So, you know, it was very much in his purview. I still need them to release the tapes. I really want to see what it is.
00:07:40
Speaker
Yeah, well, I will show you if I get a chance, but I'm trying to figure out a way to limit it so that my grandma doesn't see it. Yeah, yeah, no, it's fair enough. They will probably still put it online. Yeah, they will. They just won't necessarily tag you. But I've creatively... I've created myself a day of checking it.
00:07:58
Speaker
Yeah, no, same. Just to see if it's there. But I've done it. Well, not just for you. Yeah. They've already posted. They've already posted the the headliner from the night, Sam Serrano. I think it's Tony Coward's. All right. Oh, cool. I'm not seeing that one. Yeah. So that that's the newest video I like today. Nice.
00:08:22
Speaker
So, I did the hot water roast, it was okay. It was a long night, didn't get home until two in the morning. Fuck. Yeah. That's mad. Yeah, it was. It was a little bit mad, but you know, it's one of those things when you've got road works and whatever. It's one of that. It didn't finish until 11.30 because it doesn't actually start until 9.30. That. Oh yeah, fuck that.
00:08:47
Speaker
So yeah, there are a few things if I didn't know and I probably wouldn't have done it. Yeah, especially being on a school night.
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah, well, I ended up having to book the day off next day, so which meant I lost money. Because if I don't work, I don't get paid. Yeah. To the listeners, believe it or not, we have day jobs. Oh, well, yeah. So I did the hot water roast. And then Wednesday, I did two gigs. This Wednesday just gone, so yesterday. Two gigs?
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, so I did my usual scratch and sniff at Santiago's which was wonderful, it always is. Even when you die, it's nice. So I did that. And then, but before that, Andrew and I went to the wardrobe because they've got an open mic. Oh have they? They have. I do not know about this.
00:09:47
Speaker
But it's mixed. Right. So it's music. Yeah. All right. Yeah. They're a bit weird. Yeah. Yeah. The comedy anyway, because they're not expecting comedy. They're really only really normally expect some music, are they?
00:10:03
Speaker
Yeah so get this right, so everyone who ran it was really really nice and it was a nice atmosphere and stuff but so it was in the corner of the bar, I don't know if you've ever been to the bar at the wardrobe. Yeah yeah. It was downstairs or it was upstairs. No no it was upstairs in the bar. Yeah. So it was in the corner of the bar and they the rest of the bar they didn't turn the music off.
00:10:28
Speaker
So straight away, you know what's going on. It's one of those gigs. Yeah. So they didn't turn the music off. And it was really, really hard to just be heard. So I died on my ass in a big way. Did you really? Or did they just die?
00:10:50
Speaker
Well, it's hard to say, and I don't want to sit here and say, oh yeah, it was just because they couldn't hear me. You know what I mean? Because Andrew went on. And in fairness, it might be because they couldn't hear me, but Andrew went on. And he sort of did a halfway house thing between doing, he did Balthazar, but without calling himself Balthazar because the MC introduced him as Andrew. And also he didn't have his,
00:11:18
Speaker
you know wrestling belt bothers our accompaniments yeah so he um he did he did the have you seen him do the kind of nervous first time comedian yeah it's my favorite bit yeah it's incredible it's so good but he did it if you know that it's a bit yeah so but he did it too good if you don't yeah he did it in such a way that made it like
00:11:47
Speaker
It was really frenetic and really like, because he was sort of shouting to be heard.
00:11:52
Speaker
but like also really and he's turned like a couple of things you know like he does it and it's like a stuttering kind of thing yeah and he's turned a couple of elements into into like almost like stewardly esque repetitive like catchphrases yeah you know so like he'll be he'll be repeating himself over and over again and then he'll just say a thing which i don't want to spoil but he'll say a thing and then
00:12:19
Speaker
you know, people won't quite understand what's happening.
'Comedy Vehicle' Filming and Format Evolution
00:12:22
Speaker
But then when he goes into the next bit and ends up repeating the same thing again, it becomes clear. Yeah, it's like it's it's a bit. So yeah, he did really, really well. And like I said, I don't think I did too well. I wasn't really timing myself, but I think I got off after about five minutes. Even though I had up to 10, I was just I wasn't getting anywhere. So I just left it.
00:12:42
Speaker
And I knew that it hadn't gone great because he went in after me, got loads of massive laughs. I've even got the video to prove it of him. But even though he said he died, he didn't. Afterwards, have you ever been in that situation where you're stood next to a comedian that's done really well and everyone keeps coming up and telling them how great they were? And then they just look at you and go, oh, hi.
00:13:11
Speaker
uh yeah yeah so i found myself in that situation you know me well enough to know that i had to resist the agent to go no no i'm not i'm not the other one that people come up to and you're just stood there i mean listen i've definitely been i've definitely been in that and it's so awkward yeah i've i've been in but i've been on both sides of it
00:13:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's awkward on both sides because you don't know if you're the one that people come up and say, Oh, I really enjoyed your set, mate. Like you want to be like, Oh, thank you, man. I really appreciate it. But then whoever it is that's done next to you, that's just like, yeah. Yeah. And it's, uh,
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, I just like, literally there was a woman came up and she, I'm not even exaggerating when she said to Andrew, you're one of the greatest comic acts I've ever seen. Wow. Right. I thought it was just stood there going and I was on too. Did you say that? I didn't say anything, but inside I was thinking and I was there as well. You should have just gone, thanks.
00:14:30
Speaker
Oh, thanks. It was so good. I do love that bit that he does, that if you understand that it's a bit, it's outstanding.
00:14:41
Speaker
even as I was talking about it last night, to be fair, to some of the comics. And about the fact that I have a drama degree and that's still some of the best acting that I've ever seen. Yeah, he's so good at it. You could. And that's where he loses people with it, I think, because I'd heard, what was it? I'd heard that he'd done it, was it last week? And two people had walked out.
00:15:09
Speaker
He did it was in Leicester one. It's not remember. No, no, no like last week Scratch all right, okay One of the guys that performed last night the guy that The new guy it was his first gig last night Yeah, the Nick guy Okay He was on near the end. You might not have seen them He was talking about it. Yeah. No, I
00:15:38
Speaker
I'd gone by the end. Yeah, I think he was like 13th out of 14 or something. Yeah, no, I had to go. Andrew and I, we missed the start of the first section because we were at wardrobe. So we were on a wardrobe bike.
00:15:56
Speaker
Yeah, we were on at wardrobe at like 10 past eight. And then we then we got around to Santiago's in time for the second section starting. I was in the second section. And then when the second section finished, I had to go home to kind of obviously Katie with the kids and stuff. So yeah, yeah, it was just yeah. Yeah, no, really had Andy Ellis vibes. Oh, very good. Yeah. And he's very good in that I both hated them when they first started because they're so good at what they do.
00:16:27
Speaker
i still hate andy because he's so good at what he does come on with him at very dogs next month he's brilliant i don't i don't hate andy by the way but he does i get super jealous one of the most lovely people on the circuit um he's the most infuriatingly good yeah i get i get super jealousy sometimes when i watch andy he's very like it sounds like an insult to stop calling broad but but that's not what i mean what i mean it's like
00:16:54
Speaker
He's very easily funny. Yeah. Like everything. Like it's just natural. I think there's a tendency amongst people like us. And, you know, obviously, Stuart Lee fans get this reputation as being pretentious. Yeah. Who don't like broad comedy and stuff like that. But like a lot of my favorite acts are broad. You know, I I don't have the same because what you've got to remember and what I always try and focus on is the fact that underneath it,
00:17:22
Speaker
you know, Stuart Lee the person likes a lot of acts, you know, as well that would be considered broad whereas Stuart Lee the character is the one who's like the dick. Yeah, exactly. And the whole point is you have to like him with that sense of irony. Yeah. Or you are just Stuart Lee the character. Well, also you can like the comedy of Stuart Lee without liking Stuart Lee the character. I think that's part of it. You don't necessarily have to like the character. Things can be more than one thing.
