Andrew Billen of
The Times described the first series as "the most intelligent half hour of stand-up you will see on television this year" and that Lee "has become the master of deadpan stand-up".
The Guardian Guide said "Lee's Vehicle feels well overdue, with his brand of bone-dry, spot-on scepticism a refreshing change from the perky, ambitious tones of the
Mock the Week brigade [...] it's brilliant." Brian Viner of
The Independent said "In my front room, Lee was preaching not so much to the converted, as to an ayatollah. He did so brilliantly, though."
The Guardian named
Comedy Vehicle as one of its top ten television highlights of 2009, commenting that it "was the kind of TV that makes you feel like you're not the only one wondering how we came to be surrounded by so much unquestioned mediocrity". One of the show's few negative reviews came in the
Sunday Mercury, which stated: "His whole tone is one of complete, smug condescension". Lee subsequently used this line to advertise his next stand-up tour. Writing about the third series in
The Metro, Keith Watson said "It's comedy that makes you stop and think, and there's not enough of it about", awarding the show four out of five stars. Ellen Jones writing in
The Independent said "this comedy about comedy would be unforgivably self-indulgent if Lee wasn't just as incisive on every other facet of modern life as he is on his own comedic genius". ==Awards==