I like Stewart Lee's comedy, but the man's head is so far up his arse it's unbelievable.
Even fans have to admit that he plays up to some highbrow, intellectualised concept of the comedian, but then you watch something like TMWRNJ and it's just silly (albeit very funny); the kind of thing that he usually dismisses as 'warm diarrhoea'.
Herring is definitely my favourite person in the duo. His style of stand up is very similar to Stew's, he likes to repeat inane jokes too, but more laid back.
@gorgobar No, I just re-watched TMWRNJ because someone had uploaded the episodes onto YouTube. There's nothing wrong with criticising someone on the basis of an earlier period of work.
Anyway, my main point was that Herring's recent stand up gigs are similar to Stewart's in both style and content, but he has more of a relaxed approach to life and for that reason I prefer him.
Maybe you had to be there at the time, I will confess that there maybe something I am missing here in the whole 'chippington luv up' here. I sort of see where they are coming from but I feel the main reason he is liked by a certain set of alternative comics is that, in reality, they fear the audiance and don't really see why they should go out of their way to amuse and find appeal in someone who just gets up there and makes no compromise. Interesting by all means but its not comedy.
@BelatedCommiseration There may be some truth to that. After all, Tommy Cooper also traded on deliberately bad jokes (and the same faux-rubbish magic that Sadowitz does), but he made it a shared experience with the audience, instead of adopting the pose that this was largely - if not entirely - for his own benefit. And that's a key reason why some acts become mainstream and others don't. But I doubt you'll disagree that some form of fringe 'anti-comedy' is vital for the art's overall health.
@BelatedCommiseration Interestingly, Stewart Lee reports that Arthur Smith and Frank Skinner have accused him of saying that Ted Chippington is his hero just for effect.
@kisbie Interesting. He does seem to play up to image of revering Ted Chippington. I think he even bought out a set of DVD's concerning him so his comic memory would be something that aliens can ponder over the millenia to establish to their satisfaction whether we were truely intelligent life. I believe he even mentions the DVD' here. It may well be a bit of the old Stewart Lee deconstruction and irony, but I have heard him mention Ted Chippington at other intervals as an influence.
@BelatedCommiseration Well said. Ted's jokes are humourless, it's an interesting social experiment don't get me wrong - but he's by not any means a real comedian. I respect the guy going up on stage and talking shite, he's either very brave or a little retarded
i remember hearing Ted on some dodgy recorded shitty tape in the late eighties and thinking it was both shit and genius at the same time.....the jokes i heard were so bad they were good and i love saying them to people for their reaction......you either love it or you don't.....simple but effective comedy,,,,,,ted is simply one of his own....and we loves him for it....cheers Ted from a bloke who hasn't come up to you,
See I always knew Lee hada a michievious steak to him - but to hear he was inspired by this guy confirms it. Some of his material can be quiet unconventional/hostile (Andy Kauffman like) and needs serious balls to pull off.
@veruccio anyone that has the balls to do something original isn't a bad anything. Im a comedian and id much rather see a trainwreck than a mediocre, unoriginal lame spewing the same boring shit that every other comic does.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
A bad comedian is a bad comedian regardless of whether flavour of the month Stewart Lee says otherwise. In fact it's rather cruel of this pseudo-intellectual to patronize this man's abject failure as being something 'special' that only 'special people' can understand and appreciate.
@vecuccio I like the idea of Stewart Lee being a flavour of the month... He'd probably find it funny as well. And i think you're just jealous because you're not one of us special people.
@vecuccio You're the one doing the patronising. He wasnt a bad comedian, he just liked getting a rise out of the audience..he didnt even see himself as a comedian.
@vecuccio A bad comedian by your standards is a comedian that attempted being funny and failed. Ted's act was to be being deliberately listless and repeatedly make awkward jokes or no jokes. The inevitable annoyed reaction he got was what he wanted so he was actually successful in his goals. Ted explains this in the video. I do not consider myself 'special' and I understand and appreciate it as well as many comedians other than Stew.
Lauren Laverne is a humongous self serving twat. All she does is say things in a slightly unconventional way which makes people think she might be approaching different or interesting. She's neither, shes just a cuntdick.
Hate to be predictable but just keep clicking 0:03 sounds like she's saying bad boy with a sultry look. Is there some way I could turn that into a screensaver.
Stewart Lee's my favourite standup but I think he's wrong about Ted's greatness. It's just puns, which are lower than sarcasm on the wit scale. He reminds me of Tim Vine. Puns are sometimes clever but never funny, it's just wordplay and it's very easy. Great comedy is truth revealed in an inspired way.
