“In contrast with (my) generation, which had spent most of its time online learning to code so that it could add crude butterfly animations to the backgrounds of its weblogs, the generation immediately following had spent most of its time online making incredibly bigoted jokes in order to laugh at the idiots who were stupid enough to think that they meant it. Except that after a while they did mean it, and then somehow at the end of it they were white supremacists. Was this always how it happened?”
Patricia Lockwood, London Review of Books, Feb 2019

1) NEW SHOW 2019/20 – SNOWFLAKE/TORNADO

I’m doing a new stand-up show for the back end of 2019 and the first half of 2020. National dates from Feb 2020 will be announced later in the year, but I am going to do less than last time, but with longer runs in bigger rooms to hit the same demand, sadly, as the length of the last run nearly killed me, as you can see from the BBC film of the show.
he initial London dates will be work in progress, with a free DVD of CONTENT PROVIDER for all ticket holders and fans of obsolete physical media.
I will film this show/these shows in the Summer of 2020 for offloading to whatever content platforms are still viable at that stage in late capitalism’s technologically-driven cultural decline.

David Johnson & John Mackay in association with Debi Allen/Curtis Brown present
STEWART LEE – SNOWFLAKE/TORNADO.

Double-bill of two new 60 minute sets, back to back, nightly, from “the world’s greatest living stand-up” (Times).
Tornado questions Stew’s position in the comedy marketplace after Netflix mistakenly lists his show as “reports of sharks falling from the skies are on the rise again. Nobody on the Eastern Seaboard is safe.” Snowflake questions Stew’s worth in a society demolishing the liberal values he has been keen to espouse, in a fairy-tale landscape of winter wonder.

SNOWFLAKE/TORNADO Work-in-Progress and DVD LAUNCH
Leicester Square Theatre, London.
A run of work-in-progress gigs to celebrate the DVD launch of his celebrated last live show CONTENT PROVIDER.
Each ticket will include a very special limited edition copy of the new DVD, exclusively available to bookers of this live show.
Stewart will be signing copies after the show.

Sept 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th – 7pm start
Oct 1st , 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Oct – – 8.45pm start
2 hrs including interval
&pound26.50 including DVD of Content Provider (RRP &pound19.95)

Stewart Lee – Snowflake/Tornado.
Leicester Square Theatre, London.

October – December 2019
Tues 29th October 8.45pm – Sat Dec 14th
No Mondays, No Sundays, & not Sat Nov 30th

January 2020
Thurs 2nd Jan 8.45pm – Sat 25th Jan
No Mondays, No Sundays, & not Jan 9th
8.45 pm Stewart on stage
2 hrs + interval

Tues, Weds, Thurs &pound27.50
Friday & Saturday &pound29.50

All shows are 14+ apparently. If you are under 14 you are too immature to enjoy my swearing and farts.

SEPTEMBER 2019

Tuesday 24th – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 7pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 25th – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 7pm – TICKETS
Thursday 26th – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 7pm – TICKETS
Friday 27th – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 7pm – TICKETS
Saturday 28th – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 7pm – TICKETS

OCTOBER 2019

Tuesday 1st – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 2nd – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 3rd – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 4th – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 5th – WORK-IN-PROGRESS with Free ‘Content Provider’ DVD – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

OCTOBER 2019

Double-bill of two new 60 minute sets, back to back nightly from “the world’s greatest living stand-up” (Times).

Tornado questions Stew’s position in the comedy marketplace after Netflix mistakenly lists his show as “reports of sharks falling from the skies are on the rise again. Nobody on the Eastern Seaboard is safe.”

Snowflake questions Stew’s worth in a society demolishing the liberal values he has been keen to espouse, in a fairy-tale landscape of winter wonder.

