Comic Iain Lee talks ahead of his Birmingham gig

Iain Lee Versus Radio will feature at Birmingham’s Glee Club on Sunday.

He’ll pick some of the most hilarious moments from the history of the wireless.

He will ask why Nicky Campbell dropped himself in it when talking about foxes? He’ll ask what callers to local radio REALLY think about Boris Johnson and whether old lady professors know what you can and what you most definitely can’t say on the radio?

Iain has collected the clips that all radio presenters would rather you forgot and combined them into an hilarious show that also tells his story of how he reluctantly ended up working for some of the biggest (and smallest) radio stations in the country.

Despite appearing on radio (Five Live, Radio 4, XFM, BBC 3 Counties) and TV (The 11 O’Clock Show, This Morning, Big Brother’s Bit On The Side) for over 15 years, this is Iain’s first solo show.

It sold out everywhere he played in 2015 and – due to popular demand – he’ll be performing only a handful of shows this year, with some added new clips and material.

Iain began his comedy career performing at venues across London and subsequently became co-presenter of the comedy current affairs show The 11 O’Clock Show on Channel 4 and RI:SE.

He found himself at the centre of a storm three years ago on the BBC Three Counties Radio Breakfast show, which broadcast in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. He had interviewed Libby Powell, a lawyer from Christian Concern and accused her of being ‘bigoted’ and ‘homophobic’ after she defended a minister quoting verses from the Bible condoning homosexuality as sinful. He got the sack after the BBC decided he had not been impartial.

At the time Iain said: “Homophobia is bigotry. Do you support bigotry?” to which the lawyer replied: “This isn’t homophobia, this is God’s word.”

He went on to accuse Libby of not understanding what bigotry was.

Following the show, the BBC issued a statement to LGBT website Pink News apologising for any offence that may have been caused.

However, Iain wrote on Twitter: “I’m blocking so many people. I’ll make it easy. If you think gays and lesbians are sinners, please unfollow me.”

Several well-known names took to social media to defend the presenter.

LBC radio’s Iain Dale said that Iain’s treatment was a ‘disgrace’ adding in a later tweet that ‘all he did was point out a truth’.

Actress Kathy Burke added: “I love Iain Lee. Let’s hope this latest debacle lands him a bigger and better job. He should be on telly more anyway.”

Lee also broadcast for two years on BBC WM, presenting a Saturday night show and an afternoon show on Fridays, which ended in 2015.

However, he has defended his style and when he took to the airwaves on talkRADIO he attacked the radio industry for being too blandy.

He said: “There is nothing on the radio worth listening to apart from this show.” He then used the hashtag #radiobland on Twitter to highlight his point.

Iain is also a master prank caller and took on talkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein and Jason Cundy on one occasion, when they were taking calls on the Sports Bar show, following Manchester City’s win over Paris Saint-Germain. Iain decided to have a little fun. He posed as a Man City supporter named ‘Dave’. Iain (eventually) got past the talkSPORT phone op who screens callers, and tore into Andy and Jason.

Iain also presented the official Big Brother radio show with co-host Gemma Cairney. The programme was called Big Brother’s Big Ears and aired twice a week on the Big Brother website.

Talking about the show, he says: “I absolutely loved it! I was on all the spin-off shows from Dermot hosting, through George Lamb right up to Rylan at the end. Loved it all. Rylan is just the nicest man in the world, an absolute gentleman. I had lots of fun moments on the show, but I guess the most memorable for me was having a go at a gentleman who I thought had been a bully. Saying that, I can’t remember his name so it couldn’t have been that memorable.

“The whole thing was a lot of fun. I preferred it when I was a guest instead of being a full on host, I was allowed to get away with more then. I knew that once I became a full-time co host I would be pulled in a bit. Being a radio host has been my main source of income for years. I love it. The perfect job. I’m not a music DJ but a phone -n host, so I get to argue a lot!”

Iain says he’s found his perfect home on talkRadio.

“It’s fun. I tend to avoid the heavy stuff like Brexit and Trump. A lot of phone in radio is very angry. Stephen Colbert has a saying ‘If we’re not scaring you, then we’re not doing it right’ and a lot of phone-in radio works like. My show is different. It’s a celebration. We embrace everything that is good.

“Saying that, it’s a very open show. I talk about my mental health issues and that allows other people to share their intimate stories. But it’s not all heavy. The best topic recently was ‘rumours about teachers’.”