Comedian Rob Rouse Set to Perform at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre in March 2026

A comic named by his peers as the best comedian of 2025 will bring his new show to Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre in March.

Rob Rouse was last week named as the Comics' Comic Best Act in the UK Comedy Awards 2025. His new show Funny Bones can be seen at the SJT on Saturday 21 March.  

The Comics' Comic award is determined exclusively via a poll of comedians working on the UK comedy circuit.

Rouse says: "It's taken me completely by surprise, I'm very grateful and genuinely touched to receive this. We all love making audiences laugh and we all love the feeling of getting a laugh from our fellow clowns at the back of the room, it's one of the things that encourages us to keep going and keep writing. I've been doing this a long time and to be acknowledged by your peers, who truly understand the highs and lows of this crazy job, feels deeply moving and humbling."

Rob was also named as Best Act in the Yorkshire Comedy Awards just before Christmas.

A star of the BBC's Upstart Crow (in which he plays manservant Ned Bottom to David Mitchell's Shakespeare), 8 Out of 10 Cats, The Friday Night Project, Dave's One Night Stand and many other TV and radio appearances, Rob is one of the UK comedy circuit's most respected and consistently hilarious performers. 

He first rose to prominence after winning Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1998. Since then, he has built a reputation for his joyous silliness, infectious energy and masterful storytelling, earning the description ‘a man with genuinely funny bones' (The Sunday Times). He's toured the world from Australia to Montreal, has done three UK solo tours and 12 critically acclaimed Edinburgh Festival shows, and performed in two sold-out West End runs of Upstart Crow the Play.

Funny Bones is a relentlessly funny, high-spirited evening packed with brilliantly spun tall tales, pitch-perfect characters and hilariously daft flights of fancy – a pure celebration of comedy and being alive. It marks Rob's return to solo touring following recent support slots with Nina Conti, Kerry Godliman, Rory Bremner and Marcus Brigstocke.