A comedy of comparison - June 2011 The Financial Times - By Stewart Lee - June 17th, 2011

Last Saturday’s Guardian had an interview with the young American comedy rapper Bo Burnham, who has accrued 650m hits for his homemade raps on YouTube and is making a funny rapping film with the director Judd Apatow. Last year the Fosters Comedy Awards praised the rapper for coming to the lowly Edinburgh Festival, rather than…

If five portions a day are so good, how come rabbits and slugs are so stupid? - June 2011 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - June 12th, 2011

The German E coli bean sprout scandal offers damning evidence that all fruits and vegetables are dirty beyond reason, toxic timebombs that have secreted themselves at the very heart of global cuisine in the form of trusted dietary staples. Yet government food eggheads continue to bray from their state-sterilised laboratories, demanding that we eat at…

The National Trust doesn’t even trust us to have our own thoughts - June 2011 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - June 5th, 2011

The National Trust has concealed recordings of eight celebrities inside benches. Undoubtedly, listening to Claudia Winkleman while contemplating Quarry Bank Mill might help to sensualise the horrors of Industrial Revolution working conditions. And we will one day wonder how we managed to enjoy the 520 acres of Felbrigg Hall without a bench upon which visitors…

The Best Of London - May 2011 Time Out - May 1st, 2011

I’ve been in London twenty-two years now. I came here to try and be a stand-up in the year 17 BM (Before Macintyre, 1989 Common Era). There was no-where else to do it. Asked what I loved about London then I’d have said music and comedy venues, and second hand book and record shops. But…

Stewart Lee’s insider’s take on William and Kate - April 2011 The Guardian - By Stewart Lee - April 27th, 2011

The selection of Kate Middleton, a lowly commoner drawn from the very dregs of society, as Prince William’s bride has been the subject of great speculation, much of it thinly veiled snobbery. But Britain is broken. Social mobility is at a historic low, state education and public healthcare are in crisis, and our own prime…

Slow Comedy - April 2011 The Financial Times - By Stewart Lee - April 10th, 2011

I am a stand-up comedian. Or at least I thought I was. A few years ago, I received an unsolicited e-mail asking me if I was interested in “submitting content”. I was confused. The sender explained that I was a “content provider”. Did I want to provide content? Eventually it transpired that the content-seeker wanted…