Stewart Lee vs The Man-wulf
Oxford Playhouse

TONIGHT’s performance begins typically lowkey, as Lee strides onto the stage with the house lights still on and starts addressing the crowd before half of them have even noticed he’s there. This is by means of introducing his own show, which he explains will be in three parts: liberal humour delivered in a liberal manner; reactionary humour delivered in a reactionary manner; and finally liberal humour delivered in a reactionary manner. 

This sets us up for a joke that — as he himself points out — manages to be both liberal and reactionary at the same time (“Jimmy Carr has actually made more money off stereotyping gypsies than any gypsy ever has by failing to tarmac a drive”). 

I wonder if this will be the modus operandi of the night, with Lee attempting to have his cake and it, dressing up his own attempts at punching-down alt-right-friendly comedy as an ironic critique of that very thing. Thankfully my fears — that one, nasty, joke aside — seem to have been misplaced.