Analyzing 'Toilet Books': Celebrity Culture and Literature
00:17:54
Speaker
neatly we've said we're into talking about Stuart Lee, so let's crack on. We're talking about this. I really enjoyed these two episodes. I'm looking forward to watching the other the other stuff.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah, so obviously we're on to Comedy Vehicle now, Series 1. Now, you and I have spoken about this a little bit before, and I think I've shown you a couple of later episodes of Comedy Vehicle when we went to see Off Menu Live. Yeah, I've seen all of Season 3, but that was a while. You've seen all of it? Yeah, yeah, because it's the only one that was on Amazon Prime at the time. Right, OK. But I'll be re-watching it, obviously.
00:18:31
Speaker
Yeah, what I would say is, you probably know this from having seen season three, but basically it starts strong as far as I'm concerned, but it gets better. You know, I think that the stand up side of it is strong throughout, but the format of it sometimes gets in the way, like I find the sketches being in the middle of the stand up bits quite jarring.
00:18:59
Speaker
I don't know how you feel about this but I really like the format of the later seasons where the sketches are at the end of the the whole you know you watch the whole stand-up piece and then the sketches are at the end. I quite like in between that it's sort of like a palette cleanser
00:19:20
Speaker
in a way. Yeah. And it feels less hard work that way. Well, I was going to say, funnily enough, I was going to ask you this question, because obviously, as someone who said on record before that you kind of have attention span struggles, do you find that it helps to break it up? Massively. Yeah. Right. OK. Yeah. I think some are stronger than others. Yeah. Like, for example. I mean, are we going to go through each episode individually?
00:19:50
Speaker
yeah let's do that because we're yeah well so well yeah yeah i'll leave that for later then yeah so right now we're talking about episode one toilet books um i'm trying to think of what the thing like what i quite liked especially now that i wouldn't have if i just joined in a comedy vehicle yeah now i recognize some of the people that i wouldn't have recognized in the in the sketches
00:20:18
Speaker
So for example, Kevin Elden, being there, I would recognise his face, but I wouldn't recognise that that's who he is, or like Simon Munnery, et cetera, that I wouldn't have even known who he was. I mean, anyone who's watched a television set in the last 40 years will recognise Kevin Elden's face, I reckon. Yeah, he's not one of them faces.
00:20:44
Speaker
you know a he's been in everything and b he's got quite a unique face but also he would have just been one of those people where you say oh it's that guy yeah yeah um but yeah i think there wasn't as many in the first one i think is the second like actual thing but maybe i just can't remember what the
00:21:08
Speaker
the specific sketches. Yeah, we'll walk through it. So what I thought is, because obviously each season of Comedy Vehicle gives us quite a clear format to go by, right? So the first season, obviously, you've got the stand-up element of it. You've got the interspersed sketches of it. He's got a very clear sort of opening and closing joke. Things are set out in quite a rigid sort of way, whereas in later seasons,
00:21:36
Speaker
it becomes more thematic and more conversational and a bit less, you know
Critiquing Dan Brown and Literary Standards
00:21:40
Speaker
what I mean? So with these episodes, we'll step through it in order, right? So opening joke of this one, he comes out and obviously, you know, he's doing it now. I think I read or I heard somewhere where the first series was filmed kind of like a studio thing.
00:21:59
Speaker
So they kind of lit it like a TV show rather than like a stand-up gig and they filmed it. Yeah, we don't kind of get. You know, they filmed it like a TV show. So he came out and he's like, oh, welcome to Stewart Lee's comedy vehicle. The Sat Nav is off, you know, which is like, you know, he's welcoming the TV audience really rather than the people in the room. Yeah.
00:22:22
Speaker
Whereas obviously as the seasons go on, he starts to mock the TV audience to the people in the room and then occasionally turn to camera and mock the people in the room. So it did change a bit as we went home. But the sat nav is off. And he introduces the fact that he's going to talk about books. And the essential opening joke is, if you've only ever read one book in your life, I highly recommend you keep your mouth shut.
00:22:50
Speaker
Which is a great joke. I think I've heard a comic say that recently. Right. So that's he I listened to this episode. I've watched this episode once and then I watched it again with the commentary on. And that is a Simon Monnery joke. Right. So the commentary. Maybe that's why I've read it is under Simon Monnery's name, maybe.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, the the commentary was with Kevin Elden and Paul Putna, the two guys that are normally in the sketches. And Stu made a big song and dance on the commentary about the fact that first joke of the whole series, and it's not even mine. Yeah. But he said if he felt it was a proper joke. Yeah, it's a real joke. And it fits so well with what he wanted to do with the theme he had. He asked Simon if he could buy it off him.
00:23:44
Speaker
So yeah, she's paying for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's got principles, hasn't he? He's got morals. I just don't know how you would come up with a figure for that. Well, I suppose you asked the person who's written it. Well, yeah, I suppose.
00:23:59
Speaker
you know, how many times are you likely to tell it what kind of monetary value are you going to get out of it? You know, I'm sure you can work it out. I don't know. But I suppose given that they're friends as well, it's probably slightly different thing. But so basically his whole he's done the opening joke and the whole sort of first bit is on basically rubbish books and how kind of like books
00:24:23
Speaker
I've kind of gone down the panel a little bit. So he talks about the Gutenberg press, you know, and could Johann Gutenberg have envisaged that, you know, hundreds of years later, everyone would have a copy of Russell Brand's, My Bookie Book. Yeah. Which, interestingly, he refers to Russell Brand a lot in his stand up like around this period.
00:24:49
Speaker
Because he's quite an easy target at this point in time as well. I mean he is now but obviously things have happened now. Yeah but you know why that is. Because he orchestrates it so that he is part of the zeitgeist regardless of what's happening.
Humor Techniques: Clowning and Sketches
00:25:11
Speaker
yeah i mean obviously i think around the time not always for good reasons it's that sort of thing of like oh that kid that wants attention yeah so he'll either do good to get the attention or he'll do bad to get the attention he doesn't really care which yeah of course and i think around this time as well is around the time of the the whole jonathan ross radio 2 sack skate scandal yeah um
00:25:36
Speaker
But anyway, right. So, you know, he's kind of gone on about how everyone will have a copy of this book. He does a really good joke that I really like. He says you can read Russell Brown's autobiography and dismiss it as rubbish if you like. Or you can say time and not read it. You can dismiss it as rubbish without reading it to save time, which I genuinely think is like an almost perfect pullback and reveal.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, well, I was going to say, like, even just from the first episode, I could tell that this was more commercial. Yeah. It's much more palatable. It's quite god heavy. Less. Yeah. Less kind of like good. But it makes sense because you don't have time to go for a 20 minute meander down a road that goes nowhere.
00:26:27
Speaker
when you've got a 28 minute check. And he does have bits of that where he is like in the second episode at least especially that there's a bit of a meander towards the end. Well I mean in this episode it contains probably for my money the quintessential stewardly meandering routine.
00:26:51
Speaker
which we'll get to but when we get to it you'll kind of, you'll know what I mean. Yeah so you know he's done these couple of jokes about Russell Brown and then he moves on to Dan Brown which obviously I know you said you previously you were a fan of Dan Brown growing up. When I was a teenager I read Angels and Demons and I read a couple of others and quite liked them.
00:27:14
Speaker
Yeah I mean I'm a filler stone so I just went to see the films. I mean I say it like I read books now, I don't. Yeah I mean I don't have time for books now. I don't have the attention span for an hour or two at least. Can you imagine me picking up a book?
00:27:32
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. It's not happening. I got lent a book by my cousin that's like a gothic stories, like traditional gothic stories, scary stories book that I liked the look of that she got for Christmas. And I kind of picked it up. And I read three pages. Yeah. And then I put a bookmark in it and put and put it down. And my wife went,
00:28:02
Speaker
seriously is like I was like well I've got to the end of a paragraph and I'm sort of done now so yeah she was like but if I did that regularly then that then that would be fine
00:28:16
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, what that leaves me with a question, but I'm going to have to, we'll have to, we need to crack on. So I'm not going to get into it. But anyway, so he starts talking about Dan Brown and he says Dan Brown writes sentences like the famous man looked at the red coat.
00:28:35
Speaker
I don't remember it being that basic. But again, it's probably one of the things where the joke comes from it being slightly true and then therefore it's hilarious because it's picking an element of truth.
