Top comedians don't write their jokes, claims Stewart Lee "I already feel like a relic in what I do," he told his Oxford audience in February. I think the idea of a stand-up as a writer, as a sort of auteur, is already on the way out. The lucrative opportunities to fill hours and hours of television with stand-up comedy in little bite-size bits have pushed the writer-auteur-comedian model aside. Whitehall's and Osho's agents declined to comment on the claims. But comedian Neil Dougan said many writers were happy to provide material for higher-profile stars. He told The Independent: "I have written for TV comics. I am always glad of the money. And if larger audiences than I can dream of pulling in enjoy the gags, I do derive satisfaction. People can always just nick your stuff if they want it. Paul Fleckney, founder of the comedy guide London Is Funny, argued Lee was wrong to suggest a modern, TV-dominated form of comedy was entirely sweeping away other formats, however. He said: "The 'writer-auteur-comedian' may not be winning the war against the 'TV comic product', but it certainly isn't a relic. Stewart Lee underestimates just how many young comedians don't want to be the next Jack Whitehall, they want to be someone like Daniel Kitson, Tim Key, Doctor Brown or Lee himself. He's a comedian of a generation that watched mainstream and alternative comedy take turns to have a period of success. Maybe he thinks in those terms still, but these days both exist pretty healthily at the same time, even if by definition mainstream acts have more openings.