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Stewart Lee, "If you prefer
a milder comedian, please ask for one"
Swansea Grand Theatre, 15th October 7.30pm
Stewart Lee's latest stand-up tour is advertised with a dubious accolade from that most respected of journals, the Birmingham Sunday Mercury. "His tone", we are told, "is one of complete, smug, condescension." Unkind, perhaps, but not entirely inaccurate. Lee's onstage demeanour, in its understated, self-assured disdain, resembles nothing more than a cynical, saturnine Buddha. "Smug", possibly, but then Stewart Lee is a lot funnier and a lot cleverer than we are.
Fans of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - broadcast earlier this year on BBC2 - or his previous work with Richard Herring on Fist of Fun and This Morning With Richard Not Judy will know to expect a measured, unpredictable set that spares no sacred cows. Princess Diana's demise and contemporary race relations were mined for comic effect on his 2004 Edinburgh show "Stand-up Comedian"; "If you prefer a milder comedian, then please ask for one" apparently includes among others, a discussion of Richard Hammond's near-death experience.
Expect no punches to be pulled, expect to be mentally engaged, but more importantly expect to laugh an awful lot. Lee's humour, as "Comedy Vehicle" showed, deconstructs the art of the stand-up - playing with audience expectation and the conventions of comedy, bringing a welcome dose of surprise to the art of comedy. The biggest surprise, perhaps, is that he pulls off smug, condescending and absolutely hilarious.
Swansea Grand Theatre, 15th October 7.30pm
Stewart Lee's latest stand-up tour is advertised with a dubious accolade from that most respected of journals, the Birmingham Sunday Mercury. "His tone", we are told, "is one of complete, smug, condescension." Unkind, perhaps, but not entirely inaccurate. Lee's onstage demeanour, in its understated, self-assured disdain, resembles nothing more than a cynical, saturnine Buddha. "Smug", possibly, but then Stewart Lee is a lot funnier and a lot cleverer than we are.
Fans of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - broadcast earlier this year on BBC2 - or his previous work with Richard Herring on Fist of Fun and This Morning With Richard Not Judy will know to expect a measured, unpredictable set that spares no sacred cows. Princess Diana's demise and contemporary race relations were mined for comic effect on his 2004 Edinburgh show "Stand-up Comedian"; "If you prefer a milder comedian, then please ask for one" apparently includes among others, a discussion of Richard Hammond's near-death experience.
Expect no punches to be pulled, expect to be mentally engaged, but more importantly expect to laugh an awful lot. Lee's humour, as "Comedy Vehicle" showed, deconstructs the art of the stand-up - playing with audience expectation and the conventions of comedy, bringing a welcome dose of surprise to the art of comedy. The biggest surprise, perhaps, is that he pulls off smug, condescending and absolutely hilarious.