Comedian, broadcaster, and author Ian Stone is launching a new UK tour, Looking for the Wow, built on a search for magic amid the “inevitable slide into disease, decay, and death.” The extensive 2026 national tour kicks off on 15 January at the BIGG Theatre in Biggleswade, promising to bring his compelling, universal premise to towns from Southend to Glasgow.
But speak to the man himself, and you discover the show’s hopeful title belies a more pragmatic, and funnier, reality. This isn’t a hunt for spiritual enlightenment. For Stone, it’s about distraction—a distraction he fervently hopes will include an Arsenal league title.
“Life will definitely slide into decay, there’s literally no doubt about that,” Stone tells theQR. “For me, it’s more about putting off that moment as long as possible and distracting myself in the meantime… And if [Arsenal win the league], I’ll be so happy and that will definitely be a wow moment. But at some point, I will still die.”
It’s this cocktail of bleak realism and desperate hope that makes Stone’s comedy so vital. He’s a multi-hyphenate talent—host of the wildly popular Handbrake Off Arsenal podcast, a regular on Times Radio, and a successful author—but his new show is a return to his first love: the stage.
“Life will definitely slide into decay, there’s literally no doubt about that,” Stone tells theQR. “For me, it’s more about putting off that moment as long as possible and distracting myself in the meantime… And if [Arsenal win the league], I’ll be so happy and that will definitely be a wow moment. But at some point, I will still die.”
“In the end, you get the wins any way you can”
When pressed on whether Looking for the Wow positions him as a comedian, storyteller, or philosopher, Stone is quick to dismiss the latter. He isn’t serving up armchair philosophy; he’s a comic, and the primary motivation is, and always will be, the laugh.
“I’m not a philosopher. I have thoughts and ideas which could lean towards the philosophical but most of the time, I have literally no idea whether what I’m on about makes any sense. The storytelling is great fun but ultimately, Looking for the Wow is a comedy show so my primary motivation is laughs.
It’s like Arsenal and the way they’re perceived. We have all the skills and we can play in a number of ways and while I loved the flowing football of the early Wenger years, I can also appreciate a well-worked set piece. In the end, like the laughs, you get the wins any way you can.”
“This tour couldn’t really have come at a worse time”
Stone’s work has always expertly woven threads of Jewish identity, family life, and football. This show, he says, is an evolution of those themes as he tries to “make sense of it all.” He notes that being Jewish is “strange at the moment. We’re not as popular as we used to be,” and that his family remains a reliable source of material: “if they piss me off, I have the option of monetising the irritation.”
But the new tour, which follows a sold-out run and a prestigious Spirit of the Fringe Award in Edinburgh, presents one profound, overriding logistical challenge: it clashes with the football season.
“This is a slightly bigger tour than I did a couple of years ago so I’m on the road more and I miss more stuff at home. Being away from the family can be difficult, missing friends’ get-togethers is always upsetting.
But honestly, I’ve missed two Arsenal home games already this season and with the way we’re playing at the moment, I’m gutted I’m not there. So, to answer the question, this tour couldn’t really have come at a worse time.”
He notes that being Jewish is “strange at the moment. We’re not as popular as we used to be,” and that his family remains a reliable source of material: “if they piss me off, I have the option of monetising the irritation.”
“The cruelty of posting a grasshopper to Stoke”
If the ‘wow’ isn’t in grand philosophy or even the prestige of touring, it must be found in the mundane. And Stone is a master of mining the surrealism of the everyday. When asked if he found any moments of genuine surprise while creating the show, he recounts a recent trip to the post office that captures his entire worldview.
“A man in the queue noticed a strange-looking insect on the floor which on closer inspection turned out to be a grasshopper. He grabbed an envelope from the shelf and scooped it up… and he said ‘I’ll take it outside in a bit’ cos he didn’t want to lose his place in the queue.
And then he said ‘maybe I could post it instead’ and the envelope was addressed to a government office in Stoke-on-Trent. And we all laughed about how cruel it would be to post the grasshopper to Stoke-on-Trent but as an Arsenal fan, that had much more resonance for me knowing what Ryan Shawcross did to Aaron Ramsey.”
“I’d love them to think ‘Wow’, but I’ll take happy”
This ability to spin an observation into a layered laugh—connecting the post office, existential cruelty, and a decade-old football injury in a single beat—is pure Stone. It has earned him an enviable following on social media, a platform he uses effectively even as he mistrusts it. “While I believe that social media will ultimately kill us all,” he deadpans, “it really helps when it comes to selling tickets.”
Ultimately, the show is a search for connection in a world that feels increasingly fleeting. His final hope for the audience is as pragmatic and heartfelt as the man himself.
“If I’m totally honest, I’d like them to think ‘Wow’. But realistically, I just want them to go away happy. In the same way that I’d love Arsenal to win the league by fifteen points but I’d take goals scored being the difference.”
By
By
