Stuart Laws is a stand up comedian currently embarking on his third solo hour, entitled Who Said Anything About Stopping It?, at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Having supported James Acaster on his UK tour throughout 2013 and 2014 as well as having directed multiple films and worked with big names such as Julia Davis and Robert Lindsay, Laws really is an interesting artist, who’s name, I’m sure, will soon be hard to ignore.
To learn more about Stuart, I asked him these seven questions…
1) Are you easily pleased?
What a great question! Thank you so much for asking it, incredibly kind of you.
2) Are you any good at doing accents?
Oh aye, absolutely I am (Scottish). To be sure, to be sure (Welsh). What a lovely potato (Cockney). Yum, yum, I love onions and baguettes and garlic (My Mum). Pop a couple of chimps on Bar-B. (Australian animal themed pub owner). Guten tag, wie geht’s dir? Ich habe eine grosse meerschweinchen mit Mayo (Bermudan who learnt German).
3) Do you ever feel like time moves too fast?
Terminator was released in 1984. So was I. There have been four sequels to the Terminator and none to me. So I think what I mean is: yes, but I manage to not fall into molten metal, so perhaps I move slowly through time.
4) Do you envy any other comedians?
I’ve ended up wearing a gilet on stage, as standard now. I’m envious of anyone who gets to wear an item of clothing that isn’t designed to keep them extremely warm. Envious of Sean McLoughlin because he has the courage to say that he hates Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip. Otherwise, no, not really, just really admire a lot of them for being really great at what they do: Acaster, Helm, Kemsley, Sanders, Wang, Pacquola, Long, Hodgson, Kearns, Cahill, Stephenson, Daykins.
5) What is your favourite item of clothing?
Invest in socks. If you have the option of a luxury purchase then prioritise new socks. Makes a huge difference.
6) Who is your favourite serial killer?
David Griffin (Keanu Reeves in The Watcher). Keanu didn’t want to do the film but was forced to after a friend forged his signature on the contract. So that makes David Griffin the most unwilling and weak-willed serial killer in history. To be that unskilled and to still qualify is pretty impressive.
7) Is comedy that offends people important?
Yeah, probably. From the point of view that never will the world achieve harmony of opinion so offence means that someone had the freedom to express a thought deemed repulsive. And really, thinking about it: freedom is more important than harmony of opinion. But it would be nice if less people had really shit opinions, but banning and marginalising those opinions won’t create less shit opinions. For example: people who like Lost In Translation. I won’t ban them, but I won’t trust them. Did I answer the question? I think my position on offensive comedy is most probably summed up in my choice of serial killer.