@markyboy84 I think the point of Ted's comedy is that it is weak, he's trying to annoy people by being crap, and to some, there's something inherently funny about a man who calls himself a commedian standing on stage just winding people up for his own amusement. He pioneered a comedic device that Stew and others now use. This happens in music, someone experiments with something new and it might not work or the end product might not be brilliant, but they develop something which others can use.
@Dr0ctave I'll give you the point that he blazed a trail for the likes of Lee and Munnery but his work in itself isn't good. When Lee experiments with audience alienation, like with the Tom O' Connor bit, he does so from a true understanding of what is funny and what isn't, and so it works. The difference between Chip and Lee is that Chip was a geniunely bad comic who began to enjoy audience apathy, Lee is comic genius who plays with audience apathy to test the limits of comedy.
@markyboy84 Yeah, Stew is very creative. I hope he comes back to Sheffield soon, I missed him the last time. I'd love to see him one day. I've been into comedy since I was a kid but I've never actually seen any live stand-up. I think going to one of his gigs would be a great introduction.
Why is James Brown even on this segment? The one mile joke is genius i'll have him know. Also in defence of Jupitus, regardless of his latter day sins he was up there with Chippington opening for bands in the early 80s, showing alternative comedy to the provinces as 'Porky the Poet', so he at least as historical reason to be involved.
I say Ted a few times live (though he was so deadpan, live feels like an exaggeration). When he retired he swore blind we was going to the USA to become a trucker, wonder what happened.
I knew everyone on the alternative alternative comedy family tree, can I have a comedy PHD please Stu? Also why the heck is Simon Munnery not as big as he should be? "Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your legs" anyone? No? Just me then...
"I was walking down the road the other day, this chap drove up beside me and said, 'Excuse me, mate, I'm in a dilemma.' I said, 'Aye, good motors, Dilemmas. I was thinking of buying one myself. A red one perhaps.'"
It reminds me of The Aristocrats. Both cases involved a group of comedians going on about a joke that is nowhere near as funny or important as they seem to think it is, despite how much they manage to convince themselves to the contrary.
Stewart Lee is probably my favourite comedian, and I'm also a big fan of Richard Herring and Simon Munnery, but I just do not get their fondness for Ted Chippington. I know it's supposed to be the joke that he's not funny, but knowing that it's still not really funny. Maybe it's just not a very original idea anymore, especially with people like Neil Hamburger copying him, but I dunno, it's not that I don't 'get it', I just don't think it's as funny as they seem to be making out.
Wow. I just found out who Simon Munnery was, or the name of the man who is Simon Munnery. He told jokes on TV, and from thence the humour arose. Thus he won.
Maybe Marcel Duchamp was like the Ted Chippington of modern art.
Ted is certainly a comedian you either find very funny or not at all funny, no real inbetween. I don't think Ted would want it any other way. It's as much about the audience reaction as it is what he has said. I'm in the 'very funny' camp.
The first time I heard One mile it went so completely over my head. Then I rewound the video, listened to it two more times and on the last time I got it and my face cracked. It is now permanently and irreparably devalued.
7:10 ..your last chance now to join in.
Hahhaha
MyBallsAreSquared 2 weeks ago
Ted is a bizarre chap, an oddity, who wants to annoy people. That alone is why he's funny
gmcaveety93 2 weeks ago
Morrisseys let himself go
Bigchimpin87 1 month ago
I like Stewart Lee's comedy, but the man's head is so far up his arse it's unbelievable.
Even fans have to admit that he plays up to some highbrow, intellectualised concept of the comedian, but then you watch something like TMWRNJ and it's just silly (albeit very funny); the kind of thing that he usually dismisses as 'warm diarrhoea'.
Herring is definitely my favourite person in the duo. His style of stand up is very similar to Stew's, he likes to repeat inane jokes too, but more laid back.
TenWhoWereTaken 2 months ago
@TenWhoWereTaken You are stuck in the nineties if you are still rating Stewart Lee on the basis of his collaboration with Herring.
gorgobar 1 month ago
@gorgobar No, I just re-watched TMWRNJ because someone had uploaded the episodes onto YouTube. There's nothing wrong with criticising someone on the basis of an earlier period of work.
Anyway, my main point was that Herring's recent stand up gigs are similar to Stewart's in both style and content, but he has more of a relaxed approach to life and for that reason I prefer him.
