Content Provider

Stewart Lee stands on a stage carpeted with discarded DVDs of mainstream comedians, occasionally stopping to physically stomp on them. It is a fitting visual for a show about what happens when an artist is reduced to a mere “content provider” in the digital age. Filmed at the Palace Theatre in Southend-on-Sea, a Brexit-voting coastal town that Lee systematically antagonizes, the performance was his first touring show after the BBC cancelled his television series Comedy Vehicle. The material tackles the political climate of the late 2010s, utilizing a routine on Michael Gove and Sarah Vine that compares them to an internet shock video, while also breaking down the mechanics of arena stand-up. Lee contrasts his own rhythmic delivery with the punchy style of performers like Jimmy Carr, even staging a mock breakdown where he kicks the DVDs around the stage with his trousers around his ankles. Between the live segments, the performance cuts to surreal, black-and-white interrogation scenes where graphic novelist Alan Moore acts as Lee’s hostile inquisitor.