Stewing
Stewart Lee gets a certain amount of preferential treatment in some quarters, and I can see why - he’s probably the closest thing we have these days to an “alternative” comedian in the old-fashioned sense of the word, and a ferociously intelligent performer. Unfortunately this makes him as infuriating as he is interesting. While positioning himself as a cut above your average comic (he’s spoken out quite strongly against brainless Jongleurs hen/stag-night type stand-up), Lee is as venomous in the abuse he metes out at his chosen targets as anyone else, however much this vitriol is adorned with clever wordplay and delivered in a deadpan, offbeat style. In the first show of his new Comedy Vehicle, Lee had a go at Chris Moyles. Now I’ve always found Moyles to be amusing, but at the same time he clearly is a boorish egotist. That second book of his which Lee picked apart does sound horrendous, and of course just because you admit something is a cheap, lazy cash-in doesn’t in any way excuse...