Lee and Herring’s Fist of Fun: The Lowry, Manchester, 1994
Stewart Lee: Much-A Stew About Nothing: The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh, 2013
Stewart Lee: A Room with a Stew: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, 2015
Arnold Brown’s 80th Birthday Bash: The Comedy Store, London, 2016
Just The Tonic Working From Home – Good Riddance 2020 New Year’s Eve Special: Online: 2020
Leicester Comedy Festival: Happy Hour Q & A Interview with Stewart Lee: Online: 2021
Always Be Comedy: The Tommyfield pub, Kennington, London, 2021
Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director. In the mid-nineties he was one half of the comedy duo Lee and Herring alongside Richard Herring. I first came across Lee with their live show Lee and Herring’s Fist of Fun at Manchester in 1994. Based on a hit TV and radio series, the show was very audience friendly with solid material that was extremely polished and well delivered.
In 2013, I saw Lee’s solo show Much -a Stew About Nothing at the Edinburgh Fringe. I watched in wonder at Lee’s expert comic timing, surreal storytelling, and sardonic wit. The two areas of the show were based on party politics and then fictitious conversation’s with cab drivers. Lee displayed his gift for taking a simple idea, analysing it from every angle to squeeze as much comedy and intelligence out of his opinion or argument. There was also a strong feeling of disliking and having no respect for someone or something which endured as a smart way to engage with the audience.
Celebrity culture took a hammering in his 2015 show A Room with a Stew and his progressive decimation of a celebrity fellow comedian was a particularly funny highlight and nothing short of genius. The show was absolutely packed with laughs and mocked everything from English nationalism to urine which made the night a big success.
Lee made a guest appearance for Just The Tonic’s New Year’s Eve Special that I watched online in December 2020. Lee reflected on the awful year that was 2020 in his cutting, witty, intelligent and unique way as he chatted with compere Darrell Martin.
I watched an interview with Stewart Lee for the Leicester Comedy Festival which took place online because of the Coronavirus epidemic in February 2021. Lee talked to founding director Geoff Rowe about his comedy career, his highlights and views on the future of live comedy.
The superb comedian returned to live stand up for a warm-up show at Always Be Comedy in November 2021. Displaying a comedy masterclass, he delivered two hours of superb intelligent and clever comedy for his forthcoming show Snowflake Tornado. Effortlessly entertaining the audience, it was a wonderful evening.
Lee’s ability to deconstruct both his act and world around him makes him a highly intelligent and clever commentator as well as an extremely funny and great comedian.
