If 2025 is anything like 2024, I’ll be back on the Baileys - January 2025 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - January 5th, 2025

Christ was born in a barn. This proves that he came for all humankind, as well as reducing his parents’ options for witty off-the-peg verbal critiques of him should he leave their front door open. Bearing Christ’s universality in mind, on Christmas Day at lunchtime I made my guests stand to listen to a few…

Farage, Musk and Candy say ‘cheese’ – now British democracy’s toast - December 2024 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - December 22nd, 2024

There’s a new photo of Nigel Farage and the Reform treasurer, Nick Candy, who partied through the pandemic at Lord Shaun “Bum and Boobs” Bailey of Paddington’s Pissedmas disco with a load of dancing Tory spads in horrible Christmas jumpers, meeting Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago document storage unit slash vanity art display mausoleum.…

Flat-cap Clarkson only wants his nose in the trough - November 2024 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - November 24th, 2024

I read Andrew Michael Hurley’s new novel, Barrowbeck, in preparation for co-hosting Tales of the Weird, a timely event on the folk horror genre at the British Library earlier this month. I’m not the most informed commentator on this literary subset by any means, but I am, after Mark Gatiss, one of the most famous,…

If I were Captain America, I’d quit - November 2024 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - November 10th, 2024

The presidency of Donald Trump contaminates everything that touches it, like dogshit on the end of a pointed stick. Be careful, politicians of the world, entertainment brands, and commercial properties, that you don’t get any on you. It stinks. On Monday night, one of my lovely rescue cats, having battled the cat flap into submission,…

Sick of overpriced gig tickets? Here’s the Cure - October 2024 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - October 27th, 2024

The first time I saw the Cure was on 29 April 1984. The Birmingham Odeon show opened with a set from rural Worcestershire’s pre-Raphaelite goths And Also the Trees, whose early albums remain a guilty pleasure, and about whom I once sent a self-aggrandising letter to ZigZag magazine. The Cure’s set drew heavily on the…

Starmer’s tiny gaffe has made him a sausage to fortune - September 2024 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - September 29th, 2024

Addressing the subject of Gaza on Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer called for the “return of the sausages”, which was a surprise to those of us who didn’t know they were missing. Although, come to think of it, when was the last time you saw a big fat bulldog with a string of them in its…