Stewart Lee foresees his future as he tracks down the graves of music hall stars

Stewart Lee has visited the graves of forgotten music hall comedians for a new online TV series.

Music Hall Comic Grave Spotting is a strand in the quirky new arts TV project Eggs TV, created by alternative psych punk duo The Lovely Eggs and artist Casey Raymond.

In the show, Lee visits the last resting places of bygone stars near his home in North-East London. They include  George Leybourne, who performed as Champagne Charlie; the celebrated pantomime star Herbert Campbell, who was in a comedy double act with Dan Leno; and Nellie Power, who had a solid career with her trademark song The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery before she was overshadowed when  better-known Marie Lloyd started singing it.

Speaking to Craig Charles on his 6Music show, Lee said the eclectic Eggs TV  – which comprises six hour-long episodes – ‘reminded me of 70s 80s, early 90s, arts television programming’.

He said: ‘The problem now is you like something and then the internet says, "Well, if you like that, you'll like this", and an algorithm suggests it to you. What you had in those kind of programmes was that you were taken by surprise,when you found out about things you didn't know you'd like.’

Lee told how  The Lovely Eggs –  the married couple Holly Ross and David Blackwell – asked him if there was anything he would like to make for them.

‘All through lockdown, I became very fat and sad,’ the comic recalls. ‘But I wandered around a lot. I had an idea about making a some kind of film about the area I lived in.

‘Oe of the things I got interested in was all the music hall comedians from the 19th century that lived there, and are buried there. So we went round houses of different 19th century comedians, and then looked at their graves afterwards, which sounds a bit morbid.’

Speaking of Champagne Charlie, Lee said:  ‘He made fun of posh people who drank champagne. He lived on the same road where Dominic Cummings lives now.

‘The tragedy was that he was so popular that champagne companies sponsored him and said that he had to travel between all his gigs – he had about four a night on what was the 19th Century London comedy circuit – on a open-top carriage, being seen to drink the champagne.

‘What happens to a comedian if you give them unlimited champagne and tell them they've got a drink? They're dead within five years.’

‘It's a sad story that is and he's buried in a little glade in Avenue Park Cemetery in Hackney where there's about half a dozen comics from that era. And I just find it very moving, really. I tried to find out what they're like. And obviously, the evidence is gone. I just find it a bit fascinating. ‘

Lee’s contribution features in the second episode of Eggs TV, to be released next Tuesday.

After tracking down Campbell’s grave, Ross tells the comedian: ’It brings you back down to earth. You may be known now, Stewart, but in 120 years’  time you might be there with a little plaque or gravestone in an overgrown forest and no one gives two shits.’

‘Forgotten in a bush,’ Lee laughs.

The series also features contributions from the likes of punk poet John Cooper Clarke, former presenter of The Word Katie Puckrik,  visual artist David Shrigley, musician Gruff Rhys and singer The Space Lady.

Ross said: ‘It’s the type of show that used to exist in the deepest darkest corners of alternative TV programming, and Eggs TV is here to bring it back

‘We've known Casey since we worked together on a music video over ten years ago and became pals. The idea of making a TV series together seemed like an absolutely brilliant and ridiculous thing to do, so we just cracked on with it.’

The first episode will be released on The Lovely Eggs’ YouTube channel at 11am today.

Published: 6 Apr 2023