Stuart Goldsmith is an internationally award-winning comedian, podcaster, speaker and comedy expert.
His TV credits include performing stand up on Conan, hosted by comedy icon Conan O’Brien.
Stuart’s stand-up career has seen him win several awards, including the Leicester Comedy Festival Award for Best New Show, and take ten solo stand-up shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to date. He has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and made multiple appearances at the prestigious, invitation-only festivals Just For Laughs in Montreal and SXSW in Texas. Stuart’s stand up special I Need You Alive is available to watch online.
Stuart is a highly regarded corporate keynote speaker, host and performer. He created the hugely popular 45 minute business focused presentation: What Comedians Don’t Tell You About Resilience which he has delivered to organisations all over the UK and Europe to clients including: LEGO, eBay, Deloitte, HG Capital, Aviva, PwC, UKTV and the Office for National Statistics.
Stuart specialises in performing stand up relating to the climate crisis. His 2023 solo stand up show Spoilers won the prestigious Best Show 2023 at Leicester Comedy Festival and was one of the best-reviewed shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023, where he played to sellout audiences and received wide critical acclaim. Spoilers is set to return to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. The Times praised Stuart’s “excellence” and his “intelligent, well-crafted act” whilst The List said: “he’s especially, piercingly funny on the hypocrisies we all indulge in.” Broadway World lauded the show for being “cathartic and well crafted to nudge anyone, wherever they are on their own sustainability journey, that little bit more in a hopeful direction.”
Stuart performs his climate comedy at eco festivals and also at corporate events, to organisations across the UK and internationally. The purpose is to engage attendees in the important issue of sustainability and climate change; to send out a call to action and alleviate our collective dread by tackling a very serious subject via a very entertaining medium. He has appeared at high profile climate festivals including Net Zero Festival and Blue Earth Summit in the UK and GreenBiz in the US; hosted sustainability awards events including Green Energy Awards and Business Green Awards, and recharged messaging for corporate clients include British Association for Sustainable Sport, Lloyds Banking Group, London Bridge Net Zero Heroes, Deluxe and Roland Berger.
Stuart is also a talented interviewer and host of the internationally renowned “Comedian’s Comedian” podcast. He has interviewed many of the comedy world’s household names, including Jimmy Carr, Bo Burnham, Kathy Griffin, Sarah Millican and James Acaster. The podcast has had over 25 million downloads to date.
Now he has distilled those insights into an absorbing and inspiring talk looking at what business can learn from comedy, whether it’s dealing with rejection, developing resilience or even tackling mental health and general wellbeing. Since lockdown he’s had to pivot his whole approach as he tackled the prospect of no income from live events for potentially a year or more!
He teaches your team practical ways to bounce back from challenges, faster and hopefully with more enthusiasm!
Stuart says:
"In my presentation I’ll be showing your team that resilience isn’t something that you’re blessed with at birth. It’s an active state not a passive quality, and it can be learned. I won’t be teaching anyone how to do stand-up comedy, and the presentation’s primary focus is practical advice and insights to take away, rather than big laughs.
I’ll be exploring strategies to learn, develop and perfect resilience, harvested from conversations with comedians who are simultaneously the most powerful and the most vulnerable person in the room."
A former street-performer and an incredibly safe pair of hands, Stuart is an articulate and authentic speaker. He has a natural charisma and warmth that helps him communicate his passion in a resonant and lasting way.
“Stuart ran a funny and impactful session on resilience, with plenty of interesting content and new perspectives from the comedy world. Everyone in the team left with some fresh ideas and the humour gave us a real morale boost. Time well invested!”
Helen Newman, a Senior Manager at PwC
"In every walk of life, people struggle with poor mental health and imposter syndrome. One way of tackling this is developing resilience in the workplace (and our personal lives). Stu has an entertaining and engaging approach that people can relate to, with practical steps to take to become more resilient people. Amazing session, thanks Stu!"
Phil Szomszor, Director, Harvard