He's spot on if you're over 17 and read Harry Potter you are by rights a cardboard cut-out cunt and a life of beige awaits you all.. Doubt any of you will reply as its Saturday and you'll be off to Ikea in your Volvos listening to an ABBA CD...
I love Stewart Lee, but I hate some of the people who think that people who don't like him are just too stupid to understand. It's just an acquired taste, I can see why someone might not get him straight off. But I do think that if you don't like him, just watch more, you will end up loving him.
Very quickly - it is NOT pretentious either for myself or 'TolerantSkinhead' to point out something which we genuinely believe to be for children to be so. Your reliance on the insult 'pretentious' also smacks of a middle-brow, non intellect.
In reality if people are pretentious - it requires an act; a facade. You sound like a fucking sixth former. Which leads us into: arrested development, anal retentiveness and, yes, adults imaginatively and emotionally attached to H Potter books. Goodbye.
do you not see how foolish it is to try and defend this?
Not really, because Rowling wrote them for children. She never pretended otherwise. Such was the embarrassment that adults were walking around with them they needed to have special covers made up. I don´t need to play with Duplo to realise it is for 3 year olds, my friend. I realise you think you are upholding some ineffably logical principle but you are really showing your lack of deeper reading if you care so much about this.Now F off.
@NormanArches - "upholding some ineffably logical principle" what, that logical principle that states that a persons entire intellect cannot be judged by a single book. Is that really such a hard concept for you to grasp. I have read the Potter series, but i have also read Henry James, Conran, Kerouac, Camus, Dickens, Bronte, Austin, Pirsig, Joyce, Lawrence to name but a few, but have also read City of Thieves and Northern Lights, does that make me a "thick cunt" or you a supercilious prick?
@AudioFromGazaWar - or you could actually read what i wrote - which was a direct response to another post, rather then bragging about what i've read. Possibly this simple concept is too difficult for a "winner" such as yourself to grasp?
@TripeSmuggler - Really? That's the best you can come up with? You viewed the video a week ago, and with all that time that was the smartest retort you could manage. Oh dear.
"It's also pretentious to comment on the quality of a series of books you've never read, or to assume that only well spoken middle class kids read them". Surely you mean misguided rather than pretentious. Or unarrantedly arrogant. This, you see, is the kind of basic linguistic error adults who read childrens´ books tend to make. That is why being defensively proud of being a thick cunt does not impress me.Now fuck off and read a book for adults. Here´s a good one: Postwar by Tony Judt.
So to clarify - You were pretentious to suggest everyone is a thick cunt, and you agree that your comments were misguided and arrogant. I could also argue that commenting on a series of books you've never read in a way to try and make yourself appear superior to those that have read them would constitute an undeserved claim of superiority. Either way, you are still commenting on the quality of books you've never read - and do you not see how foolish it is to try and defend this?
Darthcipient: it´s not petentious to not be a thick cunt and to have higher standards than a sheep. It´s just bullshit culture which makes it mandatory for thick people to try to push their thickness on people more intelligent, due to their laziness and inadequacy. There is little pretentious about Blake´s epics. They are like the best and most complex works of art - they demand and repay serious thought. No doubt you´d say someone liking or loving Dante or Picasso was pretentious as well.
@NormanArches - You're right its not pretentious to have higher standards, however it is pretentious to believe everyone else is a "thick cunt" for not having read something you have or vice versa. It's also pretentious to comment on the quality of a series of books you've never read, or to assume that only well spoken middle class kids read them.
J.K.Rowling ...literacy in the UK in 15 years.... his whole miserable life."
I´m guessing you´re one of the adults who learned to read on the tube via Rowling´s WIzard stories and gets quite emotional about it.
There don´t seem to be many working class kids round the parts of inner London where I used to live reading Harry Potter, nor did I see many in the media.
I did frequently, however, see lots of well spoken, middle class kids lapping it up.
Wait....didn't William Blake write about tree's of nothing, and paint pictures of little fairies? I don't want to look it up, because I like my point and I don't want facts to cloud it.
@ThePolecatz Ha! Good point- Blake's work was dripping with imagination, from his hallucinated deities to Fairy's funerals and visions of strange druidic rituals. But he's had centuries of scholars and poets bigging his work up so nobody feels awkward buying a copy of Blake.
@allaboutdmagic Blake's works were lauded as a rebellious artistic expression of his interpretation and feeling towards the social, cultural and economic climate of Britain in the 18th/19th century, as one of the preeminent romanticists. What is HP about? Nobody's going to big it up because its mostly pointless, and not even written well.
Does it not feel that Stewart Lee is getting rather lazy - Jeremy Clarkson, Dan Brown, Harry Potter, Chris Moyles etc. it all seems like choosing easy targets whilst pandering to the target audiences need to feel intellectually superior - I look forward to his searing routines on Cold Play and Simon Cowell.
@balkanize Hence why i said he is getting rather lazy- not that all his work is lazy- the majority of those mentioned were featured in his "Books" episode,which i felt was lazy, especially compared to his previous work, and the fact that he is considered incredibly well read and a talented author in his own right - his "IRA are gentleman terrorists" routine was pure genius on many levels for example. This just felt that he was pandering to the audiences desire to feel intellectually superior.
...intelligence' remark. Well, that is just my call based on my day to day interactions with people (although maybe I'm the problem in this regard, who knows). I mean, honestly though, if you're wanting confirmation that something is rotten in Denmark, just click on to the average youtube video and read some of the comments. Comments which range from inane to just plain vile. Those of course are the ones I could actually read through the miasma of 'cr8ive' spelling and non-existent grammar.
@eezysqueezy You know what, I'm going to bow out here, because the next reply would need to be about five posts long and it'd fry my brain. The crux of it however was that we live in a period now in which cultivating stupidity has become a mass profit-making scheme for corporations, and the worst thing we can do is believe it about ourselves, i.e. that we are stupid. Believing (as I geneuinely do) that there is still intellgence underneath is how things will get better. So be more positive!
