What does the insect community make of ITV’s celebrity freak show? - November 2012 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - November 25th, 2012

Periodically, I am changed into a monstrous verminous bug. My wife recognises the signs, locks me in the cellar and slides saucers of milk and slivers of lard under the door to sustain me. We do not know why this transformation occurs. We suspect it may relate to some form of deep-seated shame or self-loathing,…

Brooks and Cameron’s texts? They’re pure Shakespeare - November 2012 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - November 11th, 2012

Rebekah Brooks: overcome by the Utopian dream? Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images There has been much inappropriate, salacious, and opportunistic speculation about the exact nature of the withheld communications between the former News International redhead Rebekah Brooks and the current Conservative party brownhead David Cameron, much of it in extremely dubious taste. I doubt, for example, whether the…

John Cage meets Ant & Dec in the sitcom in my mind - September 2012 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - September 16th, 2012

John Cage: fan of mushrooms, garlic bread, beans and pulses. Photograph: Bachrach/Archive Photos At the moment, I am trying to avoid thinking about John Cage. And instead, I find myself thinking about Ant & Dec. In 2009, the musicians Steve Beresford and Tania Chen asked me to supply the spoken part for a performance of…

This truly was an event that regenerated a community, but what of its legacy? - August 2012 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - August 19th, 2012

It has been just over a week now since the dead cat on the pavement outside the house was finally taken away, with no little ceremony, by Hackney Council Environmental Health and already talk in the coffee shops on Stoke Newington Church Street has turned from the emotional highs and lows of its daily decomposition…

Stewart Lee: movements afoot to return Tony Blair to Labour’s seat of power? - August 2012 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - August 12th, 2012

In my shabby north London arts/media ghetto, one is never more than 6ft from a rat or six degrees of separation from a New Labour politician. Only last month, I saw shadow chancellor Ed Balls fingering a homity pie at the farmers’ market. Some friends are even acquaintances of opposition bigwigs. And some of them…

Michael McIntyre may have the millions but I have cultural capital - August 2012 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - August 5th, 2012

This past week, people in Edinburgh paid £31 to see the television comedian Michael McIntyre’s warm-up shows of work-in-progress for his forthcoming stadium tour. Personally I never do warm-up shows for my own standup. My grandfather was of the opinion that you couldn’t polish a turd. He did, however, believe very strongly in lacquering them,…