Why I Love... Stewart Lee

Having become marginally famous alongside Richard Herring in the mid-‘90s, Stewart Lee’s career has been bookended with two huge stints of relative obscurity. This is no reflection on the talent of the writer, director and standup comedian extraordinaire, however, who has proved himself again and again to be a true master of comedy.


Having created the monstrous character Alan Partridge for On The Hour, Lee and Herring went on to make Fist of Fun (based around the loose premise of a lifestyle show, it showcased their talent as comedy performers and writers) and This Morning With Richard Not Judy (a somewhat inappropriately scheduled lunchtime magazine programme). Despite their fame, the pair never sold out like fellow luminaries Newman and Baddiel, and retained a credible art-school air (often helped by naming characters after songs by cult Manchester group The Fall).


In constant pursuit of artistic brilliance, Lee broke from the double act (he believed their material was in danger of becoming stagnant) and went on to write the acclaimed The Perfect Fool, his first novel and co-write Jerry Springer: The Opera, the infamous stage show which caused a knee-jerk reaction from Britain’s evangelical Christians, who made front-page news after protesting over its broadcast in record numbers.

If annoying wallies like Britain’s right-wing religious groups wasn’t genius enough, Lee has spent the past ten years turning the simple act of standup comedy into an art form. His material is tightly-scripted and intricate and Lee shuns simple gags and punchlines in favour of more drawn-out, protracted pieces. These often require the patience of the audience but are almost inevitably worthwhile (see his 'Joe Pasquale' routine; a perfect example of his slow build-up).

Part of me wants to make more people aware of Lee's work, but I quite enjoy the fact that he isn't part of the mainstream. After all, The Beatles aside, anything massively popular is normally dirge. That's why nobody is reading this blog, right? This is how Stewart Lee must feel...

Greg.