Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle
| Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Stewart Lee |
| Directed by | Tim Kirkby |
| Starring |
Stewart Lee Other performers
|
| Voices of | Peter Serafinowicz |
| Theme music composer | Elias & His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes (Series 1) |
| Opening theme | Tom Hark (Series 1) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 24 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Armando Iannucci (series 1 only) Mark Freeland (series 2 and 3 only) |
| Producer(s) | Richard Webb Stewart Lee (associate producer) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BBC Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Picture format | 16:9 1080i |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 16 March 2009 – 7 April 2016 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is a British comedy series created by and starring Stewart Lee and broadcast on BBC Two. It features stand-up comedy and sketches united by a theme for each episode. It is script-edited by Chris Morris and was initially executive-produced by Armando Iannucci, marking a rare reformation of a creative team formed for On the Hour in 1991. Lee has said that this is exactly the sort of show he wants to do, saying "I don't want to do any television that I don't have complete control of."
The first series aired in 2009, with subsequent series in 2011, 2014 and 2016. Stewart Lee announced in May 2016 that the BBC had declined to make any further series. This was due primarily to cuts to BBC 2's comedy budget which would now focus instead solely on scripted comedy.
The main body of the show is a Stewart Lee stand-up comedy performance, recorded live at the Mildmay Club in Stoke Newington with a club audience. Usually two episodes of the show were recorded per evening. Each episode has a theme, around which Lee performs his material.
The stand-up is punctuated with sketches, written by Lee but more usually performed by Kevin Eldon and Paul Putner with cameos from other TV and circuit comedians. From series 2, the sketches were removed in favour of a single short film at the end of each episode.
A recurring element of the show is the "hostile interrogator", played by Armando Iannucci for the first two series and by Chris Morris from Series 3 onwards. In a darkened room, the interrogator quizzes Lee about his approach to stand-up comedy and his attitudes toward his audience and the comedy industry. In Series 1, the interrogator segments were not included in the main programme, accessed instead via the BBC Red Button and included on the DVD releases as bonus features. The interrogator segments were integrated into the main body of the show by Series 2.
The opening theme tune to Series 1 is "Tom Hark" by Elias & His Zig-Zag Jive Flutes. Series 2 onwards have a cold open and no theme tune or title card.
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