He did a commercial for some sort of Mexican food - the brand which escapes me. It was a revolutionary power-to-the-people pisstake which he did in a very poor (naturally) Mexican/Lebanese/Welsh/Sarf London accent.
"The fajita's in your hand ..."
No change there then.
I saw him in Edinburgh in 1998, in The Bootleg Bootleg Beatles. It wasn't very good.
One of the sketches was encouraging the audience to boo and shout "rubbish" at other comedian's acts. There's irony in there somewhere.
The guy who did Charlie Cheese was also in it with him - wasn't he in the first series of 11OCS as well?
According to every stand-up I've ever met who saw him on the circuit all he's ever done was a double act with Mackenzie Crook ('Charlie Cheese' as someone said, plus equally piss-awful 11OCS presenter) where Iain was the straight man.
In auditioning presenters for the 11OCS Talkbalk saw almost every single comedian in the entire country, and of course didn't originally pick Iain. If you recall he was just a sidekick to the confusingly bad Brendan Burns and Fred Macauley.
So that's Iain's career history:
-- Unfunny sidekick to a fajita
-- Unfunny sidekick to Mackenzie Crook
-- Unfunny sidekick to Brendan Burns and Fred Macauley
-- Unfunny sidekick to Daisy Donovan
-- Unfunny.
That's the word on the streets.
Mackenzie Crook (TV's hilarious "Charlie Cheese") and Iain Lee (TVs hilarious "Cunt") were flatmates. I know this because I was unfortunate enough to catch Crook - in character - interviewing Lee for his dismal overnight ITV comedy plug show. Needless to say it was as entertaining as an amputation.
Is there a cure for catching Mackenzie Crook?
Or is it instant death?
Mackenzie Crook - Flatmate To The Stars.
Iain Lee's career began when he met Meckenzie Crook at Oxford College. Crook was Lee's fag. After their finals they moved into together and began a writing partnership. Iain Lee wrote the scripts and jokes and Meckenzie put his heart and soul into the envelopes. The venture proved unsuccessful and Lee was forced to wait on tables. Humiliated by this Lee decided that Meckenzie would have work to keep them both. Loyal as ever Meckenzie worked 18 hours a day to keep them both in designer suits and Army & Navy jungle jeans (Iain wore the suits.) But things began to look up when Lee was spotted during a talent contest, he was compare in the Furkin Idiot. The 11 0'Clock Show team recall during that contest they believed they had spotted real talent. However the talent in question had slipped off unnoticed and as part of a pissed bet, someone suggested they should give Lee a try. The rest is history.
(name removed) and (name removed) write this website.
Yay to them.
Iain Lee (nee Rougvie) was at Middlesex University on the performing arts drama degree between the years of 1992 and 1995. He was always doing stuff around the college, whether it be directing and acting in a production of Berkoff's "East" or hypnotising people in shows at the student union bar, which I believe led to his gig writing for Paul McKenna.
Please *don't* ask me how I know this.
But did they have lives before comedy?
According to a Talkback flyer quoted in the 11OCS article in comment, IL was also in a show called 'Hysteric Studs', that was at the Battersea Arts Centre.
What was that all about, Barney?
I'm ashamed to say that I was on the same course as him at college, and perhaps the reason I hate his mannered comic stylings is because it reminds me too much of what I was like as a student. There, I've said it. Please don't hate me.
>Please don't hate me.
Only if you can tell us what he got...
NSU, cystitis, syphilis...
Why else do you think he changed his name?
Anyway. "Middlesex University" - that wouldn't have happened to have been called "Middlesex Polytechnic" originally, would it?
Yeah, I wrote that, sorry if it offended anyone.
Yes, Middlesex University used to be a polytechnic, but a rose by any other name, etc. I'm pretty sure Mr Lee got a 2.1 - the performing arts was a notoriously dossy course (why else do you think I did it?) - that's probably why they've phased it out now.
I only spoke to Mr Lee once, in the bar. We sort of nodded to each other as people who know they're on the same course but can't actually be arsed to say hello often do, and he muttered something about seeing something that I was in and said it was interesting, and I mentioned that I saw his production of Steven Berkoff's East and I said it was different, so it was just platitude meeting platitude, really.
