40-year-old Tiswas footage resurfaces

A joke thought to be the first of Stewart Lee’s ever to be broadcast on TV has surfaced online.

The comic submitted the gag to Saturday morning kids’ programme Tiswas in September 1981, when he was 12 years old and a pupil at Solihull School in the West Midlands.

He was responding to a competition to win a copy of the latest Ultravox album, Rage In Eden, after lead singer Midge Ure asked the question: ‘Who is Mr X?’ in reference to one of the band’s earlier tracks.

Host Sally James reads out an answer from ‘Stewart Lee from Solihull’ suggesting: ‘Mr X was the cross-eyed son of Picasso that does Adam Ant's make-up or the real owner of Trevor McDonald's voice or the irate father of the shoeshine boy whose brush was stolen by Midge Ure to use as a moustache.’

The news comes as Lee announces six major London gigs at London's Royal Festival Hall following his ongoing sold-out three month season atthe  Leicester Square Theatre. Tickets for the new Basic Lee shows in the Southbank Centre from June 28 to July 3 next year go on sale on Wednesday.

Here’s the clip:

Lee’s publicist has confirmed it was indeed the future stand-up who submitted the joke.

The full Tiswas episode was posted on YouTube by WDYT – Why Don’t YouTub – which posts vintage broadcasts, spotted by Justin Lewis, aka @whenisbirths, and subsequently picked up by the Beyond The Joke website.

Published: 14 Nov 2022