00:28:50
Speaker
So personally, I've never read any Dan Brown, so I can't speak about it either way, right? So I don't know. For a long time, I thought that that was a genuine line from a Dan Brown book, right? Because I just like to think it is. But I also watched some of the red button extras for this episode. And there's a little blooper.
00:29:16
Speaker
of him doing this bit because you know obviously he picks up the book doesn't he the Dan Brown book and he pretends to read from the first page saying the famous one looked at the red cup and clearly that book is blank there's nothing you know the page that he's looking at there's nothing on it
00:29:32
Speaker
yeah um because you know it's not in the book um but in the blooper um at the point where he picks up the book he actually just stares at it for a couple of seconds and says i've completely blanked on what i'm supposed to say now and then he says to the audience he said this will make a brilliant extra for the dvd won't it yeah
00:29:58
Speaker
That's good.
Satire on Chris Moyles' Book
00:29:59
Speaker
So, yeah, so, you know, clearly there's a there's a process at work and he actually showed us a little bit where he fucked it up. Yeah, I think Dan Brown at the time was was the scapegoat of bad writers. So, like, there was a point in which it was Stephanie Meyer. I think it was Twilight Books. And the lady that wrote Fifty Shades of Grey. Yeah. E.L. James, is it? E.L. James, yes. But that's the thing, like,
00:30:28
Speaker
it's, as with everything, it's subjective. And as we'll get to in the next episode, that isn't a thing to surely the comedian, like the act, because there's black and white
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, you're either good at your shit black and white. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, so he's done that and he's done that. And now he segues into and, you know, it's to only be hoped that Dan Brown never gets a job where he's required to break bad news, which segues into the little sketch. Yeah, I quite like that sketch. Yeah. Well, so that's Tony Law, the guy playing the doctor. Yeah. And Paul Putner and a lady called Tara Strong, who I think was in line of duty. All right.
00:31:16
Speaker
Yeah, so there's been some pretty good people cross the path of Stuart Lee's comedy vehicle. And to be honest, even if you look back at, like, Fist of Fun and stuff that he did with Richard Herring, there was, like, oh, what was his name? Daniel Mayes, I think his name was. He's gone on to, like, Wim BAFTAs and shit. And Kelly Brook was in it. Kelly Brook. Kelly Brook, yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker
she's on my wall as well as a teenager yeah she was uh yeah yeah she was plastered on my wall and i was a teenager why had she been drinking in your bedroom no i was i was making a semen jerk oh well yeah i was okay i went i went a different way but we both just basically made jokes that didn't work now yeah welcome to live comedy hey um but yeah no i can't love it so it's all right
00:32:09
Speaker
No, I'm leaving. I quite like the I quite like the doctor sketch. Doctor, is he going to be all right? The 75 year old man died a painful death on the large green table. Yeah, it's it was the large green table and especially as somebody who worked on education. Yeah, that is the way that they teach you.
00:32:34
Speaker
um adjectives yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah and it's like in my head i was like oh there's no fronted adverbial there yeah that's it i mean as someone who's not academically particularly strong i know what to do i just don't know what all the techniques are called yeah yeah and that's the thing like the certain stuff that i'd be able to go
00:32:58
Speaker
that I'd be like, oh, what are the phonemes here? Yeah, exactly. Like, I'm sorry, what? I don't know what the fuck he's saying. Exactly. But yeah, anyway, so that's a tiny little sketch, doesn't last very long. And then he gets into, you know, the categories of books, you know, fiction, history, biography, poetry. And then he says, oh, you know, and now we've got this new we've got this new category, celebrity hardbacks.
00:33:26
Speaker
which instantly made me think of my favorite joke ever written. Okay, what's that? You should know already from just from that, but it's a Mark Simmons joke. It's my junky memory. I might not have seen it. I once went into a library, asked for books on turtles. She said, Harbax. Yeah, with lollics. Yes, I have seen it. Brilliant. It's so good.
00:33:54
Speaker
hardback yet with little legs it's just so good it's so good it's just a perfect little joke present it helps with his um with the way he says it as well because he's got quite like a small voice if that makes sense or quite a high pitch voice at times yeah so he's like uh books on turtles hardback yeah and little legs
00:34:25
Speaker
And that, like, it heightens the childish nature of it as well, that just makes it's... Oh, it's my favourite joke ever written. It could conceivably be that naive as well with his persona. Yeah, and that like, because it was... When I was younger, my favourite joke was... I went to a library. They're all about libraries, my favourite jokes. I went to a library and I searched for books on ninjas.
00:34:55
Speaker
and it come up, ninjas cannot be found while playing ninjas. I am stupid. Well, that that Mark Simmons joke is essentially like an airplane joke. So it's like, you know, where she says to she says to Leslie Nielsen something about the cockpit and he says,
00:35:21
Speaker
you know, what what's that? And he says it's a little room at the front of the plane. Oh, and it's so like ubiquitous now. It's become clichรฉ. But actually, when you look at the joke format, fucking beautiful, it's outstanding. And the whole Shirley Shirley, you can't be serious. I am serious. Don't call me Shirley.
00:35:52
Speaker
is outstanding as a joke. But because we've all heard it before, but the first time you hear that, it's so good. And the receipt of paper, the report that comes out, and again he goes to, what can you make of it?
00:36:19
Speaker
But I can make a play and I can make it one.
Literary Sketches: Historical and Comedic Takes
00:36:23
Speaker
When you're a child, have you seen that for the first time? It's outstanding. I don't know what you're talking about when you're a child. It fucking cracks me up now. Yeah, exactly. It's that play on words that's just it sends you one way and then directly the opposite.
00:36:44
Speaker
And it's so good. It's just, it's taking things literally, isn't it? So it's like, you know, when a character says, when a character says something like, oh, I couldn't, I couldn't possibly say it. It's like, okay, but can you say now?
00:36:55
Speaker
yeah like um you can't say so sagly and sayable to yeah to bring it back to student lady yeah exactly yeah we should probably move on instead of just quoting airplane um yeah so you know so he starts talking about these celebrity hard bucks and he says how they ruin your amazon algorithms it takes thousands it's the literally that he says literally thousands of hours of manpower yeah to get it back
00:37:25
Speaker
But then he does, right? So he does what I is essentially and I use these all the time because they're really, really economical ways of getting lots of jokes in. But he uses like a list format for a joke. Yeah. So he'll say like, you know, the one here is other customers who enjoyed the world according to Clarkson also purchased mine camp.
00:37:47
Speaker
yeah um the world according to clarkson two and that yeah he says the world according to clarkson three but he says uh women and their four uses by jeremy clarkson there was one with jeremy there what was it something about not microwaving your hamster with richard the hamster hammond hot wire your hamster hot wire your hamster that's it and said and then he throws away the line but he's like
00:38:16
Speaker
not a real hamster yeah exactly yeah which which you know he ends up he ends up getting a lot of mileage out of in uh if you prefer a milder comedian right okay which we'll get to so there's there's a bunch of stuff that i wanted to flag that up there's a bunch of stuff in these episodes that you won't know yet but you'll see come back later on okay um i'll try and flag them up as we go through but
00:38:38
Speaker
Then he gets into obviously saying, so that's his little joke in introducing celebrity hardbacks. And he says, his favourite one is by Chris Moyles and it's, Chris Moyles is the difficult second book. He says, and this is a great joke, he says, which as a title suggests a degree of irony and self-awareness that's largely absent from the text itself.
00:39:07
Speaker
Yeah, like he had an opportunity. Yeah. Yeah, you've quite clearly tried to be self-referential and then failed in the actual book writing. So he's setting up to talk about this Chris Moyles book and he says it begins with, you know, massive letters, welcome reader, this is the first page of text, you know, and you might look at that and think, oh, this is funny and clever, but it isn't.
00:39:33
Speaker
yeah that that was my line of the of the of the episode that this because he doesn't clarify it and that just makes me laugh it just says it's not funny sorry much that he's just like but it's not but what it because because even if it was yeah the idea of stewartly the comedian would never admit that he thought that was funny
00:39:56
Speaker
Yeah, no, of course. Just because it's Chris Miles, he wouldn't admit it. But one of my favourite things about this episode is the bit that comes up, right? So he says that, you know, Chris Miles wrote in the book when my friends found out that I was writing a book, a few of them asked me what it was about. And he goes on this kind of like little rant about, you know,
00:40:20
Speaker
Surely all of your friends would have asked you what it's about. You wouldn't go to your friend and say, I'm writing a book and they just like, and then he does this thing, which is in the commentary, he refers to it as being the first time he's tried clowning.
