Stewart Lee, the scourge of mainstream comedy, is lending his expertise to a commercial television enterprise. But fear not – he hasn’t sold out. He’s curating The Alternative Comedy Experience, a showcase of talented stand-ups who have a substantial club following but wouldn’t normally get a chance to perform on screen. “These are comedians you have to listen to,” says Lee, as if that is a novel thing to do. The jokes have time to breathe. They are not gags that work in print or on Twitter.

There is deliberately no reference to his name in the title of the 12-part series, which starts on Comedy Central next Tuesday – that would be too reminiscent of Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow. Unlike McIntyre, of whom Lee, 44, has been been particularly dismissive in the past, he will interview acts instead of compering. The main focus is on the 10 guests, who include up-and-coming Londoner Josie Long and the wonderfully weird Paul Foot.

This punk-like groundswell is comedy’s retort to the O2 Arena juggernauts. “We should nail our colours to the mast. The comedians on this show do not wake up thinking, ‘How can I develop something that will appeal to people in marketing?’ They think about comedy first and foremost,” says Lee.

Filmed in The Stand in Edinburgh, which has room for 160 fans (rather than the Roadshow’s 1,000-plus capacity venues), the programme is a mainstream acknowledgement of a trend that is surfacing in London for acts who aim to provoke rather than please. The similarly named Alternative Comedy Memorial Society recently had to move to the Soho Theatre when it became too big for its tiny pub venues such as The Lion in Bloomsbury.

“There are a lot [of comedians] that may not become big themselves but are hugely influential,” explains Lee. “Russell Brand would not be as he is if he had not seen Paul Foot. He just added rock star trousers and a different vocabulary.” Lee used to like Russell Brand but thinks superstardom destroyed his potential. “I thought he was good but he can never be what he should’ve been because now you view him through the prism of celebrity. He doesn’t have to work because people lap it up.”

As executive producer, Lee regularly goes to gigs to spot talent. He is proud that a third of the Alternative Comedy Experience’s line-up is female. “There was absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t have been more. I went to a gig the other night and out of six acts four were women. And they were the better ones.”

But he did not have to go far to uncover one of the highlights of his series – his wife, Bridget Christie. “Bridget would be on anyone’s list for a programme like this. She should be on it but obviously she felt she had to be twice as good.”

Christie was a hotly tipped comedian before they married in 2006 but Lee feels his connection with her can put people off. “People tend to like her a lot more until they find out she’s my wife,” he says. “They think I’ve put the word in. I think it definitely holds her back.”

Her humour is less angry and more surreal than her husband’s and we will be seeing more of her in the near future. She is currently recording a BBC Radio 4 series (Bridget Christie Minds the Gap) about feminism in Britain and live dates are planned for February and March. On the nights when she works, Lee stays at home with their two young children. They’ll swap parental duties in the autumn when Lee starts gigging again. He will be doing a new show called Much Astew About Nothing at the Leicester Square Theatre from November 4 and then plans to film his next BBC2 series (which does have his name in the title), Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle.

While Lee has the shabby demeanour of a fame-hating artist, after two decades as a stand-up he has gathered a substantial following. His show at the Leicester Square Theatre last year ran for three months and he is as much of a draw as the primetime comedians who do one night at the O2 Arena. “I could do the O2 Arena three times, 45,000 people came to see me last year. But I’m not sure if the people who like me would go there.”

Lee finally seems happy about his place in the celebrity firmament. “All the people who hate me have just given up complaining about me. Despite the fact that I’ve won two British Comedy Awards [for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme and Best Male TV Comic in 2011] I’ve managed to not be in that world. I couldn’t have engineered it better. It’s great.”

So is it fair to say we shouldn’t expect comedy collobarations in the future? “I’m too much of a control freak. I never want to work with more than one other person. To be honest I often don’t even agree with myself.”

The Alternative Comedy Experience reflects Lee’s oppositional attitude. He thinks it was only a matter of time before something like this would emerge. “For every action there is a reaction. You need to let people know that there is another sort of stand-up. My original press release said ‘Do you hate all stand-up on television? If you do this is the show for you.'”

The Alternative Comedy Experience starts on Comedy Central at 11pm on February 5.

In his own words: Stewart Lee on his comedy choices

David O’Doherty

The Dublin stand-up is a pioneer of his trademark vlemwhy (very low energy musical whimsy) comedy and brings a literary flair to his depressive tales of the everyday everynerd.

Isy Suttie

Indie-folk songs place poignancy over punchlines and rambling romantic stories have a black comic pallor, which you wouldn’t expect from Peep Show’s Dobby.

Tony Law

Classic British surrealism synthesised with the headbutt impact of the shouting angry school, squeezed through the folksy backwoods idiom of his rural Canadian roots.

Bridget Christie

The anti-alternative comedy internet troll’s worst nightmare [Lee’s wife, see interview above] is a confident woman who has made feminist issues funny and isn’t averse to dressing up as an insect or a virus.

Paul Foot

The original and best of the steampunk surrealists, whose opaque and archaic phrasing, glam-thrift Victorian dress code and decadent indolence have been an uncredited influence on many better-known acts.

Josie Long

Only 30 but already spawning a generation of followers, she remains inspirational. Her spittle-flecked anti-capitalist rants are leavened by a self-deprecating self-awareness and the warm glow of a good heart.