The Funniest British Stand-Up Comedy

Stewart Lee: Tornado
      2022 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.7 | imdb: 7.6
      

What a surprise and what a treat to see another show by Stewart Lee has come out only months after Snowflake. There's no overlap between the last set and this one, which was thoroughly fun. If Stewart impresses, his releasing two excellent sets within the same year takes things to another level and is a glimmer of hope in a world where everything once good tends to decay without ever bouncing back. Spoken from someone who's recently seen Bill Burr's latest special.

(Last viewed: October 2022)

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Michael McIntyre: Live & Laughing
      2008 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.6 | imdb: 7.5
      

One thing must be said in favor of Michael McIntyre: he gets A+ for effort. For the duration of this 85-minute set, he never seems to take a breath from walking around the stage, gesticulating and delivering material at a fast pace. Inevitably (or perhaps fortunately), some of it works, although at first I found the hit ratio quite low—somewhere between a quarter and a third. For most of the show, I enjoyed the chuckles and the rare laugh but found the rest of the time a bit long. Michael ended stronger though, redeeming the show overall. For my taste, Michael's humor is a bit simple, in the sense that it's something my grandparents might have liked, except for the saucy bits. You know how humor evolves over time as life becomes more and more complex? As the packed theater shows, Michael is hugely popular, so this set might just be your thing. (Last viewed: January 2013)

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Bill Bailey: Dandelion Mind
      2010 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.5 | imdb: 7.6
      

This show is not Bill's best but it has its good moments. To nitpick: one bit involving the public is particularly repetitive; there are many musical numbers, not all of which are inspired; there are many references to celebrities, which makes the show less universal, and prone to faster to aging. (Last viewed: November 2015)

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Joe Lycett: Thats The Way, A-Ha, A-Ha
      2016 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.5 (Laugh and Smile) | imdb: 7.7
      

Since this is a long set and we often find long sets hard to watch in one sitting, we sat down with the intention of watching half of it before going out—but ended up watching all 75 minutes of it, our first viewing of a show by Joe Lycett. We laughed a few times and smiled a lot: we were entertained. Joe has a very clever, likeable delivery that is his very own. Often when watching a stand-up who is new to me, he or she naturally evokes other comedians, but in Joe's none came to mind. The weaker points (and they shouldn't discourage you from watching) were that Joe sometimes referred to people we didn't know (lacking the English background), and that the time when he read jokes sent to his phone on social media went a bit long. But the device of relating electronic exchanges he's had worked. I'm glad to have discovered a "new" stand-up comedian I enjoy and will be looking for his next show. (Last viewed: June 2017)

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Ricky Gervais: SuperNature
      2022 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.5 | imdb: 7.7
      

I had low expectations upon starting on Ricky's latest special, but he had no trouble making me grin and chuckle. The second half was a bit weaker.

It's a shame he had to spend so much of the show to make disclaimers about his stance about the issues he makes fun about. Is stand-up comedy on its way out?

(Last viewed: June 2022)

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Stewart Lee: Snowflake
      2022 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.5 (Chuckle) | imdb: 7.5
      

Although I've enjoyed much of Stewart's comedy in the past, I was nervous about watching this special as I'd been unable to finish the previous one, Content Provider (by the time you read this, I may have gone back to it.)

For most of the show, Stewart riffs on cancel culture, a topic that is probably far closer to home for him than it is for viewers. Some bits border on the tedious, despite his own meta-commentary acknowledging this very fact. As a proxy for the show's rhythm, the Ricky Gervais bit was hilarious until it got too long, about a quarter of the way through. In the end, he does manages to walk the thin line between tedium and entertainment for an hour without tumbling, leaving me satisfied to have watched the show.

On the one hand, I'm reminded that Stewart's comedy is too special to ignore. On the other hand, I detect a number of cheap jokes that would not have made it into former shows.

(Last viewed: September 2022)

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Eddie Izzard: Sexie
      2003 | U.K. | Laughs: 6.0 | imdb: 7.5
      wikipedia

If you've seen all of Eddie's shows, watching Sexie is a bit like a visit with an old friend. You have fun, it's very pleasant, but it's not a high of your existence. Sexie is not breakneck-speed-Eddie-Izzard, but more of a casual presentation to an audience that already loves him. The most striking part of the show is perhaps Eddie's costume, taken to an extreme that suits the famous rock'n roll venue, a series of cross-dressing outfits complete with high heels, skirts and fake boobs. Apart from a few flashbacks to other shows (speed archeology, Achilles heel), the material is fresh. My friend and I found the ending weak, with a horse-riding skit that goes on for about three times too long, then, for an encore, an impersonation that would be more at home in a "bonus material" section. I liked the show but will probably not watch it again.

