Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Stewart Lee
Directed by	Tim Kirkby
Starring	Stewart Lee Other performers Stephen K. Amos Job Angus Cathryn Bradshaw Gail Brand Arnold Brown Eugene Cheese Justin Edwards Kevin Eldon Tara Flynn Paul Jerricho Miles Jupp Tony Law Paul Merton Simon Munnery Paul Putner Michael Redmond Jerry Sadowitz Will Smith Sarah Thom Tim Vine
Voices of	Peter Serafinowicz
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer(s)	Armando Iannucci
Producer(s)	Richard Webb Stewart Lee (associate producer)
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two
Original run	16 March 2009 (2009-03-16) – 8 June 2011 (2011-06-08)
External links
Website

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is a comedy series created by Stewart Lee.

The BBC Two series debuted on 16 March 2009, and featured stand-up routines and sketches performed by Simon Munnery, The Actor Kevin Eldon and Paul Putner amongst others. Peter Serafinowicz recorded voice-over parts. The series is produced by Richard Webb and directed by Tim Kirkby. The programme is executive-produced by Armando Iannucci and script-edited by Chris Morris, marking a rare reformation of their creative double-act.

Each episode focuses on a theme. The first week's show looked at books, and the second week's show focused on television. The material for the series combined rewritten routines from his previous shows '90s Comedian' and '41st Best Stand-up Ever', with new material written during his 'Scrambled Egg' tour of 2008.

Lee has stated that this is exactly the sort of show he has been wanting to do, saying:

“

I'll do another series of this if they offer me one. I don't want to do any television that I don't have complete control of. I don't want to be in anything, really; I don't want to act, I don't want to present documentaries, I don't want to be on quiz shows or in adverts or be interviewed about anything ever on camera by anyone. I don't want to be in films. I don't want to do anything with commercial West End musical theatre. I don't want to develop characters as animated things for the internet. All I want to do is this series.

”

The opening theme tune is "Tom Hark" by Elias & His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes.

On 9 February 2010, Armando Iannucci tweeted "There'll be a 2nd series of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. Huzzah! Huzzah!" This was filmed between 11 and 14 January 2011, and, like the first series, was filmed at The Mildmay Club in Newington Green, North London. The first episode was shown on 4 May on BBC Two.

Comedic references

Series 1

Episode 1: "Toilet Books"

References included Asher D from the So Solid Crew (and his appearance in Grange Hill), BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Chris Moyles, comedian Russell Brand and Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code. This episode also included two lines borrowed - with permission - from Simon Munnery, because Lee wanted the first episode to have some one-liners to make it more accessible.^{[citation needed]}

Episode 2: "Television"

References included The March of the Penguins, David Attenborough, Only Fools and Horses and various British television channels, but particularly Channel 4 and E4. Also, Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", Dick and Dom, Adrian Chiles, Lord Reith, the mallard duck, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Samuel Beckett, Robert Kilroy-Silk's berry-brown face, Ant and Dec and Isaac Newton. It was also revealed during the red button extras for this episode that future episodes will be performed by way of Stewart miming the script to a recording of impressionist John Culshaw's voice.

Episode 3: "Political Correctness"

The third episode was far shorter on popular cultural references but The Village People were used in a sketch. Much of the material in this episode first appeared in '41st Best Stand-up Ever'. The few references included; Animal Farm, Weightwatchers, Kofi Annan and Nazism.

Episode 4: "Global Financial Crisis"

There were references to the retailers Woolworths, Zavvi and MFI.

Episode 5: "Comedy"

The primary reference was to Franklyn Ajaye but Jack Dee was mentioned and his sitcom Lead Balloon was alluded to. (NOTE: This episode was intended as the last in the series of 6 but was transmitted as the 5th episode, moving the original 5th episode titled "Religion" to the last position. This change of order relates to the original date for broadcast of the "Religion" episode falling on Easter Bank holiday Monday.)

Episode 6: "Religion"

References included The Jesus Lizard, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim'll Fix It, Laurel and Hardy, Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X and Abu Hamza al-Masri. The name '[Reverend] Arch Stanton' mentioned in this episode, is derived from the movie The Good The Bad And The Ugly', the name of which holds no significant relevance to the sketch it was featured in. The episode featured a developed version of a routine about Catholicism from Lee's controversial 90s Comedian (2005). The opening line was lifted from Lee's original early '90s stand-up act. Paul Merton made a self-deprecating cameo appearance. This episode also marked the first television appearance of controversial comedian/magician, Jerry Sadowitz in over 5 years, making a cameo in guise of Jimmy Savile.

Series 2

Episode 1: "Charity"

Sets out to explore some ideas about charity, but instead gets sidetracked and ends up talking mostly about crisps.

Episode 2: "London"

Looks at what happens to the poor souls who move to the countryside from London.

Episode 3: "Charity"

The comedian returns to the theme of charity, after failing to address it during the first episode of the series. He ponders whether people have a moral obligation to contribute, and how much money millionaires should give.

Episode 4: "Stand-Up"

Stewart Lee talks about stand-up comedy while sitting down and threatens to play a guitar to accompany his routine.

Episode 5: "Identity"

Stewart Lee looks at the notion of identity and how different nations define themselves.

Episode 6: "Democracy"

Stewart Lee moves on to the subject of democracy, revealing an extraordinary story from his time at Oxford in the mid-1980s.

Reception

Andrew Billen of The Times said it was "the most intelligent half hour of stand-up you will see on television this year" and that Lee "has become the master of deadpan stand-up". The Guardian Guide said "Lee's Vehicle feels well overdue, with his brand of bone-dry, spot-on scepticism a refreshing change from the perky, ambitious tones of the Mock the Week brigade [...] it's brilliant." Brian Viner of The Independent said "In my front room, Lee was preaching not so much to the converted, as to an ayatollah. He did so brilliantly, though."

The Guardian named Comedy Vehicle as one of its top ten television highlights of 2009, commenting that it "was the kind of TV that makes you feel like you're not the only one wondering how we came to be surrounded by so much unquestioned mediocrity". One of the show's few negative reviews came in the Sunday Mercury, which stated: "His whole tone is one of complete, smug condescension". Lee subsequently used this line to advertise his next stand-up tour.

In May 2010, the series was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for best comedy programme, which was won by The Armstrong and Miller Show.

In December 2011, the series won the award for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme at the 2011 British Comedy Awards, with Lee himself winning Best Male Television Comic.

External links

• Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle at BBC Programmes
• Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle at the British Comedy Guide
• The barnacle of British comedy - The Guardian, 14 March 2009. Lee interviews himself for the paper shortly before broadcast of the first show.