Stewart Lee tells joke

The comedy world was left reeling last night after ‘‘‘comedian’’’ Stewart Lee told a joke during one of his standup routines.

Early reports suggest the joke, which had something to do with corn flake shortages, was not made ironically, nor was anyone in the audience chastised for laughing at it. It appears to have been a setup and punchline delivered purely for comedic effect.

“I didn’t know what to think,” said Harold Cole, who was in the audience when the joke was delivered. “I don’t go to Stewart Lee gigs to hear jokes. I go to them to feel smart and sad. It wasn’t fair of him to throw a joke in there like that.”

No footage of the joke has surfaced as yet and police are refusing to rule out the possibility that no-one in the room was smart enough to catch on to whatever Lee was doing.

Lee has refused to comment on whether jokes will be playing a more prominent role in future routines.