Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle
- TV stand-up / sketch show
- BBC Two
- 2009 - 2016
- 24 episodes (4 series)
Stand-up comedy show, punctuated with sketches. Stewart Lee tackle a different topic each week in his own inimitable fashion. Also features Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Peter Serafinowicz, Paul Putner, Kevin Eldon and more.
Streaming rank this week: 2,643
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 5 - Comedy
Further details
"I live opposite a fire station. One day, one of the firemen asked me what I do for a living and I said I was a stand-up comedian, and he said: 'You must be very brave. Stand-up comedy is the hardest job in the world.' I said: 'It is, and I am glad that you, of all people, appreciate that.'"
Stewart Lee, arguably one of the finest stand-ups working in Britain today, reminds the audience, in case anyone had forgotten, that he is, in fact, a comedian. Tonight, he talks about the comedian who has been the biggest influence on his career, how the noble art of stand-up comedy works, and where he sees it going in the future - in retrospect probably not a good idea.
Notes
This episode was originally scheduled to air as the final episode in the series, but was swapped with the billed episode - about religion - shortly before broadcast.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Monday 13th April 2009
- Time
- 10pm
- Channel
- BBC Two
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Stewart Lee | Host / Presenter |
| Peter Serafinowicz | Voice Over (Voice) |
| Paul Putner | Ensemble Actor |
| Kevin Eldon | Ensemble Actor |
| Simon Munnery | Ensemble Actor |
| Stephen K Amos | Ensemble Actor |
| Tony Law | Ensemble Actor |
| Gail Brand | Ensemble Actor |
| Stewart Lee | Writer |
| Chris Morris | Script Editor |
| Tim Kirkby | Director |
| Richard Webb | Producer |
| Armando Iannucci | Executive Producer |
| Anthony Boys (as Ant 'Pants' Boys) | Editor |
| Simon Rogers | Production Designer |
Videos
Lee and Iannucci - Comedy
Stewart and Armando talk about comedy. This video also includes footage of the show's warm-up act, Stephen Carlin.
Featuring: Armando Iannucci & Stewart Lee.
Press
What better time than Easter for jokes about licking the face of the Pope? It was thanks once again to the merrily morose Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, a kind of King Lear with one-liners, for an anti-genuflection to TV religion that railed against the general rubbishness of the world in a way that somehow made you mind it not quite so much.
Ranging across the religious spectrum from Catholicism to Islam, Lee wisely wasn't out to topple religion per se - come on, he only had half an hour - but his potshots were cannily aimed.
Tackling the idea that you can quote holy books in any way you want in order to prove a point, he set up a sophisticated joke about a chihuahua piloting an aeroplane - it was all to do with Animals In Islam - yet sent himself up by punchlining it 'hooks for hands!'.
Editor Note: This review was published in Metro despite the fact the religion episode had actually been moved to the following week and thus had not been broadcast yet
Keith Watson, Metro, 14th April 2009Stewart Lee is a very funny guy, so one can assume that he knows a thing or two about making people laugh. And that's the focus of his musings tonight. He talks about those who have influenced his career and considers where stand-up comedy is going in the future. Very far, if this display is anything to go by.
What's On TV, 13th April 2009