Iconic 'Rap Singers' Routine
00:40:33
Speaker
Right. Okay. So that's mental considering, you know, by this point, he's like 20 years into a stand up career.
00:40:40
Speaker
and he considers this one. I also think it's not true. Well no, because he said it out of character in the commentary with his friends Kevin Elden and... No, but what I mean is I don't think it's true, I don't think he, maybe he thinks that that's the case, but I've definitely seen things of him clowning before this. I'm not saying he's lying. In the stuff we've watched up to now. Yeah, yeah. I think maybe he doesn't
00:41:09
Speaker
He might not have recognised it as clowning. I suppose unless his definition of clowning is different to ours. Yeah, exactly. Which is what I mean. Rather than him lying, I just don't necessarily think, honestly, of what he said is true.
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah, well, this is it. And so he does this thing and he basically says, if you asked all your friends, you know, if you told all your friends who were writing a book, the first thing they'd say is, what's it about? He said, because otherwise, you know, you tell your friends and Chris Miles told his friends.
00:41:42
Speaker
Yeah, I'm writing a book and they just went and then he does this bit where he's like staring At the mic stand or staring around the stage or turning round and just staring at the wall And he kind of keeps this going for ages But it is interesting though that he considers this to be like his first first attempt at clowning because it's something that
00:42:04
Speaker
throughout and you've obviously you've seen the Ricky Gervais saying the unsayable bit already from Snowflake right so to me that's like the peak of his like clowning abilities yeah but he does it a ton throughout comedy vehicle so there's a bit about
00:42:23
Speaker
Rod Liddell in one of the later series where he just pretends to eat a poppadom and it's just him making noises and it's you know very clowny but I just find it really interesting that he's like oh yeah I've not really tried something like this before so maybe he just means that whole dead air and having like no sound
00:42:45
Speaker
then he said he said a line after that once he came out of the the silent bit he says a line that i think he he kind of echoes later on and he must like this kind of phrasing where he says um chris myles writing a book was not enough to stir one of his friends from their alcohol and porn induced comas um and he's used similar phrasing like this before and since um so the one that jumps out at me is like in comedy vehicle series three which obviously
00:43:15
Speaker
You say you've seen but potentially don't remember. He referred to young people as being in a skunk-induced coma. So he used a similar phrase in quite a bit. But I do find that quite interesting.
00:43:34
Speaker
And he says, as Chris Moyles goes on to say, you know, his book's not really about anything. It's just stuff, hopefully funny and interesting stuff, but just stuff all the same. He says, I'd like to see it as a great toilet book, at which point Stuart Lee as himself says, ah, the vaulting ambition of the writer. Yeah. Which I think sometimes he does take.
00:43:58
Speaker
might come out, like intentionally obviously if a comedic effect makes a mountain out of mohill. Like the whole thing in 41st best about Tom O'Connor etc but that I completely agree. Yeah.
00:44:16
Speaker
Yeah, writing a book. Why would you say that that's what your ambition is? Yeah. I mean, it just seems. Listen, writing a book is probably one of the hardest things, you know, to do in terms of like an endeavor. Like it's really everyone says they're writing a book. No one very few people actually write a book. Yeah. And to go into it with every and half a book. And that was hard enough.
00:44:44
Speaker
I wrote about eight pages and gave up. Yeah, it's really, really hard. And yeah, so Stuart Lee obviously takes after this and says, what is it? He says, Oh, Icarus, fly not too near the sun, lest thy waxy wings should melt.
00:45:05
Speaker
A great toilet book was his highest ambition for the text. It's that it should be a book that you can take to the toilet to defecate to whilst reading. And he says, but then to undercut that, he's included a quote on the front from Davina McCall that describes it as book-clenchingly honest. Yeah, that does.
00:45:31
Speaker
that writes itself thereby defeating the only purpose that he had in mind for it yeah some things you don't even have to write honestly the yeah the the kind of irony of that to have both of those things on i'm surprised the publisher didn't pick up on it what was it last night when uh cat i don't know last name was it sort of wasn't a joke so i'm not really spoiling it
00:45:54
Speaker
But she explained the situation that's true at the minute. In America, there's a building that's been burnt to the ground whilst it's being built. And it's meant to be an abortion clinic. It's going to be an abortion clinic.
00:46:18
Speaker
and the far right have burnt it to the ground whilst it's being built and there is genuinely an argument about at what point does it become an abortion clinic? Does it become an abortion clinic from the first brick?
00:46:42
Speaker
that is laid and they've got far right people basically arguing that a building does become a building and she was like
00:47:00
Speaker
you don't even need the right jokes no that's just beautiful right so it's so good research is real real life has caught up to satire we have to stop now yeah it's just it's it's so good that's fucking ridiculous i'd already known about it but as soon as she mentioned it i was like did i know i know what this is and it's so good
00:47:30
Speaker
But yeah, that's, I mean, I don't even think I can do that justice by adding anything to it. That's just the perfect piece of life, life imitating satire. That's insane. But yeah. I'm always hated to Chris Miles as well. I just like that.
00:47:53
Speaker
on record yeah would you know what's interesting though is again on the on the commentary they refer Kevin Kevin Eldon Paul Putner and Stewart Lee refer to you know have you ever met Chris Miles and Stewart Lee said yes I have and I found him to be charming he said he's he's he's in no way the same as he is on his radio persona
00:48:12
Speaker
Well, that's something that I only dislike. It's really a persona that I guess. Yeah, well, this is it. And listen, I think, you know, the thing I would say about it is it was of the time. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we talked about this a little bit with the kind of the early naughties, lad culture with the Danny Dyer in nuts kind of thing.
00:48:35
Speaker
you know that was the the time that all of that stuff was just ultra like toxic masculinity shit yeah um that was like the peak of that stuff but anyway so so he's doing you know he's doing the bits on the the Chris Miles biography
00:48:51
Speaker
which segues into a sketch about William Tyndale. He says, did William Tyndale burn at the stake in 1536 in the cause of vernacular English literature so that you could read the gospel according to Chris Moyles? And then obviously we get this this sketch, which is kind of set in medieval England in the early 1500s. Kevin Alden as William Tyndale.
00:49:18
Speaker
Kevin Eldon is William Sandor, Paul Putner is I think the Pope, and the voiceover I think is Peter Serafinowich. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. The voice of Darth Maul. Yeah, one of the many voices. Yeah, that's it. And so obviously he's kind of like, he's defied the Pope by producing these books.
00:49:39
Speaker
um but then the so the pope is reading a translation of this book and it's him reading uh chris moyles's book and just hearing paul putner as the pope say i know a lot of people think i hang out with the rich and famous but i don't normally i sit in my local with a few pals and talk shite like everybody else
00:50:01
Speaker
But he's reading it in this like proper heightened like old English Voice and the voiceover saying things like the common man must have celebrity hardbacks Yeah For too long the written word has been the preserve of the elite
00:50:19
Speaker
and William Tyndale copying the gospel according to Chris Myles into English. When it comes to the lavatory visits, by the way, I can usually last a few drinks before going, but once you decide to visit the boys room, that's it, it's all over. And as comedy Dave says... As comedy Dave says, once you pop, you can't stop.
00:50:40
Speaker
At which point the Pope beats him to death. Yeah. I realised that I hadn't heard the words comedy and Dave. Together. Together in such a long time that when he said comedy Dave and I was like, oh my, like that just properly sent me back. Comedy Dave Vitti. Yep, everyone forgot he existed. Yeah. No offence to comedy Dave if he's listening. I don't think it's unlikely. It is entirely unlikely.
00:51:10
Speaker
write to us if you haven't, if you are listening. Oh please do, yeah I'd love to hear from Comedy Dave, please let us know if you're here. But then the sketch obviously ends and it goes back to Stu and he says, this is a great line, he says, Chris Miles of course, one of the few published writers who can claim to have written more books than he's read.