I think he did the stand-up comedy module (yes, we did have one, run by a guy called Huw Thomas who ran a comedy club at the Kings Head in Crouch End) and was probably encouraged by the response that he got from it - forgetting that the audience was full of drama students who realise how emotionally fraught one's first gig can be, and as such would have applauded wallpaper if it looked a bit scared and insecure.
I do remember seeing one of his hypnotism shows at the Union bar (people barking like dogs, you know the drill) and hating it, thinking at the time that the skinny twat would be flipping burgers in eighteen months time. How wrong I was.
But as I said, he had the most annoying comedy mannerisms from the start (announcing a punchline by stepping forward slightly, or raising his eyebrows followed by saying something derogatory about the preceding joke.) This is why I hate the guy, he still hasn't progressed from telling jokes like a student, and I doubt that he ever will.
"...thinking at the time that the skinny twat would be flipping burgers in eighteen months time. How wrong I was."
There's still time...
What a load of shite - for a start; the BA performing arts course has been going for years, is extremely popular, not at all dossy - most drama/dance/music students do FAR more work than say, an English Lit student. Are you aware of how jealous and wanky YOU come across? So what if middlesex was a poly? it was a fucking rocking poly - far more exciting than some boring red-brick uni - Or do I detect a note of whiny, unfulfilled-failed comedy-performer- pissed-off-with-life kind of note in your voice?
But yeah, Iain still aint that funny...
ex Middlesex student class of 95
I'm not sure if you're referring to myself or Barney, but the 'Unrepentant Elitist' was an attempt at what is called a 'joke' - the idea being that an unrepentant elitist would think that Iain Lee was an even worse person for having gone to a polytechnic, thus revealing in fact that the elitist has a ridiculously unbalanced view of the world... irony. You might understand better if you had studied Eng Lit. Mind you, I didn't have to.
Just wanted to clear that it, since it obviously upset you.
The University of East London does hair dressing (formally known as Dave's Cut 'n' Dry.)
>What a load of shite - for a start; the BA performing arts course has been going for years
Sorry, the B.A.p.a. was phased out in 1995, and if you were a member of the class of 1995, as both myself and Mr Lee were, you would have been in the final lot.
>is extremely popular, not at all dossy - most drama/dance/music students do FAR more work than say, an English Lit student.
Compared to some people I knew on the BA music and drama courses, we on the B.A.p.a. course hardly had to do anything. Granted, we had to do performance seminars and essays, but so did the modular students. Nor did we have to do a 15000 word dissertation, and by the time we went into our third year we didn't even have to do a SPEX. Alright, I take your point that it wasn't exactly dossy, but you could do the bare minimum of work and still satisfy those on high.
>Are you aware of how jealous and wanky YOU come across?
Absolutely. But I'm not so much jealous for myself as for the people on my course who were genuinely talented and hard-working, and of the ones I'm still in touch with, half of them have been completely disillusioned with the industry and given up, and the other half are working really hard and being really professional but barely scraping a living, unlike the wonderful Mr Lee.
>So what if middlesex was a poly? it was a fucking rocking poly - far more exciting than some boring red-brick uni -
I agree with you, I spent three thoroughly enjoyable years there and have no regrets about going. You seem to misunderstand my message, I was slagging off Mr Lee rather than the actual place. I just can't help feeling that the people who ran the performing arts course were just content to let the students live out their head-in-the-sand Kids from Fame fantasies, rather than actually teaching them anything remotely applicable to the realities of 'the biz'. And people wonder why Mr Lee has a huge self opinion and is utterly shit at his job? Wonder no more.
>Or do I detect a note of whiny, unfulfilled-failed comedy-performer- pissed-off-with-life kind of note in your voice?
Well spotted. But I've never tried to be a comedy performer, so you're only half right.
And yes, I know that you get out of a course what you put in, and all the other attendant cliches.
I thought the idea of a university was that you had maybe 4 lectures a week and spent the rest of the time teaching yourself. This gives the lecturers plenty of time to write books. I went to the University Of Hard Knocks.
>I went to the University Of Hard Knocks.
(... previously East Hard Knocks Poly...)
Very good.
Barney, you are one of the most miserable humourless twots I have ever come across. Have you ever considered writing for the Corpses?
He doesn't strike me as humourless, just bitter.