Stewart Lee: If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One

TV's Frankie Boyle once declared that no comedian over 40 should do stand-up, since the older ones lose their edge and their anger. Stewart Lee, then 42, found himself wondering if it was 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 everyday 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.

Filmed live at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre. This DVD runs 105 minutes, plus a 51-minute interview with Kevin Eldon, a short film with musician Nick Pynn, and the original trailer.