Experience how it feels to be the subject of a blasphemy prosecution! Find out why 'wool' is a funny word! See how jokes work their inner mechanisms revealed before your astonished face! In 2001 after over a decade in the business Stewart Lee quit st&-up disillusioned & drained & went off to direct a loss-making musical Jerry Springer The Opera Nine years later How I Escaped My Certain Fate details his return to live performance & the journey that took him from an early retirement to his position as the most critically acclaimed st&-up in Britain the winner of BAFTAs & British Comedy Awards & the affirmation of being rated the 41st best stand up ever Here is Stewart Lee's own account of his remarkable comeback told through transcripts of the three legendary full-length shows that sealed his reputation Astonishingly frank & detailed in-depth notes reveal the inspiration & inner workings of his act With unprecedented access to a leading comedian's creative process this book tells us just what it was like to write these shows develop the performance & take them on tour How I Escaped My Certain Fate is everything we have come to expect from Stewart Lee fiercely intelligent unsparingly honest & very very funny