Though I’m personally invited to drop a star by Lee tonight, I’ll resist the temptation. This rating comes with a caveat, however. The ursine comic’s often sublime shtick (here ranging over politics, race and age) still requires those allergic to alienating repetition, knowing deconstruction and long-game subversion to deal with that, albeit to a lesser extent than before.
Shakespeare, assured my English teacher, always supplied a direct hit even in his most involved passages. So it is with fellow West Midlander Lee, who can despatch his targets with caustic brevity: “You have to have imagination on the left… to look at Ed Miliband and imagine that he represents anything other than the destruction of the post-war socialist dream.”
For UKIP deputy leader, Paul Nuttall, there is more trademark, and therefore more elaborate, rebuff. Lee takes Nuttall’s view that Bulgaria should retain its high achievers to a nihilistic conclusion, reaching it via a backwards chronological rundown of immigration that includes the evolution of fish to land animals.
The mix of pathos and playfulness is heightened in a closing sequence where Lee puffs himself up only to puncture his ego and portrays himself as a burnt out performer, berated by his family who apply their own ‘dropped star’ rating to him.
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Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
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Pnethor, pne-online.com
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Alex Quarmby, Edfringe.com
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Brighton Argus
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Frankie Boyle, Comedian
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Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
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Al Murray, Comedian
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Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
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Microcuts 22, Twitter
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BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
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Len Firewood, Twitter
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Anon, westhamonline.com
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Fairy Pingu, Twitter
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John Robins, Comedian
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FBC, finalgear.com
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Esme Folley, Actress, cellist, Twitter
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Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
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Aiden Hearn, Twitter
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12dgdgdgdgdgdg, Youtube
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James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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Henry Howard Fun, Twitter
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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Bobby Bhoy, Twitter
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Guest, Dontstartmeoff.com
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Gmanthedemon, bbc.co.uk
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Slothy Matt, Twitter
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General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
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Brendon, Vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk
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Guest1001, Youtube
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Tin Frog, Twitter
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World Without End, Twitter
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Mini-x2, readytogo.net
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Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
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Etienne, Chortle.com
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Lenny Darksphere, Twitter
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Alwyn, Digiguide.tv