stewart lee
Stewart Lee has announced a run of dates at the Leicester Square Theatre for early 2015. He will be trying out material for his next BBC2 series of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle with a run of A Room With A Stew. The dates start on January 5 and end on January 31. Book tickets here. For a limited time there is a discount if fans book using the code STEWPRIORITY.
A lively week for comedy, kicking off with a major benefit at the Eventim Apollo tonight. Stand Up Against Austerity has been put together by Francesca Martinez and campaigning group The Peoples Assembly and is pretty much a who's who of comedians with a conscience, old socialist stalwarts and rising stars.
What more can one say about Richard Herring that hasn't already been said? Podcast pioneer, purveyor of plays, past partner of Stewart Lee. Herring returns to Edinburgh this summer with an all-new show, Lord of the Dance Settee, which looks like it finds him in more playful mode than ever. After tackling men's tackle in Talking Cock, the Bible in Christ on a Bike, death in We’re All Going To Die! and amour in What Is Love, Anyway?
Anybody interested in recent comedy history should have been at I Say with Alexei Sayle, the inaugural "Comedy Conversation" at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival earlier this week. It was an opportunity to see someone who wasn't just there at the start of modern comedy, but someone who can genuinely claim to have actually started it all off.
Benefit gigs are usually crammed with acts doing quick smash-and-grab sets, partly for the cause, sometimes to try out new material and sometimes, let's not beat around the bush here, to win new fans. This year's benefit for experimental radio station Resonance was different. There was an MC plus only three acts who all had the opportunity to do longer, 30 minutes-ish sets.
This is an exceptionally strong week when it comes to award-winning comedians who really are true masters of the stand-up art. Tommy Tiernan is first up, appearing at the Soho Theatre from Monday. The 1998 Perrier Award winner is a massive star in Ireland and when he graces London with his presence it is easy to see why. He is the kind of comedian that – cliché ahoy – really could make you laugh by reading the telephone directory.
Comedian Dave Twentyman recently posted an interesting piece on Facebook about snobbery in the comedy industry towards comedians who play the weekend club circuit. Stand-ups who make their living from gigs at stag and hen parties and office parties etc are viewed, said Twentymen, as hack and unimaginative.
Al Murray has always had a thing about the military. There is, of course, the Pub Landlord's wobbly grasp of European history, but before that Murray used to do a precision-tooled sound effects act in which he impersonated various machine guns and rifles. And before that, as Watching War Films With My Dad reveals, his childhood was filled with typical WW2 ephemera, from Airfix models to Sunday afternoon viewings of A Bridge Too Far with his father.
Five stars to Lee Mack for being honest about his appearance at the Royal Free Rocks with Laughter benefit on Sunday night at the Adelphi. During his short set the cheeky chappie glanced at the banner behind him and said “Let’s not forget the real reason we’re here tonight. And that’s to try out new material for the tour.”
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