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Content Provider (The Show)Content Provider tour at Colston Hall, Bristol ★★★★★

When a comedy genius loses his trousers on stage, should you assume it's all part of the act?

By Ken McCormick in Bristol Post Posted on Monday, October 9th, 2017

How would an audience usually react to a comedian who started the first and second half of his set with the same jokes, with just a couple of nouns changed here and there?

If the comedian in question is Stewart Lee they’ll lap it up – and find it funnier second time around. That’s because the use of repetition is just one of the many comic techniques Lee has long been a master of. He’ll also let the audience in on the joke, get them thinking of the punchline and laughing in advance, then get an extra, bigger laugh when, after much anticipation, he finally delivers it. He’ll analyse the joke after telling it, then you’ll realise the analysis was another joke and laugh at that, too.

That the nouns I mentioned earlier included Brexit, Boris Johnson and Donald Trump wouldn’t have come as a great surprise to the ‘centre-left liberal metropolitan elites’ Lee identifies as his core fan base. But the Content Provider show has more profound targets in its sights than the political ructions of the past 18 months, using references as diverse as 19th century art, dating apps and potato sacks to make a statement on how the human condition has been changed by our living so much of our lives online.

The audience find themselves first in the firing line for Lee’s withering but hilarious attacks. Starting with a warning about the unspeakable fate facing any smartphone whipped out during the show, audience members who don’t laugh in the right place or aren’t sitting properly are taken to task. Even the venue – the ‘Colston Museum of Slavery’ – can’t escape.

Fellow stand-ups also come a cropper, with Bristol’s own Russell Howard, not for the first time, foremost among them. Lee’s attack on Howard provided a launch pad for a full-on and hilarious tirade against anyone aged under 40, in turn leading us on to the set’s main theme, via Game of Thrones, gimp masks and yoghurt.

Lee is never backwards about making himself the butt of his jokes and makes several at his own expense during the show. So when his trousers fell down, during a vigorous and manic demonstration of smartphone poking, it was hard to work out whether it was supposed to happen or just an accident he was happy to let run as the laughs got ever louder.

Afterwards I managed to ask him, as he signed DVDs and books in the foyer, and it turned out that an accident it was, brought on by losing some weight but not (he thought) enough to make it worth wearing a belt. Perhaps I should have realised by now that slapstick isn’t usually part of Lee’s act – but when comedy has this many layers, should you ever assume something isn’t just all part of the show?

Fans who missed out on tickets for Stewart Lee’s Colston Hall shows on Sunday and Monday will have another chance to see him on March 1 next year at the same venue. Tickets are on sale now at the Colston Hall website.

Written by Ken McCormick in Bristol Post on 9th October 2017. Filed Under: Content Provider (Show), Reviews
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