Review: Comedy Garden: Stewart Lee/Josie Long

For six days only, Queen Square is transformed into an oasis of comedy. Bars, a bandstand and a selection of quirky food stalls flank the perimeters, while The Big Top looms ahead, luring in thousands of comedy fans with an impressive array of acts.

Tonight is the first night of Bristol Comedy Garden – and what better way to kick things off than with the infectious enthusiasm of compere Josie Long? Bounding on stage to ask the audience, “How are you feeling, considering it’s the worst week ever?”, Long is warm, natural and heartily tackles the political elephant in the room from the offset. Between playfully acting out emojis and describing Boris Johnson as an orangutan with peanut butter on his gums, Long endears the audience and gets them as excited as she is for the first act.

It’s no surprise that James Acaster has been sweeping up prestigious comedy awards lately. He greets the audience in a cool, irreverent tone, then expertly sweeps us up in every little detail of his hyper-trivial microcosm. Dwelling on particular turns of phrases “he… or she” and “put the kettle on,” Acaster somehow manages to transform petty rants into powerful political points.

His brilliant analogy of Brexit as a tea bag (“Do you want it left in so that the tea gets strong? Or do you want the bag out so it goes in the bin and you’re left with a weak cup of tea?”) is the highlight of his set and raises one of the biggest laughs of the entire evening. The originality of his microscopic approach is captivating in a live setting, assuring the popular notion that Acaster is definitely one to watch.

Second act Tony Law is quite the contrast. Emerging on stage wearing a flight suit with teddy bears strapped to it, he may as well wear a sign saying “Look at me! I am zany!” He proceeds to shout very loudly and quickly about all sorts of surreal situations, yet it is admittedly hard to adjust to his frantic pace after Acaster’s gentle-yet-sharp musings. Unfortunately Law’s abundance of volume does not compensate for his lack of wit, resulting in a rather tedious 25 minutes of free-floating nonsense about semi-professional trampolining. He does accents. He does sound effects. But he doesn’t make everyone laugh.

Tonight’s headliner comes in the form of one softly-spoken, vitriolic misery-guts known as Stewart Lee. “I’m not going to talk about Brexit,” he immediately announces, relying upon his audience’s pre-existing knowledge to not to take anything at he says at face value. Those who listen between the punchlines about Are You Being Served and bondage sex will hear bitter political statements and intelligent analysis of the referendum implied beneath the majority of his sizzling new content.

It’s clever stuff indeed, but with notably less of the smugness that usually accompanies his obtuse blend of meta-humour. Perhaps because tonight’s set is significantly shorter than his headline shows, Lee for once doesn’t appear to be solely focused on masochistically subverting his own audience.

The result is a performance that feels more like watching an episode of his fantastic, but now cancelled, BBC series Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle. Launching into a furious tirade against Game of Thrones, Lee dons that politically incorrect mask he often speaks through to make grotesque remarks – before turning the whole thing on its head to complain about the objectification of women in TV drama. Didn’t see that equation coming? Don’t worry, Lee always shows his workings. In fact, his ability to deconstruct his own work whilst simultaneously playing it out on stage is one of his finest comedic attributes. The more he unravels, the more compelling he is.

Again, unlike his touring shows, the structure of Lee’s performance tonight is made up of bits and bobs from various topics. While the content doesn’t flow to quite the same level of depth, every exasperated rant he gives is eloquent and cutting. It’s refreshing to see him favour being thought-provoking over provoking the audience. Bringing such intellect and masterful delivery to The Big Top on its opening night, Stewart Lee has set the standard high at this year’s Comedy Garden.

Bristol Comedy Garden continues until Sunday, July 3. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.bristolcomedygarden.co.uk