Caffe Nero, Richard Hammond and Magners ad campaigns are really getting Stewart Lee’s goat in his latest show If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One. Can it be that the same man who loves to discuss topics like political correctness, racism and religion, is going down the Michael McIntyre route of observational comedy? Er, no – this is Stewart Lee we’re talking about and he doesn’t pander to the mainstream. It is his desire to challenge, satirise and deconstruct the form of comedy itself that has garnered him a cult following of discerning fans who regard him as the best working stand-up in Britain. It is sadly also why he will probably lose out to McIntyre at the British Comedy Awards next week.

At the age of 41, he is officially past it according to Frankie Boyle who recently stated that comedians over 40 lack anger and few are any good. Lee begs to differ as he livid with Caffe Nero for failing to acknowledge his loyalty card entitling him to a free coffee. He launches into an animated parody of a furious observational stand-up (he’s even made props), attempting to contradict Boyle’s words while simultaneously highlighting the hackneyed style of his genre.
He soon runs out of steam: “I’m too old to be angry about the Queen’s vagina” – a reference to Boyle’s crass joke about the monarch, Beeb-approved for Mock The Week. It seems Lee is pretty content as it goes and his show certainly hasn’t suffered for it. There isn’t an expletive in sight and instead of rape jokes and rage we get satire, intelligent writing and a performance that doesn’t feel like it’s been injected with steroids.

Top Gear is another subject for his chagrin, particularly Richard Hammond’s presence on the show, whom Lee compares to a school bully sycophant, giggling along to all of Clarkson’s politically incorrect jokes. “I wish Richard ‘The Hamster’ Hammond (not a real hamster), had been decapitated in that car crash and that his head had rolled on a few more yards into some boiling oil.” The Top Gear section has attracted a lot of media attention for its ‘bad taste’, notably The Daily Facist, er Mail rather, which amusingly branded Lee’s tirade an ‘extraordinary attack’. Had some of these journalists actually attended or understood the show they might have picked up on a bit of irony here. Just like Clarkson’s defence for his un-pc humour, Lee tells us: “It’s just a joke!
Although co-incidentally….that is what I wish had happened.” If Clarkson can call Gordon Brown a ‘one-eyed Scottish idiot’ in the heat of the moment then Lee can declare he hopes Jez’s kiddies go blind. Get the gist?!

All his favourite techniques are in use here: the repetition, call-backs, nonchalant delivery and deconstruction. The routine is rigorously well-timed and the audience knows what to expect as with every deliberate pause comes a wave of laughter in anticipation of the punchline. I’m betting this crowd might have seen him before.
His final 20-minute routine demonstrates some superb comedy-building skills as what starts off as a sarcastic pop at Magners advertising slogans turns into a hysterical pedant’s rant. It appears Magners have also ruined Lee’s favourite song ‘Galway Girl’ and used it in their adverts.

To overwrite the now-spoiled memory of the song, he finishes the show with his own rendition of Steve Earle’s track. There’s a further climactic twist to the song but before that, in this unexpected and heartfelt performance, Lee proves that comedy doesn’t have to break taboos. It just needs to be done “sincerely and well”.