One man stood in front of 1500 people armed with nothing but a microphone, yet there was not even a sense of fragility or nervousness; Stewart Lee displayed a complete mastery of the stage. He is a man so in control of his audience that it is they who feel guilt if the joke doesn’t get laughs, guilt for being un-cultured enough to not understand.
Stewart Lee – photo by Colin Hutton
He berates the audience for laughing at the wrong place and humiliates individuals for leaving to the bathroom. In the hands of another performer this could run the risk of looking Pantomime, but for Stewart Lee he attacks with such playfulness that it comes off closer to genius.
In terms of material the set was divided roughly into 4 quadrants; covering topics as diverse as nationalism, Islam, cultural stereotypes and urine. Not all of the material was strong; the nationalism segment in particular dragged a little. Having said this, the topics are almost secondary in a Stewart Lee show, the tangents being the area in which most of the humour lies.
The best of said tangents and possibly the highlight of the show was his interpretation of Andorran radio hits; which essentially boiled down to him making strange noises for 3 minutes. The bizarreness of watching a 46 year old man do this resulted in a hilarity which I’m sure will live long in the memory of everyone in attendance.
The greatest testament that can be paid to Stewart Lee is that even after witnessing a 2 hour long set; I still went straight home and put a Stewart Lee best moments reel on YouTube.
Review by James Kellett
