Well, last night we had ourselves a good old North-South divide – not to mention BBC1 and 2 divide – in the form of these comedy shows, and even though Lee’s theme last night was religion, and Omid’s sketches and jokes last night were very often about religion too, for me, Omid won the battle of the laughs, hands down.

In an interview with the Radio Times, Omid said of his style of comedy, “I play on stereotypes. I do lots of silly ethnic voices. People with Middle England sensibilities might think, ‘Are you crazy? How can you find this funny?’”

Well, I know a lot of people don’t, but I find him very amusing whereas I just haven’t been able to get into Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle; I find Lee extremely funny as a stand-up comedian in other settings, but not in this show. It, and he, just seem to try too hard whereas, even though Omid’s skits and stand-up are of course just as scripted, they don’t feel that way… Read more & comment »

The new series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle began last night and marks the return to television of one of the – arguably – finest stand-up comedians in Britain today. Lee freely admits that he styles himself on the late, great, Dave Allen whose shows were – in format – quite similar and I can see the influence of Allen in Comedy Vehicle but I’m afraid Lee just wasn’t as funny or sardonic as Allen.

Not that Lee wasn’t funny at all, he definitely was, but as I say, by comparison, Dave Allen would win hands down in my opinion.

Each of the six episodes in the series will see Stewart exploring a different theme in a stand-up routine, illustrated with sketches featuring an ensemble cast. Read more & comment »