Stewart Lee's comedy vehicle is, not so much a Porsche, but more a reliable Volkswagen.

Stewart Lee has returned to T.V. This is a good thing. Stand up doesn't have a prominent place on terrestrial schedules anymore, which is a shame as most peoples experience of stand up comedians now come from Mock the Week, and if Andy Parsosn is your first introduction to the art form, that's probably enough to put you off comedy for life. It's quite a surprise to see the BBC give Stewart Lee such a prominent slot, especially considering the conservative nature of their scheduling following the Ross/Brand affair, and especially baffling when you realise that Lee is the man behind Jerry Springer the Opera. Still, one mustn't quibble, it's a brave decision by the BBC and that must be applauded. The show itself is a bit hit and miss, at times Lee can be very funny, but all too often he lapses into self indulgence, basically if you're a fan of Lee's you will like this show, if not you're unlikely to be won over, which is, probably, just the way Lee would like it. The show starts well, with a spot-on deconstruction of Chris Moyles latest opus and a withering dismissal of Russell Brand's "My Booky Wook", which is doubly pleasing as Lee seems to be the only comedian not kissing his skinny jean clad arse. The opening of the show is undoubtedly the strongest segment as the rest of Lee's set is a bit too smug and self satisfied. It's strange to see that, for a comedian so lauded, his style has not developed at all in the ten years he's been away. Lee is still guilty of confusing pretension for intellectualism, and seems of the believe that merely name dropping authors is proof of his own superior intellect. At one point he sneers "I've read the complete works of the poet and visionary William Blake" while dismissing every Harry Potter book, I'm sure there are thousands of people who enjoy both Blake and Rowling, so to dismiss everyone who has read Harry Potter as a neanderthal is a bit short sighted. You could also pick out a simple sentence from Blake, as Lee does with Dan Brown to prove his inadequacies as a writer, and make it sound weak, as quoting anything devoid of context can make it sound contrite, but this doesn't bother Lee, and in doing so makes his criticisms of Brown simply sound bitter. Theres also a weird bit about rappers that goes nowhere and almost completely kills the mid section of the set, with Lee's deadpan, deliberate delivery more of a hindrance than a help, and the lack of pacing, and the general weakness of the joke, see the segment fall completely flat. There is a lot to admire about Lee as a stand up comedian and he is clearly very intelligent and erudite man, who is also very witty, but for all the good points of the set, Lee's snobbish delivery and desperate need to prove how clever he is, will be off putting for some. Although one question persists, for a man so clever, why can't he buy a suit that fits?

Two pints of Lager, and an almighty number of painkillers please.

The other day I saw The Two Pints of Lager, Grownups and Coming of Age comic relief special. It was not good; although, it was probably as good as that sentence suggests. I know it's for charity but, surely, Africa isn't that hungry that they would wish this inflicted upon the British Public? We've already sat through enough Little Britain sketches, what more could they want? We've had to witness the indignity of Davina McCall dancing to FloRida!(and looking not unlike Barbara Castle experiencing a particularly potent crystal meth trip)Isn't that enough? She's 41 for fucks sake! And on top of that FloRioda is shit, so I'm not sure who she was trying to impress, but it certainly wasn't me. I'm sure if they allowed the Beneficiaries of Comic Relief to vet some of the sketches, most would sent back for making a mockery of their starvation. Also Comic Relief has been going for, like, a million years, and from what I can gather after watching the numerous appeals, is that it's done fuck all. Maybe we need a more effective method of giving aid, one that doesn't clog up the viewing schedule with Davina McCall. It's a thought. Anyway, I digress, The Two Pints special brought together the casts of 3 of BBC 3's premier comedy series, which most people probably didn't realise were different shows anyway, as the sets characters acting and scripts are all pretty much interchangeable. I think this whole exercise was designed just to inform people but they were separate shows as it is really difficult to tell which one you're watching and, just to confuse you further, two of them even have the same actress playing almost identical characters. The show starts with Janet (Sheridan Smith) getting excited about the local pub's comic relief fun night of fun, Gaz (Will Mellor) interjects that it won be as fun as "Gaz Wilkinson's fun night of bum"(snort) with the kind of comic timing you'd expect from someone who used to be in Hollyoaks. And there, was the shows high point. Soon everyone is lined up in the pub and we are informed that they represent a sizable proportion of BBC 3's 16 - 34 demographic, but then so do doggers, so it's not that impressive. Most of the jokes revolve around Sheridan Smith's (admittedly impressive) rack, with the characters constantly pointing out, over and over again, that she is rather well endowed. Now far be it from me to complain about people extolling the virtues of our fairer halves assets, indeed, when they are as impressive as Miss Smith's sweater bunnies I actively encourage it, but she was in The Royale Family, and performs regularly on the West End. The rest of the show is based on a fairly loose premises set around the pub quiz, with various rounds such as the bitch off and flirt off. I've never been to a pub quiz with rounds such as these and usually only have to tackle boring subjects such as general knowledge and films, but then I've never been to fictional pub in Runcorn, that combines three hugely unrealistic sitcoms. The various characters take part in the different rounds, although most of the characters are little more than glorified extras. The show ends with a song entitled "Stop thinking, start drinking" Which is good advice, although one wonders whether it may have been far more useful if placed at the beginning of the show. It's quite disconcerting when the creators of a show freely admit should be pissed to enjoy it, but in this case it's quite apt. And anyway, it's far more dignified to blame the disintegration of your brain cells on excessive drinking rather than watching this.