News: Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle Halted - May 2016 Beyond The Joke - By Bruce Dessau - May 6th, 2016

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle has not been recommissioned by the BBC. Lee broke the news in his newsletter as follows: “On May 5th BBC Comedy told me they won’t be making a series 5 of SLCV, and I am grateful for a quick answer. Viewing figures remained just under 1m, including i-player, which is good…

From the desk of Stewart Lee – May 2016 - May 2016 May 6th, 2016

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle Series 5 I am explaining this here as people have been asking me about the future at gigs and in kids’ playgrounds and I don’t want to see the news mangled into sensationalist click-bait by Bruce Dessau or Jay Richardson. On May 5th BBC Comedy told me they won’t be making…

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, Series 4 - April 2016 Moody Comedy - April 21st, 2016

With every new series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, I find myself not wanting to watch for fear of those who may judge but then almost immediately concluding that I do not care. Yes, Lee is a spiteful comic, but he is also incredibly astute. One can’t help but admire his craft, even if you…

‘Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle’: Daring You To Like It - April 2016 Hidden Remote - By L. Falcetti - April 9th, 2016

You probably won’t like Stewart Lee, which will mean he’s doing his job. That job, being a professional stand up comedian, which he celebrates when viewing it through a lens of improvisational jazz and performance art. Yet he’ll be simultaneously mocking and tearing it down as a stupid line of work, compared to prostitution that kills…

Like Tommy Cooper, but in a morbid key - March 2016 The Independent - By Sean O'Grady - March 25th, 2016

What is wrong with the following gag? “John Whittingdale: a man who, if he saw the aurora borealis twinkling over a Scandinavian snowfield would only see a missed opportunity for a public-private finance initiative.” According to Stewart Lee’s account of his critics’ (“young comics”) reaction to it, quite a lot of his peers think there…

Preview: Episode 4 – Death - March 2016 Beyond The Joke - By Bruce Dessau - March 24th, 2016

Conspiracy theorists can have a field day with the fact that in some places episode four was billed as The Migrant Crisis. In fact our stand-up sage-cum-holy-fool is here to guide us through his thoughts on death this time. Did it change or did someone get it wrong? More pertinently, however, the show is a…