Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle

Did You Know?

• In May 2010, the series was nominated for a BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy Programme, which was won by The Armstrong & Miller Show.
• In May 2012, the second series of Comedy Vehicle won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy Programme.
• At the 2011 British Comedy Awards, the series won Best Comedy Entertainment Programme, and Lee won Best Male Television Comic.

Format

The programme consists largely of Stewart Lee performing stand-up comedy live at the Mildmay Club in Stoke Newington before a club audience, with two episodes typically recorded per evening. Each episode follows a theme that Lee uses for his material. The stand-up is interspersed with sketches written by Lee and performed mainly by Kevin Eldon and Paul Putner, along with cameos from other comedians. From series 2 onward, the sketches were replaced by a short film at the end of each episode.

A recurring element is the "hostile interrogator", who questions Lee about his comedy and attitudes; Armando Iannucci played this role in series 2, and Chris Morris in series 3 and 4. In series 1, the interrogator segments (featuring Iannucci and Johnny Vegas) were available only via the BBC Red Button and on DVD, but from series 2 they were integrated into the main show. The opening theme for series 1 was "Tom Hark" by Elias & His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes; from series 2, a cold open replaced the theme tune and title card.

DVD releases

Series 1 was released on 7 September 2009 as a 2-disc region-2 PAL set, including red-button extras. Series 2 came out on 20 June 2011 as a single-disc region-2 PAL issue without red-button extras. Series 3 was released on 10 November 2014 as a 2-disc region-2 PAL set; during a promotional run of Lee's A Room with a Stew tour at the Leicester Square Theatre, the admission price included a complimentary copy of the DVD. Series 4 was released on 10 October 2016 as a 2-disc region-2 PAL set.

Episodes

Series 1 aired on BBC Two from 16 March to 20 April 2009. Series 2 was filmed between 11 and 14 January 2011 and aired from 4 May to 8 June 2011, featuring Armando Iannucci as the hostile interrogator; six lines in the series were written by Bridget Christie, Simon Munnery and Tim Richardson. Series 3 was filmed between 17 and 19 December 2013 and aired from 1 March 2014, introducing Chris Morris as the hostile interrogator. Series 4 consists of six episodes broadcast from 3 March 2016.

Reception

Andrew Billen of The Times called the first series "the most intelligent half hour of stand-up you will see on television this year" and said Lee "has become the master of deadpan stand-up". The Guardian Guide described it as "a refreshing change from the perky, ambitious tones of the Mock the Week brigade" and called it brilliant. Brian Viner of The Independent wrote that Lee "was preaching not so much to the converted, as to an ayatollah. He did so brilliantly, though."

The Guardian named Comedy Vehicle one of its top ten television highlights of 2009, saying it "was the kind of TV that makes you feel like you're not the only one wondering how we came to be surrounded by so much unquestioned mediocrity". A negative review in the Sunday Mercury stated: "His whole tone is one of complete, smug condescension"; Lee later used this line to advertise his next stand-up tour. Keith Watson in The Metro gave series 3 four out of five stars, writing "It's comedy that makes you stop and think, and there's not enough of it about."

Ellen Jones in The Independent said the show "would be unforgivably self-indulgent if Lee wasn't just as incisive on every other facet of modern life as he is on his own comedic genius".