TenWhoWereTaken 1 month ago
@TenWhoWereTaken totally agree
BdR76 1 week ago
Comment removed
BinauralBrainwave 2 months ago
I love the way Ted says "popular", with confusion, bemusement and disdain.
claxtondog 5 months ago
This chap said to me: "D'you want some LSD?" I said: "No thanks mate, we've gone decimalised now. Pounds, shillings, pence - no use to me any more."
spoitguitar 8 months ago
It's a surprise seeing Stewart Lee do a Knock On Someone's Door, They Respond Quickly And Casually, Shut The Cameraman Out shot.
colintron 8 months ago 4
@colintron not quite as surprising as it would be if he did a splash shot.
Slycheetah 7 months ago
Rose tinted glasses.
I'm just the same. As far as I'm concerned, when I was younger every pop song was brilliant and every TV programme was ace.
But that's more about my memory than their actual quality.
fodsaks 9 months ago
Maybe you had to be there at the time, I will confess that there maybe something I am missing here in the whole 'chippington luv up' here. I sort of see where they are coming from but I feel the main reason he is liked by a certain set of alternative comics is that, in reality, they fear the audiance and don't really see why they should go out of their way to amuse and find appeal in someone who just gets up there and makes no compromise. Interesting by all means but its not comedy.
BelatedCommiseration 9 months ago
@BelatedCommiseration There may be some truth to that. After all, Tommy Cooper also traded on deliberately bad jokes (and the same faux-rubbish magic that Sadowitz does), but he made it a shared experience with the audience, instead of adopting the pose that this was largely - if not entirely - for his own benefit. And that's a key reason why some acts become mainstream and others don't. But I doubt you'll disagree that some form of fringe 'anti-comedy' is vital for the art's overall health.
kisbie 9 months ago
@BelatedCommiseration Interestingly, Stewart Lee reports that Arthur Smith and Frank Skinner have accused him of saying that Ted Chippington is his hero just for effect.
kisbie 9 months ago
@kisbie Interesting. He does seem to play up to image of revering Ted Chippington. I think he even bought out a set of DVD's concerning him so his comic memory would be something that aliens can ponder over the millenia to establish to their satisfaction whether we were truely intelligent life. I believe he even mentions the DVD' here. It may well be a bit of the old Stewart Lee deconstruction and irony, but I have heard him mention Ted Chippington at other intervals as an influence.
BelatedCommiseration 9 months ago
@BelatedCommiseration Well said. Ted's jokes are humourless, it's an interesting social experiment don't get me wrong - but he's by not any means a real comedian. I respect the guy going up on stage and talking shite, he's either very brave or a little retarded
gmcaveety93 2 weeks ago
i remember hearing Ted on some dodgy recorded shitty tape in the late eighties and thinking it was both shit and genius at the same time.....the jokes i heard were so bad they were good and i love saying them to people for their reaction......you either love it or you don't.....simple but effective comedy,,,,,,ted is simply one of his own....and we loves him for it....cheers Ted from a bloke who hasn't come up to you,
ady24 9 months ago
See I always knew Lee hada a michievious steak to him - but to hear he was inspired by this guy confirms it. Some of his material can be quiet unconventional/hostile (Andy Kauffman like) and needs serious balls to pull off.
weirdcitykid 9 months ago
@weirdcitykid Yeah I was thinking of Kaufman too.
comanchio1976 9 months ago
@comanchio1976 Me too, Im a fan of Kaufman, but he's to be a fan of which is strange
BottomBoosh 2 months ago
@veruccio anyone that has the balls to do something original isn't a bad anything. Im a comedian and id much rather see a trainwreck than a mediocre, unoriginal lame spewing the same boring shit that every other comic does.
FullyAutoMathmatics 10 months ago 2
Stew's so happy to meet Ted!
stevenuuu1212 11 months ago 2
He came out, Ted...
coquese 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
A bad comedian is a bad comedian regardless of whether flavour of the month Stewart Lee says otherwise. In fact it's rather cruel of this pseudo-intellectual to patronize this man's abject failure as being something 'special' that only 'special people' can understand and appreciate.
vecuccio 1 year ago
@vecuccio I think you're way off the mark there, on so many levels.
imjackcooper 1 year ago 35
@vecuccio I like the idea of Stewart Lee being a flavour of the month... He'd probably find it funny as well. And i think you're just jealous because you're not one of us special people.