Everyone knows that a comedian's stage persona is an exaggerated version of himself that he uses to highlight aspects of society that he finds ridiculous? Just checking. Also the frequently used "why go on about the harry potter books when you disagree with them" excuse for intelligent debate point.... the answer is very simple dear youtube comment people.... he is a comedian with a routine to write.
There's a bit of a difference between Jordan/footballers/anyone under 50 selling their 'autobiography' and Harry Potter really. The 'I've read William Blake' stuff is the worst kind of sixth-form shit really.
I enjoy rereading my copy of 'Harry Potter and the stick of wood', the complete works of romantic poet and visionary William Blake and the comedy styling of Stewart Lee. Can't we all just get along? Oh and by the way I'm a massive racist, but only on Youtube.
@DeanChillin279 If you are unable to discern the difference between Jordan and William Blake then you're a fucking tool and books aren't for you anyway. Buy a nintendo ds or something...
@eezysqueezy Where did you even get Jordan from? And mate, I've never argued on the internet before and I'm not about to start now. Shut your gob and enjoy the video.
@DeanChillin279 Sorry, I appear to have clicked on your post instead of the one by whipchorus. This is why my reply makes no sense to you. My mistake. Apologies and best wishes.
Because some people think they are for adults, and in fact go so far as to market silly 'adult' covers for the books. If you know this, and you like Lee's humour then there is no problem. Some adults love them, good for them but some of us think the series is ridiculous. And wish to laugh about it.
This all should have been so obvious that you really shouldn't of needed to write such a comment that I would be compelled to respond to.
You can't insult a book series that literally took me from reading picture books in grade 3 to 500 page novels in grade 5. (The main problem being that I wasn't interested in those short "chapter books" they have for little kids that have no substance).
He makes the point that the idea of adults reading the series is tragic, and you were a kid when you read it, so he's probably not concerned by your reading of it.
he doesnt say he hates harry potter, or that the books are shit. Just that he doesnt read them, because they're not aimed at him & he isnt interested in them. He is criticising adults who read children's books, not JK Rowling.
@markushollywood well, 29 would be the correct age of a fan now, as the first book came out in '97. I am not a kid anymore and I was too young to read when they came out. Also, adult fiction is crap, so as an avid reader I am always searching through the wasteland of young adult fiction for the gems of literature that are Harry Potter.
@sheleftmalfoy You would of been what ? 14/15 when they first came out and you are claiming to be unable to read them at that time ? I suspect J K Rowling wouldn't have to do much more than take a shit for literacy in the UK to improve if the standards of your teachers are anything to go by.
@markushollywood I was 6 when the first book came out, so I consider myself to be almost too young for the series, as I couldn't read at that time. I think true fans are the ones who are with the series for the whole time, or as soon as they discover it (which required the ability to read).
I would be able to take HangOnToYourEgo's point more seriously if he/she could spell. Not to mention the needless use of two intensifying adjectives (not even good ones!) where one would suffice and lack of punctuation!
Maybe using language correctly is a bit "ironically amazingly adolescent". Maybe pointing out miscues within the comment of a cretin is an "overstated declaration of maturity".
Series Two of Comedy Vehicle was even better than the first. Lee is refining his demographic ironicall
@jwrightbevans123 I thought it perhaps a little unfair to caricature those who share Mr Lee's views as sneering cleverer than thou types but I see you're quite happy to do that for me. I never claimed to be particularly bright or educated. I don't believe being able to spell or reading Blake over Potter makes anyone more vaild . I do however think Lee is a very skilled comic, often with an incisive point to make, so I find this very teenage and self flattering cultural elitism a let down.
To me overstated declarations of maturity and sophestication are ironically amazingly adolescent. I basically held the exact view expressed here when I was 17 years old.. I thought I was special for reading William Blake then too! Grow up Stew.
I don't agree. The Harry Potter books are well written, it is agreed. It is said repeatedly over and over again, over and over. But it is wizards and magical woo woo nonsense. It's fine that it is this, but it is only this and there are endless great works of classic literature that go without any such hype, yet could change a persons life.
@mayer8356 Asking someone to acknowledge someone's nationality as apposed to vaguely attributing it to a possible 3 countries is not being pedantic. I am pretty bigoted though.
@nailedurmum01 Lol. Guess I'll have to stop calling people from the US American then, lest they get offended and presume I'm mistaking them for Brazillians...
Take no notice of 'nailedurmum'.....the type of ppl who have a problem with being referred to as British generally make up the intellectually handicapped, xenophobic & bigoted elements of society...
@bunnygamercog nope as Lee relies on wit and intelligent observation, not rambling nonsense, the more nonsensical the rambling the funnier it is...no it isn't !!!
There's nothing wrong with reading Harry Potter. There's nothing wrong with reading genre fiction about dwarves and elves fucking each other either. Whatever you're in to: we all have 'low-brow' tastes. I think it becomes sad when that's all a grown-up reads. It sort of implies they're stupid/nerdy/emotionally retarded.
* Not that Harry Potter is particularly 'low-brow' - it's just that it's no Anton Chekhov.
I hate to say it, but at least Harry Potter had kids reading again. But unless they are reading it to their kids, adults who read it should be slapped repeatedly.
people do go over the top about Harry potter but Stewart Lee isnt very funny really, he just basically moans about everything and looks down his nose at people , middle class scum bag!!!!!!! At least when Frankie Boyle moans hes a bit "edgy" You read William Blake , ok , wow!!!
For me, he's the best stand up I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of stand ups. And it pleases me that he's not mainstream, because what he does is purposely not mainstream and its all the funnier for it. He's a comedy genius.
I'll laugh at jokes about things that I like, like Harry Potter, but I don't find this remotely funny. This is ignorance at its best. It says something when a film can't explain everything - it's because of the depth of the book and the complexity of it.
He's an arrogant man who needs to look past his judgement.
