New DVDs from cult comedians

Go Faster Stripe launched late last year with Stewart Lee’s show 90s Comedian. He had a commercial release, Stand-Up Comedian, on the 2Entertain label a year previously, but sales were too low for a follow-up.

Company boss Chris Evans said: ‘When I heard his first DVD sold so badly that no one wanted anything to do with a follow-up, I thought it was a great shame that a great show would disappear.

‘So I gathered together a rag-tag team of friends and offered to record the new show for a possible release. It came out rather well, so we got it ready for sale at a wallet-friendly £10.’

The company has since released a bootleg-quality recording of Richard Herring’s The 12 Tasks Of Hercules Terrace for £8, too. Another of his shows, Someone Likes Yoghurt, is awaiting a censor’s certificate before that, too, is released.

Now they are recording Herring’s 2006 Edinburgh show, Menage A Un, at Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre on June 2.

Simon Munnery will tape his show, to be called Hello, at the same venue on May 25, while. Tony Law’s recording dates are yet to be finalised.

Evans said: ‘We are hoping these DVDs could be another outlet for the stand-up comedians that are fantastic, yet constantly overlooked by other media.’

The falling cost of DVD production has led many comics to consider independent releases. Red Dwarf star Norman Lovett is another to take that approach, and will be recording his first stand-up film in 28 years at London’s Funny Side Of Covent Garden comedy club next month.

Here’s a clip from 90s Comedian, which is available from the Go Faster Stripe website:

Published: 21 Mar 2007