The comedians with a second career

Comedy attracts people who were already good at something else, which is why comedians with a second career turn up on so many corporate shortlists. Ask around any green room and you'll find the police officer, the novelist, the painter, the executive coach and the television producer who co-created a show you've watched.

That second discipline is useful to you. It gives you a hook for the internal comms that goes beyond "we've booked a comedian", it gives the comic something to talk about in a fireside or a Q&A, and it often explains why they work in a corporate room at all. Here are ten of them.

Ian Moore

Book Ian for

A black-tie awards night that runs to time and stays funny.

Ian Moore has been an awards host and after-dinner comedian for over fifteen years. He's also the author of Death & Croissants, a Times bestseller translated into multiple languages and optioned for television, followed by three sequels and a new crime series featuring Juge Lombard.

The books are set in the Loire Valley, where Ian lives, and the comedy in them is the comedy he does on stage: dry, observational, structurally tight. Book-trade, publishing, retail or Francophile audiences get an obvious in. For everyone else, a comic who plots novels for a living is a comic who can hold a three-hour awards ceremony together, which is a different skill to a stand-up set. We've broken down what you're actually booking when you book a comedian if that distinction matters for your event.

Learn more and book Ian Moore →

Holly Stars

Book Holly for

An evening your Pride or year-end event gets remembered for.

Holly Stars created and starred in Death Drop, which had three West End runs and a sold-out UK tour. She stars in and co-created Holly Stars: Inspirational for Amazon Prime and OUTtv, and produces and hosts Time of the Month, a monthly cabaret in Soho.

Her debut novel, Murder in the Dressing Room, came out in paperback in February 2025 and is the first in a series. Holly is one booking that covers your host, your headliner and your author Q&A, and the drag and cabaret background makes her a strong Pride and LGBTQ+ network choice.

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Jim Moir

Book Jim for

Creativity, from a comedy icon with a second life as a painter.

Most of your audience knows Jim Moir as Vic Reeves, from three decades of surreal television with Bob Mortimer. Fewer know he's a working painter who has exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, co-hosted Netflix's The Big Flower Fight, and made Painting Birds with Jim and Nancy Moir for Sky Arts in 2023.

The creativity angle on his profile is real rather than retrofitted, which matters if you're programming an innovation or creative-thinking agenda. Jim's corporate client list is one of the strongest we hold: Renault, Fanta, Lynx, First Direct, Essilor, Sky B2B and Cuprinol among them, and he's hosted the BAFTA Video Game Awards.

Learn more and book Jim Moir →

Alfie Moore

Book Alfie for

Real decisions made under real pressure, told as comedy.

Alfie Moore came to comedy after twenty years of policing across Lincolnshire and Humberside, as a front-line response officer, a Neighbourhood Sergeant and then a Detective Sergeant in the Public Protection Team, working with the Drugs Unit and the Regional Counter Terrorism Team.

He now writes and presents It's a Fair Cop for BBC Radio 4, into its eighth series, and tours a solo show called A Face for Radio. The material is about real decisions made with incomplete information under time pressure, which is a subject most of your audience recognises from their own jobs.

Learn more and book Alfie Moore →

John Gordillo

Book John for

What it takes to make a message actually land in a room.

John Gordillo is Perrier-nominated in his own right and one of the most in-demand directors in British comedy. He's directed shows for Eddie Izzard, Reginald D. Hunter and Ross Noble, and worked with over sixty acts including Michael McIntyre and Shappi Khorsandi.

Directing comedy means diagnosing why a piece of communication is failing and fixing it, live, in front of an audience. For a comms team, an internal culture event or a leadership programme, that's a more interesting conversation than a stand-up set.

Learn more and book John Gordillo →

Nat Saunders

Book Nat for

How comedy actually gets written, made and commissioned.

Nat Saunders wrote for Big Train and Smack the Pony, wrote seven seasons of Sky1's Trollied, co-created and directed the BBC's Misery Bear, co-created Sick Note with Rupert Grint for Sky1 and Netflix, and co-created Truth Seekers for Amazon Prime with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Nat's the behind-the-camera booking. If your audience is a content, creative or product team, a session on how comedy gets commissioned and made lands better than a set does.