He's right. The phenomenon that is the Harry Potter books (and film adaptations thereof) is a fine example of how these days any old shit can become crazy popular if marketed well.
At long fucking last - someone has the sense to remind us that having standards and acting like adults is not some horrible symptom of becoming boring or whatever reason it is we're being sold down the river and encouraged to act like infants.
Someone is standing up against blatant fucking mediocrity.
@dfarmbrough I'm not trying to get the laugh. I'm just highlighting one of his memorable lines I think stand out in his set, hence to quotation marks.
I too thought the books were aimed at children, but after reading them all, I have concluded that they are well written fictional novels and very entertaining with many adult undertones which only adults can get. We all read for pure enjoyment sometimes and these books are entertaining. BTW I'm well over 50 and educated.
Love the way he's subtly railing against a huge section of the 'literary' industry who give not a fuck about quality, but care passionately about nuimbers, profit and shovelling as much horseshit down the throats of a willing populace.
This is why we have 'authors' like Katie Price/Jordan selling a ton of books. And probably also likely to explain the general downturn in the collective intelligence levels of the population in general.
@eezysqueezy I'm sorry but comparing J K Rowling to Jordan is totally ignorant. The Harry Potter books, whilst admittedly not being as stylistically inventive as, for example, Stewart Lee's comedy, are stories which extol truths and virtues absent from pop culture and do so in a way which is as engaging as pop culture: to my generation they were a godsend. And while we're at it, there has been no downturn in human intelligence, we're as smart as we've been for thousands of years...
@anthonydc50 ...the difference is that we now have tv and the internet and other such stuff which doesn't challenge our intelligence, and so it's sort of lying dormant. What won't reactivate it is the triumphalism and lack of nuance evident in your post. Shame on you and everyone who voted you to in the top comments section. It is not just Top Gear viewers who are reactionary.
@anthonydc50 There is, of course, a sliding scale of quality when it comes to books. JK Rowling would, in my view, be a significantly better writer than, say, Jordan or Jeremy Clarkson. However, the themes and ideas in Rowling's books are not new at all. In fact, her stories run along the structural lines of most novels (ie hero overcomes adversity to triumph in some way). She's done well and lots of people read her stuff - but she hasn't reinvented the wheel here. Also, if you think human.....
@anthonydc50 ..intelligence has not stalled in some way then please look around you and see a whole generation of illiterate zombies who are glued to either their i-phone, twitter or whatever other shit they use instead of their brains. You see, what you call "pop culture" I call a sort of mutual collective retardation. JK Rowling is selling a product and you are an enthusiastic consumer of the product she spews forth - but please, DO NOT try to convince me that it's anything other than generic.
@eezysqueezy Read my post again. Rowling hasn't reinvented the wheel, she has repackaged old, precious virtues in a way that's reached people. You seem to know how to deconstruct literature but my guess is that you don't know why reading is actually worthwhile. What's wrong with something being generic if it moves you? And don't just answer that to prove me wrong, think about it. (I'm still in the process of chewing this stuff over too.) And again, if you reread my post I said that people...
@anthonydc50 ...are not using their intelligence much right now, but that doesn't mean that they don't have any. Iphones and twitter are very enticing, that is why people use them so much, but you honestly believe that if such stuff was taken away from us we wouldn't have the same capacity for intelligence as ever? Again, don't argue, think. If you are so afraid of becoming a 'zombie' you'll do yourself that favour.
@anthonydc50 I see your point, really I do. But... I would respectfully suggest that, whilst Stewart Lee's stand-up comedy career and the mammoth money generating industry that has spring up around Rowling's boy wizard could both be defined as "products", to compare the two is nonsense. Harry Potter is a billion $£ industry that is tailored in many ways toward generating revenue for the book's publishers, warner bros etc etc. Lee is simply a comedian doing comedy in small/medium sized venues.
@eezysqueezy But regardless of the money machine around the books, the books themselves are still produced by one person who wants to connect with you, the reader. And comparing the effect Lee has on his viewer with that which Rowling has on her reader makes you realise some surprising stuff. Look, I'm not playing dumb here. Rowling isn't Kafka and Lee is neither nasty nor stupid. I want to make you see though that the 'we're all idiots, these are the last days of civilsation' line is...
@anthonydc50 ...insidious, because it's the kind of thing that makes you feel smart when in fact you're not being smart at all, you're just being lazy, you're just saying the obvious thing that people like yourself will agree with. (And the reason I know this is that I do it too.) The post of yours I originally replied to had 60 votes up, so you clearly have rhetorical skill. But you really need to think more before you use it.
@anthonydc50 The whole point of my original (60 thumbs up) post was that the literary 'industry' produces a lot of material that has no real merit over and above generating money for the publishers. And this isn't some generic rant about how standards have dropped and how we're all heading into some sort of anti-intellectual oblivion etc etc. It's just a result of what I've observed in book shops packed with inane celebrity biographies and other assorted tat. As for the 'collective...
i love the way he says "fuck off" in such a genuinely pissed off way. a lot of comedians can trivialise such phrases through overusage, but stew makes it something genuinely emotive. genius.
I can't even remember how many times I've watched this. He's absolutely hilarious and deserves to be higher up in society, along with Omid Djalili, Joe Pasquale, Harry Hill, etc.
He's spot on if you're over 17 and read Harry Potter you are by rights a cardboard cut-out cunt and a life of beige awaits you all.. Doubt any of you will reply as its Saturday and you'll be off to Ikea in your Volvos listening to an ABBA CD...
TripeSmuggler 1 month ago
@TripeSmuggler ...You do realise that an 18 year old would have been 5 when the first book came out? You might want to rework your theory.
eleanormargaret 1 month ago
I love Stewart Lee, but I hate some of the people who think that people who don't like him are just too stupid to understand. It's just an acquired taste, I can see why someone might not get him straight off. But I do think that if you don't like him, just watch more, you will end up loving him.
xTommyxGuitar 1 month ago
Look, comedy has every right to be deep, philosophical, and thought provoking.....but it also has to be funny, something Lee has no grasp of.
zufgh 1 month ago
Harry Potter and the... and the Forest of Embarrassment... or Harry Potter and the meh, meh meh meh, meehhh meh meh.
