No other stand-up comedian could start a show with the base declaration that he’d masturbate over our family pictures if he was forced to confiscate any mobile phones and then end it with the noble re-enactment of 19^th century German artist Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above A Sea of Fog.

That’s Stewart Lee in a nutshell – the carefully constructed liberal elitist who’s not afraid to go for the Frankie Boyle line here and there. But, of course, he debases the debasement in his “post-laughs” way.

There were times when he told the sell-out crowd – sell-out even with the empty seats – that he was tiring of “the character of Stewart Lee” and even though this was one of his usual contrivances the 48-year-old “ex-TV comic” was definitely more playful than usual.

On previous tours, Lee’s serpentine delivery has often been hampered by presenting his show in half-hour blocks as a testing ground for his BBC2 series. He’s been axed, gained weight but also got a lot funnier; now his stand-up is able to twist and turn over two glorious hours, like it did when he was “better” and used to play The Acorn in Penzance.

He told us that with a tour running from November last year to this April, he refused to dwell on Brexit and Trump in case he had to constantly rewrite his material, affecting the shows’ monetisation.

Of course, that allowed him two set pieces, which opened both halves, brilliantly mirroring each other. It also allowed him to have an affectionate pop at the Cornish – he’d researched that we’re educationally superior to much of the nation yet we voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union. Were we racist or, simply, c***s?

Many of Lee’s tropes were repeated in Content Provider – for example, the splitting of the audience into the intellectuals who get it and those at the back (“there’s something on”, “what is it?”, “don’t know”, “let’s go”) who are holding up proceedings by being behind the beat.

There’s also his superiority – aimed at us (“who knows more about stand-up, you or me?” and “I believe it was I who once said…”) and other, lesser comedians.

His feud with Russell Howard is reignited. He couldn’t understand it as he only ever told one joke about Howard … but it was 55 minutes long. His hilarious, relentless impression of cool, young comedians asking him why he picked on Howard was a masterclass in physical, absurdist humour.

His way with a mocking diatribe is untouchable, particularly when aimed at anyone under 40 – an impression of a 32-year-old playing with his phone was comedy heaven.

It derailed slightly in the second half with a long, rambling section about how our grandparents’ generation had to make do while today’s young folk are absorbed in artifice and consumerism. Lee hammered the point home via bondage sex, but we got what he was saying and it just wasn’t that funny.

He ended back on track with that powerful artistic reinvention, which via one simple but effective visual joke held up a mirror to the narcissistic, selfie generation.

Content Provider is the most enjoyable Stewart Lee show for years, especially after his last TV series which aimed, and failed, to take comedy way out into some darkly acerbic hinterland.

Long may he keep on returning to Cornwall, even if there’s a possibility some of us are racist c***s.