Book review: Stewart Lee’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life And Deaths Of A Stand-Up Comedian (Faber and Faber, £12.99) gives readers a fascinating glimpse into how much heart and soul one man puts into making people laugh.
Stewart Lee’s analytical, patience-testing brand of pedantic comedy has earned him legendary status on the circuit.
Yet his journey to fame has been far from easy. Back in 2001, knackered and disenchanted with the art form, he quit stand-up.
How I Escaped My Certain Fate charts Lee’s return to the (fairly) big time, via a surprising route that included him being prosecuted for blasphemy.
Fundamentalist Christians may have taken umbrage with his Jerry Springer: The Opera but it reopened Lee’s eyes to comedy’s possibilities.
Three shows later – transcripts of which are in the book – he was back on top and back on telly. Lee is a master of deconstruction, a device he uses to great effect in his stand-up.
He uses it here too; tons of footnotes expound bits of his set and provide insights – often hilarious – into the way his idiosyncratic brain works.
This excellent book allows the reader a fascinating glimpse into how much heart and soul one man puts into making people laugh.
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Peter Ould, Youtube
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BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
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