From OPEN WIDE MAGAZINE, Issue 17

Interview: Stewart Lee
James Quinton, England
We did seek him out. Recently returned from this year's Edinburgh festival Stewart found time ahead of his Autumn tour to answer a few questions for OWM.

You're one of the best comedians and comedy writers in the 'UK (not to mention a talented theatre director). How did you first get into performing and what made you want to?
The moment I decided to be a stand-up comedian was seeing a stand-up called Ted Chippington supporting The Fall in Birmingham in 1984 when I was 15. Alternative Stand-Up Comedy started, for want of a better word, in London in 1979-ish. Out in the provinces we read about it in the NME and saw The Young Ones on TV but we never experienced it. There weren't any dedicated venues. The place you saw stand-ups was supporting bands. I saw Phil Jupitas open for Billy Bragg three times and Peter Richardson, from The Comic Strip, open for Dexy's Midnight Runners. But at the time the twin paradigms still seemed to apply - there were old fashioned Working Men's Club racists, like Bernard Manning or Mike Read, or political ranters like Ben Elton, who used to be a left wing radical when I was young. Ted Chippington's act was totally different - a mixture of surrealism and insolent provocation and uncompromising boredom. I thought it was the coolest thing I ever saw. The show came out as a 7" 33rpm single on Vindaloo records and I was in the crowd. When I hear tapes of me from 88/89 I am still copying Ted. He gave up soon after, but I am trying to help his former label find money to put out a 3 CD box set of his best stuff.

Who were your influences when you first started and who makes you laugh now?
My early stand-up just sounds like Ted Chippington, but I saw a brilliant stand-up bill in Edinburgh in 1987 when I was a student that was Arthur Smith, Jerry Sadowitz and Arnold Brown and I think they are all in there too.

Do you remember your first live comedy gig? How did it go?
I was a student doing stand-up in a cellar in Oxford in 1988.
It went very well. It was a routine about how Christian Student Groups were distancing themselves from demos against clause 28, a bill Michael Howard brought in to persecute gays. The Xians said the gays were going to hell. So the 1st bit I ever did was about religious issues.

Fist of Fun and This Morning with Richard Not Judy were must-watch television back in the day ... were you surprised when the BBC failed to re-commission them?
Not too much with TMWRNJ. What really confuses me though is why they insisted on loads of design and music changes between FOF1 and FOF2. I thought FOF1 was a great piece of TV and still looks brilliant.

You appeared in BBCi's excellent online Doctor Who adventure 'Real Time', how did that come about?
Someone e-mailed us. It looked like being fun. I am very proud of my death scene.

Have you been a Doctor Who fan since childhood? If so, who is your favourite Doctor and why?
I liked Dr Who as a kid. Tom Baker, who we used as voice-overs for our 1st radio series in 1992, was my era. I haven't seen the new doctor. I don't think Dr Who is as good as Star Trek but it is better than Star Wars.

Have you been enjoying the new series of Doctor Who?
Haven't seen it. I was away.

Your novel 'The Perfect Fool' was published in 2001 by Fourth Estate. There is a detailed overview of the novel on your website, but could you briefly outline the plot for OWM readers?
2 bored 30-somethings in a London flat decide to seek out their 60's rock hero and form a band with him. A man gradually recovers his memory and suspects he was once an astronaut. A woman on the run from a series of crimes is hunted down across the deserts of the American south west. They all end up meeting and finding common interests.

Have you started a follow-up novel? If so what it is about?
Yes. 10000 words in. It is a romance between The Angel Gabriel and The Virgin Mary, called Soiled Doves.

What books do you enjoy reading?
Lately - Eric Linklatter, Andre Gide, Neil M Gunn, John Cowper Powys. Generally - Marvel Comics, rock biographies, American short stories, classics like Hardy, Lawrence. William Blake.

As co-writer of the hit musical 'Jerry Springer the Opera' did you anticipate the furore that came from certain quarters?
No. Not at all. It has been utterly awful. It has ruined my life and my health and my faith in democracy and human nature.
Jerry Springer the Opera seemed such a charming, and obviously moral and thoughtful piece, neither I nor the composer and initiator of the idea Richard Thomas imagined for a moment it would cause anything like the fuss it did. I still can't understand it and feel really depressed about it. It's a problem that doesn't go away. The tour became financially impossible because Christian Voice intimidated 1/3 of the venues into dropping out. Then the Arts Council said they'd make up the shortfall so it could tour on a reduced budget, which involved none of the key creatives getting paid. Then earlier this month, after some of the venues had already put tickets on sale, they withdrew their funding without any real explanation. So yes, for the time being it's totally over. It was developed on public money, won dozens of awards, and the public won't get to see it. We live in strange times. I am angry and worried and sad. Lots of important social changes have been achieved by small minorities. It's just that most of the people complaining about it hadn't seen it, and Christian Voice and The Evangelical Alliance have basically very reactionary positions on all sorts of issues from homosexuality to women's rights, so it was sad to see them being given such credibility. I think lots of the newspapers that helped blow the story up probably feel bad about the fact that it's ultimately killed the show off. It's also worth pointing out that lots of religious types have been very supportive. It isn't an us and them situation.

You present a show on and are patron of Resonance FM, London's (and possibly the UK's) finest radio station - how did you get involved with the station?
They e-mailed me. I knew Ed Baxter through going to LMC gigs and because he promoted Faust when me and Rich had them on our live Edinburgh chat show.

What do you do when not entertaining the nation?
Read a lot. Listen to loads of music. Go to gigs. I like walking and archaeology. Last weekend I walked 25 miles in a day along the Ridgeway from Avebury to Uffington, taking in 2 burial chambers, one man made mound, one stone circle, three iron age hill forts, an obscene carving of a fertility godess, and a chalk hill figure.

Finally, as a music reviewer for the Sunday Times, what albums are rocking your world at the moment? Any recommendations?
This week I am enjoying the debut album from Arizona Amp And Alternator. My best ten albums this year so far are ...

Fall Peel Sessions Box set
Alasdair Roberts
LCD Soundsystem
June Tabor Box set
Derek Bailey - Carpal Tunnel
Eliza Carthy
Buff Medways - Medway Wheelers
Wingdale Community Singers
Vialka
The Fall- Fall Heads Roll
Stewart's 'Autumn Tour' kicks off in October - go and see him! Venue details can be found on his website www.stewartlee.co.uk.