David Farnor | On 04, May 2022

Stewart Lee’s latest stand-up special Snowflake/Tornado will air on BBC Two and be available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

The “41st best stand-up ever” Stewart Lee is currently on tour with the show, which is a double-bill of two one-hour sets. Now, the BBC has announced that he will be filming them at the Theatre Royal in York this week for broadcast on BBC Two.

The move marks a reunion between the BBC and Lee, after his long-running Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle and the broadcast of his special, Content Provider, in 2018.

Stewart says: “I am delighted to build on the BAFTA and British Comedy award winning BBC success of four series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, and the subsequent Content Provider stand-up broadcast, with two new stand-up specials for the broadcaster, Snowflake and Tornado, both recorded in York on the 2022 Snowflake/Tornado tour. As you probably know, the Times has called me ‘the world’s greatest stand-up’, so I am happy to find my natural home once more with the world’s greatest broadcaster, where anyone can see me for free, even though the money at Netflix would have been literally one thousand times better (if they would have had me). Tornado is a tangled shaggy dog story about backstage hospitality and flying sharks, and features a cameo from a venerable legend of British comedy; Snowflake reflects my experience of the current culture war and politicians’ and comedians’ cynical attempts to exploit it, and includes extended retching and a sickeningly sincere song.”

Ben Caudell, Commissioning Editor for BBC Comedy, says: “To have one Stewart Lee show is a massive treat, to have two is a complete comedy indulgence. If there was a third show I would probably be actually sick. Sick but happy. Which is how I want to die.”

Snowflake and Tornado is an Awkward Films and BBC Studios production for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. It is commissioned by Jon Petrie, Director of Comedy Commissioning and the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Ben Caudell. The Executive Producers are Colin Dench and Richard Webb, the Producer is Sam Michell and the Director is Al Campbell.

The two specials will be available to watch on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer later this year.

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