00:51:32
Speaker
such a savage line right it's a savage line right but if you read if you read it written down on a piece of paper effectively what you've got there is a joke where it's so well written that you don't know exactly what it is until he's finished saying it yeah you know like some jokes um they give the punch line away yeah Adam Bloom well Stuart Lee does it a lot Adam Bloom's referred to this in his in his book as um
00:51:58
Speaker
you know, like letting air out of the balloon or something, like popping the balloon early. But that line, Chris Moll is, of course, one of the few published writers who can claim to have written more books. Right. So at this point, it's still fairly positive. And then he says, than he's read, than he's and even then.
00:52:19
Speaker
That stone doesn't... Yeah. It's literally the last word, the word red. It's a one word punchline. And it's just so clever. And I made a note whilst watching this, for a man who claims not to write jokes, he writes a lot of very good ones and disguises them under pretentious self-aware metatextual shit.
00:52:44
Speaker
But he does write a lot of really good, really economical jokes. He's a very, very good joke writer. Like he says, he can write jokes, he just chooses not to.
Harry Potter: Cultural Impact Debate
00:52:52
Speaker
Yeah. Well, in this series, he very clearly chose to write jokes, whether he likes to say he did or not. And then he moves on to My Dangerous Life with So Solid Crew by Asher Day.
00:53:05
Speaker
The size of the pictures in that book. It's great. But I would like to know whether Asher Dee ever did beef with him over this. So if Asher Dee, if you're listening, please let us know if you ever had a beef with Stuart Lee. I don't think he's probably ever seen it.
00:53:26
Speaker
I don't know man, it was on prime time BBC one. He must have done. Yeah. Has he ever commented on it? Well, no, that's what I'm interested in. I'd love to know. I might have to have a look. But anyway, so, you know, I said to you earlier how he absolutely does meander in this episode and this is it.
00:53:46
Speaker
Right so this is the quintessential Stuart Lee ramble and it's when he starts getting on where he says it's by a man called Asher Dee who was in Grange Hill and he's one of these rappers they have now yeah the rap singers and then he drops into for me one of the most iconic well for everyone the one of the most iconic Stuart Lee bits that exists the rap singers bit
00:54:12
Speaker
where it just keeps going round and round on the phrase. You've seen them about the rap singers on the top of the pops, they have them, don't they? They used to come on there, didn't they? The rappers, the rap singers, they come on the top of the pops, right? And I had a look at this earlier. This is a 20, 27, 28 minute episode. This lasts eight minutes. Really? Yeah.
00:54:35
Speaker
I've not even realized. Yeah, he did eight. Yeah, because it's hilarious, that's why. But he did eight minutes of just over and over again in variations of saying, you've seen them, the rap singers, the rap singers they have on the top of the pops now, you've seen them, they hang around around the back of the shopping center. And, you know, it's just eight minutes of kind of him getting more and more confused in this kind of like heightened voice that's not necessarily his own.
00:55:03
Speaker
You know, he's just getting lost in this, you know, what is it? He says they have a rap singer on one of these adverts now. It might be for a sausage or some wool.
00:55:18
Speaker
and there'll be a rap about it, about how good the sausage is. And he's going round and round, you've seen him, the rap singers, round the back of the corn exchange, they run along on the handrail and then they go, ooh, like that, and they jump off, round where the multi-storey is, and he's getting deeper and deeper into this thing.
00:55:35
Speaker
of this person trying to explain to the audience what the rap singers are that he's trying to talk about and he said on the he said on the commentary and i've heard him say in a bunch of interviews before in fact you may have heard him say it on the i think he said it on the con con pod interview if you've listened to that but um maybe yeah i think so where he sort of said uh
00:55:58
Speaker
He said that this what he's done is he's dropped into the persona of someone like his gran trying to explain what it is that they're seeing. Yeah. And he says he was in Cambridge or somewhere and he went to the shopping centre in Cambridge and round the back of the shopping centre there were these kids and he said they were dressed in like hip hop clothes and they were on skateboards and they were jumping around on the railings on the skateboards and he said
00:56:25
Speaker
i just looked at it and i thought i i bet my gran wouldn't even know what that is like she wouldn't she wouldn't know what the clothes they were wearing the things that they were saying why they were jumping around what those things they were they were jumping on she wouldn't even know what the shopping center is surely she'd know what like skateboards have been around for ages yeah well maybe but you know what you're going to remember is that stewart lee himself is 55 years old yeah but still and you know skateboards are like
00:56:54
Speaker
Anyway, skateboards are a 70s thing, aren't they really? They came out in the 70s. I thought it was earlier than that. No, I don't think so. I thought it was like 50s. No, I don't think so. Maybe. I don't know. Anyway, it's irrelevant. But, you know, that was kind of like the thing that he dropped into. He was kind of saying he sort of adopted this persona of like an elderly confused person.
00:57:19
Speaker
and about how, when they're trying to explain a thing to you, they just go round and round in circles. In fact, much like he did with the Tom O'Connor thing, to be honest with you. Yeah, he does go round and round in circles, but that's part of the joy of it, isn't it? Well, it is, yeah. But interestingly enough, for this rap singer's bit, he's actually been on record as saying that during this bit, they lost 300,000 viewers.
00:57:48
Speaker
really yeah that's that's mental yeah you talk uh late 1940s early 1950s oh fair enough i'll let you have it i did think you were googling something i saw that i saw the screen keep lighting up on your face yeah yeah and also you sort of went you did that thing that you do when you when you're looking at things you sort of went dead behind the eyes because you were reading oh i thought that was just that was just my
00:58:16
Speaker
No, you've got very vibrant eyes a lot of the time. Well, you know, I'm nice like that. But yeah, so anyway, like I said, it's true. She's not listening to this, so it's all right. No, of course. But the, yeah, so.
00:58:37
Speaker
He goes round and round in circles on this rap singers thing and it's a joy to behold. It's one of my favorite things that he's ever done. And, you know, you can't really dig into it and talk about it because it is just him repeating variations on the phrase. You've seen him, the rap singers, you know, and he lists off various locations where you might see them and he occasionally keeps mentioning top of the pops. You'll see him jumping off the railing. It's an important distinction.
00:59:04
Speaker
yeah it's not top of the pops it's the top of the pops yeah of course yeah yeah on the top of the pop because that's what an old person would say yeah because for some reason they always put the at the start of everything even when it
'Tragic Lives' Genre Critique
00:59:20
Speaker
doesn't exist yeah like i'm trying to think of another example as to like explain the point but yeah it doesn't it doesn't really matter it's true there was the top of the pops isn't it yeah
00:59:34
Speaker
So, you know, he does this and meanders on for like eight minutes and the absolute chef's kiss on this now is like he's managed to hold his nerve for this eight minute ramble of basic nothingness, essentially, that's hilarious, but it's nothing really. He's held his nerve all this time and he picks the book back up and says. So this book's not really aimed at me.
01:00:02
Speaker
yeah which is just incredible it's just such a beautiful ending too because he understands
01:00:11
Speaker
that he's ripping something that isn't even meant for him anyway. Yeah, 100%. But like I said, eight-minute meander through absolute nothingness to just the most exceptional punchline. So economical. To be so economical is almost like a kick in the face to the audience. It's like, see, I can be this good, but I chose to excruciatingly take you through that first.
01:00:37
Speaker
And the important point is that he is disrespecting Ashydee. Oh, 100%. He is disrespecting him to the max. To the max, yeah. But falling into the stereotype that he has created. For himself. For himself. Yeah. Yeah, that's like the old funny duddy thing of him not being able, not understanding it when actually
01:01:09
Speaker
think he does and that's where the funny side comes is that even though like he's intelligent enough to be able to appreciate something yeah like I'm not necessarily saying Ashady's biography is high art but if he's not he understands the like the
01:01:31
Speaker
uh sociological cultural relevance yeah yeah yeah rap obviously because he talks about the fact that like when he grew up it was public enemy and um and fuck the police yeah exactly exactly but um
01:01:53
Speaker
but yeah he sort of you know he does a really sort of brilliant characterful thing when he gets out of the rap singers bit and he's talking about asher d's book and he says that the reason he came across it is because he heard asher d on radio four um talking about it eddie just says um he says it was obviously an attempt by radio four to broaden its pop cultural horizons cover some aspects of modern life which i am thoroughly against
01:02:18
Speaker
Yeah. Which is not, you know, it's not a joke as such, but it's a brilliant sort of like characterful thing. Yeah. Stuart Lee, the character would say that. Yeah, but he also, I think, in a way, he's mocking the people that would laugh at it. Oh, yeah, of course he is, yeah. Because some of the people that laugh at it are laughing at it because they agree. But he says, yeah. But then they're like,
01:02:39
Speaker
Well, I wouldn't like any of these rap singers. It's not real music. It's not real. He says, I don't even think Radio 4 should know what rapping is. Yeah. Any time anyone at Radio 4 spends researching popular culture is time wasted, which would have been spent making a documentary about Moss or another Radio 4 comedy programme in which all the comedian's voices go up at the start of a sentence and then down at the end.
