New series for Comedy Central

Stewart Lee is to showcase some of the best offbeat comedians in a new stand-up show for Comedy Central.

The Alternative Comedy Experience – as the show is provisionally titled – will be shot at The Stand comedy club in Edinburgh and feature the likes of Robin Ince, Simon Munnerys and Phil Nichol.

The show is said to be similar in style to Seventies showcase The Comedians – with the same team of comics reappearing from week to week with extracts from their set – but updated for are more independent style of act.

Others taking part include Maeve Higgins, Josie Long, Eleanor Tiernan, Paul Foot, Bridget Christie and Henning Wehn.

Lee will also conduct on-screen interviews with the performers – as he did on his ‘red button’ extras from the Bafta-winning BBC Two series Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle.

Comedy Central is to make 12 half-hour episodes of the show, which they say is specifically designed to highlight acts that are overlooked by panel show and roadshow-style programmes.

The channel’s director of content and development Sarah Farrell said: ‘This is the first time there has been a vehicle to show how funny and accessible "alternative" stand-up comedy can be.

The brilliant talent involved in this new commission, will guarantee our viewers a unique and entertaining insight into a style of comedy rarely represented on television’

The show will be filmed in Edinburgh next month and aired in the autumn.

Published: 8 Jun 2012