BIZARRE: Stewart lee slams horrifying need for social media as a comedian we re at a real crossroads - You Need To See This

But in a new interview, he explained that someone on his marketing team encouraged him to create videos to help shift tickets for his latest stand-up show, the surreal Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, which at one point saw him arrive on stage in a wolf costume.

He told the Guardian: “They were desperate for me to create some kind of viral content.

“I went out with the wolf costume but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Sometimes work benefits from an air of mystery; I don’t want people to know who I am in detail.”

Addressing social media as a whole, he added: “We’re at a real crossroads. The worst people on earth control the means of communication.”

His comments come after Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed told The Independent that the situation is “a mess”.

“If you don’t have the TikTok or Instagram followers, you’re not going to get seen,” he said. “It’s a mess. When I was with my old American agency, one of the first things that came up when you went to a client page on their website was a person’s number of followers.

“I found that a bit terrifying. But I also understand the business behind it. I’ve produced shows before, and you do think, ‘Well, I know people are going to watch this because this person’s connected to it.’”

In recent years, a number of comedians have worked the system in reverse by building up a following online before booking TV spots and selling out gigs.

Al Nash landed his spot on SNL UK thanks to some seriously impressive online stats, with 100 million views on videos across his various social media accounts, and his castmate Jack Shep also started out on TikTok before popping up in shows including Channel 4’s Big Boys.

Comedian Munya Chawawa, who got his break in the television world after gaining popularity online, said he was told by executives earlier in his career: “Look. If you had 30,000 followers, maybe we’d talk to you. We like your showreel but you’ve got no profile.”

“Online is a powerful engine in terms of putting you in front of… commissioners and producers – it’s an engine between big projects that lets people know I’m still out there,” he explained at a Royal Television Society event in 2023.