01:03:08
Speaker
And then there's the brilliant little sketch of the radio phone. We don't do that, do we? I've been talking like this since I went to Cambridge. 1986.
01:03:25
Speaker
And it's slightly true. Best bit of that whole sketch is the bit right at the end where, um, I think it's the lady again, I think it's Tara Flynn. Um, again, where she says, does anyone fancy going to the Yorkshire gray for a few swift halves and a packet of pork scratch ins? And then all of them at the same pitch go and some notes.
01:03:46
Speaker
It's so good. But yeah, a young, uh, so Simon Monnery in that one as well and a young miles and yeah, who also pays the next one.
01:03:58
Speaker
Yeah, he does, yeah. Well, he appeared in quite a few of them in the early series, I think. But yeah, in the commentary, funnily enough, Kevin Elden, Paul Putner and Stuart Lee were trying to kind of pinpoint where this propensity for this, it's like a, you know, this kind of like this static pitch.
01:04:20
Speaker
that Radio 4 comedy seems to have dropped itself in where it all goes up and down in the same places. They were kind of talking about where they think that came from. And Stuart Lee was adamant that Nick Hancock invented it from Have I Got News For You? Not Have I Got News For You. What was it that he was in? They think it's... Not Nick Hancock News. I don't know. He was in They Think It's All Over, you know, the sports program. Nick Hancock and Rory McGrath.
01:04:52
Speaker
Nick Hancock. Oh, you're looking it up now. Yeah, they think it's all over. Room 101. Yeah. Yeah, they think it's all over. It's probably going to be the run, isn't it? Yeah, they think it's all over. I think he hosted that or he was a team captain or something. But yeah, he was definitely in that. So yeah, so they think it was him.
01:05:21
Speaker
But anyway, so they do the sketch, the sketch ends and he says that he did enjoy Ashadee's philosophy on life, which is that it doesn't do to over perfect things. Which actually I don't think got as big of a laugh as it deserved in the room. No, it didn't. But he got him immediately after that, where he said, and I also like the book because when I read a book, I don't like there to be too many words in it.
01:05:50
Speaker
Yeah, because the pictures are ridiculously big. Well, they are because it was made as a joke. Yeah. Well, he did it as a, it almost looks like a concert program. Yeah. You know, if you went to see like, I don't know, if you went to see Taylor Swift or something, the program, it's the same photo, one big and then one as if he'd grown closer. And one as if he was far away. He was just far away.
01:06:17
Speaker
He says, what I prefer is for it to be mainly pictures of the same man over and over again in a variety of different hats. Such a great.
01:06:28
Speaker
You know, and then he goes into that whole thing about, Oh, look, and there's a picture of him. And then two smaller ones in case you wondered what he looked like in the distance. And then he says something like, it's the same. It's the same thing as me going to jail in a way. It's a Jesus thing. Um, and he says, no, is it just me or did I should be from so solid crew and Grange Hill suggest without any degree of irony that he's the new Jesus.
01:06:57
Speaker
And if that's the case, why wasn't it used as a more visible marketing strategy? And then he gets into obviously the stuff that you were saying about
01:07:09
Speaker
It says it's fun doing that joke here, but of course the danger is it's been broadcasted and maybe Ash of D or a member of So Solid Crew has seen them. And if you are Ash of D or a member of So Solid Crew watching tonight, then yes, I am disrespecting you. To the max. I am disrespecting you to the max. Maximum disrespect.
01:07:30
Speaker
And then he's got that little there's that little sketch of him pulling up in the clown car next to the kid. Yeah, he drove her. I can't remember the name of the kid. I know. I didn't recognise him. No, I didn't. But he did mention it in the commentary. He said who it was and he said the kid was really brilliant because he was just like proper withering about this old man who looked ridiculous in this little car. He said so he did the thing that he was supposed to do perfectly and it was great.
01:07:58
Speaker
But then I was wondering, because obviously then at the end it kind of finishes with a sting where this Grange Hill sausage comes out. And I must admit, not having been a massive Grange Hill watcher as a child, I didn't necessarily get the joke immediately. I had to go back and have a look and see what it was about.
01:08:16
Speaker
Funnily enough in the commentary he said, no one under 35 would ever get this joke, which obviously at the time of release of this thing, I think I worked it out, I was 26. Yeah, so when was it? Oh, 23, sorry, it was 2009. 2009, I was 20. Yes, I was 23 when it came out, so it stands to reason that I was under 35 at the time. About to go to university.
01:08:46
Speaker
yeah i've been i've been in the world of work for seven years by that point but yeah then obviously you know the little does the little sketch of the clown car that ends um and he gets into kind of aiming at publishing in general now which is where he gets into the harry potter bit and i was interested in talking to you about this specifically because i know you're an avowed fan of harry potter i think
01:09:17
Speaker
I think the issue with this bit, I get it and it's such an easy thing to say. And like Miriam Margolies has got a thing at the minute as well, where she says things similar, but not as a joke. Like she fully means it. She was in the films and she very famously said recently,
01:09:43
Speaker
I just I don't understand how it's 2024 and they haven't gone over it. It's for children. You like your grow up basically is what she says. There was a guy that does like tiktoks or something and he was getting cameos
01:10:08
Speaker
of people from the Harry Potter films to roast him. Yeah. And none of them would. Except Miriam Marchelli's. Of course she would. And if you watch it, it's outstanding because she's like, I've heard that you are that you're a fan of Harry Potter. Which, darling, don't you know that those are children? And on
01:10:39
Speaker
hasn't your balls dropped by now brilliant and like and and they have dropped by now I'm sure and I'm and I'm
01:10:50
Speaker
as you know I am a lesbian so I doubt I'll ever see your balls which does give me great comfort to know that and it's one of the best roasts I've ever seen she's so good but she's genuine about it that she's like it's for children yeah but my point is there are so many things of that age for people of that age or
01:11:20
Speaker
that they love from their childhood. That if you turn round and said, well, bagpuss is for children. But they'll be like, oh, but it's part of my childhood. Yes, I will admit some people take it too far. But it's that kind of all like Star Wars. There are so many
01:11:54
Speaker
Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Says the person that just likes Harry Potter in space. Do you know what I would say? They're exactly the same. Yeah, no, I'm not going to accept that from you, Joe. I think that's terribly reductive of Star Wars. It's not. It's exactly the same. Star Wars is Kurosawa. It's Harry Potter. It's Kurosawa in space. It's Harry Potter. Well, no, because Harry Potter came after it. So if anything. Fine. Harry Potter is British Star Wars.
01:12:11
Speaker
avid Star Wars fans that take it far too seriously.
01:12:26
Speaker
I will send you some information. It is absolutely identical. The first one is absolutely identical. Yeah, so that's a Harry Potter problem then, it's not... My point being, it's the people and there are bad people in any
01:12:52
Speaker
Have you ever heard the... Well, you must have heard the saying that there are only eight stories.
01:13:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah, 100%. And Star Wars and probably Harry Potter. I don't know because I haven't watched it really. But Star Wars definitely is Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. You know, that's all it is really. And I imagine Harry Potter is similar. But yeah, no, I agree with you. I think I think the thing is and I think the reason Harry Potter is an easy target or a bit of an easier target is that
01:13:26
Speaker
You know, and I know this because my sister is a potter head or whatever they're called. You know, my sister's big, big into this stuff. And you know, it's when people say things like, like, oh, I'm a Hufflepuff. No, you're not.
