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TV's Frankie Boyle has declared that no-one over 40 should do stand-up, as the old comedians lose their edge and their anger. Stewart Lee is 42 and Frankie's heartless Scottish words have made him wonder if it's worth carrying on. Undaunted, the furiously baffled comedian tries to win round the legendarily harsh Glasgow audience with a crowd-pleasing Mcintyre-style routine about coffee shops, but is distracted by scores of imaginary pirates; he tries to talk about every day middle aged men's concerns, but is drawn into a forty minute rant against Top Gear and all it stands for; he attempts to find some common ground with happy childhood memories that he and the audience can share, but is instead consumed with loathing and despair as a result of a Magners' Cider advertising campaign. He screams from the balconies, stumbles in the aisles, and ends with a country and western song. If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One is a vast and all-consuming epic of stand-up comedy, exploring the absolute formal limits of the art form. There are also some jokes.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Having seen this show live (twice), being of the opinion that Stewart Lee is the world's finest living stand up, and being absolutely gutted that both times he did this show he said that it wouldn't be released on DVD ever because it just wasn't financially viable anymore, I am relieved beyond words that this is being released and won't be lost to history. The Top Gear routine alone is a tour-de-force of comedic brilliance that I can't wait to see again.
What with this now getting a release and Stewart Lee also getting a second BBC series next year, I can only hope that he gets the wider audience his thought-provoking, literate and intelligent comedy so thoroughly deserves and continues making us laugh for a long long time. I can't recommend this highly enough.
What with this now getting a release and Stewart Lee also getting a second BBC series next year, I can only hope that he gets the wider audience his thought-provoking, literate and intelligent comedy so thoroughly deserves and continues making us laugh for a long long time. I can't recommend this highly enough.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
So Stewart Lee goes mainstream. Which means moving up from back street comedy clubs to a small theatre. Yet perversely enough this seems to be his most confrontational and deliberately 'difficult' show yet. True he did spend most of "90's Comedian" being extremely blasphemous but frankly there are more people in Britain now who worship Mock The Week and Top Gear than Jesus. The basic theme is a venomous deconstruction of the recent comedy scene and what Stew thinks is a fixation on being deliberately cruel and insulting instead of insightful. So that means that Frankie Boyle and "those Russell comedians" get their own subtle mocking, and Top Gear and Richard (He's not a real hamster) Hammond gets both barrels. This is where I came verrrry close to knocking a star off because I think he does get a little bit repetitive and carried away with one basic idea (that Top Gear dishes it out so it would be funny to be as ridiculously insulting back at them). Stewart Lee's absolute greatest strength has been his ability to mercilessly mock an entire idea or group of people in such a quick and subtle way that it takes a moment to register what he just did. Take the bit about the little village his mother lives in "90's Comedian", the whole Little England world and mindset is summed up a few delicious lines; "They didn't tell me because I wasn't from there", "He came in his coat Mrs. Lee, whatever next?". Here there's a breathtakingly silly broadside against the seemingly innocuous Richard Hammond, but it gets a bit stuck and doesn't go anywhere. In fact Stew's recent book, and the excellent interview with Kevin Eldon on the DVD, makes the point about his disappointment with modern comedy better than his show does. Still, the fifth star came back again with the Pear Cider finale, a mickey take of epic proportions against that most deserving of targets; cynical TV adverts and the people who appear in them.
So it's not for everyone (obviously), but the clue's in the title isn't it?
So it's not for everyone (obviously), but the clue's in the title isn't it?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Reviewing a previous Stewart Lee DVD, I said he'd never had the success he deserved. And probably never would. Imagine the mixed emotions of a man reading a review like that about himself. Well, he's now having some of the success he deserves - no doubt simply in order to make me look stupid. Serves me right; I am an insensitive fool. I hope he enjoys his revenge upon me.
Look, this DVD is only the best work of the best stand-up currently living. You don't often encounter comedy that literally makes your body ache from laughing... still less often do you encounter comedy that (at times) moves you to tears of empathy. Less often still do you encounter comedy that does all the above while fanning the flames of righteous indignation and outrage at a world slipping into apocalyptic consumerist blandness.
This is forthright, full-throttle, twisty, sneaky, bleakly ironic, startlingly clever, morally furious, humane, hilarious uber-comedy. This is the best there is. All on DVD. And a DVD is such a little thing. It fits easily onto most shelves and has no dangerous sharp edges. Buy the thing. Now. That's an order.
Look, this DVD is only the best work of the best stand-up currently living. You don't often encounter comedy that literally makes your body ache from laughing... still less often do you encounter comedy that (at times) moves you to tears of empathy. Less often still do you encounter comedy that does all the above while fanning the flames of righteous indignation and outrage at a world slipping into apocalyptic consumerist blandness.
This is forthright, full-throttle, twisty, sneaky, bleakly ironic, startlingly clever, morally furious, humane, hilarious uber-comedy. This is the best there is. All on DVD. And a DVD is such a little thing. It fits easily onto most shelves and has no dangerous sharp edges. Buy the thing. Now. That's an order.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
genius standup
Not for everyone, and there were some slower bits in it (that have already been mentioned)
But this show is very very very good. Read more
But this show is very very very good. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Rowan
Stewart Lee At His Best
This man has grown as an artist and comedian compared to just a few years ago - stand-up comedian DVD is brilliant but not genius... as this is. Read more
Published 3 months ago by I. M. Knight
If You Prefer A Milder Review, Please Ask For One.
Filmed at Glasgow's citizen theatre, Stewart Lee's latest DVD takes the viewer on a comedic journey they probably neither expected, nor wanted, but should be eternally grateful for... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Pemberton
Let Me Give It To You Straight.....
As a stand up fan, I got a few stand-up DVDs for Christmas and I purposefully saved this one for last. Burdened with my expectations, I wasn't disappointed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by PD Flood
This one will do for me.
Test your intellect: If you find this video funny it is in good shape, if you do not it isn't.
Published 4 months ago by Arthur Harris
Definitely not a sell-out
Part comedy show, part performance art, "If you prefer..." is unashamedly confrontational, difficult, genuinely uncomfortable in places and all the funnier for it. Read more
Published 4 months ago by S. A. Downes
if you prefer a FUNNY comedian... this is for you!!
What can I say? Stewart Lee at his bestest and funniest!!! We saw this live, and the dvd does not disappoint!
Published 5 months ago by jj
An absolute pleasure to watch
This performance from Stewart Lee was a masterclass in the art of comedy. It's layered, it has subtexts, he knows when to use the awkward pause and how to get the audience on his... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Dave Stewart
If you don't find Stewart Lee funny, you are stupid and slow
Stewart Lee's stand up has ruined most comedy for me. However long it takes you to tap into it, once/if you do - you will realise how high he has set the bar. High. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr. J. T. Simkins
Brilliant!
I saw this show live at a different venue, but still laughed as much when I watched the dvd.
Hilarious!
Hilarious!
Published 15 months ago by K. Sweet
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