Interview: Stewart Lee, comedian

Published on 19/02/2010 10:25

"I'VE been in and out of fashion three times in the last 20 years, so I'm used to it," boasts Stewart Lee, a man who has come back into vogue in a big way recently.

The acerbic comedian's critically acclaimed Comedy Vehicle show has been recommissioned by BBC2, publishing giant Faber have bought the rights to his new book, he's been nominated for the Chortle Comedy Awards, and his latest stand-up show sees him playing the most lavish venues of his career.

"I can't complain, which is difficult for someone whose persona is based on complain-ing," he says ahead of tomorrow night's Festival Theatre gig.

"I've been really lucky, because obviously there's no relationship whatsoever between quality and being on television. Loads of brilliant people don't get on telly but they let me on and that's doubled my live audience. It has reminded people that I'm out there, and it's got more people to like me. That's got to help for the future."

Considering the first episode of Lee's Comedy Vehicle was some 500,000 viewers down on BBC2's average for the slot that year, it looked like it would be lucky to continue its six-episode run, let alone be recommissioned for a second series. "It got very good reviews, and that probably helped it, despite the fact that the audiences were perceived as not good," explains the comic, whose last show for the BBC, 2005's Jerry Springer The Opera, saw the channel's executives receive death threats amid thousands of complaints.

"But it built up after a few shows. And you know, what why wouldn't it? When you go to the Fringe for 25 years people think that you must already be a name, but it's not always like that," he adds.

As well as acclaim from the media, diehard fans set up an online campaign to have the series return – though Lee isn't convinced that it made much difference. "It was very kind of them," he says, "but I don't think there's much anyone can do to persuade the bigwigs.

"I mean, yeah, there was the online petition, but there was an online petition to get Dr Who recommissioned for ten years, and that one had millions of signatures. Eventually they did it in their own good time, but I still don't know how much difference anything can really make."

Lee's new show, If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One, is about him thinking, at 41, what he's supposed to do stand-up about. "In this show, an account of something that happened to me in a coffee shop will be used as a convenient framing device for disparate material possibly concerning English Heritage, Top Gear, the Olympics, emigration and prawns," he says.

"There's a lot of comedy about at the moment that's sort of manufactured annoyance about nothing, or observations about daily trivia. I sort of wondered what am I? What really actually bothers me? I mean, I can't believe that all those angry comedians are really that angry about Susan Boyle's face. I think you get past that. It's just a kind of crushed despair, so the show's sort of about that."

Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street, tomorrow, 7.30pm, 16-18, 0131-529 6000