Lee returned to The Lowry as an extra date in the midst a mammoth year long tour, something which would see most panel-show comedians gushing with gratitude for the requirement of an extra night.
Not Lee. He instead started out by berating the audience for not booking their tickets earlier at part of the “proper tour” – he then shares his fears that tonight’s audience not in fact his usual audience of “Guardian-reading intelligentsia” and instead people who will want to see some of that “proper comedy” – which he explains would involve him “remembering stuff in a regional accent”.
Tonight’s performance, as with the rest of the tour, is a chance to test new material for his new BBC series which will air at the end of the year.
He is completely unapologetic that due to this tonight’s encore might be “a bit crap”, he then races through and explains that the night will be in four main themes; the lack of Islamophobia in comedy, mainstream stand-up, nationalism and then the crap encore.
Anyone who has seen Lee’s TV show will have been familiar with many of the aspects of tonight’s show, stories where key lines are repeated over and over, each time drawing more laughs each time, clever yet passive attacks on elements of the right wing (be it in the form of broadsheet journalists, 80s comedians or, of course, UKIP) and existential musings on the hypocrisy of the world we live in.
Even the most avid of Stewart Lee fans may have been tripped over by the comedian’s apparent breakdown mid-set and rant at the audience for not laughing at the right punchline, but five minutes after said rant he masterfully hit the audience with the real punchline – you really do need to have your wits about your a Stewart Lee gig!
It is within Lee’s meticulously planned on-stage persona where the comedian’s real strength lies as it allows him to not only attack his audience, but also deal with some rather divisive subjects without even a scrap of offensiveness.
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A D Ward, Twitter
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Neolab, Guardian.co.uk
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Bobby Bhoy, Twitter
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Chez, Chortle.com
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Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
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Wharto15, Twitter
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Kozzy06, Youtube
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Lenny Darksphere, Twitter
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Joe, Independent.co.uk
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Zombie Hamster, Twitter
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Carla, St Albans, Dailymail.co.uk
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Gwaites, Digitalspy
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DVDhth's grandparents, Twitter
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Meanstreetelite, Peoplesrepublicofcork
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Peter Ould, Youtube
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Esme Folley, Actress, cellist, Twitter
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Spanner, dontstartmeoff.com
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Iain, eatenbymissionaries
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Al Murray, Comedian
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BBC iPlayer edition of discussion of Stewart Lee on A Good Read
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Frankie Boyle, Comedian
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Anon, dontstartmeoff.com
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Aaron, comedy.co.uk
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Gmanthedemon, bbc.co.uk
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Dave Wilson, Chortle.com
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Pirate Crocodile, Twitter
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Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph
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Lee Mack, Mack The Life, 2012
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Johnny Kitkat, dontstartmeoff.com
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Alex Quarmby, Edfringe.com
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Patrick Kavanagh, Guardian.co.uk
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Ishamayura Byrd, Twitter
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Karen Laidlaw, Edfringe. com.
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Maninabananasuit, Guardian.co.uk
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Someoneyoudon'tknow, Chortle.com
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Tweeterkiryakou, Twitter
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Borathigh5, Youtube
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Genghis McKahn, Guardian.co.uk
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James Dellingpole, Daily Telegraph
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Emilyistrendy, Youtube
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Lents, redandwhitekop.com
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World Without End, Twitter
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Tweeter Kyriakou, Twitter
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Anonymous, The Northfield Patriot
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Pnethor, pne-online.com
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Visualiser1, Twitter
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GRTak, finalgear.com
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Coxy, Dontstartmeoff.com
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FBC, finalgear.com
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Peter Ould, Twitter
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Slothy Matt, Twitter
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Shane, Beverley, Dailymail.co.uk
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Yukio Mishima, dontstartmeoff.com
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Anon, westhamonline.com
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Neva2busy, dontstartmeoff.com
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Cabluigi, Guardian.co.uk
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Carcrazychica, Youtube
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Alwyn, Digiguide.tv
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Contrapuntal, Twitter
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Pudabaya, beexcellenttoeachother.com
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Microcuts 22, Twitter
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John Robins, Comedian
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Horatio Melvin, Twitter
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Len Firewood, Twitter
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Anonymous, don'tstartmeoff.com
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Richard Herring, Comedian
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Brighton Argus
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Anon, BBC Complaints Log
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General Lurko 36, Guardian.co.uk
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Birmingham Sunday Mercury
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Rudeness, Youtube
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Lucinda Locketts, Twitter
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NevW47479, UKTV.co.uk