Tuesday 29th – SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 30th – SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 31st – SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

NOVEMBER 2019

Friday 1st SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 2nd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 5th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 6th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 7th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 8th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 9th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 12th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 13th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 14th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 15th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 16th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 19th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 20th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 21st SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 22nd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 23rd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 26th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 27th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 28th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 29th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

DECEMBER 2019

Tuesday 3rd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 4th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 5th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 6th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 7th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 10th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 11th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 12th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 13th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 14th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

JANUARY 2020

Thursday 2nd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 3rd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 4th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 7th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 8th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 10th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 11th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 14th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 15th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 16th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 17th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 18th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

Tuesday 21st SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Wednesday 22nd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Thursday 23rd SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Friday 24th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS
Saturday 25th SNOWFLAKE / TORNADO – Leicester Square Theatre, London – 8.45pm – TICKETS

“There’s no-one else to touch him” Mark Wareham, Mail On Sunday *****

“Lee remains one of the best stand-ups in the country” ***** Metro

“The world’s best living stand-up comedian” Dominic Maxwell, The Times

“He makes stand-up almost a moral pursuit, … that makes the usual (and more popular) stand-ups seem crude and obvious.” Alan Bennet, London Review Of Books.

“Proper, vicious prejudice – a self-proclaimed inhabitant of the moral high ground” Sarah Vine, Daily Mail

“A pot-bellied Bernard Manning for snowflakes” Tony Parsons, The Sun

“Woke, enlightened, professionally sensitive, BBC-approved comedian who can be guaranteed to dress to the left. The rancid tip of a cesspit.” – Tony Parsons, GQ

“If I could bring one extinct thing back to life it would be Stewart Lee’s sense of humour.” Frankie Boyle, The Guardian

“The opposite of what really good comedy should be” Toby Young, Radio 4

“Truly, he is the Oscar Wilde of our times” – Gary Bushell, The Daily Star

2) CONTENT PROVIDER

CONTENT PROVIDER has dropped off the BBC I-player.
I know they are allowed to put it on there three more times, but they do tend to need a nudge. Perhaps they will show it again. Who knows?
All four series of COMEDY VEHICLE are still up on there anyway. See how the world has changed for the worse in a decade. How quaint the liberal’s manageable dilemmas of 2013 seem now.
The third, and perhaps best, series of COMEDY VEHICLE seems to be on Netflix in the UK and, I think, the US.
It seems you can also stream CARPET REMNANT WORLD and the first 3 series of COMEDY VEHICLE on Amazon, here and I think in the US. Beats me! And, as I said above, CONTENT PROVIDER will be available as an Old Skool physical media DVD in the Autumn.
Tons of fun!

3) King Rocker Doc

Michael Cumming (Brass Eye), James Nicholls (Fire films) and I are now 1/3rd of the way through filming and editing and are looking for donations to complete the film below, which is about Birmingham post-punk survivors The Nightingales. Everyone who donates, no matter how big or how small, will be featured in the end credits – https://www.kingrockerfilm.com/

4) BENEFIT GIGS

25th March . RESOFIT benefit for RESONANCE 104.4FM ARTS RADIO
Bloomsbury Theatre, London. &pound25 7pm Resofit is a fund-raising gala comedy night for Resonance FM – “the best radio station in London” (The Guardian).

Dana Alexander
Tony Law
Patrick Monahan
Stewart Lee
Simon Munnery
Rosie Wilby
Naz Osmanoglu and a host of special guests TBA.

Age guidance of 16+ –
TICKETS

28TH MARCH,. BENFIT FOR CANCER RESEARCH, FRANCKIS CRICK INSTITUTE, 1 MIDLAND ROAD, LONDON NW1.
6.30 – 9.15!!!! To celebrate 30 years of fundraising the City of London Friends of CRUK are holding a comedy night at the Crick. Drinks will be available from a pay bar in the Manby Gallery from 17:30

John Mann
Stewart Lee
Terry Alderton
Ninia Benjamin
Alistair Barrie
Andrew Ryan
Ricky Grover
Raymond and Mr Timpkins Review

Stew says – This is a brilliant bill! With an EARLY START!!! – TICKETS

20TH MAY. HILARITY FOR CHARTITY – LEICS SQ THEATRE
A comedy night in aid of community charities North London Cares and South London Cares.
Harry Hill
Jamali Maddix
Lolly Adefope
Martin & Vivian Soan
Shazia Mirza
Stewart Lee
& More acts to be announced!

