Stewart Lee
Encyclopedia
Stewart Lee is an English
stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring
, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera. In a review of the comedy of the previous decade, a 2009 article in The Times
referred to Lee as "the comedian's comedian, and for good reason" and named him "face of the decade".
His stand-up features frequent use of "repetition
, call-backs
, nonchalant delivery and deconstruction".
. He was adopted
as a child and grew up in Solihull
in the West Midlands
. He attended private school Solihull School
, on a scholarship. He is married to fellow comic Bridget Christie
, with whom he has two children. He is a supporter of the British Humanist Association
and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society
.
in the 1980s, he wrote and performed comedy in a revue group called "The Seven Raymonds
" with Richard Herring
, Emma Kennedy
, Michael Cosgrave, Richard Canning and Tim Richardson
, but did not perform in the well-known Oxford Revue
, though he did write for and direct the 1989 Revue. Having moved to London and begun performing stand up comedy after university, he rose to greater prominence in 1990, winning the prestigious Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
competition. With Richard Herring, Lee wrote material for BBC Radio 4
's On the Hour
(1991), which was anchored by Chris Morris
and was notable for the first appearance of Steve Coogan
's celebrated character, Alan Partridge
, for which Lee and Herring wrote much early material. After a disagreement with the rest of the cast, Lee & Herring did not remain with the group when On The Hour moved to television as The Day Today
and their material was excised from an official release of the radio show in the mid-'90s (though a 2008 CD release would see it re-instated). In 1992, Lee was briefly part of the team writing the first Robin Askwith
"Confessions of..." movie for 15 years. However due to financial problems the movie was scrapped and his script has never seen light of day.
In 1992 and 1993, he and Herring wrote and performed Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World
for BBC Radio 4, before moving to BBC Radio 1
, for one series of Fist of Fun (1993). This was followed by three series entitled, simply, Lee and Herring
. These shows mixed sketches with live links and music, in a format that Radio 1 seemed to favour at the time. (Other classic examples of such include shows by Chris Morris
, Armando Iannucci
, and Simon Munnery
in his guise as "Alan Parker: Urban Warrior".) Fist of Fun moved to television for two BBC Two
series, and was followed in 1998 by This Morning with Richard Not Judy
, which featured material in a similar vein, but was notable for being broadcast live in a Sunday morning slot. A change in BBC management after the second series of the latter effectively brought his partnership with Herring to an end but the two comedians still share a similarity of humour.
Throughout the late nineties he continued performing solo stand-up (something that has always been a mainstay of his career – even whilst in the double act with Herring) and has collaborated with, amongst others, Julian Barratt
and Noel Fielding
of The Mighty Boosh
. Indeed, though they had worked together in the past, the first seeds of the Boosh were sown whilst working as part of Lee's Edinburgh show King Dong vs Moby Dick in which Barratt and Fielding played a giant penis and a whale, respectively. Lee returned the favour by going on to direct their 1999 Edinburgh show, Arctic Boosh, which remains the template of all their live work.
poem The Owl and the Pussycat
and a tale of his own broken toilet. This would later be condensed to focus mainly on the poem itself, and a 15 minute version aired on Radio 4. In 2007, Go Faster Stripe released a 25-minute edit on CD & 10" Vinyl.
During late 2000 and early 2001, Lee "gradually, incrementally and without any fanfare – or even much thought – gave up being a stand-up comedian". 2001 was the first year since 1987 that he did not perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. Whilst Lee found himself gradually performing less and less standup and moving away from the stage, he continued his directorial duties on television. Two pilots were made for Channel 4
, Cluub Zarathrustra and Head Farm, but neither was developed into a series. The former, however, would feature all the ingredients that would later appear in Attention Scum
, a BBC2 series fronted by Simon Munnery's League Against Tedium character, which also featured the likes of Kevin Eldon, Johnny Vegas
and Roger Mann, as well as Richard Thomas and opera singer Lori Lixenberg, in their guise as "Kombat Opera".
At the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Lee directed Johnny Vegas's first DVD, Who's Ready For Ice Cream?, a move away from the traditional "stand-up comic releases a DVD" format, involving a plot in which Vegas loses his comedy "mojo" and has to track it down via a journey of personal discovery. The DVD also features footage of Vegas' actual standup set as additional extras.
In 2004, Lee returned to stand-up comedy with the show Standup Comedian, which earned him a "Tap Water Award
" in Edinburgh and was released on DVD in October 2005. This features extra footage of performances from his earlier career on Five's "Comedy Network". This show was toured extensively throughout the UK, Australia and US. Reviewing the comedy of the decade, Dominic Maxwell in The Times wrote of Lee's 2004 return to stand-up that it was "one of the boldest, smartest, most technically assured hours of stand-up I've ever seen".
In January 2005, Jerry Springer - The Opera, a satirical musical/opera based upon The Jerry Springer Show
, was broadcast on BBC Two, following a highly successful West End
run for several years, and as a prelude to the show's UK Tour.
Christian Voice
led a number of protest groups who claimed that the show was blasphemous
and highly offensive. In particular, they were angered by the portrayal of Jesus Christ. Disputes arose, with supporters claiming that most of the protesters had neither seen the show nor knew of its actual content. Others supported the right to freedom of speech. Several Christian
groups protested at some of the venues used during the UK Tour. The show was broadcast with a record number of complaints prior to its transmission. In total, the BBC received 55,000 complaints. A private court case brought by Christian Voice against Lee and others involved with the production for blasphemy was rejected by a Magistrates' Court.
In 2005, Lee tackled the subject of the religious hatred he experienced after the broadcast of Jerry Springer – The Opera in his stand-up show, 90s Comedian. This show has earned him some of the best reviews of his career, largely due to the un-checked vitriol he unleashes in the latter half of the set, "taking no prisoners" in his attempt to display what he claimed was the lunacy of sacred cows.
A recording was made in Cardiff
in March 2006. This was filmed by a group of amateur enthusiasts who were disappointed that there was no distribution deal in place because of the commercial failure of the Standup Comedian DVD and the controversial nature of the new show's material. These "enthusiastic amateurs" became GoFasterStripe and, having set themselves up in order to film the show, have gone on to film the works of many other "non-mainstream" comedians, including sets from Tony Law (Lee's support act on the 2009 If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One tour), Simon Munnery
(whose BBC television comedy series -Attention Scum - was directed by Lee) and several by Lee's former partner Richard Herring.
