Comic sings Wolverhampton's praises as he picks up an honorary degree

Tom Stade has been awarded an honorary doctorate of arts from the University of Wolverhampton.

The comic, who lived in the West Midlands when he first moved to the UK from his native Canada, said he first thought it was a prank when he was told he was getting the degree.

He said: ‘I was ready for Ashton Kutcher to come out and go, "gotcha".’

Speaking about his love for the Black Country, Stade said: ‘Wolverhampton will always have a special place in my heart.  It had such a profound effect on how I saw my new home here in the UK. I can’t stress enough how much I love the beautiful people of the Black Country.  

‘They welcomed my family and myself with open arms and shaped my view on what a wonderful, diverse, funny country this truly is. 

‘To be honest I’m a little surprised but absolutely so honoured that you even considered me for this wonderful award but most importantly you made my mother super proud.’

The comedian moved to the UK from Vancouver in 2001 and he explained: ‘We thought we were going to go to Birmingham… but then we took that little tram. I took it through Wednesbury. I can't even remember all the stops, but there were tons of them. And it just stopped abruptly in Wolverhampton.

‘So we went to all the letting places, and this guy was beautiful, he said, "I got the house for you."  And so he brings us to Bilston, and he shows us this house, four bedrooms. So we went, "Oh, that sounds perfect".

‘Little did we know Bilston, but I love it. The reason Bilston was so great is because I got to meet what I would consider the real Britain. You know what I mean? I was immersed in the real people. I wasn't just a guy that showed up in London and is living in London and la la, la, la, la… I was like in the thick of it, because Bilston, that's like the where the British people are.’

He also said the town provided him with a trademark stand-up routine about a trader selling meat out of a van from the local market, thanks to his standpoint as an outsider.

When asked to share advice with other students graduating from Wolverhampton this week he said: ‘Whatever your passion is, that's what you should follow and don't think of yourself as a goal of money or whatever.

‘One of my favourite [writers] is a guy named Alan Watts, and he said it perfectly: that life is a dance and when you start that dance, you don't sit there and go, oh, I want to end up over there by the time the song's done. I want to be at that part of the dance floor. That ain't how it works. 

‘You just go out there and you have fun with it. You you have fun with your life. You have fun with the with whatever your diploma is in, and if that's your love, then you follow it. 

‘Sometimes that diploma these kids got might not be their love. That's just the first little thing that they've tried and sometimes you’ve got to reverse course and do something different. But always find your passion. 

‘Because once you find your passion, it really doesn't matter what happens to you in the end, because you're doing what you love, and you can say at the end of it that you don't have any regrets because you tried it.’ 

Stade kicks off his autumn tour in Bilston next week. Tom ​Stade tour dates

Published: 13 Sep 2024