Stewart Lee (and guest), Hall For Cornwall, Truro

Review by Gareth Bartlett

THE “White Supremacist Theme Park” of Cornwall had an unexpected visit from the county’s Benign Spirit in Truro.

Last night’s Stewart Lee show at Hall For Cornwall was going rather well – despite the stand-up comedian’s insistence to the contrary – until a man sauntered down to the front row and awkwardly swung a leg onto the edge of the stage.

Before we knew it, he was centre stage with the self-styled thinking man’s comic, barely coherent and revealing himself to be a reformed heckler.

Ten minutes later he was still there, with Lee having chosen to use him to prove a point about the intricacies of his craft rather than just boot him off.

The guest’s tale about protecting a cat from seagulls and later buying a pasty will be the one that most people tell purely for the “Is this really happening?” incredulity of the whole thing.

But while it was certainly a unique show for the tour, which had already swept through the city nine months ago, it would be a shame for the other hour-and-a-bit to be overshadowed.

Not only was it hysterically funny, but it was also gripping and thought-provoking – though it’s greatest achievement in my eyes was persuading this reviewer that it was amusing at all.

I’d watched a bit of Stewart’s TV series at the behest of What’s On editor Lee Trewhela and West Briton editor David Thomas – both huge fans. They told me it was must-watch comedy but I probably wouldn’t appreciate it, because it was too clever for the likes of me – a sub-40-year-old who enjoys the humour of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave Em and Ricky Gervais.

And they were at least half right – I didn’t get into the TV show and switched off after about ten minutes. The comedian’s style is very much aimed at telling the audience they’re not smart enough to understand his show – and pointed out our faults all night as we laughed at the wrong jokes, didn’t laugh enough or got our timing horribly wrong.

So to have spent most of Wednesday night open-mouthed and achy-jawed was something of a remarkable triumph.

The comedian helped things along by opening the show with a severe warning to the audience not to have their phones out otherwise he would come down, snatch it off them and smash it with his mic stand, then take it back stage and pleasure himself over what remained of the digital memories of their children.

So far, so on my level.

The political and socio-economic stuff came shortly after, of course, but it was never out of the reach of your average, mildly-interested-in-the-news theatre attendee.

There were gags about Graham Norton, BAFTA and Lee Mack to keep things grounded but it was the comedian’s deconstruction of comedy that made the whole show such a joy.

Setting up his own callbacks and creating bonus laughs where they shouldn’t exist, you could call it a masterclass in comedy theory.

There were moments that didn’t work for me – I was among the half of the audience that didn’t lap up the repetitive “list of food items on newspaper columnist Rod Liddle” gag but then others loved it.

But despite Lee opening the show insisting it’s all scripted and he pretends to cobble it together as he goes along, it was the moments of genuine unpredictability that turned it from an incredibly funny show to one that will be long remembered by both audience and performer. It started when three men wandered in late and “destroyed the rhythm” of the rest of the show, then a piece of ticker tape fell from the HFC gantry and crushed the finale of a key gag, before ultimately happening again in the second half before the reformed heckler wandered on for the encore.

For me, those moments showed Lee at his best – thinking on his feet to create magical bonus moments before returning to the routine almost as if nothing had happened.

His own knowledge of Cornwall and our cultures and ways of life were the icing on the cake – the highlight of the whole show for me being the words I started this whole review with: referring to Cornwall as a white supremacist theme park. And if you don’t understand that reference, you’re not smart enough to be at a Stewart Lee show.