On a chilly night in Doncaster, there’s a 57-year-old man with self-confessed coronary artery disease dressed in a ludicrously cumbersome werewolf costume attempting to climb onto a metal stool, while a moon bearing the face of disgraced TV presenter Gregg Wallace beams down.

And the audience is in absolute stitches.

Welcome then to the world of Stewart Lee vs The Man Wulf, the latest stage show from the comedian once dubbed “the 41st best stand-up ever.”

Cast is the the setting for Lee’s two night residency in Doncaster (he’s there again tonight) and as usual, its a glorious dip into the world of meta-comedy and deconstruction.

Stewart Lee vs The Man Wulf is at Cast in Doncaster.

placeholder image — Stewart Lee vs The Man Wulf is at Cast in Doncaster.

"He can write jokes, he just chooses not to.”

For the uninitiated, a Stewart Lee show can be a confusing and bewildering place. But tonight, everyone’s in on the gag right from the start.

The self-styled member of the “left wing, metropolitan liberal elite” is tackling the world of $60m dollar Netflix right wing “say what you want” comedians like Dave Chapelle, Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr in his latest stand-up show – and that means transforming into the Man Wulf so he can say and do what the hell he likes without fear of being cancelled or bad reviews.

Framed in three parts, the show opens with Lee as himself, delivering six topical “jokes” in his usual meandering and sardonic style.

The opening of the second act sees Lee slugging his way around the stage as The Man Wulf, delivering catchphrases “s*** my d***!” and transgender jokes in an American drawl.

Of course, its all beautifully and meticulously done.

By the end, we’ve got a hybrid persona - what happens when liberal-left material is delivered with the shock-jock style of the “alpha male” comic.

Cue Lee wearing a pair of werewolf feet and standing in his pants with a tiny plastic penis attached to the front.

It may all sound like some kind of crazed fever dream which doesn’t make a blind bit of sense, but to those inside Cast it works perfectly – and the howls of laughter back up every moment of Lee’s deliciously daft craft.

It is critique of the comedy industry (and perhaps of himself) in the era of streaming specials, reactionary viral comics (and what’s kept him off television and out of the arenas).

The concept is bold and original – there’s not many comics who can shoehorn in material about ancient monuments, Bob Dylan and Russell Brand and get away with it.

Always provocative, always richly satisfying. Stewart Lee vs The Man Wulf is another superb insight into life inside the world of one of the country’s best stand-ups.

He has let himself go though.