Jerry Springer – The Opera opened at Carnegie Hall
in New York
in 2008, starring Harvey Keitel
as Springer. It has since been performed across the United States, Canada and Australia.
Implying that it might have happened under different circumstances, he commented at the time on his website that, "I assumed I was going to be working out 6 half hours of stand-up for a TV project but it fell through".
However, he did visit the festival in capacity of director with a production of the Eric Bogosian
play Talk Radio
with a cast which included Phil Nichol
, Mike McShane
, Will Adamsdale
, Stephen K Amos and Tony Law
.
In 2006, in addition to his directorial contribution to Talk Radio, he gigged regularly and appeared on television and radio, in – amongst others – Armando Iannucci's, Time Trumpet
, as a version of himself thirty years in the future looking back and commentating on the present day. The show ran on BBC2 between August & 6 September 2006.
Also in August, Lee presented a programme in the Five series Don't Get Me Started. The documentary discussed the issues of blasphemy, free speech, religious censorship and the rise in protests from religious groups over perceived attacks on their faith. This was of course of some interest to Lee, especially considering his experience in the Jerry Springer -The Opera controversy (see above). The programme was renamed from New Puritans to Stewart Lee Says What's So Bad About Blasphemy? without Lee's knowledge.
He separated from his long standing management company, Avalon, after a promised BBC series fell through (and because of a loss of trust resulting in part from incidents such as the retitling of the blasphemy documentary), and appeared on the BBC Radio 4 quiz Quote Unquote, Never Mind the Buzzcocks
and on Have I Got News for You
, purportedly to pay for his wedding.
In October, he presented a forty year tribute to Star Trek
on BBC Radio 2
, and in November, presented White Face, Dark Heart, two programmes on Radio 4 about clowns, during which he fulfilled a ten-year desire to witness the rituals of New Mexico
's sacred clowns
. These shows are available to download on his official website.
He curated a CD for the Sonic Arts Network
called The Topography of Chance. Lee explored different artists, writers and musician’s experiments with randomness and chance and brought together an eclectic mix of artists including tracks by; Simon Munnery, Arthur Smith
, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
, Evan Parker
, Derek Bailey, Jem Finer
, Kombat Opera, Jon Rose
and more.
January saw Lee open his show What Would Judas Do in double bill with Mark Ravenhill
's Product: World Remix at London's Bush Theatre.
He announced at the time that he was also writing – with Tony Law
a sitcom pilot about the god Thor
, for BBC Two
, and script-editing another pilot, a sitcom about the Brontë
sisters.
In February, he organised a tribute to cult comedian Ted Chippington
entitled "Tedstock" at London's Bloomsbury Theatre. This was designed, in part, to raise money to fund a CD release of Chippington's work – which was available to buy on the night, "Walking Down The Road". The show included a one-off performance from Lee and Herring, along with fellow Ted fans Simon Munnery, The Nightingales
, Phill Jupitus
, Josie Long
and Stephen Carlin
.
Lee's first new stand up show since "90s Comedian" was developed over the first half of 2007, originally to be named March Of The Mallards (a title parodying that of the film, March of the Penguins
), it would be renamed before its full debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival of that year, and subsequent Autumn tour. This was because, in March 2007, Lee was named 41st best stand-up of all time in a Channel 4 survey listing the "100 best standups". In this poll, he beat Dave Allen
, George Carlin
, Steve Martin
, Robin Williams
and Tommy Cooper
. Channel 4 did not reveal exactly how the voting was conducted, but 150,000 members of the public were polled, as were an undisclosed number of experts.
In the light of this result Lee renamed his Summer 2007 stand-up show 'Stewart Lee – 41st Best Stand Up Ever!' as he felt it was "both arrogant and humble". During the show he joked that since Bernard Manning
(who had been placed above him in the poll) had died since the Channel 4 poll had first aired, he felt he should be moved up to Number 40. Another project, "Johnson & Boswell, Late But Live", written by Lee & performed by comics Simon Munnery and Miles Jupp
played throughout the festival at the Traverse Theatre
before embarking upon a tour of Scotland.
July 2007, Lee appeared on the Channel 4 panel game, 8 out of 10 Cats
, which he has since described as "the worst professional experience of my life". July 2007 also saw the premiere of Interiors, a site-specific theatre piece co-written with Johnny Vegas
, at the Manchester International Festival
.
Lee also co wrote 'Poets' Tree' with close friend & collaborator, the actor Kevin Eldon. This was a BBC Radio 4 series that was aired in April 2008, based on Paul Hamilton, Eldon's arrogant poet alter-ego.
At the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 Lee performed potential material for his recently announced BBC2 series, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, in a work in progress show at The Stand, billed as Scrambled Egg. Over the three weeks of the festival, Lee worked on a large quantity of new material, and updated old favourites for possible inclusion in the show, which began filming the following November. A follow up to Johnson & Boswell also aired, again featuring Munnery & Jupp. Elizabeth & Raleigh, Late But Live was featured at the festival before touring the country in the autumn. In November, Lee began filming for his 2009 TV show, and on the 16th November, reunited with Herring another one off performance of their old double act at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith during one of the gigs Richard Herring curated there. They were joined by Paul Putner
in character as the Curious Orange. With initial filming out of the way, Scrambled Egg was reprised at London's Hen & Chickens Theatre in December to fully polish the stand up sections of the forthcoming TV project ahead of filming in January 2009.
, a new six part comedy series featuring standup and sketches, began a six episode run on 16 March 2009. The executive producer was Armando Iannucci
and the script editor was Chris Morris
. The first episode received positive reviews from The Independent
and The Daily Mirror. The show received a negative review in Time Out, written by Lee himself, in which he described himself as "fat" and his performance as "positively Neanderthal, suggesting a jungle-dwelling pygmy, struggling to coax notes out of a clarinet that has fallen from a passing aircraft". The Guardian
named Comedy Vehicle as one of its top ten television highlights of 2009, commenting that it "was the kind of TV that makes you feel like you're not the only one wondering how we came to be surrounded by so much unquestioned mediocrity". One of the show's few negative reviews came in the Sunday Mercury, which stated: "His whole tone is one of complete, smug condescension". Lee subsequently used this line to advertise his next stand-up tour. Lee frequently uses negative reviews on his posters in order to put off potential audience members who are unlikely to be fans of his comedy style.
