STUART LAWS HAS TO BE JOKING? – EAGERLY ANTICIPATED FRINGE RETURN FOR COMEDIAN AND DIRECTOR
Performer, writer-director and comedy polymath Stuart Laws (nominee Leicester Comedy Festival Best Show, Comedian Choice Best Show) brings his most personal show yet to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Often behind the revelations of others (as director of specials for comedians including Sindhu Vee, Nish Kumar and Rosie Jones), Stuart talks about receiving a diagnosis of autism. He received the diagnosis during the run of his 2023 show, Is That Guy Still Going?, the first show where he told the truth on stage. That was about grief – now comes the autism. With no choice but to tell some more truth on stage, strap yourself in for a sequel (and next year will make it a trilogy).
Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? is about relationships and Stuart catching up on the fact that he didn’t know who he was for almost 40 years. No biggie. He now has a chance to not only connect with himself properly but be what he can be for someone else. Perhaps Stuart has only ever lied on stage before last year because he actually didn’t have any idea who he was or what people wanted him to be? Either way, truth seemed to go down well – ls That Guy Still Going? was an industry smash, with a revolving door of fellow comedians seeing the show and high praise given for tackling the serious subject of grief with precision and a huge number of jokes and laughs.
Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? also features big pigs, out of place horses, a comparison between British and American toilets, and why Colombian conveniences are a different ball game altogether.
‘You’ll struggle to find a comedian with a better jokes per minute rate… like a one man episode of Arrested Development.’
★★★★ Fest
Stuart performs sketch comedy and stand-up comedy. He supported James Acaster on his UK tours and has appeared on and written for Radio 4, has two specials on NextUp Comedy, one on American label 800 Pound Gorilla Media, and has written a play The Journey, that debuted at The Edinburgh Fringe at The Pleasance in 2018. In 2021, he was nominated for Leicester Comedy Festival Best Show and in 2022 he was nominated for Comedians Choice Best Show. In 2023, his Fringe show was awarded 4.5 stars by Chortle. Stuart runs his own production company, Turtle Canyon Comedy, and writes and directs sketch shows, sitcoms, live shows and specials that have been shown on Netflix, Prime, BBC, Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and more. Most recently, Stuart directed Sindhu Vee, Nish Kumar, Rosie Jones, Suzi Ruffell, Paul Foot, Ivo Graham, Jess Fostekew, Jen Brister and Ian Smith’s specials.
