A collection of mini-reviews for Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle…

Wednesday 18th February, 2009

CollingsA I saw a screening of Stewart Lee’s new BBC2 show last night. It is funny.

Monday 12 January, 2009

barronoid: All I am saying is Stewart Lee is wrong to mock Del Boy falling through the bar

kateweb: Filming of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, then Screenwipe – an evening of clever men in suits lamenting the death of culture, with laughs.

EJayneH: My review of tonight: Stewart Lee-only comedian I know to make ironic jazz racism jokes. Right on.

MrDashwood: Was in the studio audience for Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle… It will be amazing! Bring it on. x

Ab_uno_disce_om: Went to see Stewart Lee film some of his forthcoming TV series last night. Highly recommended. I’m still smiling.

rjstelling: Having some drunken noodle repercussions, saw Stewart Lee last night, unless Hicks is cloned I doubt it will ever be beaten.

Tuesday 13 January, 2009

ventedspleen: stewart lee’s tv show recording overbooked? when did he become big? did i miss a memo? wake me up for these memos

Thursday 15 January, 2009

xerode: Shit day made worse by Toolbook, clients and arguments now ruined by the Stewart Lee filming being cancelled for non-media peons. Fuck today

This was going to be a Twitter tweet, but I decided I wanted your suggestions too, enjoy. Remember to add your suggestions to the comments.

1. Obama’s face on Mt. Rushmore – I also hope he does what we hope he will, and earns that place.

2. Phoenix Lander brought home and displayed in a museum.

3. One more funny Steve Martin film. Just one! Or some new stand-up.

4. Proof of the Higgs-Boson or proof it doesn’t exist.

5. Affordable electric cars.

6. Cold Fusion.

7. Cut and Paste in the iPhone.

8. Rupert Murdoch bankrupt. 

9. Ubuntu in state schools.

10. A Kids In The Hall reunion tour.

11. Charlie Brooker controller of the BBC.

Don’t forget to add your suggestions in the comments.

If there is one thing this country can be proud of it’s our trouncing of Germany in two World Wars and One World Cup, but if there are two, it surly must be the BBC.

Public service broadcasting anywhere else is considered a joke, and quite rightly too. PBS in the States with it endless telethons and ‘arts’ programming only gets an audience because of it 70’s re-runs of BBC sitcoms and period dramas.

But in the UK we are lucky, we are provided with quality programming 24 hours a day (even celebrity fad programming is better than its American counterpart). But in my opinion greatest side effect of this is ITV and other commercial stations have to try harder, giving us some of the greatest local, national and international news in the world.

Thats enough of my love letter to the beeb. On to the iPlayer.

Over the holidays I spent some quality time with the BBC iPlayer (beta), catching up with Dr Who before the Christmas day spacial.

I’m not blow away my the technology, who would be? It’s simply YouTube – what I was impressed with was the quality and execution. And for a beta they haven’t skimped. Dr Who, Extras and Catherine Tate were all available almost immediately (although I did have problem for the first 12 hours when trying to watch Extras).

Reports on the Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/15/iplayer_streaming_ratio/) this week show it’s curtains for the bizarre P2P desktop experiment. And about time too, with no Mac or Linux support the Flash player option was always going to be a winner.

In the UK there is only one real competitor for the iPlayer, Channel 4’s 4OD (4 On Demand). It took me 45 minutes to get it to work – having to figure out cryptic error messages about DRM upgrades and installing Windows Media Player upgrades. The experience was less than enjoyable and you are required to re-login after each program the search is clumsy and ill-conceived.

All in all the BBC has a winner on its hands and Channel 4 a sill born. Thats not to say the BBC is perfect, it has its faults and the functionality is limited, but more of that next time.