slemslempike | On not seeing Stewart Lee

My train was sufficiently delayed that I was unable to attend the recording that was the only reason I came doen to London in the first place. I am trying to buck myself up by being reasonable, and pointing out that I've seen Stewart Lee before, several times, and that in fact I've probably seen this specific material before because Scrambled Egg was a preview for it and I saw that twice, and in any case it's going to be televised, so it's not like I'm not going to see it. It's not helping.

I really like going to recordings of things (this is probably fairly obvious by now). As a huge admirer of television in genreal, I like seeing how they put programmes together, and the way the sets look so different (usually much tattier) than they do on TV, and looking at all the people involved in the work who aren't shopwn on TV. (Steve the higny floor manager! He hasn't gone mad, he just wants some spontaneous applause.) I really like seeing what's been cut when the programmes are aired. This is partly because I like the smug feeling of knowing what 'really' ahppened (as if the recording was any less staged than the broadcast show), and partly interest in working out why bits were cut and what that's done to the programme.

Also, it's Stewart Lee. When I was younger, This Morning With Richard Not Judy was something I looked forward to every single week, and it never disappointed (unlike the far inferior televisual products of today, chiz chiz etc). I still refute the ahh of those who wish to enlighten, insist that you cannot recitfy the veracity of a statement with a different tonal inflection, and get over-excited at any reference to Greg Evigan, Rod Hull, or jellied products of a certain hue.

He was really important to me then (school being typically shit), and he's been similarly un-disappointing since, unlike some people I could mention*. Going to see him carries the blissful knowledge tht I'm not going to have to sit tensely through something "challenging" like ironic racism, or listen to women being called whores. I don't mean that it's entertainment lite or anything. I don't always agree with his points, and sometimes I find it confronting**, but it's always good, and thoughtful, and not done simply to get a reaction.

And I so wanted to see him perform, even if it turned out to be the third time I'd seen him do material that I'm going to watch again on TV in a few months. And I especially wanted to see him do this. This series forms part of the subject of his latest DVD, 41st Best Stand-Up, and so it was a connected thing, to be able to know that I'd been an audience member for something that someone I admire hugely had made.

Those who, like me, miss tmwrnj hugely, can see a tmwrnj reunion gig on youtube, which is lovely. (I didn't get to see that either.)

I thought I would get here and see what theatre was on, but there's nothing I wanted to see. Bill Bailey was £40 and finished too late, and Stewart Francis was sold out. I'm going to find something to eat.

* We will overlook the Johnny Vegas connection for the moment.
** I have decided to embrace this.