Stewart Lee

Last Night's Television - Keep taking the mic

In my front room, Stewart Lee was preaching not so much to the converted, as to an ayatollah. He did so brilliantly, though. And what I love about his act is that he does not feel remotely bound by the conventions of showbiz brotherhood.

Stewart Lee, stand-up comic par excellence and TV partner of Richard Herring, returns to prime-time television with this six-part series of sketches and routines, each week taking a new theme. His first is the "toilet book", by which he means the kind of publication one might keep in a bathroom, rather than a Bathstore catalogue. "For some reason," says Lee, "someone, somewhere, thought history, fiction, poetry and the like weren't enough any more, and so they invented celebrity hardbacks, tragic lives and Dan Brown." That gives Lee an excuse to examine works by Asher D and Paddy McGinty, and to wonder what would happen if Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown got a job where he had to break bad news - melodramatic doesn't exactly cover it. Indeed, Lee's strength often comes from a peculiar sense of tongue-in-cheek but nevertheless righteous anger about his subjects: "What does it say about our culture that the word 'toilet' can be appended to the word 'book'?" he asks. "Toilet seat, yes. Toilet paper, yes. Toilet duck - you can even have toilet duck. But toilet book - surely not?" It's hard not to agree. Simon Munnery is among Lee's impressive line-up of co-stars, while comedian Peter Serafinowicz provides the voice-over.

Stewart Lee is a stand-up comedian who specialises in telling unfashionable truths. He has the manner of Gordon Brown at his glummest, but instead of being downbeat, this is comedy so accurate and courageous that its effect is exhilarating. His target tonight is the debased world of book publishing. "Did William Tyndale," he wonders miserably, "burn at the stake in 1536 in the cause of vernacular English literature so that you could read The Gospel According to Chris Moyles?"; He demolishes Dan Brown, explains why he has never read J. K. Rowling and disrespects the rapper Asher D's autobiography. "I like this book," he says, "because when I read a book, I don't like there to be too many words in it. What I prefer is for it to be pictures of the same man, over and over again, in a variety of different hats." It's the comic highlight of the week.

In the first of a witty new stand-up-cum-sketch series, comic Stewart Lee focuses on 'toilet books'. Having risked a good smiting from The Almighty for penning Jerry Springer: The Opera, it's not surprising stand-up stalwart Stewart is tackling big issues such as political correctness and religion in this darn fine mix of themed routines and sketches. First up, though, is the topic of literature, in which Stewart challenges Dan 'The Da Vinci Code' Brown's style and asks when it became acceptable to take books into the toilet.

Stewart Lee is a raconteur who might remind you of Dave Allen; he's clever, discursive and very funny. Though best known for co-writing Jerry Springer: The Opera, which made him the focus of a national hate campaign, Lee is a gifted stand-up with a laconic style. In the first instalment of a new series, his subject is books in general and so-called "celebrity hardbacks" in particular, which allows Lee, who looks a bit like a very young, very tired Morrissey, to give Jeremy Clarkson and Chris Moyles both barrels. I loved his dismissal of the latter's second autobiographical volume, The Difficult Second Book, as a title that showed "a degree of irony and self-awareness largely absent from the text". The sketches that smatter the show don't work very well (they never did for Dave Allen, either), but just go with the flow, because everything else works a treat.

It's easy to have a pop at telly executives (for example: telly is run by complete morons. See? Easy) but whoever decided that Stewart Lee was such a stand-up artist that he deserved his own show deserves much, much praise. The first ep sees him rail angrily against the modern world of publishing; Chris Moyles, Jeremy Clarkson and pity publishing all receive a marvelous dose of controlled anger. Crucially, despite the clear, genuine rage, he remains funny throughout (check out the brilliant pay off to the Asher D rant). A fantastic show.

London Paper Review

Stewart Lee is one of those comics who can sometimes be a bit too clever-clever for his own good. And by clever-clever, I mean finding irony-within-irony, making jokes about jokes, and being so self-referential he's in danger of disappearing up his own allusions. But fear not, because Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is one of the funniest 30 minutes of TV you'll have seen in a while.

Stewart Lee Interview

Veteran comic Stewart Lee has been described as a 'crumpled Morrissey' and he's officially the 41st best stand up of all time.

Stewart Lee on his Comedy Vehicle

The man behind Fist of Fun (with Richard Herring) and Jerry Springer - The Opera is back on screen in his own 'Comedy Vehicle'. He talks to The Times.

Taking a stand pays off for Stewart Lee

Stewart Lee has had something of a tumultuous relationship with television. Widely regarded as one of this country's riskiest and most insightful stand-up comedians, the last time Lee fronted a TV show of any kind was ten years ago, when he appeared with Richard Herring in BBC2 show This Morning With Richard Not Judy.