Glasses will be raised in honour of comedy legend Stu Who? - Vladimir McTavish


This has involved a lot of reminiscing about all the larger-than-life characters I have been fortunate enough to work alongside in the arduous business of making the public laugh. Over the past three weeks, many of those memories have involved my friend and fellow comedian Stu Henderson, better known as Stu Who?
Stu sadly passed away last month. On Thursday, the Scottish comedy community turned out in huge numbers at Stirling Crematorium to give a rousing send-off to a man who was one of the pioneers of stand-up in this country. When I started out in the business, the guy was already a living legend.
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Hide AdBack in the late eighties and early nineties, Stu was one of the forerunners of what was called “alternative comedy” at the time. Alongside Fred MacAulay and Bruce Morton, he was a founder member of The Funny Farm who had their own series on Scottish Television which hosted illustrious guests such as Dennis Leary and Bill Hicks.
The man was a wealth of anecdotes, some of which challenged credulity but all of which were hilarious. He was as much of an entertainer off the stage as he was on it. Comics of a certain age all have their favourite Stu Who? green room story.
Over the past few years, he had been in failing health due to Crohn’s Disease but still remained a true force of nature. Whenever he did get the chance to go on stage he could still turn on the old magic and light up the room. He will be truly missed on the circuit.
If anyone reading this saw Stu perform and missed Thursday’s service, they can still make an online donation to Crohn’s and Colitis UK. Stu himself had not played the Fringe for a number of years. However, I am sure this August when the comedy world descends on Edinburgh there will be glasses raised and stories shared in memory of a man who was a true one-off. If you ever saw him perform, please toast his memory. I certainly will at this year’s Fringe.