Learn more and book Nat Saunders →

Em Stroud

Book Em for

Leadership and culture sessions carried by laughter and play.

Em Stroud has twenty years across stand-up, improvisation and clowning, and co-founded The Leadership Impact School. She wrote Lessons From a Clown, hosts The Comic Coach podcast, and delivers a keynote called The 12 Secrets for Impactful Leadership in a World of AI.

Em's a bridge booking on our comedy roster: moderator, panellist, host and corporate speaker, working on leadership development, workplace culture and team building. Book Em when the comedy has to carry a business message.

Learn more and book Em Stroud →

David Whitney

Book David for

Political satire, hosting, and guests piped in to dinner.

David Whitney trained at Drama Centre London, played Mercutio and MacDuff, appeared in the BAFTA-winning Fonejacker and starred in the independent film GUARDIANS, which won eighteen awards. He offers stand-up, hosting, after-dinner and virtual.

He's also a piper, and has played at the Royal Tournament, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and at Gwen Stefani's wedding. For a Burns Night, a Scottish client dinner or any event that wants guests piped in before the satire starts, that's a rare combination. If the satire is the part giving your stakeholders pause, our take on booking a political comedian answers it directly.

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Al Murray

Book Al for

Broad-appeal after-dinner, as himself or as the Pub Landlord.

Al Murray created the Pub Landlord, won the Perrier, and co-wrote Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical. He also read History at Oxford and has made documentary television including Why Does Everyone Hate the English and Why Do Brits Win Every War.

That gives you a choice at the point of booking. The Pub Landlord for broad-appeal evening entertainment, or Al on history for an after-dinner slot with an association, membership body or heritage-sector audience.

Learn more and book Al Murray →

Cally Beaton

Book Cally for

Ambition and reinvention, from a media SVP who started stand-up at 45.

Cally Beaton spent her first career in television, rising to Senior Vice President at ViacomCBS with multi-million-dollar budgets across Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. She started stand-up at 45, after Joan Rivers told her to, and now turns up on QI, Live at the Apollo and The Apprentice: You're Fired.

Cally still coaches executives and writes for The Guardian and the Financial Times, and she has three keynotes on the roster: Getting Out of the Weeds on daring leadership, Stand Up, Stand Out on ambition and reinvention, and Invisible Women on bias at work. She's the booking when your agenda wants the substance in the morning session and the laughs in the evening one, from the same person.

Learn more and book Cally Beaton →

Why a second career matters when you're booking comedians

A second career gives a comedian a subject, and a subject gives your event a reason. Comedians with a second career also flex across formats in a way a pure stand-up can't, because a comic with a book, a discipline or a previous profession can do a set, a fireside, a panel or a Q&A.

So you can put them where the agenda needs them rather than only in the evening slot. It also gives your comms team something to write about in the week before the event, which is usually the difference between a full room and a half-full one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you book a comedian to speak about their non-comedy career?

Yes. Most will offer a talk, fireside or Q&A built around it as well as a set. Alfie Moore on policing and John Gordillo on communication are both booked this way. Ask at enquiry so the format's agreed upfront.

Does a comedian with a second career cost more to book?

Not by default. Fees track profile and demand, not how many disciplines someone works in. A longer or more bespoke format, like a workshop or a full-day facilitation, costs more than a standard set whoever's delivering it.

Which of these comedians work best for a leadership audience?

Em Stroud is closest to a straight leadership booking, with a keynote on leadership in a world of AI and a background coaching executives. Cally Beaton works the same ground from a former SVP's seat, with keynotes on daring leadership, reinvention and bias at work. John Gordillo suits comms-led agendas, and Alfie Moore works for any audience making decisions under pressure.

💡 Want a comedian who can do more than the evening slot? Tell us what your agenda is missing and we'll find the perfect PepTalk expert for your organisation. Send us a message and we'll set up a free strategy call. Remember, it's always a good time to get a PepTalk!