Stewart Lee: 41st Best Stand Up Ever

Slightly less pithy than his previous DVD, this is still about as clever and funny as it gets with modern stand-up.

Public opinion is what most vexes him this time around, prompted at his own ranking in a meaningless Channel 4 poll of great stand-ups. His mother, utterly uninterested in comedy, is duly unimpressed, given she has already witnessed the pinnacle of comic genius: Tom O'Connor on a cruise ship.

Lee is dismissive of the consensus taste. Is Del Boy falling through a bar really the funniest thing ever?

Lee's stock-in-trade, though, is the slow, tedious repetition of his points - testing the audience's patience, but also getting the laughs as they realise that's exactly what he's doing. It makes for a slow start, agonising but knowingly funny, until it's revealed as a teasing build-up to more considered argument. Patience is rewarded.

Then, with consummate skill, every element of the preceding hour slots cleanly into place, giving a satisfying overview… more »

Slightly less pithy than his previous DVD, this is still about as clever and funny as it gets with modern stand-up.

Public opinion is what most vexes him this time around, prompted at his own ranking in a meaningless Channel 4 poll of great stand-ups. His mother, utterly uninterested in comedy, is duly unimpressed, given she has already witnessed the pinnacle of comic genius: Tom O'Connor on a cruise ship.

Lee is dismissive of the consensus taste. Is Del Boy falling through a bar really the funniest thing ever?

Lee's stock-in-trade, though, is the slow, tedious repetition of his points - testing the audience's patience, but also getting the laughs as they realise that's exactly what he's doing. It makes for a slow start, agonising but knowingly funny, until it's revealed as a teasing build-up to more considered argument. Patience is rewarded.

Then, with consummate skill, every element of the preceding hour slots cleanly into place, giving a satisfying overview of the fundamental folly of bowing to public opinion - that the public are, en masse, idiots.