Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow - BBC One

June 2009

More Tom Stade videos

Bought up in the backwoods of British Columbia Tom Stade earned his comedy stripes in Canada, where he recorded his own one-hour TV special Stade And Confused for the Comedy Network.

Now largely based in the UK, he is a circuit stalwart who has appeared on stand-up shows The Comedy Store , The Live Floor Show and The World Stands Up .

He made his Edinburgh Fringe debut in 2006 with the show And Relax.

Tom Stade: What Year Was That?
Live Review

This is not comedy for the fragile or easily offended. Tom Stade is a bad boy of comedy, pushing the limits of taste and acceptability. He’s an act where a simple pull back and reveal gag will lead to something more desperately dark than you can imagine. But my God does he do it well.

Stade fashions himself as a rock n roll star, dressed all in black with the mic technique of a rapper rather than a stand up, he uses expletives like most people use punctuation. He revels in splitting his audience and seems to push for groans and stunned silences – but he always manages to hold on to at least half of the crowd with his superb writing and domineering stage presence.

He has come up with a incredibly simple and effective concept for this hour. Rather than crowbarring stories around a theme he has built a theme to suit his random observations. Very early on, Stade selects a member of the audience as his sidekick, Jimmy. He claims to have met when Jimmy was a small Chinese boy, he frequently asks this new co-star to verify what years his various stories took place in. Ridiculous? Yes, but it gives him an ally in the audience. Stade’s topics are unbelievable and shocking and this independent verification just adds to the hilarity when they are presented as true.

That said, for some of his more offensive punchlines, Stade does have to remind a section of the audience who are now silent and in some cases even angry that this is a comedy show. ‘Why did you have to wipe your dick off on the Bible, Tom?’ he berates himself, accepting that maybe he has gone too far, then unapologetically yells ‘because it was imaginary!’

With gags about 'handicaps', seal hunting, poverty, starving African children dying of Aids and suicide bombers, all of which are handled in the most glib way imaginable, it does prove too much for some, and there are walkouts. They have no idea what they have missed. Yes, the topics are emotive and Stade – who co-wrote Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights – handles them with the delicacy of a steamroller. But he is taking them to such an extreme it should be clear that he is making a point with his boundary-pushing comedy.

There is not one gag in this whole hour that isn't brilliantly written and incredibly funny. The 'victims' in his joke are painted in a sympathetic way, whereas Stade’s own behaviour and thoughts tend to be the things that are lambasted.

Stade really needs an audience that gets this for the hour to flow, but it does add a frisson of excitement when they don’t, with half the crowd in stitches and the other half sitting uncomfortably and wondering why on earth people are laughing. I got tutted at by the people in front of me for laughing at a gag about a Tamagotchi outliving an African orphan. In my defence, it is one of the most beautifully constructed jokes I've ever heard.

Stade is never going to please everyone with his comedy, it is doubtful he'll ever be asked on to the Royal Variety Show, more’s the pity, but if you want an hour that you'll remember from 2011 you could do a hell of a lot worse than this.

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So bad in Bristol that we had to leave early.

Marga, May 2013

Saw Tom for the first time this year, he's hilarious. Had us belly laughing. He's a natural. Can't wait to see him again.

Becky., October 2012

At that same show in Birmingham and it was one of the funniest show I'd ever seen. I didn't get Tom hates women at all. He just talked about being married. And from what I saw everybody was loving it men and women. Like all comedy at least I can see the exaggeration. Long live Heroin Jimmy!!

Sarah, May 2012

Saw him at Birmingham Glee club (which is a great club!): he really comes across like he hates women. That's a tired thing to say but he only interacted with men in the audience and 90 per cent of his act was the theme of women destroying their partners' lives. I see a lot of comedy and have no problem with 'men vs women' stuff but this was way, way too much... it got boring, essentially. It doesn't take any great originality or observation to bang on and on about women not allowing their partners to speak or make decisions... He's clearly a clever bloke and when he moved on to other topics he was funny, so it's a pity. He needs new material maybe

Brummagem, May 2012

Saw him in Barnsley on a bill with Abi Roberts and Bob Mills - all three absolutely ripped it but Stade really was top notch - excellent delivery, fine material and an almost Bill Hicks-Esque style about him.

Incubus2011, December 2011

Just got back from a trip to Manchester where we saw Tom. Seen him before a few times around London and like his shows, this was the best ever, he had us howling with laughter. We have seen probably most of the best but this was the funniest show we think we have ever been to.

David Shaw, November 2011

Tom Stade at Worcester Huntington Hall had both good and bad elements. Tom is a very funny man, that has to be said, however having followed him on the circuit for a while I fear he has become a lazy comic who is just reworking old material from his 2008 blue album. I did laugh out loud but was excited at the prospect of hearing new material, of which we never got. Tom does make me laugh but it was a mix of enjoyment and disappointment.

melanie ford, September 2011

Tom Stade at the Ironworks Inverness was both good and bad experience. Good to see him live, and he made the audience laugh . Bad because he said nothing new in his act, tried and tested on TV over the past year and more. It's testament to his skill as a comedian that it still made me laugh all the same. It seems once a comedian gets established like Tom, they get a bit complacent in their attitude to their audience.I wouldn't hesitate about going to see Tom Stade again despite my criticism - he enjoys his chosen vocation, it transfers to his audience and it shows.

Douglas Thomson, February 2011

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