Stewart Lee is back in Brighton for a five night run. Something he questions mid show as he impishly chides the “quiet” Wednesday night crowd. Despite this apparent silence, Lee’s return to the Dome is resplendent and declared a triumph by a roundly enthusiastic audience.
Lee’s on stage persona, often referred to by the comic as “the Character of Stewart Lee”, is often self referential and meta in his approach. He carries distain for the litany of Netflix Special, multi-millionaire, stand-ups who punch down for money and easy laughs. The likes of Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle and anyone who played the recent Riyadh comedy festival are in his sights tonight. “What he does is much harder,” he exclaims and in this performance he intends to show us just how easy their job is and to do this he requires a wolf suit.
He tell us his intentions. In the show’s first half he’s going to do liberal stand-up as “Stewart Lee” but in the second half, he’ll do reactionary Netflix comedy as the Man-Wulf, before an attempt to do liberal stand-up in the wolfy Netflix-style.
Dutifully the first half zings along in his own stylistic way. He berates the audience for not understanding the concept. His crowd interactions abruptly ceased if he feels like he’s not getting the “right” answer and plenty of form deconstruction, as usual. It is all hilariously done to the great appreciation of all gathered.
The second half see’s Lee in a different space comedically. He enters in a wolf costume, all high energy and dick jokes. The parody is delightful. He belittles the crowd without a care and completely embodies the hideous style of the Netflix special extremely well.
Anyone who has seen Lee before will expect the majority of what is on display: precision joke crafting, eloquent rants, clever call backs and comedy displayed as an intellectual art form. What is no so much seen from Lee is slapstick and physical comedy; and this is were the wulf-man comes in.
Although physical does not come so naturally for Lee, he does a classic clowning exercise of trying to sit down on a chair, as the wolf, very well. The room erupts in laughter each time he misses, spins or fails to engage properly. It is an interesting addition to his comedy armoury and one of the funniest moments in the show. The Man-Wulf is horribly hypnotic.
When Man-Wulf attempts “Stewart Lee” material with a brash American attitude and energy, surreal catchphrases and ridiculous costume, cognitive dissonance is created on a grand scale. Should we like the Man-Wulf? Is he funny? Can we laugh? These questions are raised a Lee explores what comedy is for.
He leaves us with a bleak outlook on the future, one which his son’s generation will probably not improve, according to him. But from this bleak world view comes tears of laughter and a fantastic joyful night of comedy.
Runs to 15th November
The Reviews Hub Star Rating
A Triumph