01:13:42
Speaker
I'm not going to argue with you on this. Do you know what I mean? I'm a big fan of people really being into stuff. Do you say the same if someone calls themselves a Capricorn? Yeah, because that's horseshit. But it's the same. Yeah, of course it is. But it's still horseshit. But people are allowed. No, of course they are. The point is, I'm not going to rip on people for being into things. We've made a podcast about a man.
01:14:13
Speaker
yeah like i'm not going to rip into people for being into stuff that's not yeah you are far more invested in this than i am yeah i'm not gonna i'm not gonna do that to people because i'm obsessed with a 55 year old man and if yeah and at least we have four different options
01:14:34
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. You only have one personality that you can be. Yeah, absolutely. Just a smug, detached, liberal prick. That's all I could be. Otherwise known as a raving claw.
01:14:54
Speaker
That was a perfect way to end that segment, Joe. Well done. Thank you. That got us out of that one. But yeah, anyway, come at me. In any case, regardless of what anyone thinks and anybody's proclivities about, well,
01:15:13
Speaker
I don't know. I think it was probably a good bit at the time, but now it's probably very so like I've got a joke about this, you know, Harry Potter and the disappearing penis. You know, I think it's a very it's a very easy formula to put a joke into now.
01:15:29
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I'm not dropping mine though, fuck off. But you know, I think the thing I admire about it is that it's clearly, if you watch him doing it, it's clearly ad libbed.
01:15:47
Speaker
because the things that he picks, the titles of the books that he picked are so clearly rubbish. Harry Potter and the Croc of Shit is quite basic. I quite like that though. Harry Potter and the Mitten of Wool. Do you know what I mean? It's quite clear that he's grasping for things in the moment. I sort of like that though because he sort of
01:16:13
Speaker
insinuating that actually it would detract from the point that he's making if they were carefully crafted and good because then you'd be like oh I could imagine that being a good thing whereas they are it is just a thing and a thing
01:16:35
Speaker
I just want to highlight the use of the word wool. It's a common Stuart Lee word. I think he's written in his book about it being one of the great comedy words. And it is quite a funny word, even though it's not a hard consonant word. It's still a funny word.
01:16:54
Speaker
Yeah, that's a common thing in it that everyone thinks it has to be hard with continents. It doesn't necessarily, but it does help. Helps with emphasis. But yeah, Harry Potter and the Stick of Wood, Harry Potter and the Forest of Embarrassment, you know, and then he gets into this thing about them delivering pallets of it into Tesco's and why not take an extra book home and put it in the freezer. Yeah, that's the bit that I really liked. I was going to take another one and put it
01:17:23
Speaker
especially because I was of the age where you where I would go and wait at the bookshop for Harry Potter up and get it at midnight. Yeah, I don't think I ever did that for a book, but I definitely did it for a few computer games. Yeah, exactly. I did a few midnights. I think I did it for people did it for iPhones. Yeah, no. And I was essentially the reason like them kind of people are just greedy. Yeah.
01:17:52
Speaker
I was doing it because I knew that if I hadn't got it at midnight and read it instantly that it would be spoiled. Yeah, of course, yeah. It's like the only way of like
01:18:09
Speaker
preventing him from being spoiled. Yeah, of course. So yeah, then he goes into people asking him if he's read them, you know, you know, the Harry Potter books, you know, the for children, don't you? They're aimed at children, their children's books, which is what you were saying. You know, Murray and Margaret just said the same point. People say, have you read the new Harry Potter stew? No, I haven't read it because I'm a 40 year old man. Yeah. But again, now, yeah, the interesting thing is you wouldn't then go back. Yeah. If I wouldn't expect you to read Harry Potter.
01:18:38
Speaker
Yeah and I suppose that's the distinction between what he's saying here and what Miriam Margulies is saying herself because what she's asking is she's asking someone to abandon something that they've loved from childhood like you said. Whereas what he's saying is if you're already an adult why are you fucking reading this?
01:18:56
Speaker
Yeah, which is fair enough. And I think the conversation we've had before about this as to why you like Harry Potter. My brother loves Harry Potter and has, not to the degree where he'll say that he's a fucking awful puffer or whatever, but he's loved it from childhood and he consumed all the books and all that kind of stuff. He will know what house he is.
01:19:18
Speaker
Yeah, of course he is, but he doesn't say it out loud. If you asked him, he wouldn't say it. He doesn't say it out loud because he's a grown up. But he, you know, he loves all these books and people have asked me like, oh, your brother's really into Harry Potter. Did you not? And I tried to read the first one, but I think I just I missed the cutoff point. I was just a little bit too old by the time I read the first one.
01:19:40
Speaker
which is like reading it back now because I've recent well, I say recently, over the last few years, I've been trying to reread the books. They poorly read my three pages at a time. Yeah. And the first one is very childish. Yeah. But and that sounds like an insult, but it's not like it sort of and it helped that psych
01:20:05
Speaker
So essentially, I'll tell you the story of my first experience of Harry Potter. And this will tell you why I love it so much. So I'd never heard of it. There was a massive hype. And either the second book could come out or was about to come out. And they announced it on the radio. Yeah. On Boxing Day. Was it Boxing Day? Yeah, I think it was either Boxing Day or News Day. But I think it was Boxing Day. Radio 2 or Radio 4.
01:20:35
Speaker
they were doing the full audiobook. And they were just doing the whole thing in one day. Read by Stephen Fry. I had never heard of Stephen Fry before. Because I was 11.
01:20:53
Speaker
And I sat in silence, the kid with undiagnosed ADHD sat in the same chair for eight hours that day where my dad would just come and bring me snacks and I would just go, stop, stop, you're interrupting, sort of thing. And it consumed me.
01:21:19
Speaker
I think that says more about that says more about Stephen Fry than it does about Harry Potter. Well, yeah, but all of the audiobooks are narrated by him. Yeah. And, and it's one of them that it could be because especially then, like I was going through like a terrible time. Yeah, family wise. Yeah. And essentially having an eight hour bedtime story. Yeah. What it felt like.
01:21:45
Speaker
But not only that, but obviously then that it carries on. I don't think this is going to be a revelation or a leap, but can I, you know, given what I know about your family history and the stuff you've told me and stuff, which we're not going to get into on here, right? But given what we've spoken about, and you know, even to the extent the stuff that you knew shows about,
01:22:09
Speaker
I don't think it's too much of a leap to say that you identified with a boy who was potentially, felt like a massive outsider in the family that he was in. And do you know what I mean? Like, if you think about this, this is why I wanted, this is why I didn't want to, this is why I didn't want to get into that side of it because I didn't want to get the wrong impression. Right. But
01:22:34
Speaker
You know, you would you may not have been made to live under the stairs or anything like that. But I dare say, given what you've said to me, you may have felt a little bit disconnected. Yeah, absolutely. Which obviously is a big part of what Harry felt in that. I've only read the first book and again, only like chapter 10 or something. But I understand the story and the origin of it and how it started. Yeah.
01:22:59
Speaker
so I dare say there's a bit of that but you know it just captured it captured a thing and like say my brother and my sister and I was the same age as him yeah as the books were coming out exactly yeah so necessary not as the films were coming out it was easy for you to connect to yeah and it's one of them that when you're going through
01:23:20
Speaker
adolescence yes and you're having to like obviously there's certain things that are not realistic yep like the magic one of my favorite jokes ever which is it's not it's not really realistic a ginger kid with two friends
01:23:42
Speaker
A brilliant joke. But the whole kind of, there's so much that's actually genuinely real. And the amount of things where the teenagers don't swear, like he's just insulted your dead parents. And it'll go, oh, bloody hell. Yeah, exactly.
01:24:10
Speaker
But there is real stuff in that. But again, because you have, like, Grant trying to bring him back to Stu L.A., if you experience him as a 40-year-old, you've forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. Because already I'd forgotten what it was like to be a teenager.
01:24:33
Speaker
I think the point he's making, maybe not intentionally, but it's coming out that way to me is that, especially in the era that we find ourselves in, there's a lot of talk now in 2024 about representation and things like that.
