Stewart Lee has revealed how he was once minding his own business sitting in the street in Camden Town when he was mistaken for a homeless person.

Lee was talking to Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast.

"Just as lockdown was finished, I had put on lots of weight during the lockdown and had grown a massive beard, kind of gave up on life a bit. I went to buy a takeaway coffee in Camden, and I went and sat on steps over the road by where the Electric Ballroom is, and a security guard came up to me and said I can’t sit there. I was going, well, I can, I'm just sitting on outside the shop. Is it your shop? And he went, no you can't, you've got to move on.

I thought, wow, he thinks I'm homeless. So I had a really long conversation with him about what he felt gave him authority and why he had decided to move me on. Obviously he couldn't say because you looked like a tramp, right? It’s really interesting being famous enough to sell out 250,000 people on a tour but also to have the experience of what it’s like to be viewed as a disreputable character that will bring shame upon Camden Market by lowering the tone of the place."

Stewart Lee's stand up special airs on Sky Arts later this month. Details here.

Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time is available to listen to on all podcast platforms.

Picture: Stve Ullathorne