Following an acclaimed sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe last year, Stuart Laws is taking his tour Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? around the UK, starting on 8th March at The Garage in Norwich, with dates including Komedia Brighton on 3rd April before ending with two dates at London’s Soho Theatre on 2nd and 3rd June. During his comedy career so far, Stuart has supported James Acaster on his UK Tours and directed his comedy special Hecklers Welcome for HBO, hosted Comedians Beer Mat Flipping Championship in January and, with Nathan D’Arcy Roberts and Heidi Regan, he hosts the There Will Be Film podcast. Chatting with us, Stuart told us about his acclaimed sell-out show Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? at Edinburgh Fringe, taking the show on tour this year and the podcast – There Will Be Film.
How was it performing your acclaimed sell-out run of Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? at Edinburgh Fringe last year?
Loved it, it’s such a fun feeling doing a show that you’ve written, you’ve decided what it’s about, you’ve crafted into something entertaining and uniquely you. The fact that I was doing it in a nightclub that was converted into a venue and very much smelt like that was a mere sub-plot.
What do you enjoy most about performing at the Edinburgh Fringe and how was it seeing the response to your new show?
I like doing a show every day, knowing that you can take risks and experiment and have an entirely new crowd of people to see you. On tour, the shows are better because of that experimentation, of seeing what works and what doesn’t and giving yourself the license to do that. The response to this show was great, I play to a more neurodivergent audience now and had a lot of people speak to me afterwards about how significant it was for them to hear certain things discussed or joked about – that feels nice (despite me really panicking about speaking to people after shows).
Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? will be heading out on a national tour starting 8th March, with a date at Brighton Komedia on 3rd April, how are you preparing for the run?
My prep is really fun for this tour – I’ve been booking in new material gigs and work in progress slots to do all the material from the show in different orders, with new punchlines – really trying to see where the show could develop and evolve. I loved doing that with my previous show and I think this one has even greater potential to expand into something exciting and unique. A warm-up show in Leicester recently, I only got through about 60% of the material because of that process and it was really fun seeing how the show can change because of the audience.
What are you looking forward to for going out on tour and who do you think the show will appeal to?
I’m mainly looking forward to checking my car tyre pressure and oil levels before every trip and firing up a couple of classic podcasts for the journey. Also, there’s some new locations, some returns, it will definitely be a chance to expand my audience and really enjoy doing the show again. It’ll appeal to anyone who likes observational comedy with a weirder, surreal edge to it and, as mentioned – neurodiverse people and anyone who has ever been in a relationship (the show is about relationships, that’s not me just going after couples).
Can you tell us about Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? and what has it been like to work on so far?
It’s a show about relationships, from the perspective of a person who got confirmed as autistic a year or so ago. That has re-contextualised all my relationships: with myself, friends, family, romantically and with audiences. I knew I wanted to make the show be a relationship with the audience but to also use that to explore what relationships are, the funny things, the ridiculous things about them but the core fact that you can’t be fully in a relationship if you don’t know who you are fully.
How long has the show been in the making and where did the inspiration come from to write it?
The show started in 2023, I had just done a show at the Edinburgh Fringe that was my long in the writing and development first steps into telling the true stories about my life. The show had gone down really well (and has just been released as a special: https://800PGR.lnk.to/thatguy) and so I knew I should explore more personal stories. But, I didn’t want to just talk about personal stuff for the sake of it, so I spent six months doing new material, talking about things from my life to see if any threads developed and, because I was in a new relationship and it was the first one I have been in whilst knowing I am autistic, it made me reflect on what that means.
What do you hope audiences take from Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking?, and how different have you found performing this show to your previous ones?
I’m older, I’m wiser, I’ve got drier skin – so what I hope audiences take from it is: yeah, this guy’s got a big future ahead of him – as long as he moisturises properly. This show is a spiritual sequel to my last one and I hope the next one is a continuation of this as I love doing comedy that connects with people in more ways than just laughter.
You have supported James Acaster on his UK Tours and also directed his comedy special Hecklers Welcome for HBO, can you tell us about this?
James and I started comedy about the same time, enjoyed gigging with each other and he was one of the first people I made proper friends with in the industry. So when he used to have tour supports, he got me along for a bunch of dates and I got to go around the country doing stand-up with a friend – it’s the dream. We made a bunch of short films and web series and basically just loved making stuff, so when it came time to do his Netflix specials he wanted to work with me and my production company. Then when it came time to do his latest special it was the biggest and the most challenging yet – it was so fun to do and it’s always exciting to see what he does with stand-up.
In January, you hosted The Comedians Beer Mat Flipping Championship in London, how was this and what is the event like to be part of?
It was a great event, a sporting spectacle with a simply incredible line-up of flippers. I love hosting the show with Sikisa and Matt and watching comedians going from panic to confidence and then suddenly feeling the pressure in front of a crowd. It’s so fun to see what the added element of having to flip beer mats while an audience cheers you on does to people. Helen Bauer really grew into the Championship, making it to the final and running Phil Wang close for the trophy. I love that we’re building up an audience of flipping fanatics that keep coming back and appreciate the uniqueness of each Championship.
Can you tell us about your There Will Be Film podcast that you host with Nathan D’Arcy Roberts and Heidi Regan?
I love film and me and Nathan were guests on Heidi’s old podcast back in lockdown – it was so fun that we knew we had to do our own show together. Mostly, it’s just a chance to chat film now, with each guest bringing their own perspective as a starting point.
What are some of your stand-out highlights of your comedy career so far?
Getting booed off at Green Man Festival in 2010 and then performing again in 2015 and having a great gig, running off stage in a panic because the audience started to do a standing ovation on tour last year, performing a live version of the viral video of me as Michael Caine saying Never in Batman Begins at the Fringe last year.
How did you get into comedy and did you always know you wanted a career in the industry?
A friend started doing it at university and because I didn’t go I didn’t really know it was a thing you could start, so then I found an open mic at a local café and decided to try. Then it took a lot of support and friendly people to tell me how to get other gigs and offering me gigs before I thought: hey, this could be fun.
Do you have any favourite comedians to watch?
Harry Hill, Rory Scovel, Ed Gamble, Harriet Kemsley, Alex Kealy, Nish Kumar, Sikisa, Jin Hao Li – take your pick from any of them.
Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? starts on Saturday and stops at Brighton Komedia on 3rd April, tickets via https://www.komedia.co.uk/shows/stuart-laws-has-to-be-joking/
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