HeirOfTheDark 2 months ago
My favourite was "Harry Potter and the Tree of Nothing". Hee hee hee.
misswoodhouse94 2 months ago
It's hilarious when Harry Potter fans act self-righteous when discussing Twilight - like it isn't two sides of the same shit.
johncusackdeathcult 3 months ago
lololol "crock of shit" so witty! AND he told someone to "fuck off" at the end, Im definitely tweeting about this!
AudioFromGazaWar 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
uh... not funny at all
l33tpwnzord 3 months ago
Very quickly - it is NOT pretentious either for myself or 'TolerantSkinhead' to point out something which we genuinely believe to be for children to be so. Your reliance on the insult 'pretentious' also smacks of a middle-brow, non intellect.
In reality if people are pretentious - it requires an act; a facade. You sound like a fucking sixth former. Which leads us into: arrested development, anal retentiveness and, yes, adults imaginatively and emotionally attached to H Potter books. Goodbye.
H
NormanArches 3 months ago
do you not see how foolish it is to try and defend this?
Not really, because Rowling wrote them for children. She never pretended otherwise. Such was the embarrassment that adults were walking around with them they needed to have special covers made up. I don´t need to play with Duplo to realise it is for 3 year olds, my friend. I realise you think you are upholding some ineffably logical principle but you are really showing your lack of deeper reading if you care so much about this.Now F off.
NormanArches 3 months ago
@NormanArches - "upholding some ineffably logical principle" what, that logical principle that states that a persons entire intellect cannot be judged by a single book. Is that really such a hard concept for you to grasp. I have read the Potter series, but i have also read Henry James, Conran, Kerouac, Camus, Dickens, Bronte, Austin, Pirsig, Joyce, Lawrence to name but a few, but have also read City of Thieves and Northern Lights, does that make me a "thick cunt" or you a supercilious prick?
paulski1966 3 months ago 13
@paulski1966 Upvoted for "supercillious".
Thunderwolf666 3 months ago 2
@paulski1966 bragging about what books you've read, in an internet argument. You sound like a winner.
AudioFromGazaWar 3 months ago
@AudioFromGazaWar - or you could actually read what i wrote - which was a direct response to another post, rather then bragging about what i've read. Possibly this simple concept is too difficult for a "winner" such as yourself to grasp?
paulski1966 3 months ago 3
@paulski1966 no it just makes you a cunt
TripeSmuggler 3 weeks ago
@TripeSmuggler - Really? That's the best you can come up with? You viewed the video a week ago, and with all that time that was the smartest retort you could manage. Oh dear.
paulski1966 3 weeks ago
@paulski1966 you're a cunt too sir, 4 days this time for your audit
TripeSmuggler 2 weeks ago
@TripeSmuggler :yawn:
paulski1966 2 weeks ago
@paulski1966
^^ EARNS EXTRA POINTS FOR "SUPERCILIOUS". FORFEITS POINTS FOR ARGUING ON FACEBOOK ABOUT A CHILDRENS BOOK.
hoah 2 weeks ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@hoah "FORFEITS POINTS FOR ARGUING ON FACEBOOK ABOUT A CHILDRENS BOOK." loses points for confusing Facebook and YouTube.
paulski1966 2 weeks ago
@TolerantSkinhead - ha ha - Mr Kettle meet Mr Pot.
paulski1966 3 months ago
"It's also pretentious to comment on the quality of a series of books you've never read, or to assume that only well spoken middle class kids read them". Surely you mean misguided rather than pretentious. Or unarrantedly arrogant. This, you see, is the kind of basic linguistic error adults who read childrens´ books tend to make. That is why being defensively proud of being a thick cunt does not impress me.Now fuck off and read a book for adults. Here´s a good one: Postwar by Tony Judt.
NormanArches 3 months ago
So to clarify - You were pretentious to suggest everyone is a thick cunt, and you agree that your comments were misguided and arrogant. I could also argue that commenting on a series of books you've never read in a way to try and make yourself appear superior to those that have read them would constitute an undeserved claim of superiority. Either way, you are still commenting on the quality of books you've never read - and do you not see how foolish it is to try and defend this?
paulski1966 3 months ago
Wow! A lot of Harry Potter fans here!
BOBJABBA90 3 months ago
Darthcipient: it´s not petentious to not be a thick cunt and to have higher standards than a sheep. It´s just bullshit culture which makes it mandatory for thick people to try to push their thickness on people more intelligent, due to their laziness and inadequacy. There is little pretentious about Blake´s epics. They are like the best and most complex works of art - they demand and repay serious thought. No doubt you´d say someone liking or loving Dante or Picasso was pretentious as well.
NormanArches 4 months ago
@NormanArches - You're right its not pretentious to have higher standards, however it is pretentious to believe everyone else is a "thick cunt" for not having read something you have or vice versa. It's also pretentious to comment on the quality of a series of books you've never read, or to assume that only well spoken middle class kids read them.
paulski1966 4 months ago
"What a miserable....is!
J.K.Rowling ...literacy in the UK in 15 years.... his whole miserable life."
I´m guessing you´re one of the adults who learned to read on the tube via Rowling´s WIzard stories and gets quite emotional about it.
There don´t seem to be many working class kids round the parts of inner London where I used to live reading Harry Potter, nor did I see many in the media.
I did frequently, however, see lots of well spoken, middle class kids lapping it up.
NormanArches 4 months ago
fuck ooooooooooooooooooooooooooff!
astroboirap 5 months ago
Wait....didn't William Blake write about tree's of nothing, and paint pictures of little fairies? I don't want to look it up, because I like my point and I don't want facts to cloud it.