Flowerblood 10 months ago
@vecuccio You're the one doing the patronising. He wasnt a bad comedian, he just liked getting a rise out of the audience..he didnt even see himself as a comedian.
comanchio1976 9 months ago 2
@vecuccio A bad comedian by your standards is a comedian that attempted being funny and failed. Ted's act was to be being deliberately listless and repeatedly make awkward jokes or no jokes. The inevitable annoyed reaction he got was what he wanted so he was actually successful in his goals. Ted explains this in the video. I do not consider myself 'special' and I understand and appreciate it as well as many comedians other than Stew.
abnegatingconformity 7 months ago
Thanks for posting. Now I know what LSD means.
ohheckforgotusername 1 year ago
Lauren Laverne is a humongous self serving twat. All she does is say things in a slightly unconventional way which makes people think she might be approaching different or interesting. She's neither, shes just a cuntdick.
hippotoast 1 year ago
@hippotoast You're completely right. She's actually just vacuous, inane and irritating.
pennydesouza 1 year ago
@hippotoast She does have nice tits though.
TheEskimosPantry 9 months ago
Hate to be predictable but just keep clicking 0:03 sounds like she's saying bad boy with a sultry look. Is there some way I could turn that into a screensaver.
dazpatreg 1 year ago
"I first saw Ted supporting the Fall in 1984"... Well I don't know who Ted Chippington is yet, but I like him a little bit already.
3LARI 1 year ago 2
Who is that James Brown guy?
uninterestingstudent 1 year ago
Stewart Lee's my favourite standup but I think he's wrong about Ted's greatness. It's just puns, which are lower than sarcasm on the wit scale. He reminds me of Tim Vine. Puns are sometimes clever but never funny, it's just wordplay and it's very easy. Great comedy is truth revealed in an inspired way.
markyboy84 1 year ago
@markyboy84 I think the point of Ted's comedy is that it is weak, he's trying to annoy people by being crap, and to some, there's something inherently funny about a man who calls himself a commedian standing on stage just winding people up for his own amusement. He pioneered a comedic device that Stew and others now use. This happens in music, someone experiments with something new and it might not work or the end product might not be brilliant, but they develop something which others can use.
Dr0ctave 1 year ago
@Dr0ctave I'll give you the point that he blazed a trail for the likes of Lee and Munnery but his work in itself isn't good. When Lee experiments with audience alienation, like with the Tom O' Connor bit, he does so from a true understanding of what is funny and what isn't, and so it works. The difference between Chip and Lee is that Chip was a geniunely bad comic who began to enjoy audience apathy, Lee is comic genius who plays with audience apathy to test the limits of comedy.
markyboy84 1 year ago
@markyboy84 Yeah, Stew is very creative. I hope he comes back to Sheffield soon, I missed him the last time. I'd love to see him one day. I've been into comedy since I was a kid but I've never actually seen any live stand-up. I think going to one of his gigs would be a great introduction.
Dr0ctave 1 year ago
what's the background music at the beginning?
GlassPike 1 year ago
Why is James Brown even on this segment? The one mile joke is genius i'll have him know. Also in defence of Jupitus, regardless of his latter day sins he was up there with Chippington opening for bands in the early 80s, showing alternative comedy to the provinces as 'Porky the Poet', so he at least as historical reason to be involved.
Robwilsonian 1 year ago
Ahha, I love the smile on Stew's face at 5:05 ... brilliant
blacbear 1 year ago 2
none of these arseholes can hold a candle to Ted, its a fucking disgrace he.s not appreciated for the comedy genius he is !!!
surfasteve68 1 year ago
@imjackcooper still don't - help us out?
frusciante39 1 year ago
what does phil jupitus know about being funny?
...and if he thinks sticking a silly little hat on his head will stop people noticing he's fat, he's very much mistaken.
massiveants 1 year ago
herring munnery and lee in the same room, i would have no option but to rape all 3, in a loving way mind.
qwertyuiopdan1 1 year ago
"UK's Andy Kaufman". Dead on.
95thFoot 2 years ago
is it me or does phill jupitus screw up the punchline?
firestartertwistedfi 2 years ago 2
Not just you, he mugs and hams it up. Fucking Jupitus.
eszettfromhell 2 years ago
James Brown isn't fit to tell Ted the way to the railway station
ejames3000 2 years ago 21
D.I.S.C.O. was a favourite.
I say Ted a few times live (though he was so deadpan, live feels like an exaggeration). When he retired he swore blind we was going to the USA to become a trucker, wonder what happened.
NadeemF 2 years ago
Richard Herring must have loved this edit.
TheeWoollyMammoth 2 years ago 4
wow! Ted lives on the same street as me:)
xytronite 2 years ago 3
What is his address?
