Quote: Tim Walker @ April 23 2011, 12:15 PM BST
One of the main reasons that Stewart Lee attracts so much illiterate dissent (see Lee's website/Tony Cowards for bad reviews of his work) is that many quite understandably react with paranoia, confusion and subsequently anger when confronted with something they simply aren't able to understand. So your average Michael McIntyre/Paddy "No lighty no likey!" McGuiness fan - sitting in their semi-detached, cavity-insulated Barratt misery box, stuffing Tesco's Finest Chunky Chips into their sweaty, ugly, engorged faces - when presented with Stewart Lee on their television, mocking their idols, their gods (e.g. Chris Moyles or 19th Century fictional character Russell Brand) - react in the same way that a feral dog will react when chancing across a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare lying on the ground in the middle of a deserted prefab. It will not be able to understand it, nor appreciate its contents as having had a major influence in shaping Western art and civilisation. No, it will sniff it for a bit then, deciding it has no value as food, become enraged and savage it - tearing this alien object to shreds. It will quite possibly then proceed to urinate/defaecate all over it, before wandering off to lick its own balls.
So one should not mock or deride those who, through no fault of their own, haven't acquired the intellectual resources to appreciate Stewart Lee, rather one should try to understand and pity them.
Blistering bit of prose, Tim......and I really enjoyed reading it. I only latched on to Lee quite recently, and I like what he does. But I do think he's got lots more worthwhile targets than MacIntyre. Having pops at someone so mainstream is a bit easy....Lee can do much better than that.