There is a second DVD release from the Sexie tour called Live from Wembley. (Last viewed: December 2010)

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Dara O Briain: Craic Dealer
      2012 | U.K. | Laughs: 5.5 | imdb: 7.7
      

This tape felt like the fast-food of Dara O'Briain stand-up sets: high in fat and low on nutritional value. Much of the show feels less like watching stand-up than like watching an MC amping up the crowd about the main act that's about to come on stage. Sadly, the main act never shows. Yes, there are good moments, but far too much filler in between. Perhaps that is digestible in a land where sandwiches contain half an inch of butter (my memories of England), but I doubt this formula would work overseas. The last quarter of the show is probably the strongest.

ps: Yes, I know the show was taped in Scotland. You can put down that world map. (Last viewed: December 2013)

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Bill Bailey: Qualmpeddler
      2013 | U.K. | Laughs: 5.1 (Watch Once) | imdb: 7.5
      

In the first part of the set, Bill makes many references to public figures—a comedic device I rarely like, as it makes the material instantly dated as well as culture-dependent. How many U.S. viewers keep up with U.K. politics and social affairs?

But it's a long set, and it has some very good bits. Overall it felt like watching "real Bill Bailey" (as opposed to a weaker, diluted version of his former self), and I enjoyed the experience. (Last viewed: June 2017)

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Bill Bailey: Bewilderness
      2004 | U.K. | Laughs: 5.0 (Watch Once) | imdb: 8.0
      

This show could have been subtitled "a relaxed evening with comedian Bill Bailey, who has recorded some of the funniest performances in stand-up history". It was indeed a pleasant evening, and there were laughs, but it was not the high-octane mixture of Part Troll or Cosmic Jam. Throughout the show, Bill referred to the aloofness of his Welsh audience, and one can wonder whether that aloofness rubbed off on Bill—but surely that wouldn't have influenced the material itself. We were glad to watch this show but probably won't watch it again. (Last viewed: October 2013)

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Billy Connolly: You Asked For It
      2011 | U.K. | Laughs: 4.8 | imdb: 7.8
      

This video spans over thirty years of Billy Connolly's career. The first thing to know for an American audience is that Billy has a Scottish accent, so that his shows may not be that easy to understand. He seems to be really famous in the UK's sphere of influence (such as Australia and New Zealand, a region where I lived for over a decade), so I finally decided to check him out. For me, this DVD was more about chuckling than about laughing. I have to say that the accent somewhat tired me, and that I had to watch the 96-minute tape in several sittings. I can see that the man is loved by his fans of many years, and he is at home on stage with a live audience. I did warm up to him in the later segments (when he is considerably older), and I did laugh a couple of times, but for me it wasn't laugh-out-loud comedy, even after tuning in to the accent. The segments cover topics such as aromatherapy, visiting a proctologist, and memories of a village dance as a young man. Perhaps worth watching once for cultural reasons. (Last viewed: January 2013)

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Eddie Izzard: Force Majeure Live
      2013 | U.K. | Laughs: 4.5 | imdb: 7.4
      wikipedia

Despite being an Izzard fan and watching with a lot of goodwill, I must admit to sitting through much of the show without laughing. Eddie's pacing, delivery, miming were as finely tuned as in his finest shows, but the material just didn't excite either of us. Have we reached an "Izzard saturation threshold"? Probably not, as older shows still work for us. Maybe we were just tired, or maybe Eddie wasn't as inspired as in the late 1990s. (Last viewed: December 2014)

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Eddie Izzard: Unrepeatable
      1994 | U.K. | Laughs: 4.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 8.0
      wikipedia

Belongs in the "don't bother watching" section. The show is called Unrepeatable, and indeed in my case there was little risk of it being repeated, because I couldn't catch much. Partly, it's the acoustics of the grand old London theater where this was shot and the fact that Izzard keeps the mike right in front of his face. Also, Eddie speaks with a more pronounced English accent than in his later shows. Eddie also speaks a lot faster than usual, without the pauses that he later learned to use for comic effect. For me, this show falls in the genre of "English comedy", which I perceive as voices that go annoyingly up and down, speaking lots and lots of words that don't really make me laugh. The interminable piece on Star Trek ranked with the most boring stand-up comedy I've ever seen. I don't watch television, and I certainly don't want to watch stand-up comedy about TV shows. On the other hand, I did enjoy the segment on cats and dogs, as well as the one on horror movies. (Last viewed: August 2010)

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Michael McIntyre: Hello Wembley!
      2009 | U.K. | Laughs: 4.0 | imdb: 7.4
      

My review for this set is essentially the same as for his earlier Live and Laughing. In short, Michael gets top grades for energy, but his humor is not my thing—nothing personal, we're all different. This time, even though the beginning of the show gave me some good chuckles, I soon became bored and had to turn it off around the thirty-minute mark. (Last viewed: October 2013)

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Stewart Lee: 90s Comedian
      2006 | U.K. | Laughs: 4.0 (Chuckle) | imdb: 8.6
      

Involving the audience into the inner workings of the show as it is being performed, Stewart takes on such topics as plagiarism, terrorism and catholicism, and undertakes to deliver a joke that cannot be stolen. I was very entertained and enjoyed more than a few chuckles. A fine piece of comedy (or a piece of fine comedy) which has my unreserved endorsement, except if laughing at the expense of religion makes you uncomfortable. (Last viewed: September 2018)

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