You’ve supported PDA Society with both advice and putting on a comedy gig for us this year. What made you chose to support us in this way?
When you got in touch I had a good look through your website to grasp the organisation and understand. I’d heard about PDA but didn’t know a huge amount about it so was keen to learn more – after an incredibly interesting video call with the team I knew it was something that I had personal connection to, wanted to know more about and to support where possible. I’ve worked in comedy and production for almost two decades so felt comfortable that I could offer some perspectives and advice that might be useful.
We get a lot of support from the comedy community – which makes a huge difference to us as a small charity – do you think there is a reason the comedy community connect to this cause in particular?
Without minimising the amount that PDA will affect people’s lives I think comedians are constantly flooded with demands and work requirements that they struggle with and becomes background noise of a job that they started because they like making people laugh and creating things. Coupled with the higher than general population average of neurodivergence in the creative industries I think it’s a charity that resonates with comedians. Also, comedians love to do charity gigs – new audience and a chance to look generous and angelic? What a perfect situation!
You have been open about your autism diagnosis – how has getting a diagnosis affected your understanding of yourself and your comedy?
I was confirmed around two years ago, pretty late on I guess, but had suspected for a few years and been researching it. It’s very valuable to understand why your brain is firing off like it can, or why certain situations or communications will be extra work for me and even understanding overload and meltdowns and stimming and all the various experiences I can have that I spent a long time not knowing were quantifiable. In comedy it’s made me so much more aware of my viewpoint, of where the comedy is coming from – I had so many routines or jokes in the past that I couldn’t get to work but were clearly (in hindsight) expressions of an autistic viewpoint that I couldn’t communicate to a neurotypical audience. So I’ve found it easier and quicker to make routines and jokes work now, as well as being able to explicitly discuss autism and my perspective now.
I actually was confirmed as autistic 9 days in to the 2023 Fringe, whilst I was doing a show called Stuart Laws? Is That Guy Still Going? (now available as a special on 800PGM’s YouTube channel) and have joked with friends that that was the start of my unofficial autism trilogy that continued with my 2024 show Stuart Laws Has To Be Joking? and concludes this year with Stuart Laws is Stuck. If they were to have taglines it would be:
This guy might be autistic
This guy definitely autistic
Hang on did he kill a puffin?
What are you working on right now?
So yes, as hinted above, my new show involves a puffin murder. Stuart Laws is Stuck is a puffin murder mystery stand up comedy/theatre hybrid – and I believe it’s the only show that identifies as such. It’s me telling the audience about the time I was a caretaker of an island of puffins and how one went missing and I had to solve the case. That’s intercut with scenes from the island, with Kate Hammer (a brilliant comedian) playing four different puffins. It’s very stupid and silly but has an underlying story that is about the neurodivergent experience that is very personal to me. That’s me trying to be subtle, to not give anything to big away, but I am very interested in people’s reactions to that and that aspect of the storytelling.
While you are at the Edingburgh Festival over the summer, supporters of PDA Society are undertaking their own challenges to raise money for PDA Society in our Summer Holiday challenge – do you have any words of encouragement or fundraising tips to share?
I was so bad at drumming up interest for my first show at the Fringe in 2011 that a random person on the street took my flyers from me and started flyering for me. That’s how much I shouldn’t be giving tips – I can’t sell myself, let alone other things. I know it can be exhausting and sometimes feel like the enormity of the task is overwhelming but from personal experience – knowing there are people who care, organisations and charities that want to support you is incredibly valuable and that every small bit of outreach and communication that a team like the PDA Society can do is so important.
If readers are at the festival themselves what do they need to know about your show?
It’s at 3pm at Monkey Barrel, Sundays-Thursdays at the Fringe, with the Fridays and Saturdays put aside for me to just do a normal stand up comedy show. All the show info is on my website and my linktree right here: