Michael McIntyre under fire as stand-up star brands his jokes 'warm ...

Michael McIntyre's jokes were once branded "warm diarrhoea" by a fellow stand-up comedian.

Stewart Lee revealed he was once contacted by someone claiming to be from a newspaper about why he made that comment about McIntyre. Not believing the person was telling the truth about their identity, Lee hung up the phone.

The next day, an article was published which featured details on McIntyre being unhappy about comedians making fun of him.

Lee confessed that one of his own stand-up acts included a quote about how McIntyre "spoon feeds his audience warm diarrhoea".

Lee then explained how the joke came about.

He said: "When the audience fail to respond to me reading out a letter from an angry pirate, I say to them, in desperation, 'You have my sympathy, you know? It’s 2010. It’s a weird time for stand-up.

"Cause you, you sit at home, don’t you, all of you, watching Michael McIntyre on the television, spoon-feeding you his warm diarrhoea. I’m not going to be doing that. I haven’t noticed anything about your lives. They’re not of interest to me. This is a letter from a pirate. It’s not about going to the shops or anything."

Sharing how he really feels about the comedian, Lee continued: "I’m not going to pretend I like McIntyre’s work in of itself, and would hate this piece to be misconstrued as an apology, though I do find much to admire in him as a comedian, and the phenomena of the stadium-sized observational stand-up is, to me, both a fascinating and an amusing oddity.

"But the way the diarrhoea line was presented to him, shorn of set and setting, does make it read rather differently."

However, Lee admitted that he later learned how to compliment McIntyre's work, adding: "But when I am asked about McIntyre in interviews, as all us comedians are now, I have learned to compliment him on having converted a nation to the idea of stand-up as a viable entertainment option.

"I usually find a way to leaven any negative comments with positive ones, (though these are often edited out), even to the extent of expressing the genuine desire to be allowed to tour all his most famous routines myself, word for word, to see if their very familiarity would lend them to a tonal reinterpretation."

Tonight, McIntyre celebrated 25 years of stand-up comedy with a special on BBC One.

Filmed at the London Palladium, the comedy night was one to remember as the 48-year-old marked a very special milestone.

McIntyre said: "I’ve had an amazing 25 years since my first stand-up gig and the BBC have been such a huge part of that, giving me some wonderful stages on which to perform from Live at the Apollo, to Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and Michael McIntyre’s Big Show.

"Which is why it’s so befitting and such an honour to be celebrating this milestone with this stand-up special of all new jokes on BBC One and iPlayer."