Stewart Lee’s new stand-up show brimmed with the unapologetic, politically skewed charm that the comedian has built his career upon.
Split into a double-bill of two hour-long halves, Snowflake/Tornado revolved around two different subjects, but both interlinked well in what was a cohesive performance.
The English stand-up performer, writer and director has received big praise for his work from critics over the last two decades, often satirically revolving around topical issues across the UK.
However, it was his unparalleled ability to feed off of the audience that displayed all the signs of a comedian at the top of his game at The Tivoli Theatre in Aberdeen last night.
Stewart Lee
Stepping onto the stage, Lee started off with the first few lines of his routine before totally ripping it up and spending the next ten minutes mocking the crowd’s lack of laughs – which weren’t really all that bad.
Of course, this was much to the crowd’s amusement and his knack for returning to this anti-comedic stance throughout the show was excellent.
Lee is far-fetched from a Lee Evans type comedian; his casual clothing correlated with his calm demeanour and the crowd quickly settled in to his witty comedy.
Many comedians’ sketches can feel rigid from time to time – but this was far from the case with Lee.
His ability to improvise in the moment was remarkable.
Unexpected laughs, late crowd arrivals to their seats and even staff holding ice creams for the interval all became entwined in the show, making every single ticket holder feel like an integral part of the act in the intimate Tivoli Theatre.
Tornado
The first half of Lee’s show began with Tornado, which focused on Lee’s thoughts on his position in the comedy world today with funny sketches on the likes of Josh Widdicombe and Dave Chapelle.
The rise of streaming platforms like Netflix have offered stand-up comedians new ways to showcase their work and Lee explained how one of his shows had managed to be hilariously mis-titled as a shark themed horror film – which remained on the platform for two whole years.
Repetition was a core theme used by Lee to lay home his gags which ranged from witty to slightly absurd.
Sarcasm and irony peppered his first-half performance and the nice use of a large shark prop to bring home the act towards its conclusion added some nice visuals to the minimal stage setup.
Snowflake
Returning for the second half in an ice blue suit jacket, Snowflake revolved around a series of sketches based on Lee’s views of the culture wars happening across the country and his position of being a ‘snowflake’.
He poked at various issues such as Brexit, politics and woke culture with well-thought-out remarks, bringing a bit more of an air of sophistication to the show.
That was until an amusingly silly speechless Ricky Gervais impression proceeded to (purposely) take up a large chunk of the set, which made the eventual simple punchline hugely effective.
“I don’t tell jokes,” said Lee, “I only deliver juxtapositions of information.”
Like the first half, Lee’s versatility to bring the crowd into the show was superb.
A brief comment on stovies worked a treat while stretching other gags to almost uncomfortably repetitive and long limits definitely had the desired effect on the crowd.
The inclusion of a satirical song as snowflakes dropped from the stage roof also brought further laughs and added a varied dynamic to the show that you don’t often find with other comedians.
And after a few warm remarks from Lee regarding The Tivoli as the nicest theatre he’d played at in the city, the Aberdeen audience left with warm smiles upon their faces.
Classy show
Stewart Lee’s double-act of classy comedy was a delight.
It’s rare to find comedians with bags of experience that avoid feeling outdated as their careers go on.
But Lee’s varied style of delivery (from satirical to almost nonsensical as well as improvisational) impressed on all fronts and it was easy to see why he is one of the country’s most revered comics.
If you fancy another slice of the action in Aberdeen, tickets are still available for Stewart Lee’s second show tonight at The Tivoli Theatre, starting at 7.30pm. Visit www.aberdeenperformingarts.com for tickets and more information.
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