With Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown and Citizen Khan’s help, I’m creating a comedy databank for Islamic Birmingham - January 2015 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - January 12th, 2015

On Sunday, on Fox News, an American terrorism expert named Steven Emerson revealed that the entire English city of Birmingham was a no-go area to non-Muslims. I was worried, as I have a standup gig there as part of my Room With A Stew tour on 2 May, and last time I played my old…

I’ve had it with comedy awards – and so has my bounty hunter alter ego - December 2014 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - December 21st, 2014

I am a standup comedian. Last Tuesday, I attended the British comedy awards, my first since 1991. Today an edited Channel 4 highlights package from a Wembley warehouse, back in ’91, in their second year, the awards were a primetime ITV Saturday-night live spectacular in a big South Bank studio. I wrote for Radio 4’s…

Want to know what’s really killing Christmas? Just ask Ben Stiller… - December 2014 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - December 14th, 2014

Every year since I can remember, it seems something has been killing Christmas: commercialism; multiculturalism; secularism; or that political correctness of the “gone mad” variety that they have now. This is not a new idea. An ancient cave daub, dating from 10,000 BC, on the walls of the Grotte de Niaux in southern France, appears…

The Imaginary Liberal Comedy Cabal will crush the Ukips into dust - November 2014 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - November 5th, 2014

The Imaginary Comedy Cabal? Frankie Boyle, Mock the Week’s Russell Howard, Dara O’Briain, Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons, and Stewart Lee. Photograph: guardian Last Saturday, I took my children on a tour of the Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden. I explained to them that they were going to visit the magical headquarters of an ancient…

It seems Russell Brand has more in common with Jesus than you’d think - October 2014 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - October 19th, 2014

Last week, at the age of 46, I moved with my family into a home, with a garden and a garage, in the Shropshire countryside. I feel guilty about my privilege, but not as guilty as Russell Brand does about his, which makes me a worse person, I think. In one of the extracts from…

The Clangers are truly British - October 2014 The Big Issue - By Stewart Lee - October 13th, 2014

It’s difficult, if you are of a certain age and political bent, not to talk about Smallfilms without sounding reactionary. Smallfilms makes me naively nostalgic for a world before free-market doctrines and focus groups, when a publicly funded body gave two indefatigable eccentrics and, we now realise, avatars of a distinctly British folk art, licence…