ThePolecatz 5 months ago
@ThePolecatz Ha! Good point- Blake's work was dripping with imagination, from his hallucinated deities to Fairy's funerals and visions of strange druidic rituals. But he's had centuries of scholars and poets bigging his work up so nobody feels awkward buying a copy of Blake.
allaboutdmagic 3 months ago
@allaboutdmagic Blake's works were lauded as a rebellious artistic expression of his interpretation and feeling towards the social, cultural and economic climate of Britain in the 18th/19th century, as one of the preeminent romanticists. What is HP about? Nobody's going to big it up because its mostly pointless, and not even written well.
mmscott9 2 months ago
Does it not feel that Stewart Lee is getting rather lazy - Jeremy Clarkson, Dan Brown, Harry Potter, Chris Moyles etc. it all seems like choosing easy targets whilst pandering to the target audiences need to feel intellectually superior - I look forward to his searing routines on Cold Play and Simon Cowell.
paulski1966 5 months ago 2
@paulski1966
Impressive cherry picking from his body of work there.
balkanize 5 months ago
@balkanize Hence why i said he is getting rather lazy- not that all his work is lazy- the majority of those mentioned were featured in his "Books" episode,which i felt was lazy, especially compared to his previous work, and the fact that he is considered incredibly well read and a talented author in his own right - his "IRA are gentleman terrorists" routine was pure genius on many levels for example. This just felt that he was pandering to the audiences desire to feel intellectually superior.
paulski1966 5 months ago 2
@paulski1966 Still fuckin' hilarious.
bulmeruk 3 months ago
...intelligence' remark. Well, that is just my call based on my day to day interactions with people (although maybe I'm the problem in this regard, who knows). I mean, honestly though, if you're wanting confirmation that something is rotten in Denmark, just click on to the average youtube video and read some of the comments. Comments which range from inane to just plain vile. Those of course are the ones I could actually read through the miasma of 'cr8ive' spelling and non-existent grammar.
eezysqueezy 6 months ago
@eezysqueezy You know what, I'm going to bow out here, because the next reply would need to be about five posts long and it'd fry my brain. The crux of it however was that we live in a period now in which cultivating stupidity has become a mass profit-making scheme for corporations, and the worst thing we can do is believe it about ourselves, i.e. that we are stupid. Believing (as I geneuinely do) that there is still intellgence underneath is how things will get better. So be more positive!
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 You make a fair point. I should be more positive about humanity.
eezysqueezy 6 months ago
Blake is a Prophet for the Soul!
Rowling just profit.
MrBeethoven1966 7 months ago
Wow whipchorus, you are a complete idiot. It's a joke, get a life and put the colouring in book down.
tomhearty 7 months ago
Everyone knows that a comedian's stage persona is an exaggerated version of himself that he uses to highlight aspects of society that he finds ridiculous? Just checking. Also the frequently used "why go on about the harry potter books when you disagree with them" excuse for intelligent debate point.... the answer is very simple dear youtube comment people.... he is a comedian with a routine to write.
mattduwell 7 months ago
There's a bit of a difference between Jordan/footballers/anyone under 50 selling their 'autobiography' and Harry Potter really. The 'I've read William Blake' stuff is the worst kind of sixth-form shit really.
whipchorus 7 months ago
@whipchorus What are you saying? That he hasn't really read William Blake? Or that he's showing off his intelligence and is being a snob?
tbk1457 7 months ago
I enjoy rereading my copy of 'Harry Potter and the stick of wood', the complete works of romantic poet and visionary William Blake and the comedy styling of Stewart Lee. Can't we all just get along? Oh and by the way I'm a massive racist, but only on Youtube.
DeanChillin279 7 months ago
@DeanChillin279 If you are unable to discern the difference between Jordan and William Blake then you're a fucking tool and books aren't for you anyway. Buy a nintendo ds or something...
eezysqueezy 7 months ago
@eezysqueezy Where did you even get Jordan from? And mate, I've never argued on the internet before and I'm not about to start now. Shut your gob and enjoy the video.
DeanChillin279 6 months ago
@DeanChillin279 Sorry, I appear to have clicked on your post instead of the one by whipchorus. This is why my reply makes no sense to you. My mistake. Apologies and best wishes.
eezysqueezy 6 months ago
Well done Stewart, for reading the complete works of William Blake. Big pat on the back.
If you acknowledge that they are children's books, why fucking GO ON ABOUT IT.
whipchorus 7 months ago
@whipchorus
Because some people think they are for adults, and in fact go so far as to market silly 'adult' covers for the books. If you know this, and you like Lee's humour then there is no problem. Some adults love them, good for them but some of us think the series is ridiculous. And wish to laugh about it.
This all should have been so obvious that you really shouldn't of needed to write such a comment that I would be compelled to respond to.
billhicks8 7 months ago
Comment removed
goodflo911 7 months ago
I like Stewart Lee, but this is just pretentious fucking shit.
DarthCipient 7 months ago
You can't insult a book series that literally took me from reading picture books in grade 3 to 500 page novels in grade 5. (The main problem being that I wasn't interested in those short "chapter books" they have for little kids that have no substance).
sheleftmalfoy 8 months ago
@sheleftmalfoy
He makes the point that the idea of adults reading the series is tragic, and you were a kid when you read it, so he's probably not concerned by your reading of it.
joeg1988 7 months ago
He's a prick
Ireland690 8 months ago
I thought comedy based on philosophical, edgy social commentary died with Bill Hicks. I guess I'm wrong. This guy is genius.
romanval69 8 months ago 6
he doesnt say he hates harry potter, or that the books are shit. Just that he doesnt read them, because they're not aimed at him & he isnt interested in them. He is criticising adults who read children's books, not JK Rowling.
UnderwhelmingSuccess 8 months ago
What a miserable unfunny twat Stewart Lee is!
