A car phone is a cell phone device specifically designed for and fitted into an automobile. The car phone was once, in the late 1970s and 1980s, more popular than the regular cell phone. However, since the cell phone boom in the 1990s, when cell phones became much more affordable, the car phone has suffered, as most people carry their cell phone around with them, and the availability of hands free kits installed into many cars allow the driver to talk and listen to a call while driving.

In Finland, car phone service was first available in 1971 on the zero-generation ARP (Autoradiopuhelin, or Car Radiophone) service. This was succeeded in 1982 by the 1G system NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), used across Scandinavia and in other often remote areas. In North America, car phone typically used the Mobile Telephone Service (MTS), which was first used in St. Louis, or Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) before giving way to analog cellular service (AMPS) in 1984. AMPS technology was discontinued in the United States in 2008.

Since a traditional car phone uses a high-power transmitter and external antenna, it is ideal for rural or undeveloped areas where mobile handsets may not work well or at all. However, due to current US Federal Communications Commission regulations, carriers must pay penalties for activating any equipment that is not an E911 compliant device, such as analog.

Recent trends

There were a few car phones available , including the Nokia 810 and more recently the Motorola VC6096 for use with GSM networks and a car phone made by NAL Research for the Iridium satellite network. Motorola provides US customers with the m800 and m900 car phones, for use with CDMA and GSM networks respectively. Modern car phones have color screens and support high speed data connections as well as the ability to access SIM cards stored in other phones via Bluetooth.

Recently, some automobiles feature integrated, "hands-free" systems to utilize a consumer's cellular phone, via a Bluetooth wireless link or use an integrated transceiver. The systems use an internally mounted microphone, and the car's audio system, and may feature voice activation and control.

See also

The Carphone Warehouse

Teleaid, automatic emergency call system

OnStar, emergency notification system

References

Category:Automotive technologies Category:Mobile telecommunications user equipment

Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
Name	Stewart Lee
Birth date	April 05, 1968
Birth place	Wellington, Shropshire, England
Nationality	British
Known for	Fist of Fun (1993–1995)This Morning with Richard Not Judy (1998–1999) (2001–2005)90's Comedian (2005–2006)41st Best Stand Up Ever! (2007–2008)Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle (2009–)
Occupation	Stand-up comedian, writer
Spouse	Bridget Christie (?-present)
Children	Son
Website

Stewart Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera. In a review of the comedy of the previous decade, a 2009 article in The Times referred to Lee as "the comedian's comedian, and for good reason" and named him "face of the decade".

His stand-up features frequent use of "repetition, call-backs (and) nonchalant delivery".

Background

Lee was born in Wellington, Shropshire. He was adopted as a child and grew up in Solihull in the West Midlands. He attended private school Solihull School, on a scholarship. He is married to fellow comic Bridget Christie, with whom he has a son. He is a supporter of the British Humanist Association and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

Career

Early career: Lee and Herring and Fist of Fun

While studying English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in the 1980s, he wrote and performed comedy in a revue group called "The Seven Raymonds" with Richard Herring, Emma Kennedy, Michael Cosgrave, Richard Canning and Tim Richardson, but did not perform in the well-known Oxford Revue, though he did write for and direct the 1989 Revue. Having moved to London and begun performing stand up comedy after university, he rose to greater prominence in 1990, winning the prestigious Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition. With Richard Herring, Lee wrote material for BBC Radio 4's On the Hour (1991), which was anchored by Chris Morris and was notable for the first appearance of Steve Coogan's celebrated character, Alan Partridge, for which Lee and Herring wrote much early material. After a disagreement with the rest of the cast, Lee & Herring did not remain with the group when On The Hour moved to television as The Day Today and their material was excised from an official release of the radio show in the mid-'90s (though a 2008 CD release would see it re-instated). In 1992, Lee was briefly part of the team writing the first Robin Askwith "Confessions of..." movie for 15 years. However due to financial problems the movie was scrapped and his script has never seen light of day.

In 1992 and 1993, he and Herring wrote and performed Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World for BBC Radio 4, before moving to BBC Radio 1, for one series of Fist of Fun (1993). This was followed by three series entitled, simply, Lee and Herring. These shows mixed sketches with live links and music, in a format that Radio 1 seemed to favour at the time. (Other classic examples of such include shows by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, and Simon Munnery in his guise as "Alan Parker: Urban Warrior".) Fist of Fun moved to television for two BBC Two series, and was followed in 1998 by This Morning with Richard Not Judy, which featured material in a similar vein, but was notable for being broadcast live in a Sunday morning slot. A change in BBC management after the second series of the latter effectively brought his partnership with Herring to an end but the two comedians still share a similarity of humour.

