Stewart Graham Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director. In the mid-1990s he was one half of the radio duo Lee and Herring, alongside Richard Herring. His stand-up is characterised by repetition, frequent callbacks, generally deadpan delivery and a pronounced use of deconstruction, which he often self-consciously refers to on stage.

After a return to the live circuit, and through BBC and Channel 4 specials and series, Lee has rebuilt an audience and a reputation as an anti-populist comedian. In December 2011 he won British Comedy Awards for best male television comic and best comedy entertainment programme for his series Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle. A 2009 article in The Times referred to him as "the comedian's comedian, and for good reason" and named him "face of the decade". In June 2012 Lee was placed at number 9 in the Top 100 Most Influential People in UK Comedy.

Lee's comedy covers a wide range of forms and subject material. It is often topical, observational, self-deprecating or absurd. Notable routines have focused on topics like religion, political correctness and artistic integrity. He also employs metahumour, openly describing the structure and intent of the set while onstage, and abolishing the illusion of his routines as spontaneous acts.

Lee's delivery utilises various onstage personae, frequently alternating between that of an outspoken liberal hero and that of a depressed failure and champagne socialist. In an ironic manner, he often criticises the audience for not being intelligent enough to understand his jokes, saying they would prefer more simplistic material, or enjoy the work of more mainstream "arena" comedians such as Michael McIntyre or Lee Mack;[39] inversely, he will also scold them as a bias-seeking "liberal intelligentsia".[40] His routines often culminate in feigned depressive episodes and nervous breakdowns.

Lee caused controversy on his If You Prefer a Milder Comedian tour with a routine about Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond. Referring to Hammond's accident while filming in 2006, in which he was almost killed, Lee joked, "I wish he had been decapitated". The Daily Mail termed this an "extraordinary attack"[41] and, having been doorstepped by a Mail journalist, Lee quoted the routine by replying "It's a joke, just like on Top Gear when they do their jokes".[42] Lee subsequently explained the joke:

The idea of what's acceptable and what's shocking, that's where I investigate. I mean, you can't be on Top Gear, where your only argument is that it's all just a joke and anyone who takes offence is an example of political correctness gone mad, and then not accept the counterbalance to that. Put simply, if Clarkson can say the prime minister is a one-eyed Scottish idiot, then I can say that I hope his children go blind. — Stewart Lee[43]

In an Observer interview, Sean O'Hagan says of the Hammond joke that Lee "operates out in that dangerous hinterland between moral provocation and outright offence, often adopting, as in this instance, the tactics of those he targets in order to highlight their hypocrisy".

In his stand-up shows, Lee has made critical statements against other successful comedians including Ben Elton, Ricky Gervais, Russell Brand, James Corden and Patrick Kielty.

After accepting an honorary fellowship from St Edmund Hall, Oxford,Lee gave a lecture to aspiring writers in which he discussed the fact that performers such as Frankie Boyle, Michael McIntyre, Jack Whitehall and Andi Osho used writers who were not credited. He compared the practice to athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. Along with plagiarism and extremism, Lee has brought moral issues surrounding stand-up to the public's attention.

His influences include Ted Chippington, Simon Munnery, Kevin McAleer and Johnny Vegas.

Stewart Lee - The Day Bid Laden Was Shot / Americans Bit

Stewart Lee - His (Lack of a) Trump Bit

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Lee

Study and learn! It really is too bad about his waddling, clueless, always-6-months-behind-the-trend communist-leaning political positions. Maybe he'll come around after all?