Article: Stand up and be counted; Stewart Lee, creator of Jerry Springer: The Opera, is back on stage - and being outrageous about the most serious topics.

Byline: FIONA MADDOCKS

AS dates go, 11 September 2001 is a dodgy choice for the opening gag in a stand-up show. When it holds together a long discourse on urinals, Spanish Arabs, peeing, giggling and farting in the same breath as "and then the second tower collapsed", there's really nowhere more tasteless to go.

But Stewart Lee is fearless. With conspiratorial charm and an air of bemusement, he wrings every lewd last laugh from his material, to the stupefaction of his audience. Can he get away with this?

Don't Americans walk out in disgust? No, he says. If they've got as far as coming to England and ending up in some obscure venue watching him, ...

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