The first episode was watched by approximately 1 million viewers, though the figure rose by 25% when BBC iPlayer
viewings were factored in and, uncharacteristically, viewing figures rose over the series. The series was the BBC's second most downloaded broadcast during its run. In May 2010, the series was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award
for best comedy programme.
Lee also had a show at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, named Stewart Lee: If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One in which he performed his own version of the song "Galway Girl
". In the Galway stage of this show Sharon Shannon
performed the song with Lee. In December 2009 Lee was beaten to the title of Best Live Stand-Up by the comedian Michael McIntyre
at the British Comedy Awards
ceremony.
Lee caused controversy on his If You Prefer a Milder Comedian tour with a joke about Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond
. Referring to Hammond's accident while filming in 2006, in which he was almost killed, Lee joked, "I wish he had been decapitated and that his head had rolled off in front of his wife". The Daily Mail
termed this an "extraordinary attack" and, having been doorstepped by a Mail
journalist, Lee replied "It's a joke, just like on Top Gear when they do their jokes". Lee subsequently explained the joke:
In an Observer interview, Sean O'Hagan says of the Hammond joke that Lee "operates out in that dangerous hinterland between moral provocation and outright offence, often adopting, as in this instance, the tactics of those he targets in order to highlight their hypocrisy".
, with jazz-improv guitarist Derek Bailey as his special subject, winning with 26 points in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association
. On the 9th of February, Armando Iannucci
, the executive producer of the first series of Comedy Vehicle, announced that there would be a second series of the show. On 10 April an updated version of The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups was broadcast on Channel 4, in which Lee was declared the 12th best stand-up comedian. The May Day
weekend saw Lee curating a programme of free jazz
at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival
, at the invitation of festival director Tony Dudley-Evans
.
Lee's second book, How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian, was published by Faber and Faber
on 5 August 2010. The book features annotated transcripts of Lee's Stand-Up Comedian, 90s Comedian and 41st Best Stand-Up Ever shows and has received positive reviews. It is dedicated to Ted Chippington.
Lee's 2010 Edinburgh Fringe show is entitled Vegetable Stew. Prior to the start of the festival, Lee wrote an e-mail to the publicist of the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards, copying in other comedians, in response to the announcement of a poll to find the public's favourite act from 30 years of the award, which was previously known as the Perrier Award. Lee wrote:
As result of his e-mail going viral
with the encouragement of Richard Herring and Robin Ince
, Frank Chickens took the lead in the poll. During the polling, Lee wrote that: "In my e-mail I chose at random Frank Chicken, the Japanese female performance art duo, as an example of possibly worthy winners who would not get a look-in under this illogical and unfair voting system, and the Twitter world has adopted them as a cause". He stated that it was never his intention to influence the vote, "but they are now leading the field, and it appears we should embrace them. If Frank Chickens become Comedy Gods then Foster's will have been helped to actually sponsor some actual art, and fans of Foster's all over the whole world will be made aware of that wonderful, indefinable, mischievous, playful thing we call the Spirit Of The Fringe!". Frank Chickens went on to win the public vote.
As a result of the Frank Chickens incident, Lee was awarded the Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt award for best publicity stunt at the Fringe. The award's organisers stated: "The fact that Stewart did not intend to unleash publicity does not negate his success".
In addition to his main Edinburgh show, on 18 August Lee headlined a one-night variety show
, Silver Stewbilee, to launch How I Escaped My Certain Fate. The show included performances by Simon Munnery
as Alan Parker: Urban Warrior, Bridget Christie, Kevin Eldon, Paul Putner
, Frank Chickens and Franz Ferdinand
.
On 15 September 2010, Lee, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI
's state visit to the UK.
. Through the early 2000s, he became a regular presenter on, and patron of, Resonance FM 104.4
.
He is noted for his diverse musical taste. Asked in 2003 what his current music favourites were, he stated "Most of my favourites are still going like The Fall, Giant Sand
and Calexico. I listen to a lot of jazz, 60s and folk music but I really like Ms. Dynamite
, and The Streets
". He once said that the only band he liked that anyone else has heard of was R.E.M.
. His debut novel, The Perfect Fool, includes an 'audio bibliography' – a list of recommended listening. This mentions that it was his love of the band Giant Sand that first attracted him to visit the American South West. He is also known to be a fan of alternative rock
band The Smashing Pumpkins
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring
Lee and Herring
Lee and Herring were a British standup comedy double act consisting of the comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. They were probably most famous for their work on television, most notably Fist of Fun and This Morning With Richard Not Judy but had been working together on stage and on radio...
, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera. In a review of the comedy of the previous decade, a 2009 article in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
referred to Lee as "the comedian's comedian, and for good reason" and named him "face of the decade".
His stand-up features frequent use of "repetition
Repetition (rhetorical device)
Repetition is the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement of the words, in order to emphasize. This is such a common literary device that it is almost never even noted as a figure of speech...
, call-backs
Callback (comedy)
A callback, in terms of comedy, is a joke which refers to one previously told in the set. The second joke is often presented in a different context than the one which was used in the initial joke. Callbacks are usually used at or near the end of a set, as the aim is to create the biggest laugh at...
, nonchalant delivery and deconstruction".
Background
Lee was born in Wellington, ShropshireWellington, Shropshire
Wellington is a town in the unitary authority of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England and now forms part of the new town of Telford. The population of the parish of Wellington was recorded as 20,430 in the 2001 census, making it the third largest town in Shropshire if...
. He was adopted
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
as a child and grew up in Solihull
Solihull
Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre...
in the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
. He attended private school Solihull School
Solihull School
Solihull School is a British Independent school situated near the centre of Solihull, West Midlands, England.2010 saw Solihull School celebrate its 450th anniversary since its foundation in 1560....
, on a scholarship. He is married to fellow comic Bridget Christie
Bridget Christie
Bridget Christie is an award winning British comedian, actress and writer. She studied acting at The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.She has appeared in several TV and radio shows, including The Omid Djalili Show on BBC One and The Culture Show on BBC Two...
, with whom he has two children. He is a supporter of the British Humanist Association
British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society
National Secular Society
The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...
.
Early career: Lee and Herring and Fist of Fun
While studying English at St Edmund Hall, OxfordSt Edmund Hall, Oxford
St Edmund Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Better known within the University by its nickname, "Teddy Hall", the college has a claim to being "the oldest academical society for the education of undergraduates in any university"...
in the 1980s, he wrote and performed comedy in a revue group called "The Seven Raymonds
Seven Raymonds
The Seven Raymonds were a comic revue troupe founded in 1987 by Oxford University undergraduates.The Seven Raymonds were Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Emma Kennedy, Michael Cosgrave, Richard Canning, and Jo Renshaw...
" with Richard Herring
Richard Herring
Richard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...
, Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy is an English actress, writer and television presenter....
, Michael Cosgrave, Richard Canning and Tim Richardson
Tim Richardson
Tim Richardson, author of Sweets: The History of Temptation, is the world's first international confectionery historian. He also writes about gardens, landscape and theatre, and contributes to the Daily Telegraph, Country Life, The Idler, House & Garden, Garden Design Journal and Wallpaper...
, but did not perform in the well-known Oxford Revue
The Oxford Revue
The Oxford Revue is a comedy group featuring students from Oxford University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians and satirists. The Revue writes, produces and performs several shows each term...
, though he did write for and direct the 1989 Revue. Having moved to London and begun performing stand up comedy after university, he rose to greater prominence in 1990, winning the prestigious Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year was a long-running annual competition that ran at the Hackney Empire theatre in London in order to encourage, discover and promote new stand-up comedy and New Variety talent...
competition. With Richard Herring, Lee wrote material for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's On the Hour
On the Hour
On the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...
(1991), which was anchored by Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
and was notable for the first appearance of Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
's celebrated character, Alan Partridge
Alan Partridge
Alan Gordon Partridge is a fictional radio and television presenter portrayed by English comedian Steve Coogan and invented by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring for the BBC Radio 4 programme On The Hour...
, for which Lee and Herring wrote much early material. After a disagreement with the rest of the cast, Lee & Herring did not remain with the group when On The Hour moved to television as The Day Today
The Day Today
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...
and their material was excised from an official release of the radio show in the mid-'90s (though a 2008 CD release would see it re-instated). In 1992, Lee was briefly part of the team writing the first Robin Askwith
Robin Askwith
Robin Askwith , is an English film actor, most famous for his role as Timmy Lea in the Confessions... sex comedies.-Confessions...:...
"Confessions of..." movie for 15 years. However due to financial problems the movie was scrapped and his script has never seen light of day.
In 1992 and 1993, he and Herring wrote and performed Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World
Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World
Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Stewart Lee and Richard Herring , and narrated by Tom Baker as the titular character, Lionel Nimrod, an over the top parody of Leonard Nimoy. The show itself somewhat parodies the Leonard Nimoy program "In Search Of..."...
for BBC Radio 4, before moving to BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
, for one series of Fist of Fun (1993). This was followed by three series entitled, simply, Lee and Herring
Lee and Herring (radio series)
Lee and Herring was a British radio series broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1994 and 1995, named after the comedy double act who hosted it, Lee and Herring.The show ran for three series and a total of nineteen hour-long episodes...
. These shows mixed sketches with live links and music, in a format that Radio 1 seemed to favour at the time. (Other classic examples of such include shows by Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
, Armando Iannucci
Armando Iannucci
Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
, and Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, is an English comedy writer and experimental standup comedian...
in his guise as "Alan Parker: Urban Warrior".) Fist of Fun moved to television for two BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
series, and was followed in 1998 by This Morning with Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy or TMWRNJ was a BBC comedy television programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. Two series were broadcast in 1998 and 1999 on BBC2...
, which featured material in a similar vein, but was notable for being broadcast live in a Sunday morning slot. A change in BBC management after the second series of the latter effectively brought his partnership with Herring to an end but the two comedians still share a similarity of humour.
Throughout the late nineties he continued performing solo stand-up (something that has always been a mainstay of his career – even whilst in the double act with Herring) and has collaborated with, amongst others, Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt
Julian Barratt is an English comedian, musician, music producer and actor. Barratt is best known for playing the character of Howard Moon in the cult comedy The Mighty Boosh, which he also co-writes with comedy partner, Noel Fielding.-The Mighty Boosh:Barratt stars as the character Howard Moon...
and Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding is a British artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his roles as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-writes with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.-Stand-up comedy:Noel Fielding performed regularly as a...
of The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...
. Indeed, though they had worked together in the past, the first seeds of the Boosh were sown whilst working as part of Lee's Edinburgh show King Dong vs Moby Dick in which Barratt and Fielding played a giant penis and a whale, respectively. Lee returned the favour by going on to direct their 1999 Edinburgh show, Arctic Boosh, which remains the template of all their live work.
Career 2000–04: Quitting stand-up
In 2001, Lee published his first novel, The Perfect Fool. It was republished in 2008. In the same year he performed Pea Green Boat, a stand-up show which revolved around the deconstruction of the Edward LearEdward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...
poem The Owl and the Pussycat
The Owl and the Pussycat
"The Owl and the Pussycat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1871.- Background :Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds...
and a tale of his own broken toilet. This would later be condensed to focus mainly on the poem itself, and a 15 minute version aired on Radio 4. In 2007, Go Faster Stripe released a 25-minute edit on CD & 10" Vinyl.
During late 2000 and early 2001, Lee "gradually, incrementally and without any fanfare – or even much thought – gave up being a stand-up comedian". 2001 was the first year since 1987 that he did not perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. Whilst Lee found himself gradually performing less and less standup and moving away from the stage, he continued his directorial duties on television. Two pilots were made for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, Cluub Zarathrustra and Head Farm, but neither was developed into a series. The former, however, would feature all the ingredients that would later appear in Attention Scum
Attention Scum
Attention Scum! was a short lived television comedy series directed by Stewart Lee. It starred Simon Munnery as his League Against Tedium character and contained acerbic stand-up routines atop of a transit van and sketches including mainstays such as "24 Hour News" , operatic intermissions by...
, a BBC2 series fronted by Simon Munnery's League Against Tedium character, which also featured the likes of Kevin Eldon, Johnny Vegas
Johnny Vegas
Johnny Vegas is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his angry rants, portly figure, high husky voice and support of St Helens rugby league club. More recently he has moved into dramatic acting.-Early life:He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the youngest of four children of Laurence...
and Roger Mann, as well as Richard Thomas and opera singer Lori Lixenberg, in their guise as "Kombat Opera".
At the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Lee directed Johnny Vegas's first DVD, Who's Ready For Ice Cream?, a move away from the traditional "stand-up comic releases a DVD" format, involving a plot in which Vegas loses his comedy "mojo" and has to track it down via a journey of personal discovery. The DVD also features footage of Vegas' actual standup set as additional extras.
In 2004, Lee returned to stand-up comedy with the show Standup Comedian, which earned him a "Tap Water Award
Tap Water Award
The Tap Water Awards were awarded by committee at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in annually changing categories of performance including theatre, comedy, dance, storytelling and Arabic poetry....
" in Edinburgh and was released on DVD in October 2005. This features extra footage of performances from his earlier career on Five's "Comedy Network". This show was toured extensively throughout the UK, Australia and US. Reviewing the comedy of the decade, Dominic Maxwell in The Times wrote of Lee's 2004 return to stand-up that it was "one of the boldest, smartest, most technically assured hours of stand-up I've ever seen".
2005: Jerry Springer The Opera and 90s Comedian
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
, was broadcast on BBC Two, following a highly successful West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
run for several years, and as a prelude to the show's UK Tour.
Christian Voice
Christian Voice (UK)
Christian Voice is a Christian pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its stated objective is "to uphold Christianity as the Faith of the United Kingdom, to be a voice for Biblical values in law and public policy, and to defend and support traditional family life." It is independent of...
led a number of protest groups who claimed that the show was blasphemous
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
and highly offensive. In particular, they were angered by the portrayal of Jesus Christ. Disputes arose, with supporters claiming that most of the protesters had neither seen the show nor knew of its actual content. Others supported the right to freedom of speech. Several Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
groups protested at some of the venues used during the UK Tour. The show was broadcast with a record number of complaints prior to its transmission. In total, the BBC received 55,000 complaints. A private court case brought by Christian Voice against Lee and others involved with the production for blasphemy was rejected by a Magistrates' Court.
In 2005, Lee tackled the subject of the religious hatred he experienced after the broadcast of Jerry Springer – The Opera in his stand-up show, 90s Comedian. This show has earned him some of the best reviews of his career, largely due to the un-checked vitriol he unleashes in the latter half of the set, "taking no prisoners" in his attempt to display what he claimed was the lunacy of sacred cows.
A recording was made in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
in March 2006. This was filmed by a group of amateur enthusiasts who were disappointed that there was no distribution deal in place because of the commercial failure of the Standup Comedian DVD and the controversial nature of the new show's material. These "enthusiastic amateurs" became GoFasterStripe and, having set themselves up in order to film the show, have gone on to film the works of many other "non-mainstream" comedians, including sets from Tony Law (Lee's support act on the 2009 If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One tour), Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, is an English comedy writer and experimental standup comedian...
(whose BBC television comedy series -Attention Scum - was directed by Lee) and several by Lee's former partner Richard Herring.
Jerry Springer – The Opera opened at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 2008, starring Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
as Springer. It has since been performed across the United States, Canada and Australia.
2006: What Would Judas Do?
Many assumed Lee would bring a new hour of stand up to Edinburgh in 2006 to consolidate his "comeback" success, but he did not.Implying that it might have happened under different circumstances, he commented at the time on his website that, "I assumed I was going to be working out 6 half hours of stand-up for a TV project but it fell through".
However, he did visit the festival in capacity of director with a production of the Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
play Talk Radio
Talk Radio (play)
Talk Radio is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play written by Eric Bogosian, based on a concept by Bogosian and Tad Savinar. It centers around Barry Champlain, a Cleveland-area shock jock, on the eve of his radio show's national syndication....
with a cast which included Phil Nichol
Phil Nichol
Phil Nichol is a Canadian comedian, singer-songwriter, and actor.-Comedy:Nichol was born in Scotland to a Scottish mother, but raised in Canada. He first found fame as a member of the musical comedy trio Corky and the Juice Pigs, known for the song " Eskimo"...
, Mike McShane
Mike McShane
Michael "Mike" McShane is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian who first became known through his appearances in the early 1990s on the British version of the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?-Biography:...
, Will Adamsdale
Will Adamsdale
Will Adamsdale is an English actor.Adamsdale was educated at Eton College and the Oxford School of Drama. In 2004, he starred in a self-penned one man show called Jackson's Way at the Edinburgh Fringe. The intended run for the production was ten days, before the intervention of cult comedian...
, Stephen K Amos and Tony Law
Tony Law
Tony Law is a Canadian stand-up comedian. Born 20 September 1969 in Lacombe, Alberta, he is now based in London, UK.He is known for his highly surreal material & delivery, and 1950's Americana style of dress - favouring boots with turned up jeans & an impressive quiff.A lot of Tony's material...
.
In 2006, in addition to his directorial contribution to Talk Radio, he gigged regularly and appeared on television and radio, in – amongst others – Armando Iannucci's, Time Trumpet
Time Trumpet
Time Trumpet is a six-episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two in 2006. The series was written by Armando Iannucci, Roger Drew and Will Smith in a similar manner to Iannucci's earlier one-off programmes 2004: The Stupid Version and Clinton: His Struggle with...
, as a version of himself thirty years in the future looking back and commentating on the present day. The show ran on BBC2 between August & 6 September 2006.
Also in August, Lee presented a programme in the Five series Don't Get Me Started. The documentary discussed the issues of blasphemy, free speech, religious censorship and the rise in protests from religious groups over perceived attacks on their faith. This was of course of some interest to Lee, especially considering his experience in the Jerry Springer -The Opera controversy (see above). The programme was renamed from New Puritans to Stewart Lee Says What's So Bad About Blasphemy? without Lee's knowledge.
He separated from his long standing management company, Avalon, after a promised BBC series fell through (and because of a loss of trust resulting in part from incidents such as the retitling of the blasphemy documentary), and appeared on the BBC Radio 4 quiz Quote Unquote, Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...
and on Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, purportedly to pay for his wedding.
In October, he presented a forty year tribute to Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
, and in November, presented White Face, Dark Heart, two programmes on Radio 4 about clowns, during which he fulfilled a ten-year desire to witness the rituals of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
's sacred clowns
Pueblo Clowns
Pueblo Clowns is a generic term for jester or trickster in the Kachina religion practiced by the Pueblo Indians of the southwestern USA. There are a number of figures in the ritual practice of the Pueblo people...
. These shows are available to download on his official website.
He curated a CD for the Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects...
called The Topography of Chance. Lee explored different artists, writers and musician’s experiments with randomness and chance and brought together an eclectic mix of artists including tracks by; Simon Munnery, Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith (comedian)
Brian Arthur John Smith is an English alternative comedian and writer. He was born in Bermondsey, South London, brother to Richard Smith...
, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players describe themselves as an "indie-vaudeville conceptual art-rock pop band", from the United States. Originally from Seattle, Washington, they are now based in New York, New York.-Overview:...
, Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, Derek Bailey, Jem Finer
Jem Finer
Jem Finer is an English musician, artist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Pogues.-Life and career:...
, Kombat Opera, Jon Rose
Jon Rose
Jon Rose is an Australian violinist born in the UK in 1951. Rose began playing violin at age 7 after winning a music scholarship to King's School in Rochester. For over 35 years, Rose has been at the sharp end of new, improvised, and experimental music and media...
and more.
2007: Stewart Lee – 41st Best Stand Up Ever!
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill is an English playwright, actor and journalist.His most famous plays include Shopping and Fucking , Some Explicit Polaroids and Mother Clap's Molly House . He made his acting debut in his monologue Product, at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe...
's Product: World Remix at London's Bush Theatre.
He announced at the time that he was also writing – with Tony Law
Tony Law
Tony Law is a Canadian stand-up comedian. Born 20 September 1969 in Lacombe, Alberta, he is now based in London, UK.He is known for his highly surreal material & delivery, and 1950's Americana style of dress - favouring boots with turned up jeans & an impressive quiff.A lot of Tony's material...
a sitcom pilot about the god Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
, for BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, and script-editing another pilot, a sitcom about the Brontë
Brontë
The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte , Emily , and Anne , are well-known as poets and novelists...
sisters.
In February, he organised a tribute to cult comedian Ted Chippington
Ted Chippington
Ted Chippington is a British stand-up comedian. His act is one in which the conventions of his chosen craft are routinely flouted...
entitled "Tedstock" at London's Bloomsbury Theatre. This was designed, in part, to raise money to fund a CD release of Chippington's work – which was available to buy on the night, "Walking Down The Road". The show included a one-off performance from Lee and Herring, along with fellow Ted fans Simon Munnery, The Nightingales
The Nightingales
The Nightingales are a British punk/alternative band formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England. Original members were Robert Lloyd , Joe Crow on guitar, Eamonn Duffy on bass and Paul Apperley on drums, all formerly of The Prefects...
, Phill Jupitus
Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
, Josie Long
Josie Long
Josie Long is an English comedian.-Background:Long spent her early life in Orpington, South East London, where she attended Newstead Wood School for Girls in Swift House. She also attended GIFT Ltd. summer schools. She began performing stand-up comedy at 14, winning the BBC New Comedy Awards at...
and Stephen Carlin
Stephen Carlin
Stephen Carlin is a Scottish-born stand-up comedian, now living in London. Carlin is popular on the UK comedy scene for his intricate knowledge of international snooker and accomplished writing and performance. He was named by Stewart Lee as one of the 'Ten Best Comedians In The World Ever'...
.
Lee's first new stand up show since "90s Comedian" was developed over the first half of 2007, originally to be named March Of The Mallards (a title parodying that of the film, March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins is a 2005 French nature documentary film. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica...
), it would be renamed before its full debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival of that year, and subsequent Autumn tour. This was because, in March 2007, Lee was named 41st best stand-up of all time in a Channel 4 survey listing the "100 best standups". In this poll, he beat Dave Allen
Dave Allen (comedian)
David Tynan O'Mahoney , better known as Dave Allen, was an Irish comedian, very popular in Great Britain, Australia, and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. He also became known in the United States through repeats of his shows on public television. His career had a major resurgence during the late...
, George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
, Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
, Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
and Tommy Cooper
Tommy Cooper
Thomas Frederick "Tommy" Cooper was a very popular British prop comedian and magician from Caerphilly, Wales.Cooper was a member of The Magic Circle, and respected by traditional magicians...
. Channel 4 did not reveal exactly how the voting was conducted, but 150,000 members of the public were polled, as were an undisclosed number of experts.
In the light of this result Lee renamed his Summer 2007 stand-up show 'Stewart Lee – 41st Best Stand Up Ever!' as he felt it was "both arrogant and humble". During the show he joked that since Bernard Manning
Bernard Manning
Bernard John Manning was an English comedian and nightclub owner. He was born and raised in Manchester in northwest England....
(who had been placed above him in the poll) had died since the Channel 4 poll had first aired, he felt he should be moved up to Number 40. Another project, "Johnson & Boswell, Late But Live", written by Lee & performed by comics Simon Munnery and Miles Jupp
Miles Jupp
Miles Jupp is a British actor and comedian, probably best known as Archie in the children's television series Balamory....
played throughout the festival at the Traverse Theatre
Traverse Theatre
The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...
before embarking upon a tour of Scotland.
July 2007, Lee appeared on the Channel 4 panel game, 8 out of 10 Cats
8 Out of 10 Cats
8 out of 10 Cats is a television comedy panel game made by Zeppotron for Channel 4. It was first broadcast on 3 June 2005. The show is based on statistics and opinion polls, and draws on polls produced by a variety of organizations and new polls commissioned for the programme, carried out by...
, which he has since described as "the worst professional experience of my life". July 2007 also saw the premiere of Interiors, a site-specific theatre piece co-written with Johnny Vegas
Johnny Vegas
Johnny Vegas is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his angry rants, portly figure, high husky voice and support of St Helens rugby league club. More recently he has moved into dramatic acting.-Early life:He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the youngest of four children of Laurence...
, at the Manchester International Festival
Manchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is an international cultural festival of original new work, held in the English city of Manchester. It is a biennial event, first taking place in June–July 2007, and subsequently recurring in the summers of 2009 and 2011...
.
2008
2008 began, as 2007 had ended, with the continuing tour of "41st Best Standup". It became Lee's longest tour to date, and was filmed at the Glasgow Stand for DVD release by Real Talent in April (the DVD hit stores in July).Lee also co wrote 'Poets' Tree' with close friend & collaborator, the actor Kevin Eldon. This was a BBC Radio 4 series that was aired in April 2008, based on Paul Hamilton, Eldon's arrogant poet alter-ego.
At the Edinburgh Festival in 2008 Lee performed potential material for his recently announced BBC2 series, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, in a work in progress show at The Stand, billed as Scrambled Egg. Over the three weeks of the festival, Lee worked on a large quantity of new material, and updated old favourites for possible inclusion in the show, which began filming the following November. A follow up to Johnson & Boswell also aired, again featuring Munnery & Jupp. Elizabeth & Raleigh, Late But Live was featured at the festival before touring the country in the autumn. In November, Lee began filming for his 2009 TV show, and on the 16th November, reunited with Herring another one off performance of their old double act at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith during one of the gigs Richard Herring curated there. They were joined by Paul Putner
Paul Putner
-Life and career:He was born in East Grinstead. He studied at LAMDA where he won, amongst other prizes, the Kenneth More prize for comedy acting.His first significant TV role saw Putner as numerous characters in The Glam Metal Detectives shown on BBC2. His real break in comedy came after he set up...
in character as the Curious Orange. With initial filming out of the way, Scrambled Egg was reprised at London's Hen & Chickens Theatre in December to fully polish the stand up sections of the forthcoming TV project ahead of filming in January 2009.
2009: Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle and If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One
Stewart Lee's Comedy VehicleStewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle
Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is a comedy series created by Stewart Lee.The BBC Two series debuted on 16 March 2009, and featured stand-up routines and sketches performed by Simon Munnery, Kevin Eldon and Paul Putner amongst others. Peter Serafinowicz recorded voice-over parts. The series is...
, a new six part comedy series featuring standup and sketches, began a six episode run on 16 March 2009. The executive producer was Armando Iannucci
Armando Iannucci
Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
and the script editor was Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
. The first episode received positive reviews from The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and The Daily Mirror. The show received a negative review in Time Out, written by Lee himself, in which he described himself as "fat" and his performance as "positively Neanderthal, suggesting a jungle-dwelling pygmy, struggling to coax notes out of a clarinet that has fallen from a passing aircraft". The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
named Comedy Vehicle as one of its top ten television highlights of 2009, commenting that it "was the kind of TV that makes you feel like you're not the only one wondering how we came to be surrounded by so much unquestioned mediocrity". One of the show's few negative reviews came in the Sunday Mercury, which stated: "His whole tone is one of complete, smug condescension". Lee subsequently used this line to advertise his next stand-up tour. Lee frequently uses negative reviews on his posters in order to put off potential audience members who are unlikely to be fans of his comedy style.
The first episode was watched by approximately 1 million viewers, though the figure rose by 25% when BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
viewings were factored in and, uncharacteristically, viewing figures rose over the series. The series was the BBC's second most downloaded broadcast during its run. In May 2010, the series was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
for best comedy programme.
Lee also had a show at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, named Stewart Lee: If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One in which he performed his own version of the song "Galway Girl
Galway Girl
"Galway Girl" or "The Galway Girl" is a song written by Steve Earle and recorded with Irish musician Sharon Shannon, which was featured on Earle's 2000 album Transcendental Blues....
". In the Galway stage of this show Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician. She is best known for her work with the accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 album Sharon Shannon is the best selling album of traditional Irish music ever released there...
performed the song with Lee. In December 2009 Lee was beaten to the title of Best Live Stand-Up by the comedian Michael McIntyre
Michael McIntyre
Michael Hazen James McIntyre is an English stand-up comedian. He is well known for appearing at many British stand-up comedy events and for several roles on television stand-up programmes such as Live at the Apollo and his own show, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow...
at the British Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
ceremony.
Lee caused controversy on his If You Prefer a Milder Comedian tour with a joke about Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond
Richard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...
. Referring to Hammond's accident while filming in 2006, in which he was almost killed, Lee joked, "I wish he had been decapitated and that his head had rolled off in front of his wife". The Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
termed this an "extraordinary attack" and, having been doorstepped by a Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
journalist, Lee replied "It's a joke, just like on Top Gear when they do their jokes". Lee subsequently explained the joke:
In an Observer interview, Sean O'Hagan says of the Hammond joke that Lee "operates out in that dangerous hinterland between moral provocation and outright offence, often adopting, as in this instance, the tactics of those he targets in order to highlight their hypocrisy".
2010: Vegetable Stew
On 4 January, Lee appeared on Celebrity MastermindCelebrity Mastermind
Celebrity Mastermind is a British television quiz show broadcast by BBC television. The show is a spin-off of the long running quiz show Mastermind, with the exception that all the contestants are celebrities. As with the main show, John Humphrys is the host and question-master...
, with jazz-improv guitarist Derek Bailey as his special subject, winning with 26 points in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association
Motor Neurone Disease Association
The Motor Neurone Disease Association is a British charity, operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, established in 1979 by a group of volunteers to coordinate care, support, and research for people affected by motor neurone disease .The aim of the MND Association is a world free of MND.The...
. On the 9th of February, Armando Iannucci
Armando Iannucci
Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
, the executive producer of the first series of Comedy Vehicle, announced that there would be a second series of the show. On 10 April an updated version of The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups was broadcast on Channel 4, in which Lee was declared the 12th best stand-up comedian. The May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
weekend saw Lee curating a programme of free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival
Cheltenham Jazz Festival
Cheltenham Jazz Festival is one of the UK’s leading jazz festivals, and is part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for the Science, Music and Literature Festivals that run every year.]-Introduction and history:...
, at the invitation of festival director Tony Dudley-Evans
Tony Dudley-Evans
Tony Dudley-Evans is a British linguist and expert in English for Specific Purposes. One of the most influential authors in the development of the modern notion of genre, he is usually grouped together with John Swales and Vijay Bhatia as the driving force behind recent developments in ESP...
.
Lee's second book, How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian, was published by Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
on 5 August 2010. The book features annotated transcripts of Lee's Stand-Up Comedian, 90s Comedian and 41st Best Stand-Up Ever shows and has received positive reviews. It is dedicated to Ted Chippington.
Lee's 2010 Edinburgh Fringe show is entitled Vegetable Stew. Prior to the start of the festival, Lee wrote an e-mail to the publicist of the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards, copying in other comedians, in response to the announcement of a poll to find the public's favourite act from 30 years of the award, which was previously known as the Perrier Award. Lee wrote:
Think about the logic of it for a moment. Who among those you are asking to vote has even heard of Frank ChickensFrank ChickensFrank Chickens are a female Japanese musical group based in London, who have performed songs mainly in English from 1982.Founder members of Frank Chickens were Kazuko Hohki and Kazumi Taguchi. Taguchi was later replaced by Atsuko Kamura and then Chika Nakagawa and others in the 1990s...
, who for all anyone under 30 knows may be the best act on the list? It is not possible for the outcome of this vote to have any credibility.
As result of his e-mail going viral
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
with the encouragement of Richard Herring and Robin Ince
Robin Ince
Robin Ince is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for presenting the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage .-Stand-up comedy:...
, Frank Chickens took the lead in the poll. During the polling, Lee wrote that: "In my e-mail I chose at random Frank Chicken, the Japanese female performance art duo, as an example of possibly worthy winners who would not get a look-in under this illogical and unfair voting system, and the Twitter world has adopted them as a cause". He stated that it was never his intention to influence the vote, "but they are now leading the field, and it appears we should embrace them. If Frank Chickens become Comedy Gods then Foster's will have been helped to actually sponsor some actual art, and fans of Foster's all over the whole world will be made aware of that wonderful, indefinable, mischievous, playful thing we call the Spirit Of The Fringe!". Frank Chickens went on to win the public vote.
As a result of the Frank Chickens incident, Lee was awarded the Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt award for best publicity stunt at the Fringe. The award's organisers stated: "The fact that Stewart did not intend to unleash publicity does not negate his success".
In addition to his main Edinburgh show, on 18 August Lee headlined a one-night variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
, Silver Stewbilee, to launch How I Escaped My Certain Fate. The show included performances by Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery
Simon Munnery, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, is an English comedy writer and experimental standup comedian...
as Alan Parker: Urban Warrior, Bridget Christie, Kevin Eldon, Paul Putner
Paul Putner
-Life and career:He was born in East Grinstead. He studied at LAMDA where he won, amongst other prizes, the Kenneth More prize for comedy acting.His first significant TV role saw Putner as numerous characters in The Glam Metal Detectives shown on BBC2. His real break in comedy came after he set up...
, Frank Chickens and Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
.
On 15 September 2010, Lee, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
's state visit to the UK.
Music journalism
Lee has written music reviews for a number of outlets including, since 1995, the Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
. Through the early 2000s, he became a regular presenter on, and patron of, Resonance FM 104.4
Resonance FM
Resonance 104.4 FM is a London based non-profit community radio station run by the London Musicians' Collective .The station is staffed by four permanent staff members, including programme controller Ed Baxter and over 300 volunteer technical and production staff.Until September 2007, ResonanceFM...
.
He is noted for his diverse musical taste. Asked in 2003 what his current music favourites were, he stated "Most of my favourites are still going like The Fall, Giant Sand
Giant Sand
Giant Sand is an American rock band, based in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The name is shortened from the original Giant Sandworms, a reference to the creatures in the Dune books. Overseen by singer-songwriter Howe Gelb, its membership has shifted over the years—at times with each album...
and Calexico. I listen to a lot of jazz, 60s and folk music but I really like Ms. Dynamite
Ms. Dynamite
Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley , who performs as Ms. Dynamite, is a double BRIT Award and three time MOBO Awards winning UK garage, R&B and hip hop singer and rapper.-Biography:...
, and The Streets
The Streets
The Streets were a British rap/garage project from Birmingham, United Kingdom, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy.The...
". He once said that the only band he liked that anyone else has heard of was R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
. His debut novel, The Perfect Fool, includes an 'audio bibliography' – a list of recommended listening. This mentions that it was his love of the band Giant Sand that first attracted him to visit the American South West. He is also known to be a fan of alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
.
Books
- Fist of Fun (with Richard Herring; non-fiction) BBC Books, 1995. ISBN 0563371854; ISBN 978-0563371854
- The Perfect Fool (novel) Fourth Estate, 2001. ISBN 1841153656; ISBN 978-1841153650
- Sit-Down Comedy (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm HardeeMalcolm HardeeMalcolm Hardee was an English comedian, author, comedy club proprietor, compère, agent, manager and "amateur sensationalist"....
& John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN 0091889243; ISBN 978-0091889241 - More Trees to Climb by Ben Moor (foreword)
- Death To Trad Rock by John Robb (foreword) Cherry Red
- The Wire Primers: A Guide to Modern Music (chapter on The Fall)
- How I Escaped My Certain Fate - The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian Faber & Faber 2010 ISBN 0571254802
DVDs
- Stand Up Comedian [2005] (2|entertain)
- 90s Comedian [2006] (Go Faster StripeGo Faster StripeGo Faster Stripe is an independent film production and distribution company that operates out of the Chapter Arts Centre, in Cardiff, Wales. The company specialises in the recording of live shows by stand-up comedians who, while in the public eye, may not normally be able to get a DVD released...
) - 41st Best Stand Up Ever [2008] (Real Talent)
- Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle [2009] (2|entertain)
- If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One [2010] [Comedy Central]
CDs
- 90s Comedian [2007] (Go Faster Stripe, digital-only release)
- Pea Green Boat [2007] (Go Faster Stripe, also 10" vinyl)
- 41st Best Stand Up Ever [2008] (Real Talent)
- What Would Judas Do? [2009] (Go Faster Stripe, 3-CD box set)
- The Jazz Cellar Tape [2011] (Go Faster Stripe, CD)