Throughout the late nineties he continued performing solo stand-up (something that has always been a mainstay of his career – even whilst in the double act with Herring) and has collaborated with, amongst others, Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh. Indeed, though they had worked together in the past, the first seeds of the Boosh were sown whilst working as part of Lee's Edinburgh show King Dong vs Moby Dick in which Barratt and Fielding played a giant penis and a whale, respectively. Lee returned the favour by going on to direct their 1999 Edinburgh show, Arctic Boosh, which remains the template of all their live work.

Career 2000–04: Quitting stand-up

In 2001, Lee published his first novel, The Perfect Fool. It was republished in 2008. In the same year he performed Pea Green Boat, a stand-up show which revolved around the deconstruction of the Edward Lear poem The Owl and the Pussycat and a tale of his own broken toilet. This would later be condensed to focus mainly on the poem itself, and a 15 minute version aired on Radio 4. In 2007, Go Faster Stripe released a 25-minute edit on CD & 10" Vinyl.

During late 2000 and early 2001, Lee "gradually, incrementally and without any fanfare – or even much thought – gave up being a stand-up comedian". 2001 was the first year since 1987 that he did not perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. with the show Standup Comedian, which earned him a "Tap Water Award" in Edinburgh and was released on DVD in October 2005. This features extra footage of performances from his earlier career on Five's "Comedy Network". This show was toured extensively throughout the UK, Australia and USA. Reviewing the comedy of the decade, Dominic Maxwell in The Times wrote of Lee's 2004 return to stand-up that it was "one of the boldest, smartest, most technically assured hours of stand-up I've ever seen". A private court case brought by Christian Voice against Lee and others involved with the production for blasphemy was rejected by a Magistrates' Court.

In 2005, Lee tackled the subject of the religious hatred he experienced after the broadcast of Jerry Springer – The Opera in his stand-up show, 90s Comedian. This show has earned him some of the best reviews of his career, largely due to the un-checked vitriol he unleashes in the latter half of the set, "taking no prisoners" in his attempt to display what he claimed was the lunacy of sacred cows.

A recording was made in Cardiff in March 2006. This was filmed by a group of amateur enthusiasts who were disappointed that there was no distribution deal in place because of the commercial failure of the Standup Comedian DVD and the controversial nature of the new show's material. These "enthusiastic amateurs" became GoFasterStripe and, having set themselves up in order to film the show, have gone on to film the works of many other "non-mainstream" comedians, including sets from Tony Law (Lee's support act on the 2009 If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One tour), Simon Munnery (whose BBC television comedy series -Attention Scum - was directed by Lee) and several by Lee's former partner Richard Herring.

Jerry Springer – The Opera opened at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2008, starring Harvey Keitel as Springer. It has since been performed across the United States, Canada and Australia. and appeared on the BBC Radio 4 quiz Quote Unquote, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and on Have I Got News for You, purportedly to pay for his wedding.

In October, he presented a forty year tribute to Star Trek on BBC Radio 2, and in November, presented White Face, Dark Heart, two programmes on Radio 4 about clowns, during which he fulfilled a ten-year desire to witness the rituals of New Mexico's sacred clowns. These shows are available to download on his official website.

He curated a CD for the Sonic Arts Network called The Topography of Chance. Lee explored different artists, writers and musician’s experiments with randomness and chance and brought together an eclectic mix of artists including tracks by; Simon Munnery, Arthur Smith, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Jem Finer, Kombat Opera, Jon Rose and more.

2007: Stewart Lee – 41st Best Stand Up Ever!

.]] January saw Lee open his show What Would Judas Do in double bill with Mark Ravenhill's Product: World Remix at London's Bush Theatre. He announced at the time that he was also writing – with Tony Law a sitcom pilot about the god Thor, for BBC Two, and script-editing another pilot, a sitcom about the Brontë sisters. In February, he organised a tribute to cult comedian Ted Chippington entitled "Tedstock" at London's Bloomsbury Theatre. This was designed, in part, to raise money to fund a CD release of Chippington's work – which was available to buy on the night, "Walking Down The Road". The show included a one-off performance from Lee and Herring, along with fellow Ted fans Simon Munnery, The Nightingales, Phill Jupitus, Josie Long and Stephen Carlin.