J.K.Rowling has done more for literacy in the UK in 15 years than Lee will achieve in any filed in his whole miserable life.
iatebobby 8 months ago 2
@iatebobby From the mouths of 29 year old Harry Potter fans.
markushollywood 8 months ago
@markushollywood well, 29 would be the correct age of a fan now, as the first book came out in '97. I am not a kid anymore and I was too young to read when they came out. Also, adult fiction is crap, so as an avid reader I am always searching through the wasteland of young adult fiction for the gems of literature that are Harry Potter.
sheleftmalfoy 8 months ago
@sheleftmalfoy You would of been what ? 14/15 when they first came out and you are claiming to be unable to read them at that time ? I suspect J K Rowling wouldn't have to do much more than take a shit for literacy in the UK to improve if the standards of your teachers are anything to go by.
markushollywood 7 months ago
@markushollywood I was 6 when the first book came out, so I consider myself to be almost too young for the series, as I couldn't read at that time. I think true fans are the ones who are with the series for the whole time, or as soon as they discover it (which required the ability to read).
sheleftmalfoy 7 months ago
@iatebobby field
mrchips2021 8 months ago
@iatebobby Just say that you don't get the joke, no need to expose your lack of humour like that; it's embarrassing rally.
Nymphibious 7 months ago
ahh man he hates harry potter! I love harry potter bad times!
Staraahhskinss 8 months ago
I would be able to take HangOnToYourEgo's point more seriously if he/she could spell. Not to mention the needless use of two intensifying adjectives (not even good ones!) where one would suffice and lack of punctuation!
Maybe using language correctly is a bit "ironically amazingly adolescent". Maybe pointing out miscues within the comment of a cretin is an "overstated declaration of maturity".
Series Two of Comedy Vehicle was even better than the first. Lee is refining his demographic ironicall
jwrightbevans123 8 months ago
@jwrightbevans123 I thought it perhaps a little unfair to caricature those who share Mr Lee's views as sneering cleverer than thou types but I see you're quite happy to do that for me. I never claimed to be particularly bright or educated. I don't believe being able to spell or reading Blake over Potter makes anyone more vaild . I do however think Lee is a very skilled comic, often with an incisive point to make, so I find this very teenage and self flattering cultural elitism a let down.
HangOnToYourEgo 8 months ago
To me overstated declarations of maturity and sophestication are ironically amazingly adolescent. I basically held the exact view expressed here when I was 17 years old.. I thought I was special for reading William Blake then too! Grow up Stew.
HangOnToYourEgo 8 months ago 3
@HangOnToYourEgo
I don't agree. The Harry Potter books are well written, it is agreed. It is said repeatedly over and over again, over and over. But it is wizards and magical woo woo nonsense. It's fine that it is this, but it is only this and there are endless great works of classic literature that go without any such hype, yet could change a persons life.
billhicks8 7 months ago
@HangOnToYourEgo i would expect nothing less stupid from an ASOIAF fan hahahahrhgh
BEARCRAB 5 months ago
Harry Potter and the crock of shit
ifthisisaman 9 months ago
lol harry potter and the mitten of wool haha
i'm a fan but that is FUNNY!
vickienck 9 months ago
What a complete tool
PhillipMMarchment 9 months ago
I love it when British people say, "fuck off." The way they say it is just priceless
TurquoiseCowboy 10 months ago
@TurquoiseCowboy Then I will make your day; Don't refer to ENGLISH people as British......Fuck off
nailedurmum01 9 months ago
@nailedurmum01 You're right, my bad, I should've said english people.
TurquoiseCowboy 9 months ago
@nailedurmum01 Well I find you to be a bigoted and pedantic cunt, so fuck off.
mayer8356 8 months ago
@mayer8356 Asking someone to acknowledge someone's nationality as apposed to vaguely attributing it to a possible 3 countries is not being pedantic. I am pretty bigoted though.
nailedurmum01 8 months ago
@nailedurmum01 Lol what the hell? I'm from England and I don't get offended when people call em British...What are you, a member of the EDL?
BoJanglezzzzzz 8 months ago
@BoJanglezzzzzz I don't find it offensive, just really annoying
nailedurmum01 8 months ago
@nailedurmum01 That's not really my point, I was more aiming at why do you feel the need for the distinction?
BoJanglezzzzzz 8 months ago
@BoJanglezzzzzz So I am not misconstrued as being welsh
nailedurmum01 8 months ago
@nailedurmum01 Lol. Guess I'll have to stop calling people from the US American then, lest they get offended and presume I'm mistaking them for Brazillians...
BoJanglezzzzzz 8 months ago
@BoJanglezzzzzz that's different. there's nowt wrong with brazillians.
nailedurmum01 8 months ago
@TurquoiseCowboy
Take no notice of 'nailedurmum'.....the type of ppl who have a problem with being referred to as British generally make up the intellectually handicapped, xenophobic & bigoted elements of society...
supahdupahguy81 9 months ago
@supahdupahguy81 Oh ok haha. I thought it was kind of weird that he didn't like being called british.
TurquoiseCowboy 9 months ago
I love reading Harry Potter and don't intend to stop reading it but I still found the stand up funny :3
Omegian14 10 months ago
he's no eddie izzard.
bunnygamercog 10 months ago
@bunnygamercog No, he's a lot better.
Izzard completely lost credibility when he decided to campaign for Gordon Brown.
albedo0point39 10 months ago
@bunnygamercog nope as Lee relies on wit and intelligent observation, not rambling nonsense, the more nonsensical the rambling the funnier it is...no it isn't !!!
Fred6498 10 months ago
@bunnygamercog
Eddie Izzard is an awful, unfunny, attention-loving, populist, snobby cunt.
FUCK eddie izzard.
Cockwallet 9 months ago
@bunnygamercog You mean he is not shit?
ufewl 5 months ago
That last line is a classic.
joemegson94 11 months ago
Well, I suppose it's inappropriate for me to enjoy The Wind in the Willows or Hans Christian Andersen anymore... now that I'm 22.
