Stewart Lee

The Alternative Comedy Experience

Stewart Lee curates a series of alternative comedians, but offers little discussion on the genre

Stewart Lee is not sure that he and Comedy Central will have the same hopes for his curated 12-part show. The comic sees it as being similar to a ‘slightly under-attended Tuesday night at an arts centre’; Comedy Central’s ambitions remain unclarified…

Live comedy DVDs round-up

Featuring Stewart Francis, Stewart Lee, Paul Chowdhry, Kevin Bridges and Dara O'Briain

The live comedy DVD shelves are a veritable league of nations at the moment, even if (as has been noted on these pages before) the Democratic Republic of Women is sorely under-represented. For Outstanding in His Field (●●●), the Canadian one-line…

Swandown

Experimental filmmaker Andrew Kötting and writer Iain Sinclair swan their way to the Olympic stadium

In a journey reminiscent of his debut feature Gallivant (where he travelled around the coastline of the UK with his daughter and grandmother in tow) the experimental filmmaker takes a swan pedalo from Hastings and pedals it to the site of the Olympic…

Stewart Lee: Carpet Remnant World

Fringe veteran can still hurt stomachs

Stewart Lee’s 2012 Fringe kicked off in typically provocative vein, when his Guardian article (headlined ‘The Slow Death of the Edinburgh Fringe’) delivered an industry-savvy knee to the groin of corporate comedy promoters. While PRs dealt with the…

5 things that you have to see at . . . Funny in Falkirk

Pete Firman, Mark Watson, Stewart Lee and more

Middlesbrough’s magic man delivers jaw-dropping gags and funny conjuring tricks to the astounded masses of Falkirk. Now, should that be the other way around? Falkirk Town Hall, Sat 21 Jul. Mark Watson He might look like he wants to fall asleep on the…

2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Comedy highlights

Tim Key, Andrew Doyle, Andrew Maxwell, Dylan Moran and more

Andrew Doyle. Last year, Doyle’s show featured some pretty ripe comedy bravado during a Crash Course in Depravity, while for this August he’s doing Whatever it Takes. Bold words from a daring comic. Andrew Maxwell. One of the most reliably gifted…

First raft of shows from 2012 Edinburgh Fringe programme

Stewart Lee, Jimmy Carr, Rhod Gilbert and more to appear at Fringe 2012

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has revealed around 60 shows to take place at this year's event in August. The announcement comes weeks before the full line-up announcement on Thu 31 May. Comedy shows form the bulk of the latest show announcements…

Fist of Fun

Stewart Lee and Richard Herring's debut TV appearance given a DVD outing

‘It’s not as good as I remembered’. Thus sprach Stewart Lee about the first series of Fist of Fun, the BBC Two show which first introduced the bequiffed comic and Richard Herring, his cohort of many years, to a TV audience. While it might not be…

Writing an opera - Five creative types who have written a opera

Stewart Lee, Damon Albarn, Armando Iannucci, Paul McCartney

Stewart Lee The ‘comedian’s comedian’ took some time out a decade back to dash off Jerry Springer: The Opera, a paean to the trashy US talk show host and his disciples. The show’s eye-wateringly profane libretto, depictions of Biblical figures…

The shocking, rude and offensive highlights of the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe

The controversial shows of Edinburgh Fringe 2011

If boundary-pushing comedy is your thing, or if you just like smutty jokes, you’ll no doubt find a suitably impolite act at the Fringe. Jonny Ensall ranks 2011’s controversial shows by their level of offensiveness

DVD review - Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Uncompromising, awkward and confrontational style and content cements reputation

(2entertain) The second series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle will do very little to alter the entrenched opinions on both sides of his critical fence. Those detractors will switch off in their droves at the uncompromising, awkward and…

Best comedy gigs of 2010 in Scotland

Bo Burnham, Tommy Tiernan, Stewart Francis, Jenny Eclair, Stewart Lee

Bo Burnham After receiving top marks from both The Guardian and The Independent, little Bo Burnham really needed to be taken down a peg or three. Yet, the uber-talented wee tyke simply got on with his job and showed what a prospective comedy superstar…

A selection of the best comedy podcasts

Free comedy from Robin Ince, Richard Herring, Andrew Collins and Marc Maron

The explosion in free podcasts has been a boon for comedy fans, delivering intimate interviews, topical improv and experimental sketch shows, all the while plugging audiences directly into the psyches of their favourite stand-ups. US comic Marc Maron’s…

Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist announced

Bo Burnham, Greg Davies and Sarah Millican head up 2010 shortlist

The shortlist for the 2010 Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards has been announced. The acts nominated are: Bo Burnham, Greg Davies, Josie Long, Russell Kane and Sarah Millican

Stewart Lee’s Silver Stewbilee!

The stand up will launch his new book at the one-off night

He’s not letting us reviewers in again this year, so we can only assume that he’s doing a mime show in Swedish or something. With this one-off night, he’s launching his excellent new book, a series of musings and full scripts from his last few stand-up…

Stewart Lee - How I Escaped My Certain Fate

(Faber) Like Ezra Pound’s notes on The Waste Land if they’d been more cutting, self-critical and in awe of Johnny Vegas, Stewart Lee here transcribes and annotates the three stand-up shows that brought him back from disillusioned retirement in 2001…

Edinburgh Festival anniversaries in 2010

Anniversaries abound at this years festival, not least the the Comedy Awards and Assembly Rooms, both of which celebrate their 30th years.

Edinburgh festivals line-ups announced

Whatever your cultural poison, Edinburgh’s festival circuit has it covered

If You Prefer a Milder Comedian Please Ask for One - Stewart Lee interview

In his new show, Stewart Lee compares himself to a raft of personalities who appear to have let themselves go: Ray Liotta, Morrissey, KD Lang and Terry Christian among them. In the flesh, 41-year-old Lee might be barely recognisable from the comedic…

Five Things You Might Not Know About: Stewart Lee

While at Oxford, Lee first joined hips with Richard Herring in various revue affairs including some critically-unacclaimed jaunts to the Edinburgh Fringe in the late 80s. Al Murray was also part of that gang and later Lee would script edit the Pub…

Jason Cook - My Comedy Hero

My comedy heroes? That is a toughie as there are so many: the spontaneous genius of Ross Noble; the cutting one-liners of Frankie Boyle or Jimmy Carr; the measured calm of Stewart Lee or Sean Collins. Everyone has their own thing that makes them a…

Edinburgh Festival 2009 - Fringe programme highlights

Roll up, roll up. It may just seem like yesterday that the Edinburgh Fringe packed its bags for 2008 but now it’s back with a vengeance. Against stiff competition from its international and national counterparts, this year’s Fringe line-up looks…

Go Faster Stripe

Every November time an onslaught of comedy DVDs hits the nation’s shops and online retailers, almost as though there was some big occasion around the corner that stand-ups and their representatives wished to capitalise upon. Yet one wholly independent…

Maccabees instore gig set for Edinburgh's Avalanche Records

The Maccabees are the latest act to perform in the recently refurbished Edinburgh branch of cult record shop Avalanche. An instore gig by the upcoming South London band takes place at 5pm ahead of their show at Studio 24 later the same…

Five Comedy Things to Watch on TV

The Inbetweeners Series two gets into its stride as Will’s birthday looms. He’s planning a suitably grown-up dinner with a few close friends, and, naturellement, any girls they can persuade to come. E4, Thu 16 Apr, 10pm. Reno 911! More spoof…