‘What could’ve emerged as a monumental act of hubris is rescued by Lee’s humility, wit and intelligence. Together with annotated insight into three outstanding stand-up shows, he mingles obtuse autobiography with acute essays on the state of British comedy from the alternative era onwards.’
Paul Whitelaw, Word (10 Best Books of 2010)

‘…contained unexpectedly deep ruminations about truth, memory and performance, about where jokes come from and why obscenity is a good thing.’
Keith Miller, Times Literary Supplement

‘Never has anyone made me feel so close to the terrifying and occasionally exhilarating insanity that is stand-up comedy.’ Sam Mendes, Observer

‘It rules! Have you ever noticed how transcripts of stand-up shows can make for some of the best fun material going? … so long, so bitter – and so thoroughly enjoyable.’ – Dazed and Confused

‘Funny, honest and insightful throughout. It deserves to make its author even more than he appeared on HIGNFY … like the author’s stage act, it is elliptical, repetitious and, inevitably, solipsistic. But in a good way … in the hands of a lesser talent, this would be unbearably tedious, but Lee’s verbal dexterity and exhaustive knowledge manages to make the experience cumulatively hilarious.’ – John Naughton, Word magazine

‘’It’s not culled from the world of nature but what I’m reading at the moment, which I wished I’d saved for a sylvan glade somewhere, is ‘How I Escaped My Certain Fate’ (Faber & Faber) by the comedian Stewart Lee. Ostensibly, it’s but three transcriptions of Lee’s stand-up routines from the past ten years, in a book, for £12.99. A shocking liberty, you might think. But Lee, the 21st Century comic master of pause, intellectual zig zag and theoretical sally, has bolstered these baggy-pants photostats with profound forewords, self-mocking footnotes and painfully honest asides, resulting in a brutally funny masterpiece of Brechtian autobiography. I kid you not.’ – Caught By The River.net

‘Like Ezra Pound’s notes on The Waste Land if they’d been more cutting, self-critical and in awe of Johnny Vegas … Exceptionally funny and insightful.’ – Jay Richardson, The List

‘It is in these footnotes that we catch almost inadvertent glimpses of a Stewart Lee who seems as privately nice as he is publicly brave: he adores the mum who adopted him as a baby, is slightly defensive about his Oxford education, and is delighting in first-time fatherhood. Through it all, though, he holds his line about the cathartic qualities of comedy, though in truth this is the only stance available for that rarest of creatures, a genuinely principled comedian who has reached middle-age without compromising his integrity and still remains funny and relevant. Some observations are poignant … How I Escaped My Certain Fate will interest those who believe in the transformative potential of laughter, and provide food for thought for ambitious youngsters tempted to see the art of comedy as little more than a fast-track to quiz-show stardom. And while I eventually got slightly fed up with Lee wagging his finger at me, I have to concede that on most issues he is calmly, smugly, condescendingly, infuriatingly, hilariously correct.’ – Stephen Dixon, Irish Times

‘Lee is a master of deconstruction, a device he uses to great effect in his stand-up. He uses it here too: tons of footnotes expound bits of his set and provide insights – often hilarious – into the way his idiosyncratic brain works. This excellent book allows the reader a fascinating glimpse into how much heart and soul one man puts into making people laugh.’ – ***** Mickey Noonan, Metro

‘His marginalia offer an absorbing history of alternative comedy since the late 1980s, affectionate pen-portraits of misunderstood heroes, such as Johnny Vegas and Simon Munnery, and fascinating insights into his craft … the wonderful achievement of this book is that it makes you as excited as Lee is by the capabilities of a man in a dark room with a microphone.’ – Richard Godwin, Evening Standard

‘Required reading for comedy fans … (Lee) is analytical, critical and perfectly willing to say when he finds himself proud of something he wrote, or occasionally ashamed. It is a fascinating insight into the process of creating comedy, and making months of work feel like a fresh, spontaneous show each night … This book should win him some new fans and cement the dislike of old detractors. And it’s impossible to imagine he would ever choose to do anything else.’ – Natalie Haynes, Observer

‘Where did it all go right? This idiosyncratic, consistently suprising and stimulating book spends almost 400 pages telling us. … It’s a simply remarkable piece of writing: funny, wise, partial, propulsive. And then there are the footnotes, which comment on the shows like some frank, deliciously-detailed DVD commentary … His writing … has the irony, honesty, petulance and righteous zeal that we Lee fans demand … an essential, invigorating investigation into the art, craft and culture of stand-up comedy.’ – Dominic Maxwell, The Times

‘This is an autobiography, but without, Lee claims, personal detail – although that’s not strictly true. In tracing his professional career we gain just enough insight, such as why the Solihull-born comic needed to cover up his Oxbridge background. But the book doesn’t suffer at all from revealing little of his love life. On the contrary, his tale of being seduced by alternative comedy is far more potent … but this isn’t just a story of one-man’s journey, it’s a register, an assessment of every comedian he has met or been informed … this is a book for all comedians, for those who think they’re funny and those who appreciate those who make the effort.’’ – Brian Beacom, The Herald

‘(A) fascinatingly detailed account of what inspired, motivated and influenced his creativity … the trials, insecurities and passions that have fuelled him over the past ten years are so honestly, amusingly, eloquently, and, often, viciously expressed that it only serves to further confirm his position as one of our leading ‘alternative’ national treasures.’ – **** Tim Arthur, Time Out

‘Stephen Fry described the late Peter Cook as ‘the funniest man who ever drew breath’. We’ll nick that and say Stewart Lee is the funniest man still drawing it. His pioneering, often poetic performances are the antithesis of working men’s club schtick and this equally amusing book shines a light behind some of the finest routines to offend small-minded tabloid editors and the religious right. In its way this does for stand-up comedy what Martin Amis’s Experience did for the novel.’ – Robert Bound, Monocle

‘It’s a sort of autobiography, but really just as much a book about the way British comedy has changed … usually, such copious asides are the sign of a very bad book but Lee pulls it off, mainly because his notes are invariably insightful, and frequently very funny.’’ – William Cook, Independent

‘Lee’s bumper DVD extras-style assemblage echoes the revelatory sprawl of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest … Stewart Lee has created a book which is at once a notable repository of technical insight, an invaluable insider’s guide to three decades of British comedy, and as revealing a portrait of its author’s life and opinions as even the most self-consciously confessional of conventional celebrity memoirs.’ – Ben Thompson, Independent on Sunday

‘Ever wonder how a comic constructs an act? How they layer and time riffs to generate laughs or howls of outrage? If so, you’re in luck. In How I Escaped My Certain Fate, Stewart Lee offers the ultimate insider’s guide to the process …’ – Lee Randall, The Scotsman

‘‘Excessive self-commentary in a work of art, however, is popularly viewed with the kind of suspicion associated with other kinds of activity beginning with “self”. The autobiographical analysis of stand-up comedy in particular would seem to be an optimistically indulgent thing to offer the public. If you didn’t laugh the first time, a voice-over isn’t going to help. And yet Stewart Lee – stand-up comedian and recovering arts journalist – has done just that, and it works brilliantly … complementing the very well-written autobiographical narrative that connects the routines and the footnotes are such rich mini-essays that I reached the end wishing there was an index, in order to relocate such observations as Lee’s comparison of the Mighty Boosh’s offbeat comic timing to “dried stalks of spaghetti being dropped onto a china plate”. How I Escaped My Certain Fate is a sophisticated demonstration of the poetics of comedy by an artist who, like Wilde, has been moved to public contrarianism in the belief that there is “no sin except stupidity”.’’ –
Jeremy Noel-Todd, Daily Telegraph