one4review | On 03, Aug 2025

Tom Stade walks onstage like a man with nothing left to prove — and then goes ahead and proves it anyway.
From the outset, his signature crowdwork is effortless, expertly gauging a room that spans generations — from twentysomethings to pensioners — making each feel equally seen and implicated. It’s a tightrope of charm and cheek, delivered with the casual authority of someone who’s done this longer — and better — than most.
This year’s show carries the faint whiff of reflection: milestone birthdays, a long-standing marriage, the slow crawl of time. But don’t be fooled — there’s no soft centre here. Stade is still running on analogue in a digital world, and the struggle is ripe for mockery: QR codes, Instagram, opinionated children, and the exhausting need to please. These aren’t just observational gags — they’re wry meditations, jokes swaddled in velvet arrogance and delivered with the louche swing of a lounge-lizard jazzman, riffing with menace and charm.
Plenty of comics get older. Many lean on nostalgia, trotting out the greatest hits. Stade is better than that. He’s smoother. Ruder. Smarter. And — crucially — leaner. There’s no fat in this set, no meandering tangents or filler. Just tightly packed, precision-engineered laughs.
He has that rare, enviable ability: to say the thing most wouldn’t dare and make the room erupt in shared recognition. He never punches down — he leans in. Elbow perched on the bar, pint in hand, confiding the absurdities of modern life like a rakish philosopher. It’s comedy with edge, yes, but also empathy, control, and daring. In that regard, few on the circuit come close.
Longevity in comedy is no guarantee of quality. Many coast. Some creak. Tom Stade, though, is still barrelling forward — unrepentant, undiminished, and undeniably funny.
Catch the master at work.

****
Reviewed by Steve H
Stand 1
20.30 (1hr)
Until 24 Aug (not 11)