Lee's first new stand up show since "90s Comedian" was developed over the first half of 2007, originally to be named March Of The Mallards (a title parodying that of the film, March of the Penguins), it would be renamed before its full debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival of that year, and subsequent Autumn tour. This was because, in March 2007, Lee was named 41st best stand-up of all time in a Channel 4 survey listing the "100 best standups". In this poll, he beat Dave Allen, George Carlin, Steve Martin, Robin Williams and Tommy Cooper. Channel 4 did not reveal exactly how the voting was conducted, but 150,000 members of the public were polled, as were an undisclosed number of experts.

In the light of this result Lee renamed his Summer 2007 stand-up show 'Stewart Lee – 41st Best Stand Up Ever!' as he felt it was "both arrogant and humble". During the show he joked that since Bernard Manning (who had been placed above him in the poll) had died since the Channel 4 poll had first aired, he felt he should be moved up to Number 40. Another project, "Johnson & Boswell, Late But Live", written by Lee & performed by comics Simon Munnery and Miles Jupp played throughout the festival at the Traverse Theatre before embarking upon a tour of Scotland.

July 2007, Lee appeared on the Channel 4 panel game, 8 out of 10 Cats, which he has since described as "the worst professional experience of my life". July 2007 also saw the premiere of Interiors, a site-specific theatre piece co-written with Johnny Vegas, at the Manchester International Festival.

2008

2008 began, as 2007 had ended, with the continuing tour of "41st Best Standup". It became Lee's longest tour to date, and was filmed at the Glasgow Stand for DVD release by Real Talent in April (the DVD hit stores in July).

Lee also co wrote 'Poets' Tree' with close friend & collaborator, the actor Kevin Eldon. This was a BBC Radio 4 series that was aired in April 2008, based on Paul Hamilton, Eldon's arrogant poet alter-ego.

At the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 Lee performed potential material for his recently announced BBC2 series, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, in a work in progress show at The Stand, billed as Scrambled Egg. Over the three weeks of the festival, Lee worked on a large quantity of new material, and updated old favourites for possible inclusion in the show, which began filming the following November. A follow up to Johnson & Boswell also aired, again featuring Munnery & Jupp. Elizabeth & Raleigh, Late But Live was featured at the festival before touring the country in the autumn. In November, Lee began filming for his 2009 TV show, and on the 16th November, reunited with Herring another one off performance of their old double act at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith during one of the gigs Richard Herring curated there. They were joined by Paul Putner in character as the Curious Orange. With initial filming out of the way, Scrambled Egg was reprised at London's Hen & Chickens Theatre in December to fully polish the stand up sections of the forthcoming TV project ahead of filming in January 2009.

2009: Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle and If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, a new six part comedy series featuring standup and sketches, began a six episode run on 16 March 2009. The executive producer was Armando Iannucci and the script editor was Chris Morris. The first episode received positive reviews from The Independent and The Daily Mirror. The show received a negative review in Time Out, written by Lee himself, in which he described himself as "fat" and his performance as "positively Neanderthal, suggesting a jungle-dwelling pygmy, struggling to coax notes out of a clarinet that has fallen from a passing aircraft". The Guardian named Comedy Vehicle as one of its top ten television highlights of 2009, commenting that it "was the kind of TV that makes you feel like you're not the only one wondering how we came to be surrounded by so much unquestioned mediocrity". One of the show's few negative reviews came in the Sunday Mercury, which stated: "His whole tone is one of complete, smug condescension". Lee subsequently used this line to advertise his next stand-up tour. Lee frequently uses negative reviews on his posters in order to put off potential audience members who are unlikely to be fans of his comedy style.

The first episode was watched by approximately 1 million viewers, though the figure rose by 25% when BBC iPlayer viewings were factored in and, uncharacteristically, viewing figures rose over the series. The series was the BBC's second most downloaded broadcast during its run. In May 2010, the series was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for best comedy programme.

Lee also had a show at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, named Stewart Lee: If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One in which he performed his own version of the song "Galway Girl". In the Galway stage of this show Sharon Shannon performed the song with Lee. In December 2009 Lee was beaten to the title of Best Live Stand-Up by the comedian Michael McIntyre at the British Comedy Awards ceremony.

