“This is real dangerous comedy.” Stewart Lee has the Liverpool crowd in stitches as he drags himself around the Philharmonic Hall stage in a werewolf costume.

The 57-year-old is the master of alternative, meta comedy, but his new tour, Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, is surely his most high concept, high risk show yet. The BBC Comedy Vehicle star arrived on the Hope Street stage last night in typically untraditional style, without any formal introduction and while the house lights were still on.

The comedian took another unconventional approach as he went on to lay out the theme of the evening before starting the show. He explained the next two hours would be split into three sections, as he would tackle the enduring popularity of stand ups such as Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle, who he branded the “$60m Netflix comedians of hate”.

Lee has taken aim at these targets in previous shows, but the manner of his satire in Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf means the content feels anything but familiar. For the first half, the comic performs in his classic persona, as a holier than thou liberal elite on a higher intellectual plain than his audience could ever hope to be on.

The hilarious material is typical of the distinctive style that has earned the comic a legion of fans who will always buy a ticket whenever he announces a new tour. Opening with a series of quickfire political gags, he soon moved into surrealist riffs on his love for ancient monuments, by way of some run-ins with high profile names he has made enemies of throughout his career.

All of this is told in his characteristically ironic style as he repeatedly mocked the crowd for not being on his wavelength, which is par for the course in a Stewart Lee gig. Although it seems as though he is genuinely disappointed by the crowd’s response to an elaborate call-back, lines about performing in the city being “an act of hubris” will likely feature on any show of the tour, no matter what the audience reaction is.

Part of Lee’s genius is the way he blurs the lines with what is rehearsed with what he is spontaneously reacting to on the night. However, a hilarious moment on Tuesday saw the comic seemingly genuinely taken aback by an answer from a member of the Liverpool crowd.

After he asked people in the audience whether they would rather be a werewolf or a vampire, a voice in the audience left the comic in stitches when he suggested they’d be a werewolf as the transformation would only come into effect for a couple of days in the month.

Lee seemed genuinely amused by the exchange, which he jokingly described as a “Liverpool answer”. He added: “52 shows and I’ve not had that yet.”

The comic suggested he needed to change the segue into his following routine as he laughed: “It’s hard to get into the next bit now.” However, nothing would be able to stunt the flow of a master craftsman like Lee, and there was a point to his absurd question as it set up the next half when he would transform into the “Man-Wulf” of the tour name.

Arriving back on the stage for the second half in a £6,000 werewolf costume, Lee adopted an exaggerated New York accent as he told lewd shock jock jokes, which he said was typical of the comics who land a multi million dollar Netflix deal.

The final segment saw Lee blend the two personas as he delivered liberal comedy in the shock jock style, punching upwards at more deserving targets. Performing in a giant werewolf costume is a risky move as you can’t exactly move back into the older, more reliable material if the planned jokes suddenly start falling flat with a tough crowd.

However, a comic like Lee has been such an established name for 36 years because of his willingness to take risks and perform, as he described it, “real dangerous comedy.” His willingness to do so has meant he has now built up a fanbase of people who share his views – and the packed out crowd at the Philharmonic Hall were laughing the whole way through a hilarious two hours in the company of a true comedy great.

In a rare genuine note, the comic was grateful for the response as he ended the evening by thanking the Liverpool crowd for their support throughout his four decade career. Merseyside is a regular stop on his tours and he vowed to return to the region for his next show when he turns 60 in 2028.

However, Lee laughed he won’t be changing his material to address his milestone birthday as many other comics do when they reach the age. He added: “I’m just going to do the same as this, but with the words changed a bit.”

The Liverpool crowd burst into one final fit of laughter, that was tinged with a sigh of relief. The last thing any fan wants is for Stewart Lee to veer away from the high risk, daring comedy that has made him such an important voice in stand up comedy.