I’ve never met an actual cowboy. Growing up in Slough, a town outside of London, England, I met a fair few cowboy builders and mechanics but never an actual rooting, tooting, lassoing cowboy (imagine rooting or tooting said in an English accent—really silly stuff). So, for me, April 17th is a big day. I arrive in Bozeman, will meet an actual cowboy and do my first standup headline show in the USA. Now, I know there are almost 5000 British people in the state but I’m hoping to tempt along more than just my fellow scone-loving, tea-drinking maniacs.

As a kid, my horizon was obscured by warehouses, smoke stacks and the small grey skies of England for 51 weeks of the year. That one week of sunshine gave me sunburnt skin. Then, in 2025 I got my O1 visa (‘alien of extraordinary ability’; what a term, will forever make me laugh) to perform comedy in the USA, and my horizon became very different. I’ve now told jokes in 10 different states and the 11th is going to be Montana—potentially the best. The last best, in fact, because I’m performing at The Last Best Comedy Club. 

Quick rundown of who I am: I’ve played maybe every city in the UK and every type of comedy show from basements to theatres and conference rooms to TV studios; I’ve opened for Taskmaster favourites James Acaster, Ed Gamble and Lou Sanders, and have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with critically acclaimed, sold out runs. I’ve even played in the annual Taskmaster charity soccer game and scored a couple of goals—less relevant, but I want you to know I can ball. One thing American comics have asked me is what it’s like doing standup in the USA after so long in the UK; I always say, ‘easier, more fun.’ Americans buy tickets to see shows because they want to be entertained and that makes everything better: comedians can be funnier, audiences can have a better time.

I am thrilled to be heading to Bozeman, and to a state much bigger than my country but wildly less populated. In the UK there are almost 800 people per square mile, in Montana it’s less than eight (of course, I’m hoping there’ll be more than that at my shows). Because of my job and, let’s be honest, my personality, I like to really research a place before I visit. I don’t want to be a comedian who has no idea where they are and what sort of audience they’re playing to. I want to be on stage with local knowledge: I read up on town news, the sports teams and the unusual facts and places to visit. When I searched for the top things to do in Bozeman, the results were wild bucket list stuff; the top result was ‘see a British comedian be charming and hilarious at his shows at the brilliant Last Best Comedy Club (and and if you can’t make it to this one, one of the club’s other shows… it’s one of the best clubs in the country)’. The rest of the list were casual things like hike the M trail, see grizzlies, jump in some hot springs and view a T-Rex fossil. I want to do everything and, personal shout out to readers: I’m a keen runner and am absolutely in the market for any beautiful 3-6 mile long runs, so if any of you have tips, I will gladly take them!

As someone who grew up watching American movies and documentaries, this feels like the exact place I want to be. Stunning scenery, iconic main street and mom & pop stores and diners. Wildlife my British mind can’t comprehend. I recently spent a couple of nights in a cabin in the Rockies and was obsessed with maybe seeing a bear or an elk or a moose. A few years ago, when I was out for a run in upstate Washington, I exclaimed out loud, “oh, my goodness” at a bald eagle. It gave me a nod and flew on. Montana is all of that and more. If I see a bison, coyote or bear, I think there’s a strong chance I’d drop some quintessentially British swearing (“oh, golly, etc.”). The thought of being in a landscape that for millennia has been a grand test to survive in, at the frontier of what humans could make home is mind-boggling. Especially because, as a standup comedian I’m used to people saying things like, “oh, I could never do that/you’re so brave for doing that,” and my response is: ‘it’s not brave, because I love it.’ It’s the same way that riding a horse or having to hunt for food seems terrifying and impossible from where I’m standing. And, of course, some people would say that living in England for 40 years is the limit of the human spirit and to them I would say, ‘shut your mouth, that’s Paddington’s country, and we are lucky to have it.’

Touring America has been a learning curve, too. We speak the same language but we do it in a very different way. I have been tweaking jokes, adjusting phrasings, even changing my accent for certain words. You won’t believe how much my name, pronounced the way I pronounce it, is unintelligible to most Americans’ ears—countless waiters looking at me baffled, until I repeat it in an American accent. The English pronounce Tuesday “Chewsday,” so when I say my name in America it sounds like “Shdewett.” In a remarkable twist my opener on April 17th is Jennifer Jane, a fantastic local comedian who was born in the UK but has lived in Montana for a long time. She will be my translator when I say something too British like “wind your neck in” or “Bob’s your uncle.” So come along, laugh and say hello afterwards—especially if you’re a cowboy.

Stuart Laws
featuring Jennifer Jane

April 17th, $24
7pm and 9pm shows

Last Best Comedy
321 E Main, Alley Entrance Bozeman, MT 59715

www.lastbestcomedy.com/events/friday-night-stand-up-w-stuart-laws