Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 11 November 2009

Stewart Lee (Photo - Steve Ullathorne)

STEWART LEE is the vindaloo of stand up comedy – he is spicy and sometimes hard to swallow. You know what you are in for, the slug line of his show tells it all: If you wanted a milder comedian you should have asked.

Lee has you squirming in your seat with your eyes stinging and a little perspiration forming on your top lip. The heat of his comedy does not come from obscenity, swearing or even blasphemy, as you might be led to expect given some of Lee’s most controversial work in Jerry Springer the Opera.

His comedy is hot because he is constantly pushing the medium, trying to find out just where you can take this simplest of theatrical forms consisting, as it does, of a man talking to an audience.

For me, seeing Lee came at the end of a long but eventful week in which I had actually fulfilled three comedy ambitions. In that week I had seen Dylan Moran at London’s Apollo Theatre, seen Eddie Izzard at Glasgow’s SECC, and finally I saw Lee, a man I had wanted to see for over two years.

I’m not sure it’s a good idea to see so much comedy in a short space of time. It’s possible that I’m developing dependence – maybe I should see someone or join a support group.

There are interesting comparisons in the styles of the three comedians I saw this week. All of them break the rules of comedy in different ways. Here are just a couple.

Rule 1. Only do material about things people can relate to in their own lives.

Izzard shattered that rule a long time ago with material he gathered from his classical education. In Glasgow he told stories about the ancient Persian’s wars with the Spartans. Possibly that has some relevance to Sauchiehall Street on a Friday night [no, more a Staurday – Ed.], but there the comparison ends.

Lee was equally cavalier with that rule, relating stories about the sayings of his family and his favourite songs being stolen by advertising men. Most comedians try to work with stories that at least might be true. Lee has no such truck with reality, allowing his audience to see clearly that he is feeding them fiction.

Rule 2. Keep whatever you are saying as brief as possible and keep it to the point, the comedy point that is, and never repeat yourself.

Dylan Moran wanders about through the frustrations of his middle age like a rudderless ship bumping into islands of despair. Lee has gone one stage further and turned his meandering style into an art form. He delights in repetition, coming back to the same point over and over again as he teases the audience.

He always returns to his focus on how the audience relates to him at the precise moment of his performance. Lee’s brilliance is in his ability to play with his relationship with the audience, to torment them, to ask them why they think they are laughing and what is it they are laughing at.

If you wrote down what Lee says you would be unlikely to find much humour. The comedy for Lee exists not in what he says but how he says it. On Wednesday night he was able to get a laugh merely from a glance or the way he turned his head or how he walked on stage. Of all the comedians around today, Lee is the one most concerned with evolving the art form, he is the comedian most likely to find new routes for stand up and he is frighteningly talented.

The theatre was disappointingly only two-thirds full, but those who did attend clearly had an enjoyable if challenging evening. It is perhaps fair to say the Lee rarely captured the whole audience in his comedy, with some people laughing at parts of his act and others not. That is not surprising given the unpredictable and quirky nature of his comedy. Lee often takes you by surprise and most of the time you are not really sure why you are laughing.

Lee is prolific in his writing, with not only the Springer show to his name, but also other plays such as Johnson and Boswell, which was performed at Eden Court’s OneTouch Theatre to much acclaim by comedians Miles Jupp and Simon Munnery last year.

His TV appearances are rare but the short run of his own show surprisingly titled Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle was original and entertaining as he blended sketches and stand up in a way not seen before. Stewart Lee will always be an acquired taste and he will remain too hot to handle for many, but for those whose taste buds are accustomed to the heat he is a rare delight.

© John Burns, 2009

Links

• Stewart Lee

• John Burns at Purple Comedy