Lee caused controversy on his If You Prefer a Milder Comedian tour with a joke about Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond. Referring to Hammond's accident while filming in 2006, in which he was almost killed, Lee joked, "I wish he had been decapitated and that his head had rolled off in front of his wife". and, having been doorstepped by a Mail journalist, Lee replied "It's a joke, just like on Top Gear when they do their jokes". Lee subsequently explained the joke:

In an Observer interview, Sean O'Hagan says of the Hammond joke that Lee "operates out in that dangerous hinterland between moral provocation and outright offence, often adopting, as in this instance, the tactics of those he targets in order to highlight their hypocrisy". in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. On the 9th of February, Armando Iannucci, the executive producer of the first series of Comedy Vehicle, announced that there would be a second series of the show. On 10 April an updated version of The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups was broadcast on Channel 4, in which Lee was declared the 12th best stand-up comedian. The May Day weekend saw Lee curating a programme of free jazz at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, at the invitation of festival director Tony Dudley-Evans.

Lee's second book, How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian, was published by Faber and Faber on 5 August 2010. The book features annotated transcripts of Lee's Stand-Up Comedian, '90s Comedian and 41st Best Stand-Up Ever shows and has received positive reviews. It is dedicated to Ted Chippington. Prior to the start of the festival, Lee wrote an e-mail to the publicist of the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards, copying in other comedians, in response to the announcement of a poll to find the public's favourite act from 30 years of the award, which was previously known as the Perrier Award. Lee wrote:

Think about the logic of it for a moment. Who among those you are asking to vote has even heard of Frank Chickens, who for all anyone under 30 knows may be the best act on the list? It is not possible for the outcome of this vote to have any credibility.

As result of his e-mail going viral with the encouragement of Richard Herring and Robin Ince, Frank Chickens took the lead in the poll. During the polling, Lee wrote that: "In my e-mail I chose at random Frank Chicken, the Japanese female performance art duo, as an example of possibly worthy winners who would not get a look-in under this illogical and unfair voting system, and the Twitter world has adopted them as a cause". He stated that it was never his intention to influence the vote, "but they are now leading the field, and it appears we should embrace them. If Frank Chickens become Comedy Gods then Foster's will have been helped to actually sponsor some actual art, and fans of Foster's all over the whole world will be made aware of that wonderful, indefinable, mischievous, playful thing we call the Spirit Of The Fringe!". Frank Chickens went on to win the public vote.

As a result of the Frank Chickens incident, Lee was awarded the Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt award for best publicity stunt at the Fringe. The award's organisers stated: "The fact that Stewart did not intend to unleash publicity does not negate his success".

In addition to his main Edinburgh show, on 18 August Lee headlined a one-night variety show, Silver Stewbilee, to launch How I Escaped My Certain Fate.

On 15 September 2010, Lee, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.

Music journalism

Lee has written music reviews for a number of outlets including, since 1995, the Sunday Times. Through the early 2000s, he became a regular presenter on, and patron of, Resonance FM 104.4.

He is noted for his diverse musical taste. Asked in 2003 what his current music favourites were, he stated "Most of my favourites are still going like The Fall, Giant Sand and Calexico. I listen to a lot of jazz, 60s and folk music but I really like Ms. Dynamite, and The Streets".

Selected works

Books

Fist of Fun (with Richard Herring; non-fiction) BBC Books, 1995. ISBN 0563371854; ISBN 978-0563371854

The Perfect Fool (novel) Fourth Estate, 2001. ISBN 1841153656; ISBN 978-1841153650

Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm Hardee & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN 0091889243; ISBN 978-0091889241

More Trees to Climb by Ben Moor (foreword)

Death To Trad Rock by John Robb (foreword) Cherry Red

The Wire Primers: A Guide to Modern Music (chapter on The Fall)

How I Escaped My Certain Fate - The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian Faber & Faber 2010 ISBN 0571254802

DVDs

Stand Up Comedian [2005] (2|entertain) - Live at Glasgow's The Stand Comedy Club

90s Comedian [2006] (Go Faster Stripe) - Live at Cardiff's Chapter Arts Centre

41st Best Stand Up Ever [2008] (Real Talent) - Live at Glasgow's The Stand Comedy Club

Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle [2009] (2|entertain) - Live at Newington Green's The Mildmay Club

If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One [2010] [Comedy Central] - Live at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre

CDs

90s Comedian [2007] (Go Faster Stripe, digital-only release)

Pea Green Boat [2007] (Go Faster Stripe, also 10" vinyl)

41st Best Stand Up Ever [2008] (Real Talent)

What Would Judas Do? [2009] (Go Faster Stripe, 3-CD box set)

References

External links

Official website

Stewart Lee biography at Debi Allen Associates

Unofficial Lee and Herring website

Category:1968 births Category:Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Category:British atheists Category:British humanists Category:British radio writers Category:English comedians Category:English stand-up comedians Category:English film directors Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:English television actors Category:Living people Category:Old Silhillians Category:People from Wellington, Shropshire

Category:Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands