Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Two decades under the comedy spotlight Stewart Lee is now one of the most respected stand up comedians in the country and across television, radio, stand up, print and even theatre he has become synonymous with creating challenging, often controversial comedy. Like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Bill Hicks before him Lee has fought hard public and private battles. He was almost forced into police protection four years ago after receiving death threats for his involvement in writing and directing the critically-acclaimed ‘Jerry Springer the Opera’.
‘Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle’ on BBC2 will mark his first return to television in just over a decade but the forty-one-year-old insists he isn’t going to go looking for mainstream acceptance now, “I’m curious as I get good reviews and other comedians seem to like me, it’ll be interesting to see how the general public will react and how it will be received.” Still haunted by the Jerry Springer fiasco, Lee is cautious when flirting with larger audiences, “I’m always worried about getting in the middle of a big scandal again,” He references the opera and confesses, “It was a very tiring and very confusing experience.”
The series certainly hasn’t kept shy of the controversial subjects; political correctness, money, religion and celebrity all come under the lens. Lauded by fellow comedians and celebrities, Lee was labelled the best stand up in Britain by Ricky Gervais, yet he unashamedly remains here the outsider clown figure, the first episode giving him a chance to use his dry wit and satirical style to send up Chris Moyles, Jeremy Clarkson and rapper Asher D.
Lee has, as is traditional, taken meticulous care to work in the material, touring it for over half a year before he felt it was ready for recording. “I just wanted to make sure the stuff was proper stand up rather than just jokes for the television. When you see a stand up there is an internal rhythm and a nice sense of a story being told, whereas what we tend to see of stand ups on TV is them delivering one line on panel games.”
The series blends customary stand up performances with short sketch pieces, stylistically it is reminiscent of older stand up shows, “When I was growing up there was a comic called Dave Allen on TV who also did very long routines, quietly while sitting in a chair and then they would cut to a film item. So I thought it can work but it just can’t work like it’s done now with very fast cutting, in a very brightly lit room, or on a panel show or in a 4,000 seater, none of those would suit me.”
Directed by eminent comedy figure Armando Iannucci (Alan Partridge) with script contribution from Chris Morris (Brasseye) the series manages to collect some of the finest talent in British comedy, including Paul Merton, Kevin Eldon, Stephen K Amos, Tim Vine and even a rare television appearance from Jerry Sadowitz as Jimmy Saville no less.
Stewart Lee remains typically reserved and detached when he thinks about the success the show might receive. Preferring rather to celebrate the achievement of making such a series, he assures everyone he will be back touring a brand new show come autumn.