Teenage Cancer Trust Comedy Night: Royal Albert Hall

Comedy Night
Teenage Cancer Trust, Royal Albert Hall
24th March 2026

Tuesday night of the Teenage Cancer Trust week at the Royal Albert Hall is always a welcome chance to sit back and be entertained by some of our funniest comedians.  This year’s line up put together by The Cure’s Robert Smith features Maisie Adam, Bridget Christie, Jack Dee, Dom Joly, Andy Hamilton, Miles Jupp, Athena Kugblenu, Stewart Lee and Dara Ó Briain.

When my Instagram reels are not dominated by people who love nothing more than doom-mongering from the front seat of their car, telling me that literally everything is going to give me cancer, that the end is nigh, or how to get out of my car underwater, they’re pleasantly full of comedians taking me to a much happier place. Tonight is a giant version of this, where everyone has a twelve minute challenge to make the audience indulge in as many belly laughs as possible.

As with the rest of the week, this line up has been handpicked by Robert Smith, allowing us a glimpse of who makes him laugh. The evening is gamely hosted by Dom Joly, who brought us Trigger Happy TV twenty five years ago, ensuring that no one could hear the Nokia ringtone without thinking of him. He tells us twice tonight that he’s an ex-goth (an ironic surname in that case), going all out to prove this claim by arriving on stage in something representative of Robert Smith regalia (this is hard to unsee), before delighting the audience by appearing in the balconies with his giant mobile phone. Personally, his best bit was the Trigger Happy film clip of him running up behind an Eskimo quietly fishing, clashing cymbals behind him and running away again, to the tune of Furniture’s Brilliant Mind. It’s childish but Eskimo indignation is quite funny to watch.

The talent tonight is strong. Bringing it home for the girls are northern lass Maisie Adams warning adults against moving back in with their parents, and Athena Kugblenu who, as an adult, got asked by Jehovah’s Witnesses if her parents were home. The deliciously quirky Bridget Christie bounds onto the stage, hot off a gruelling three-month nationwide tour and showing zero signs of exhaustion, throwing herself into stories of menopausal Whatsapp groups, being caught eating cake out of a bin, and expertly correlating a certain president with a shit on a plate. Well, there’s more to the story than that, but it’s a good parting image.

On the boys’ side, Miles Japp brings a touch of class and some hospital tales managing to find the humour in his own brain surgery (and did everyone else know he was in Balamory?), whilst Andy Hamilton, surprised that we’re not all out queuing for petrol, has more amusing observations about aging, including the pivotal lifepoint of when “fall becomes a noun, not a verb”. Jack Dee is his legendary deadpan, grumpy self, moaning about Tuesday being one of the seven worst days of the week, March being only good for taking your Christmas presents to the tip, and delighting in ripping the last five pages out of books before giving them to charity. Towards the end of his set, he suddenly has a ukelele in his hands and – surely he’s not going to sing – he actually does. And we’re treated to a randomly upbeat song about paracetamol sung in the style of Elvis.

Dara O’Briain brings the gift of the Irish gab, the only one who actually mentions Robert Smith (aside from the Dom Joly incident), regaling us with a genius tale of bowling up to the singer in years gone by to ask him to play The Cure’s Close To Me, but instead requesting Close To You (by The Carpenters). And who knew there was so much humour in Portuguese pasteis da nata. Meanwhile, final act Stewart Lee takes up the deadpan mantle left by Jack Dee, leading with an accusatory “Don’t come and see me if you don’t know anything that’s going on…”, before unleashing a barrage of quick fire jokes about Nigel Farage, Russell Brand and “Remember when the worst thing Keir had done was not declaring Coldplay tickets.” There’s nothing to say in a review about how clever he is that he doesn’t work into his own routines, but it’s true that he’s exceptional.

And yet, the real stars of the show, as ever, are the teenagers at the centre of the cause. Tonight’s featured teenager is the incredibly inspirational Aiden Cowie, whose cancer diagnosis at 18 led to him having an eye, cheekbone and some teeth removed, and in spite of this has now taken up stand-up comedy. The most moving part of any of these shows is the bit where the teenagers file onto the stage to huge applause, and take selfies against a backdrop of the Hall filled with phone lights. Having photographed this on stage with them a few years ago and seen their excited faces first hand, it’s the most fantastic memory for them and a real highlight of their special day with TCT.

Another triumphant night of comedy from Teenage Cancer Trust. Robert Smith may not have made an appearance, but despite his genre the iconic goth has succeeded in showing that he does have a great sense of humour.

Saturday’s show with Garbage and Placebo will be live broadcast here

This year Teenage Cancer Trust has launched Good Energy, an art exhibition and print series at the Royal Albert Hall, running from March 18th to April 9th. The collection captures the visceral, shared experience of live music between artist and fan, positioning the “mosh pit” not as a place of chaos, but as a sanctuary of safety and community. The exhibition features 21 limited-edition silk screen prints, chosen by iconic acts including The 1975, Geese, Fontaines DC, Wolf Alice, Yungblud, Nick Cave, Nia Archives, Keane, Sex Pistols feat Frank Carter, The Big Moon, The Snuts, Courteeners, Bring Me The Horizon, Enter Shikari, Elbow and more. Buy online HERE.

You can donate to the amazing Teenage Cancer Trust charity here or Text RAH10 or RAH20 to 70085 to donate (that’s either £10 or £20 depending on your choice).

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Words by Naomi Dryden-Smith:  Louder Than War  | Facebook  |Twitter  | Instagram  | portfolio

Photos by John Stead, supplied