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If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One...Stewart Lee at the Liverpool Playhouse

By Catherine Jones in Liverpool Echo Posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009

WHEN Stewart Lee was last in Liverpool he had a few less-than-complimentary things to say about Tom O’Connor and the brand of ‘cruise ship comedy’ so beloved by Lee’s mum.

The Bootle-born entertainer escapes a tongue-lashing in this latest outing, If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One, although the Top Gear team – the “three bears” as Lee styles them – aren’t so lucky.

They’re all big boys so I’m sure they can take it, but while ‘frustrated middle-aged liberal’ Lee admits something of a strange admiration for Jeremy Clarkson’s idiot/genius outspokenness, he aims the bulk of a carefully-constructed tirade at “baby bear” – and former Solihull schoolmate – Richard Hammond.

The considered, quietly vitriolic and ultimately rather uncomfortable damning of the ‘Hamster’ also encompasses a recurring theme in Lee’s set – the weaving of an intricate tale that could, but turns out not to be, true.

Where does sincerity end and comedic cod-sincerity begin? Sometimes it’s hard to tell, just as there’s a part of you that wonders whether his air of resigned disappointment is left at the front door or invited in for coffee.

What is certain is that Lee is the antithesis of the current gang of ‘topical’ comedians shuttling between TV quiz shows and the London Apollo.

You’re unlikely to see him on Mock the Week any time soon. Instead, he devotes 10 minutes to mocking Mock the Weekers, utilising his other main weapon – repetition – to riff on Frankie Boyle’s assertion that no one over 40 should do stand-up, and much-publicised controversial joke about the Queen’s privates.

Interestingly, Lee himself has developed something of a new fan base through his own TV series – Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle – broadcast earlier this year, and they were out in force for this sell-out show at the Playhouse.

The man who brought the world Jerry Springer the Opera is a middle-aged (41) dad now and his preoccupations are those of the middle-aged. There are enjoyable rants about coffee chain loyalty cards and moving “for a better quality of life” before – finally – he quits the stage all together to rage to the audience about the purloining of his favourite song for a cider commercial.

It’s hit and miss stuff, but he rolls with the punches – and laughs – and ends with a song that’s half-paean, half-protest, and nowhere near 100% pear.

Written by Catherine Jones in Liverpool Echo on 20th November 2009. Filed Under: If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One, Reviews
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