Line-up may be subject to change.
Running Time 3 hours
7.30pm
Age Restriction 18+
Please Note All ticket prices include a &pound1.25 venue restoration levy –
TICKETS

5) Sea Change Festival May 24 – 26

seachangefestival.co.uk

METRONOMY, THE COMET IS COMING, STEWART LEE AND BAGPUSS CONFIRMED FOR 2019

The Quietus presents Gazelle Twin – with full line-up to follow
You Tell Me, Hannah Peel & Will Burns, Pip Blom, TVAM join line-up
4AD and Moshi Moshi joins festival’s group of curatorial partners
Sea Change to start the 2019 festival summer

Devon’s Sea Change Festival, the much-loved event founded by Totnes’s Drift Record Shop, is excited to announce the first artists confirmed for its 2019 line-up; the combination of artists and creative partners – a roll call of the country’s greatest music labels – is a clear indication of the event’s continued boldness and increased size and scope in its 4th year.

Friday night’s headliner will be one of the UK’s most critically and commercially successful acts, METRONOMY, returning to Devon for a huge homecoming show in the stunning Dartington Hall Gardens. The Mercury-nominated band is currently celebrating the 10th anniversary of breakthrough LP, Nights Out (a new expanded edition of which is available via Because) and founder Joe Mount has most recently been busy at work producing Robyn’s Honey album. A long-time supporter of both Drift and Sea Change, Joe snuck into town to play a surprise DJ set at the inaugural Sea Change weekend. It has long been one of the festival’s biggest ambitions to invite Metronomy to headline and we are pinching ourselves that he is going to grace the 2019 Sea Change stage.

Saturday night sees the cosmic psychedelic jazz of THE COMET IS COMING taking to the Sea Change stage. Following a 2018 Mercury nomination with the extraordinary Sons of Kemet, saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings – alongside bandmates Betamax Killer and Danalogue The Conqueror – turns his attentions back to soundtracking the imagined apocalypse with a fusion of jazz, Afrobeat and electronica. Exactly what the band has in store for 2019 we don’t know (cryptic messages have been appearing), but all roads lead to Saturday night at Sea Change.
Sea Change is thrilled to join with Fire Records/Fire Films to offer the first look at KING ROCKER, a film investigating the mysterious existence of the front man and lyricist of The Nightingales, Robert Lloyd. Comedian and writer STEWART LEE and director MICHAEL CUMMING (Brass Eye, Toast) bring an exclusive first preview of the documentary to Sea Change, with a full panel talk and pounding live show from THE NIGHTINGALES, Britain’s ultimate post-punk survivors. Robert Lloyd’s The Prefects played with The Clash on the White Riot tour in 1977 and The Nightingales recorded more John Peel sessions than any other band.

Essential music and culture website, THE QUIETUS, returns as a key creative partner to proudly present a late-night set from GAZELLE TWIN. Latest LP, Pastoral, was The Quietus’s 2018 album of the year (with the hypnotic and terrifying ‘Hobby Horse’ also ranking high in the 50 tracks of the year) and it noted, “On her latest extraordinary album, Elizabeth Bernholz serves the full English with extra discomfort, grotesquery and barely contained horror.” The is just the start of The Quietus’s plans, which will, of course, include DJ’ing another set of full-on bangers.
Another 2018 project born from obsession and joyous admiration was Earth Recording’s BAGPUSS soundtrack reissue, declared by Drift as soundtrack release of the year. At last year’s festival, the soundtrack specialists handed Drift a mysterious test pressing and now, less than a year on, Bagpuss will be holding court at Sea Change 2019. Series creators, aficionados and fans will explore the adored ’70s animated classic and, as part of an exclusive, fully-immersive experience, musicians SANDRA KERR and JOHN FAULKNER – whose beautiful pastoral folk music helped to make the series so special – will perform the beautiful songs live.