AngleSlam76 2 years ago
It's where he lives.
IronChariots 2 years ago 2
Bravo!
eszettfromhell 2 years ago
I knew everyone on the alternative alternative comedy family tree, can I have a comedy PHD please Stu? Also why the heck is Simon Munnery not as big as he should be? "Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your legs" anyone? No? Just me then...
thenewleighfolkscene 2 years ago 3
The LSD one, can someone explain? Do I need a knowledge of pre-decimal money? Or am I missing something?
alanmarsden 2 years ago 2
L..S.D stands for Librae, solidi, denarii ( Latin for pounds, shillings, pence) was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies in the UK
tjstoned73 2 years ago 11
Anyone going to see Ted in London on April 26 with the Nightingales @ 100 Club?
Tomsk5 2 years ago
"I was walking down the road the other day, this chap drove up beside me and said, 'Excuse me, mate, I'm in a dilemma.' I said, 'Aye, good motors, Dilemmas. I was thinking of buying one myself. A red one perhaps.'"
I saw Ted support Fuzzbox in the 80's. Classic!
Kradlum 2 years ago
Alfie Noakes is another great, sadly forgotten comedian. He was from "Upnorth" wherever that is.
GordonMorrice 2 years ago
James Brown = prick.
shame69 3 years ago 3
i'll second that.
blatspanner 2 years ago 2
'if theyre full i would take them home.....'
The guy just didnt give a shit did he????
Eldritchard 3 years ago
"That can't...really be bad. No"
sparksrule 3 years ago
I was walking down the road the other day.
This bloke comes up to me and says, "Have you gat a light son?"
I said, "No, I married a black woman."
luciendelapeste 3 years ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Ted is champion. I saw him various time sin the 1980s. Stewart Lee on the other hand...
The clip of Ted, We've got a fuzzbox and we're going to use it and the Nightingales is classic.
Cheers chief
KylieRamone 3 years ago
It reminds me of The Aristocrats. Both cases involved a group of comedians going on about a joke that is nowhere near as funny or important as they seem to think it is, despite how much they manage to convince themselves to the contrary.
aliquidcow 3 years ago
My Ted fave; "I was walking down the road the other day, when I came across three holes full of water. I thought, 'well, well, well'"...Magic!
45junkee 4 years ago
Stewart Lee is probably my favourite comedian, and I'm also a big fan of Richard Herring and Simon Munnery, but I just do not get their fondness for Ted Chippington. I know it's supposed to be the joke that he's not funny, but knowing that it's still not really funny. Maybe it's just not a very original idea anymore, especially with people like Neil Hamburger copying him, but I dunno, it's not that I don't 'get it', I just don't think it's as funny as they seem to be making out.
aliquidcow 4 years ago
Wow. I just found out who Simon Munnery was, or the name of the man who is Simon Munnery. He told jokes on TV, and from thence the humour arose. Thus he won.
Maybe Marcel Duchamp was like the Ted Chippington of modern art.
ExMachine 4 years ago
Nice use of catchphrases.
indiekid123 3 years ago
Ted is certainly a comedian you either find very funny or not at all funny, no real inbetween. I don't think Ted would want it any other way. It's as much about the audience reaction as it is what he has said. I'm in the 'very funny' camp.
babyshambler 3 years ago 4
Rocking with Rita is his seminal track, find it play it love it.
Saw him in the 80's I was in a crown of hundreds and was the only one laughing, as he left the stager he gave me a classic look.
Love the man a true legend, roughly speaking..
Mrbiggoatlord 4 years ago
Stewart Lee actually hate The Culture Show.
indiekid123 4 years ago
Stewart Lee hates a lot of things. Less now he is with childe, but probably still an extensive list...
JobleRichardson 4 years ago 2
"One mile, one mile, one mile.....roughly speaking"
Kagemusha22 4 years ago
Clips like this are handy on yt.. Thanks
chewimcdougle 4 years ago
Thanks for that, I missed it when it was on the telly.
bodnotbod 4 years ago
Brilliant.
sevendaughters 4 years ago
Aceness.
lookatmygreatface 4 years ago
The first time I heard One mile it went so completely over my head. Then I rewound the video, listened to it two more times and on the last time I got it and my face cracked. It is now permanently and irreparably devalued.
JobleRichardson 4 years ago 2
I was wondering what you were talking about til I got to the same part, exactly the same reaction, haha
JDexia 4 years ago
Taken me 5 goes, and the penny's dropped. lol
ROBERTHIM 4 years ago