TuliTheUnruly 1 year ago
harry potter and the forest of embarrassment is the best.
Peter0ne8 1 year ago
There's nothing wrong with reading Harry Potter. There's nothing wrong with reading genre fiction about dwarves and elves fucking each other either. Whatever you're in to: we all have 'low-brow' tastes. I think it becomes sad when that's all a grown-up reads. It sort of implies they're stupid/nerdy/emotionally retarded.
* Not that Harry Potter is particularly 'low-brow' - it's just that it's no Anton Chekhov.
w00tabulous 1 year ago 8
@w00tabulous Oh fuck off.
wellesradio 5 months ago in playlist Stewart Lee stand up
@w00tabulous Harry Potter objectively sucks and you're defending it, lol.
fyadcorp 5 months ago
I hate to say it, but at least Harry Potter had kids reading again. But unless they are reading it to their kids, adults who read it should be slapped repeatedly.
schadenfreudelolz22 1 year ago
people do go over the top about Harry potter but Stewart Lee isnt very funny really, he just basically moans about everything and looks down his nose at people , middle class scum bag!!!!!!! At least when Frankie Boyle moans hes a bit "edgy" You read William Blake , ok , wow!!!
jimmyshelter 1 year ago
@jimmyshelter - i bet you've read all of the potter books hahahahahahaah
SpaceCowboy9280 1 year ago
i was 11 when harry potter came out, so i have my excuses for loving the books. that being said, they ARE childrens books.
chefawkes 1 year ago
For me, he's the best stand up I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of stand ups. And it pleases me that he's not mainstream, because what he does is purposely not mainstream and its all the funnier for it. He's a comedy genius.
Eggmandu 1 year ago
I'll laugh at jokes about things that I like, like Harry Potter, but I don't find this remotely funny. This is ignorance at its best. It says something when a film can't explain everything - it's because of the depth of the book and the complexity of it.
He's an arrogant man who needs to look past his judgement.
syhr92 1 year ago
He's right. The phenomenon that is the Harry Potter books (and film adaptations thereof) is a fine example of how these days any old shit can become crazy popular if marketed well.
vandimar77 1 year ago
@vandimar77
Just like The totally peice of shit that is Twilight.
WolfytheWolf5667 1 year ago
@WolfytheWolf5667 so true, so true
champjklccmk 1 year ago
He might like them though!
O_o
srazzz 1 year ago
At long fucking last - someone has the sense to remind us that having standards and acting like adults is not some horrible symptom of becoming boring or whatever reason it is we're being sold down the river and encouraged to act like infants.
Someone is standing up against blatant fucking mediocrity.
I support that someone.
BPL1980 1 year ago 4
@BPL1980 Escapism is healthy.
Khronnus 1 year ago
I absolutely adore Harry Potter, but this is still funny.
culturevulture123 1 year ago
tree of nothing made me lol
netscapepizza 1 year ago
I love him but he really needs Richard Herring standing there to feed him the foolish lines.
GrandDizzy 1 year ago
executed perfectly.
1608Nikolai 1 year ago
0:45
Idlevice 1 year ago
... and the tree of nothing hahhahahhah
dumbnetworks 1 year ago
"No I haven't read it because I'm a 40 year-old man."
TheHomelessCripple 1 year ago 8
@TheHomelessCripple Haha at your comment - you repeated one of his lines, and now I'm laughing as if you'd thought of it!
dfarmbrough 1 year ago
@dfarmbrough I'm not trying to get the laugh. I'm just highlighting one of his memorable lines I think stand out in his set, hence to quotation marks.
TheHomelessCripple 1 year ago
@TheHomelessCripple Oh. I always wondered what people were doing when they repeated lines from comedies in YouTube comments. Now I know :-)
dfarmbrough 1 year ago
why not take an extra book home, and put it in the FREEZER.
GlasgowCelticPat1888 1 year ago
I too thought the books were aimed at children, but after reading them all, I have concluded that they are well written fictional novels and very entertaining with many adult undertones which only adults can get. We all read for pure enjoyment sometimes and these books are entertaining. BTW I'm well over 50 and educated.
RhondaH 1 year ago
@RhondaH Yeah but that doesn't work as a zinger for cheap laughs.
FeepingCreature 1 year ago
The only good thing about the Harry Potter books is that they wind up the devout christians.
raithrover1976 1 year ago 2
this is the first time i've heard him say "fuck"....wow
WUTagain 1 year ago
@WUTagain yeah, but worked like a charm :]
utar88utar 1 year ago
BULL SHIT.
afraidofreality 1 year ago
He looks like a slightly younger Albert Finney.
flimpkin4 1 year ago
Surely you mean a squashed Albert Finney =)
deadheadchemist 1 year ago
@deadheadchemist Or a slightly crumpled Morrissey?
benjivaudeville 1 year ago 2
@benjivaudeville it's the hair ;P
skrowmedia 1 year ago
Harry Potter is a pile of Garbage just like the US Congress.
v19d 1 year ago 2
tree of nothing cracks me up everytime
JapeUK 2 years ago 4
Harry Potter and the Forest of Embarassment.
cm2dude 2 years ago 7
He wins, he wins the game of life my friends.
supernole100 2 years ago 4
because we want to. so fuck off
greasyelvis 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Because we're awesome
Jamlincrowman 2 years ago 2
Love the way he's subtly railing against a huge section of the 'literary' industry who give not a fuck about quality, but care passionately about nuimbers, profit and shovelling as much horseshit down the throats of a willing populace.