01:24:49
Speaker
And ironically, given some of the things JK Rowling's been on record as saying, we're not going to talk about that demon woman. We're not going to get into that right now. But in terms of like representation and stuff, it is important because you kind of you identify with the things that you see on screen. If you see yourself represented, you're more likely to connect with a story. And, you know, a 40 year old man's got nothing to connect to in a story about an 11 year old wizard.
01:25:18
Speaker
unless, you know, unless they were of the age to be into it at the time they were also an 11, 12, 13, 14 year old. And I think that's, you know, that's essentially the point that he's making. But in any case, right, just to cap this off, he finishes the Harry Potter bashing routine by saying, I haven't read it, but I have read the complete works of the romantic poet and visionary William Blick, so fuck off.
01:25:48
Speaker
This is exactly what you would expect someone like him to say. Exactly. Yeah. What's the most pretentious thing that I can say? And, you know, he's picked obviously a pretentious literary reference, which is exactly what the character would do. And then he gets into the final part of the the final part of the routine.
01:26:05
Speaker
about tragic lives where he says that's like a new genre of literature, tragic lives. So he talks about a boy called it by Dave Peltzer, which I've read, The Little Prisoner by Gene Elliott. And he says it's a difficult genre to master because the writer has to be able to convey accurately the suffering and abuse they enjoyed as a child. But most of these books are so badly written, they read as if Dan Brown got a job doing case notes for child protection.
01:26:36
Speaker
The bad man's cruel hand hit my nice face. And he says, but obviously, you know, they're a big, they're a big thing in the supermarkets and a lot of Irish writers. They were men like they were crazy. Yeah. When that was a big thing. Yeah, my mum. I thought it was crazy. But I called it was massive. And it was just, just a horrible story. It is an awful story. That's all it is.
01:27:04
Speaker
I remember my mother reading it and just like, just sat on her bed reading this book, just crying. And I remember looking going, isn't reading supposed to be enjoyable? Like, yeah, you know, this this book is not doing the job it's meant to do. But obviously, you know, when I read it, I was like, OK, get it.
01:27:23
Speaker
I've never read it.
Poorly Written Stories and Stuart Lee's Critique
01:27:25
Speaker
Yeah, I read it just because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And it is, you know, it's an awful, it's an awful story. I don't recall, it's been years and years since I've read it, but I don't recall it being as badly written as what Stuart Lee's making out here. It might be an exaggeration. Yeah. I could imagine it though, because obviously they're not. They're not necessarily writers. Yeah, exactly. They're doing it for the story that they have.
01:27:54
Speaker
rather than not say doing it forward but as in yeah
01:27:59
Speaker
They're the one telling the story as opposed to the person who knows how to write the story. Yeah, exactly. Which at which point you would wonder why they haven't got a ghost writer, but that's another. That's another thing.
Irish Writers and Bizarre Sketches
01:28:09
Speaker
But yeah, so then he starts getting into this thing about how it was Irish writers who initiated and developed the genre. And he mentions this thing called the teats that wept tears by Paddy McGinty's goat. Oh God. Which obviously takes us into the last bit. The sketch.
01:28:28
Speaker
it's it was even for me it was too much it's horrific isn't it yeah but it's very funny so bad like the teeth on Kevin Eldon yeah horrific Kevin Eldon and also you know you may not have picked up on this but the guy in the the goat suit is Michael Redmond I'm not so Michael Redmond he of the stolen Joe Pasquale joke
01:28:57
Speaker
right so you know the the uh a lot of people say to me get out of my garden yeah yeah that's michael redmond yeah um and again peter serafina wicks doing a voiceover yeah um but yeah the sketch itself obviously in like sepia tones and like really kind of
01:29:19
Speaker
I think it starts out like an almost like gothic horror sketch, where it's kind of showing all this depravity of what happened to this goat. But then when you get the point where Stuart Lee sat down with the guy in the goat costume, obviously it just descends into kind of like farce at that point.
01:29:43
Speaker
He says, and Stuart Lee would say, you know, I know you get hundreds of letters of week from people asking advice and find themselves in similar situations to yours. What sort of things do you say to them? And he says, oh, I don't bother reading them, to be honest with you. I just leave them there. I can't be asked. Yeah. And he says,
01:30:01
Speaker
He says, I realise there might be a book deal in it at some stage. So the only reason I did it is I thought I might be a book in it. So I just opened my mouth. And if you want to hear any more about my suffering, you'll have to read the book 12 quid. And then he struggles to hold it up because he's moved. 12 quid is all good bookshops.
01:30:26
Speaker
But the punchline to this sketch is my favourite bit where he sort of says, the problem is now is what to write about next. He says, you don't fancy taking me outside and beating the shit out of me with a poker ear. Which is just brilliant. And then obviously the sketch ends and he gets into this weird bit about the compound word toilet book.
Rant on 'Toilet Books' and Modern Literature
01:30:53
Speaker
And he says library book. Yes. Children's book. Yes. Poetry book. Yes. Toilet book. No. Toilet paper. Toilet roll. Yes. Toilet brush. Yes. Toilet duck. You can even have toilet duck. Toilet book. Toilet duck. You can even have toilet duck. Yeah.
01:31:09
Speaker
toilet book no and then he said that this is a brilliant a brilliant joke but with a really rambling setup um where he says i've got it written down here verbatim so excuse me he says apparently the 18th century polymath thomas young was the last person to read all the books published in his lifetime
01:31:30
Speaker
That means he'd have read all of Shakespeare, all the Greek and Roman classics, all the theology and all the philosophy and all the science. But the same man today, a man who had read all the books published today would have had to have read Dan Brown's novels, two volumes of Chris Moyles' autobiography.
01:31:47
Speaker
The world according to Clarkson the world occurred according to Clarkson 2 and the world according to Clarkson 3 He says the mind his mind would be awash with bad metaphors and unsustainable reactionary opinions. Yeah
01:32:03
Speaker
And one long anecdote about the time Comedy Dave put a pound coin in the urinal. In short, the man who had read everything published today would be more stupid than a man who read nothing.
01:32:21
Speaker
Which is just... Just a group.
Comedic Timing in 'Toilet Book' Jokes
01:32:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, that for me... Far be it from me to criticise The Times' greatest living stand-up. And obviously, the man who I hold in esteem above all others when it comes to comedy. But he should have ended it there. Yeah. That line, if Ida said in short, the man who read everything published today would be more stupid than a man who read nothing.
01:32:51
Speaker
good night um perfect right instead he went on and he said uh that's not a good state of affairs toilet paper toilet book no you would not wish this on the red ass of your worst enemy thank you good night which for me was superfluous really yeah considering i agree do you know what i mean considering um the the amazing stuff that came before um so that's
01:33:22
Speaker
That's the end of episode one.
Conclusion and Series Anticipation
01:33:24
Speaker
Yeah. So what concise. Yeah, exactly. We were very concise. Um, final thoughts on episode one, toilet books. Uh, I really enjoyed it. Uh, I hate my bookie work. So I really enjoyed it. Um, yeah, I think it sets up a good series. Yeah, it definitely does. So like you say more guy can be, um,
01:33:51
Speaker
some good kind of like sketches and good setting up of like the format and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I so obviously we're going to dig into the rest of the episodes at some point, but we will we'll come to that
01:34:15
Speaker
Yeah, basically, I don't know. I think if I remember rightly and in fairness, I've only watched the first two episodes again. It's been a long time since I've watched series one of Comedy Vehicle. But in terms of rewatches for this, I've only watched the first two episodes. So I can't remember exactly, but I do recall at the time when I first watched this many years ago that I thought episode one was the strongest of this series. So, you know, potentially. Well, I already disagree.
01:34:45
Speaker
okay fair enough yeah because you were a big fan of the second episode i was a big fan of the second episode i'm not saying i wasn't but i just i don't know i just there's something about this episode that i really liked and i think it's because it's got the rap singers bit in it which is one of my favorite bits but when we go to the next one i can put my my case forward yeah you can absolutely um but yeah we will get to that so um in terms of this one we will
01:35:08
Speaker
We will sign off for now. Thank you everyone for listening and I do hope you will join us again for episode two of Comedy Vehicle, which is television. But yeah, we'll get to that. Thanks everyone. Bye.