It was around this time he became a source of fascination for comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring on their BBC Radio 1 music shows.
Stewart Lee - inaudibly mixed spoken word section on the track 'You Lied'
While studying English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in the 1980s, he wrote and performed comedy in a revue group called "The Seven Raymonds" with Richard Herring, Emma Kennedy, Michael Cosgrave, Richard Canning and Tim Richardson, but did not perform in the well-known Oxford Revue, though he did write for and direct the 1989 Revue.
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Lee also had a show at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, named Stewart Lee: If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One in which he performed his own version of the song "Galway Girl".
The intended run for the production was ten days, before the intervention of comedian Stewart Lee.
As Simon Oakes had been a long time friend of comedian, music writer and novelist Stewart Lee, Simon asked Stewart to write a spoken monologue about lying for inclusion in the recording.
Rod Stewart | James Stewart | Robert E. Lee | Spike Lee | Jerry Lee Lewis | Bruce Lee | Peggy Lee | Lee Konitz | John Lee Hooker | Christopher Lee | Lee | Martha Stewart | Jon Stewart | Stan Lee | Lee Kuan Yew | Jamie Lee Curtis | David A. Stewart | Ang Lee | Stewart Copeland | Washington and Lee University | Tim Berners-Lee | Lee Hsien Loong | Dave Stewart | Lee Strasberg | Charles Stewart Parnell | Stewart Lee | Rickie Lee Jones | Lee Marvin | Lee Greenwood | Stewart Granger |
The event attracted performers including The Monsoon Bassoon, Stewart Lee and Al Murray (performing as part of a band), Keith Burstein and others.
The company has discovered many acts who have become household names including Frank Skinner, David Baddiel, Harry Hill, Al Murray, Russell Howard, The Mighty Boosh, Stewart Lee,Greg Davies,Russell Kane Lee Mack,Chris Ramsay Dave Gorman, Chris Addison, Kristen Schaal and John Oliver and has an international reputation for cutting edge comedy, theatre and TV production.
Shortfuse attained a reputation for presenting an eclectic fusion of stand-up poetry, performance comedy and music, and regularly presenting up-and-coming performers alongside established names such as John Hegley, Stewart Lee, Kevin Eldon and Simon Munnery, as well as forging working links with performers across the US, Canada and Europe.
It has attracted world renowned insect experts as well as artists, such as Bob and Roberta Smith, and comedians, most notably Garth Merenghi, Robyn Hitchcock, Robin Ince and Stewart Lee (who mentions his involvement in his stand-up act "41st Best Stand-up Ever").
To make the film, Andrew Kötting and Iain Sinclair pedaled a swan pedalo over 160 miles down the River Thames from the seaside in Hastings to Hackney in East London, occasionally joined by guests including Alan Moore, Stewart Lee, Dudley Sutton, Dr Mark Lythgoe and Marcia Farquhar.
Offline has put on well known acts such as Mercury Prize nominees The Portico Quartet, author Howard Marks, comedians Rob Newman, Stewart Lee, Josie Long, Robin Ince, Richard Herring and new wave legend Tom Robinson, with all acts being paid two pints of beer.