“The most controversial thing you can do is be sincere in a world of irony.” - October 2015 Exeunt Magazine - By Andrew Haydon - October 19th, 2015

Andrew Haydon: What do you normally get asked in interviews? Stewart Lee: Well, it depends. Local newspapers haven’t ever seen you and they ask you where you get your ideas from, what you think of political correctness, are there any topics that are unacceptable, you know [does a voice] “Are there things that you can’t joke about,…

Most performers want their audiences to like them. I just want to be Stewart Lee - October 2015 The New Statesman - By Will Self - October 19th, 2015

I’ve done a fair amount of solo performing throughout my career – in fact, I started out as a stand-up comedian, and from time to time I revisit that sort of shtick, doing little gigs in the upstairs rooms of pubs. But mostly I do “shows” of one sort or another to support the publication…

A Room with a Stew - October 2015 Socialist Review - By Jenny Leow - October 14th, 2015

“Are there any jokes? No,” says Stewart Lee midway through his new show A Room with a Stew, and he’s telling the truth. There aren’t any jokes as such. But there is surreal, vivid imagery that emerges often from nowhere as it builds, layer upon layer, through exquisitely tortuous repetition. References to Brechtian alienation share…

A Room With A Stew ★★★★★ - October 2015 Dark Matt's Blog - By Matt Adcock - October 12th, 2015

AS an over 40 year old, I fared better then many of the audience at Stewart (once of the awesome Lee and Herring comedy duo) Lee show. He’s not adverse to mocking those who have paid to come and witness his ‘work in progress’ preparation of material for his next BBC 2 series of Comedy…

Tasty, Stew ★★★★ - October 2015 Morning Star - By Will Stone - October 7th, 2015

STEWART LEE’S cat is called Jeremy Corbyn. Or so he would have us believe. Long before Corbyn’s stratospheric rise from rebellious backbench MP to Labour leader, Lee remembers seeing one of the North Islington MP’s campaign fliers in the 90s and thinking it would make a good name for a cat, his story goes. But…

The Artistry Of Standup Comedy - October 2015 Exeunt Magazine - October 1st, 2015

This is an Excerpt from ‘The Artistry of Stand Up Comedy’, here. Stand-up comedy is so very Brechtian. It is as if all comedians, consciously or unconsciously, exist at this pole of theatrical theory. The frame of comedy itself is a large, obviously unreal, artistic construction, where every element of life is turned on its…