Elsewhere, artist, producer and award-winning composer HANNAH PEEL collaborates with poet WILL BURNS to perform in the beautiful 15th-century St Mary’s Church venue. And another celebrated collaboration see’s Field Music’s PETER BREWIS and Admiral Fallow’s SARAH HAYES becoming YOU TELL ME, whose debut album was released this month to much critical praise.
The deft curation of Drift will see two of its favourite bands joining the line-up. Dutch 4-piece PIP BLOM made many new fans on a triumphant supporting slot for The Breeders last year, while big and beaty TVAM released debut LP Psychic Data to great acclaim towards the end of last year.
Creative partners HEAVENLY RECORDINGS, BELLA UNION, ERASED TAPES, ROUGH TRADE BOOKS and MUTE return for 2019, with new friends MOSHI MOSHI and 4AD also coming to Devon.

Sea Change takes place on Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May, moving to the late May Bank Holiday for the first time having staged three sell-out events on the August Bank Holiday. The 2019 edition sees the second partnership between the young festival and a revered old institution
with a new story, the Dartington Hall estate, a combination which continues to add new names to Dartington’s quite-immaculate list of guest creators in music, art and culture.

As Sea Change moves to May, it also stretches into a third day, with music sets, talks and events, culminating in a special afternoon matinee headline performance at Dartington to close the festival. And while Dartington is the festival’s Offshore stage, hosting music until late on Friday and Saturday, the buildings of Totnes remain central to Sea Change, presenting extremely special music guests, panel talks, films and events beneath the beautiful gold leaf ceiling of the Barrel House Ballroom, 15th century St Mary’s Church, 1950s Civic Hall and restored Victorian Totnes Cinema.
Earlybird tickets sold out in record time in December, but day (&pound49), weekend (&pound89) and Young Person (&pound39) tickets are on sale now online or via THE DRIFT RECORD SHOP. https://www.seetickets.com/event/sea-change-2019/venues-in-totnes-dartington/1281511

Sea Change founder, Rupert Morrison, said, “For our fourth edition, we drew up a list of our most favourite friends and artists and went for broke… we just asked them and we’re still pinching ourselves that we convinced Metronomy to come and play a massive homecoming show on the Sea Change stage. I guess we’re doing something right, maybe we’re just doing something different? Shabaka Hutchings’ saxophone has been a huge part of our last 18 months, as have numerous of Stewart Lee’s incendiary pearls of wisdom… and as for the saggy old cloth cat… Sea Change IV is already shaping up to be our dream line up. As ever, there is plenty more to come!”

FESTIVAL INFORMATION
Dates: Friday 24 – Sunday 26 May 2019.
Information and tickets: www.seachangefestival.co.uk & @driftseachange
Camping at Dartington will be available directly from its website from February.
Listings for hotels, hostels, BNB’s, spare rooms and http://www.visittotnes.co.uk/where-to-stay

6) Meanwhile, I Arrogantly Recommend…

The Zeroes, Bob Mould, Damo Suzuki, Stiff Little Fingers/Vapours/Hot Rods, Tanya Tagaq, Thurston Moore/Steve Noble/John Paul Jones.

• The Zeros. Re-fromed fiorst wave LA Hispanic punk, of ‘Beat Your Heart Out’ and El Vez fame. Shackelwell Arms, London, Friday March 1st.
• Bob Mould. Former Husker Du frontman, melodic hardcore pioneer and wrestling scriptwriter. 14th March Camden Electric Ballroom, 15th March Leeds Brudenell, 16th March Edinburgh Liquid Rooms, 17th March Manchester Academy.
• Damo Suzuki. UK dates for the former Can frontman’s endless tour. 17th March London Lexington, 21st March Oxford Jericho, 23rd March Walthamstow St Mary’s, 24th March Brixton Windmill
• Stiff Little Fingers. Massive UK tour for NI punk veterans, w rotating returning legends in support. Dates everywhere here… TICKETS
• Tanya Tagaq. Lone UK date for indigenous Canadian experimental vocalist. The Garage, London, Weds March 27th.
• Thurston Moore/John Paul Jones/Steve Noble. Sonic Youth/Led Zep/Free improvisation triple tag team up in aid of Resonance 104.4 FM at 100 Club, London, Thurs March 28th. TICKETS