Content Provider, the latest show by coruscating stand-up Stewart Lee, seems at first to be simply more of the same thrillingly intelligent, intricately constructed comedy he’s been selling for more than 20 years. But it’s more than that, building towards a final destination few comics could imagine, ending in a dazzling visual flourish. Yet again,…
Stewart Lee has been walking a fine line for 35 years. One of the stalwarts of the alternative comedy scene, he cut his teeth writing early material for Steve Coogan’s world-class Alan Partridge, creating a long radio and TV run with Richard Herring (A Bit of Lee and Herring), deconstructing his own material to the…
It’s a blustery and rainy February evening and I’m attending Stewart Lee’s stand-up show ‘Content Provider’. Tonight is sold out. Actually, all four nights at the Brighton Dome are sold out. This is a testament to Lee’s popularity and perhaps to Brighton’s good sense of humour. We’ll see what Stewart has to say about that……
I had wanted to start this review with the old Bob Monkhouse gag: ‘Everyone laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian. They’re not laughing now’. This was because Lee was the knowingly intelligent, metropolitan liberal whose deep analysis of the method of comedy allied to strongly-held political views would simply lead to…
With a comedian as political as Stewart Lee, fans could have guessed Brexit and Trump would feature in his latest show, a rolling tour he admitted would evolve between now and next April. In fact, he complained, today’s fast changing world makes comedy somewhat difficult to pin down. So, although both these topics were covered…
Ok, so first things first: I absolutely love Stewart Lee. I am the absolute embodiment of the repeat, loyal audience member he talks about in every show. I’m the liberal-elite, muesli-munching, Remain-voting, over-educated, politically articulate lefty that he addresses every time. Every time. And I know that because he acknowledges us. Every time. While doing…