This is why we have 'authors' like Katie Price/Jordan selling a ton of books. And probably also likely to explain the general downturn in the collective intelligence levels of the population in general.
eezysqueezy 2 years ago 60
I appreciate immensely your use of quotation marks when applying the term "author" to Jordan. Your comment is so very, very right.
wrightherewrightnow9 2 years ago 3
@eezysqueezy Yes, such as some shite about Nostradamus or hauntings on suppoesed scientific doco channels.
leighroypaddy73 1 year ago
Comment removed
goodflo911 7 months ago
@eezysqueezy I'm sorry but comparing J K Rowling to Jordan is totally ignorant. The Harry Potter books, whilst admittedly not being as stylistically inventive as, for example, Stewart Lee's comedy, are stories which extol truths and virtues absent from pop culture and do so in a way which is as engaging as pop culture: to my generation they were a godsend. And while we're at it, there has been no downturn in human intelligence, we're as smart as we've been for thousands of years...
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 ...the difference is that we now have tv and the internet and other such stuff which doesn't challenge our intelligence, and so it's sort of lying dormant. What won't reactivate it is the triumphalism and lack of nuance evident in your post. Shame on you and everyone who voted you to in the top comments section. It is not just Top Gear viewers who are reactionary.
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 There is, of course, a sliding scale of quality when it comes to books. JK Rowling would, in my view, be a significantly better writer than, say, Jordan or Jeremy Clarkson. However, the themes and ideas in Rowling's books are not new at all. In fact, her stories run along the structural lines of most novels (ie hero overcomes adversity to triumph in some way). She's done well and lots of people read her stuff - but she hasn't reinvented the wheel here. Also, if you think human.....
eezysqueezy 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 ..intelligence has not stalled in some way then please look around you and see a whole generation of illiterate zombies who are glued to either their i-phone, twitter or whatever other shit they use instead of their brains. You see, what you call "pop culture" I call a sort of mutual collective retardation. JK Rowling is selling a product and you are an enthusiastic consumer of the product she spews forth - but please, DO NOT try to convince me that it's anything other than generic.
eezysqueezy 6 months ago
@eezysqueezy Read my post again. Rowling hasn't reinvented the wheel, she has repackaged old, precious virtues in a way that's reached people. You seem to know how to deconstruct literature but my guess is that you don't know why reading is actually worthwhile. What's wrong with something being generic if it moves you? And don't just answer that to prove me wrong, think about it. (I'm still in the process of chewing this stuff over too.) And again, if you reread my post I said that people...
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 ...are not using their intelligence much right now, but that doesn't mean that they don't have any. Iphones and twitter are very enticing, that is why people use them so much, but you honestly believe that if such stuff was taken away from us we wouldn't have the same capacity for intelligence as ever? Again, don't argue, think. If you are so afraid of becoming a 'zombie' you'll do yourself that favour.
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 And also, eezysqueezy, have you considered that Stewart Lee is also selling a product that you are an enthusiastic consumer of?
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 I see your point, really I do. But... I would respectfully suggest that, whilst Stewart Lee's stand-up comedy career and the mammoth money generating industry that has spring up around Rowling's boy wizard could both be defined as "products", to compare the two is nonsense. Harry Potter is a billion $£ industry that is tailored in many ways toward generating revenue for the book's publishers, warner bros etc etc. Lee is simply a comedian doing comedy in small/medium sized venues.
eezysqueezy 6 months ago
@eezysqueezy But regardless of the money machine around the books, the books themselves are still produced by one person who wants to connect with you, the reader. And comparing the effect Lee has on his viewer with that which Rowling has on her reader makes you realise some surprising stuff. Look, I'm not playing dumb here. Rowling isn't Kafka and Lee is neither nasty nor stupid. I want to make you see though that the 'we're all idiots, these are the last days of civilsation' line is...
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 ...insidious, because it's the kind of thing that makes you feel smart when in fact you're not being smart at all, you're just being lazy, you're just saying the obvious thing that people like yourself will agree with. (And the reason I know this is that I do it too.) The post of yours I originally replied to had 60 votes up, so you clearly have rhetorical skill. But you really need to think more before you use it.
anthonydc50 6 months ago
@anthonydc50 The whole point of my original (60 thumbs up) post was that the literary 'industry' produces a lot of material that has no real merit over and above generating money for the publishers. And this isn't some generic rant about how standards have dropped and how we're all heading into some sort of anti-intellectual oblivion etc etc. It's just a result of what I've observed in book shops packed with inane celebrity biographies and other assorted tat. As for the 'collective...
eezysqueezy 6 months ago
Alas young yorick, harry potter is here to save the day with his magical stick of wood.
MrOscarWild 2 years ago
The Tree of.... Nothing.
God I love that line.
JapeUK 2 years ago 58
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Strange how intelligent people judge about things they haven't seen or read themselves.
stesch 2 years ago
i havent read the bible, i still know its full of bullshit.
jedaaa 2 years ago 12
Potter fans don't think the story is real.
stesch 2 years ago
hahaha good one yeah,
jedaaa 2 years ago
I have, and you're right.
sonicwingnut 2 years ago
To be fair I think its more getting at the fact EVERYONE was constantly talking about them.
JapeUK 2 years ago
He's a comedian, he's trying to be funny.
Mesnesl 2 years ago
i love the way he says "fuck off" in such a genuinely pissed off way. a lot of comedians can trivialise such phrases through overusage, but stew makes it something genuinely emotive. genius.
dixy10 2 years ago 10
I was thinking the same.
playerthe2nd 2 years ago
david mitchel is a god of saying fuck
jedaaa 2 years ago 4
The pauses before "...the tree of...nothing"
are what make him genius, as if he's just coming up with that off the top of his head. Couldn't agree more with the sentiment of the rant either!
ryko26 2 years ago 4
I'm with him all the way on this one! Seen his stand up live a couple times and he's just brilliant.
candybaps 2 years ago 2
I can't even remember how many times I've watched this. He's absolutely hilarious and deserves to be higher up in society, along with Omid Djalili, Joe Pasquale, Harry Hill, etc.
iisjakolas 2 years ago
not joe pasquale. he has writers and so he doesn;t write his own jokes and he steals other people's jokes. look at the stewart lee clip
jmmypaddy 2 years ago 2